Troy Media - By Michael Zwaagstra

An Alberta elementary school is taking the concept of specialization to a completely new level. At R.J. Hawkey Elementary School, in Airdrie, students heading into Grade 2 will be expected to select a “major” that defines the focus of their education for the next three years. Continue Reading

Troy Media – By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

Virtually all educational ideas that are considered modern, innovative, and progressive are expressed in ways that make them very difficult to question or criticize because they are implicitly desirable. “Student-centered” or “child-centered” education is a very good example of edu-babble, the use of a term that alone puts its advocates on the side of the angels. Continue Reading

Special Report: Changing Canada’s Economic DNA

Troy Media - By Todd Hirsch

Editor’s Note: Where does Canada’s future lie? What can Canadians do to help ensure their future prosperity? The following is the first part in a series, the basis of a forthcoming book entitled Re-Writing the Code: Changing Canada’s Economic DNA, by Todd Hirsch and Robert Roach. Hirsch is the senior economist at ATB Financial (and Alberta Business Columnist for Troy Media), and Roach is director of the West in Canada Project at the Canada West Foundation.

Part two looks at the importance of right-brain attributes – skills such as imagination, creativity, intuition, and relational abilities – to ensuring Canada’s future prosperity. Continue Reading

Troy Media - By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

The claim that research has proven that social promotion is better than retention is, at best, ambiguous. The Beginning School Study, a long-term research project conducted in Baltimore, examined the academic and emotional effects of retention on a large number of students during their first eight years in school. Continue Reading

Special Report: What’s Wrong with Our Schools and How Can We Fix Them?

Troy Media – By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

In some school jurisdictions, teachers are not permitted to use letter grades or percentages; instead, they are required to use other schemes such as the four-point categorical scale recommended by assessment guru Ken O’Connor, with the following descriptors: 1) Not yet meeting performance standards, 2) Meeting performance standards with assistance, 3) Meeting performance standards, and 4) Exceeding performance standards. Continue Reading

Special Report: What’s Wrong with Our Schools and How Can We Fix Them?

Troy Media – By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

 There are very good reasons for using some traditional teaching methods when we examine the basic ideas that underpin them. We begin with the practice of direct instruction. Direct instruction or didactics (from the Greek word didasko, to teach) is a simple concept. Since the teacher has sophisticated knowledge about a subject that the students generally do not understand, the teacher provides a verbal description or exposition and analysis of the subject in a way that elaborates on the subject matter and supplements the information in textbooks written by experts. Continue Reading

Special Report: What’s Wrong with Our Schools and How Can We Fix Them?

Troy Media -  By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

For romantic progressives, it is heretical to suggest that schools need more teacher-centered classrooms. Judging by the number of school districts that identify themselves as student-centered in their mission statements, this philosophical approach has become dominant across North America. Even though the idea of student-centered classrooms may be seductive, there are a number of very good reasons to believe that this type of learning is misguided. Continue Reading

Troy Media – By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

Walk into almost any public school in North America and you will find classrooms where some students work well above their grade level while others, who have learning disabilities or social and behavioral disorders that affect their school progress, work below their grade level. In addition, you will see students with such severe physical, sensory, or behavioral disabilities that they require full-time teacher assistants even when they are not participating in any of the classroom activities. Somehow, teachers are supposed to design and implement programs that meet the needs of all these students. Continue Reading

Troy Media – By Michael Zwaagstra, Dr. Rodney Clifton and John Long

William Ouchi’s study of over 200 public schools in both Canada and the United States,  Making schools work: A revolutionary plan to get your children the education they need , clearly shows that the most successful schools have the most decentralized management by principals who are responsible for the hiring of teachers and have primary control of the school’s budget, and where parents can choose the schools their children attend. In contrast, school districts that permit little autonomy for principals and allow little parental choice are less likely to improve their students’ academic achievement. Continue Reading

Troy Media – By Dan Shapiro

Although the widely criticized “parental opt-out” provision in Alberta’s Human Rights Act does not come into effect until September 1, it is already tying the education system in knots. Continue Reading