All Posts Tagged With: "elementary school"
Why it’s so hard to fire bad teachers
Most principals would rather hide or transfer incompetent teachers than try to oust them
What it took for one Ontario principal to rid her school of an incompetent teacher is a process she’s not fond of revisiting. It began in September 2007, when she inherited a teacher whose performance was already under review. Despite a file thick with evidence of inadequacy, the principal helped draft an “improvement plan”—a requirement in the provincial Education Act—and dipped into school funds to pay for substitutes while the struggling teacher attended workshops.
But, says the junior school principal, it soon emerged that there was “a serious, basic problem of not understanding”—which continued even after the teacher knew she was under review. Students shuffled through reading levels without proof of assessment. Parents complained about spelling test words that weren’t sent home. And the teacher submitted grades for computer class when, in fact, her “inability to use technology” meant the monitors “were rarely turned on,” says the principal. Still, it took months of paperwork and meetings with union representatives before she was able to inch even one step closer to dismissal.
“It was very upsetting,” she says. “I wouldn’t choose to do it again unless I absolutely had to.”
Inadequate teaching has been shown to contribute to dropout rates, low test scores and a dislike for school. So severe are the implications, says Brendan Menuey, an assistant principal in Virginia, that poor teaching is tantamount to “educational malpractice.” Yet in Canada, teacher incompetence prompts so few administrators to pursue termination that the Ontario principal insisted that not even the name of her school board be published, because it would almost certainly identify her.
According to Barrie Bennett, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the dismissal process is so onerous, the risk of reprisal from teachers’ unions so great, that “most principals find it’s not worth the effort.” Instead, they approve transfers, or hide struggling teachers where their deficiencies can go unnoticed. The result however, is this: a system that keeps incompetent teachers in the classroom.
The fact that more bad teachers aren’t being fired is “a problem that nobody wants to talk about,” says Menuey, who authored a 2007 study on the subject. Despite research indicating that about five per cent of every workforce is incompetent, he uncovered a truth about his district he describes as “scandalous”: less than one-tenth of one per cent of tenured teachers were being dismissed annually for poor performance.
When viewed through this lens, the Canadian numbers are even more damning. Of the roughly 200,000 educators licensed by the Ontario College of Teachers to teach, only 27 have been terminated due to poor performance since 2004—an annual average of just 0.002 per cent. In the past five years, not a single permanent teacher has been dismissed for incompetence in the largest school boards in Montreal and Winnipeg; Saskatoon Public Schools has terminated just one; and in Edmonton Public Schools, says a spokeswoman, “very few if any” have been let go.
Ontario’s public education needs “renewed vision”
Students are paying for art supplies, sports equipment, and core materials, finds new report
Students are forking over their own money for art supplies, sports equipment and, in some cases, even having to pay for materials in core learning classes such as science or French just to meet their educational needs, a new report suggests.
“You’re almost penalized if you’re not essentially good at basic math,” said Jonathan Scott, 19, for the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, painting a picture of students’ struggle.
“If you want to be an artist you’re kind of less important to the school system,” said Scott, who represented students at the Simcoe County District School Board during his last year of high school in 2007-08.
Now, an organization committed to improving public education wants the provincial government to address these concerns.
A new report from People for Education is calling for a “renewed vision” for public schools and lists more than a dozen areas where it wants Ontario to take action.
“We seem to be squeezing out the arts and culture,” said Annie Kidder, the group’s executive director.
Kidder said students in high schools are having to fit arts education and sports activities into timetables already packed with basic credit requirements. Many times, students end up paying for these extra opportunities outside of school.
It’s also an issue for children in elementary schools, where fundraising initiatives in affluent neighbourhoods typically mean those schools have more resources. At home, those parents can also offer their kids books and money for recreation programs.
But in poorer neighbourhoods, which lack the ability to fundraise and can’t provide extra-curricular activities at home, children are “doubly disadvantaged,” Kidder said.
“What’s worrying about this to us is the potential for inequity,” she said.
Low enrolment could force closure of Ontario schools
Nearly 150 high school and elementary schools are on the chopping block
More than 150,000 students across the province may see the doors of their schools close forever in the coming years, according to a new report by People for Education.
As a result of low enrolment, 146 Ontario schools may be slated to close over the next two years. The impact on smaller communities could be potentially devastating, says the group’s executive director.
“It can become an accelerating issue, where a small town loses people and services and if it loses its schools, fewer families want to move there,” said Annie Kidder.
“Do we say to a small town, ‘No, sorry, it’s just too expensive?”‘
The report shows that more than 100 schools are on the chopping block for closure as a result of dwindling enrolment numbers in both high schools and elementary schools.
Since the 1997-98 school year, there has been a 15 per cent decline in enrolment for Ontario elementary schools and since 2002, average enrolment in secondary schools has dropped by 14 per cent.
While 16 schools held their last day of classes in 2008, another 34 schools are set to close in 2009.
Kidder said closures are a contentious issue because boards and schools receive much of their funding based on their number of students – meaning smaller schools are left with fewer programs, and boards are faced with some tough choices.
“We think these are pretty startling numbers and we want to draw attention to it as a provincial issue,” Kidder said.
The report also sheds a light on the growing problems in northern Ontario schools, with one principal complaining of working with a “half science lab,” because there’s not enough cash to go around.
The effects of school closure also impacts poorer areas.
Joanne MacEwan, chair of the Ottawa Catholic School Parents’ Association says a high-needs, high-poverty area in the eastern part of the city recently saw its middle school close.
Ont. teachers urged to accept “fair” deal from province
Strike by 73,000 teachers would affect about 750,000 students
Premier Dalton McGuinty is urging elementary school teachers to avert a potential strike and take a “fair” contract offer that his government has put on the table.
Ontario’s public elementary school teachers have until 4 p.m. Thursday to either accept or reject the government’s four-deal deal.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne says if teachers don’t take the $700-million offer, they will be stuck with a two-year deal that will be worth much less.
A strike would affect about 750,000 students.
Wynne says the contract proposal would give teachers a 10.4 per cent salary increase over four years, and include money to hire more teachers.
School boards have already accepted the offer, but the union says it’s outraged by Wynne’s threats and deadlines.
Last month, the union threatened to hold a strike vote if “significant progress” wasn’t made in contract talks with school boards by Feb. 13.
That could put more than 73,000 teachers and education workers in a strike position by the end of March.
The province had set two other deadlines with teachers, but an agreement was never reached.
McGuinty dismissed suggestions Thursday that setting a third deadline at the last minute makes his government look weak.
“I think what Ontarians expect of their government is that they will establish a solid, professional, good working relationship with our teachers,” he said.
“I think we’ve done that. And I think the results speak for themselves — higher graduation rates and higher test scores.”
For weeks, Wynne has insisted the souring economy meant there was no more money for elementary teachers.
But the province’s latest offer isn’t that far off the original, $800-million deal that would have given teachers a 12 per cent pay raise over four years.
That was trimmed to four per cent over two years when no agreement was reached in December.
The new offer doesn’t appear to resolve a key issue that the union says is at the heart of the dispute — the province’s unwillingness to commit to closing a $711-per-student funding gap between elementary and high schools.
