Don't Worry I have All the Answers

There is an columnist at the Edmonton Journal that is weighing in heavily on the state of K-12 education in Alberta. I want to use his thoughts as the catalyst to re-start my blog this new year.

David Staples Columnist for the Edmonton Journal

I appreciate the passion with which David Staples is discussing educational issues, but not because I necessarily agree with him. I appreciate his opinion because it opens the discourse around a topic that is very important.

I would hate to misrepresent anything that he has said, so I encourage you to explore his ideas and his writing at the Edmonton Journal. His most recent articles:

1. Grade inflation and flex time harm education, high school teacher warns
2. Alberta schools are no longer the best
3. Students ‘cheated’ by way math is taught, say educators and parents

all take an aggressively negative position towards how learning is being delivered within Edmonton and Alberta, and his most recent blog post Johnson pushing for teacher excellence, lower stakes testing applauds the minister of educations future plans for reform. 

Please read his ideas, they will certainly get you thinking and maybe even a little angry. One of the important ideas to note while reading his critique is that he most likely represents the majority opinion of many Albertans. 

A discussion worth having

I didn't want to reply in the comment section of the journal, so I thought I would return to my blog to enlighten everyone with my response. It should you comfort you all to know that I have all the answers to the problems that David Staples has raised!!!

Diagnostic testing and monitoring of individual student growth is critical and fundamentally important. In this measure I agree with David and the minister. These tests need not be tedious and expensive, they need to be designed to capture the students that are falling behind and do not possess the basic academic skills that they need to be successful. 

There is an answer, and it need not be complex

Once these students have been identified then they need to be given targeted intervention. Their teachers need to be given the freedom to stop worrying about the prescribed curriculum, so that they can help the students get up to grade level. Once the diagnostic tests show that the students have been pulled up to grade level, then they can return to the curriculum as it is in it's current state. 

The key barrier is that there is rarely the room or the freedom at the school level to provide the interventions that are needed. 

Teachers need to be given the time to work with each other on addressing their classroom needs. This time together (from experience I think it needs to be at least two to three hours a week) will help ensure the interventions are effective, and it will also help teachers decrease their work load by working with one another creating assessments, holding each other accountable, helping each other with problems and sharing ideas and resources. It is called a Professional Learning Community, and it is the second most powerful idea that I have encountered in my career. 

PLCs are powerful

90% of academic problems in Alberta schools will be addressed by implementing the two ideas from above. I could counter almost of David Staples critiques within the two ideas that I have presented here. There are still significant educational issues that have not been addressed here, but don't worry I have the answers to those as well.

One issue that I do need some help with: ATTENDANCE!! How do we address the students that just don't come to school? We make school a positive place, but some students just do not come to school enough? David any answers?