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EQ over IQ: How play-based learning can lead to more successful kids
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Jun. 14, 2011
Self-regulation is a hot topic in education, something that’s hard to quantify but it can be better than even IQ at predicting academic success. It’s also a side effect of play-based learning, the centrepiece of new full-day kindergarten programs… But beyond childcare are volumes of research that… suggest that through these full-day programs Canada is building a generation of self-motivated learners who will be more successful, healthier and happier than any before them.
Tags: child care, participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario backtracks on offering one-stop daycare, kindergarten
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Dec. 15, 2010
A cornerstone of the government’s full-day kindergarten program was that schools were to become one-stop centres for child care and education. Boards were to be solely responsible for all aspects of educating the child, including providing before- and after-school care. But under proposed legislation the government plans to introduce next year, boards would have the option to allow daycare operators to provide before- and after-school programs.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
How Canada is becoming outclassed in school
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
Dec. 08, 2010
Measured against 65 other countries, Canada places fifth overall in reading, seventh in science and eighth in mathematics in the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development’s education assessment released Tuesday… Girls outperformed boys in reading tests in every country and in every Canadian province… Because they represent close to half the population, boys provide an excellent target for efforts aimed at improving Canada’s PISA scores.
Tags: budget, globalization, standard of living
Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »
Full-day kindergarten popularity outstrips plans to pay for it
Monday, December 6th, 2010
Dec. 06, 2010
It will be years before voters will know whether full-day kindergarten delivers on its promise of higher graduation rates and improved academic outcomes.. Teachers have been generally supportive of the program but are already raising concerns about space, with the tightest classroom squeezes yet to come. Enthusiastic parents have driven up enrolment figures, creating new financial pressures. And Ontario residents aren’t the only ones watching – other provinces are moving in the same direction.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Ontario school system ranks among best in world, report says
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
Nov. 26, 2010
Ontario’s education system emerges as a model, and an example of prudent pedagogical spending, in a report prepared by the consulting firm McKinsey and Co… The report, entitled “How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better,” looked at 20 school systems from across the globe that have achieved significant and sustained gains in student outcomes, as measured by national and international assessments, including those conducted by the OECD.
Tags: participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Identifying struggling students early essential, test results suggest
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Aug. 30, 2010
Students who fail to meet provincial math standards in early grades are likely to continue to struggle in high school… Of the 14,716 students enrolled in the Grade 9 applied mathematics course in 2010 who had failed to meet provincial standards when they were in Grade 3 and Grade 6, 71 per cent failed to meet standards again in high school. There were 5,603 students who had met standards in Grade 3 and Grade 6, and only 25 per cent of them failed to meet standards in high school.
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Ontario reveals schools that will receive second wave of all-day kindergarten
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Jun. 15, 2010
The program will be introduced this fall in nearly 600 schools, and by September of 2011, with the additional 200 schools the full-day option will be available to about 50,000 students across the province. “What we’re hearing from school boards is there has been a very healthy response to this initiative, parents are voting with their feet on this one,” said Minister of Education Leona Dombrowsky… All-day kindergarten will be available everywhere in the province by 2015.
Tags: child care
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Ontario schools crack down on retirees who ‘double-dip’ with supply jobs
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Apr. 26, 2010
A 20-year-old policy meant to deal with teacher shortage that has since evaporated allows retirees to teach as much as half the school year, or 95 days, in the first three post-retirement working years and 20 days in following years… The government and the teachers’ federation have not indicated whether changes are coming to the self-policing system and loopholes that allow teachers to work beyond any allotted days without their pensions being affected.
Tags: budget, pensions
Posted in Education Debates | 6 Comments »
Ontario school boards squander $16.7-million by hanging on to retirees
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Apr. 19, 2010
Retired teachers working in 10 school boards, representing half the student population, collected $108.3-million in the 2008-09 school year from taxpayers on top of their government-subsidized pensions, taking advantage of a system rife with loopholes that leaves new teachers scrambling for crumbs. The investigation revealed widespread overspending, with boards favouring retirees over new teachers for supply assignments at a higher pay scale that, in some cases, doubled the cost to the taxpayer.
Tags: budget
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Boards lobby for increased special-ed funding
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Feb. 18, 2010.
Overall enrolment at the province’s largest board, the Toronto District School Board, has declined 5.4 per cent over the past four years, while the number of students with special needs has increased by 16 per cent.
This imbalance has created a special-education budget shortfall, staff say, partly because much of the province’s funding is based on total head count.
The TDSB says it operates its special education programs at a $20-million loss, which would more than cover the $17-million projected deficit in its budget for the 2009-2010 school year.
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
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