CAIS in Point

These days, schools are constantly dealing with the following questions: How do we balance the demands of academics, extra-curriculars and life in general on our students, ensuring the maintenance of academic standards while avoiding student burnout? Are we being forced to “dumb down” the expectations in our programmes in the face of parental pressure and student apathy? Does responding to the demand to reduce the amount of homework we assign, do our students a disservice? Teachers and their professional practices have never been under greater scrutiny. Students (and their parents) are expecting higher and higher marks but seem to be willing to do less and less to earn them. Add to that the pressure to gain admittance to the high school or post-secondary institution of choice, through a system that is based primarily on academic averages, and the result is that student workload and assessment practices have become a battleground between home and school. In our current practice, this conflict is most often played out over the issue of homework. How much? What kind? How is it integrated into learning? What role are parents (or tutors) expected to play? And are schools completely certain that everything that they ask students to do at night or on the weekends is: essential; better done at home than at school; and, integrated effectively into the programme the next day?  Let’s face it. While, for the most part, our approaches to assigning homework have changed little in the past twenty years, the social context in which we are operating is very different today from what it was even a decade ago. There are a greater number of non-school pressures and distractions for students; a decrease in parent engagement; growing pushback from parents and students on value of homework; new research questioning the value of homework as a teaching/learning tool; the disappearance of pencil and paper culture; and, a declining work ethic. So presented with this challenge, as schools, how do we establish an appreciation of the value of working beyond the end of the school day; dispel the image of “meaningless homework”; and, replace it with an understanding of the need to maximize learning by working at home? And, as educators, how do we make homework more about the student than about the teacher; and build in balance and fairness, asking ourselves the question – does a “one size fits all” homework policy make any sense? We have created our own barriers to addressing this problem. Our schools are characterized by a lack of professional collaboration, many times the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is assigning, and there is often a mistaken identification of volume of homework as evidence of academic rigor. Changing admissions patterns have resulted in a wider range of student abilities, learning needs and academic backgrounds. In addition, we are faced with greater curricular demands coupled with less in-school time to meet them. Interestingly, although 65% of independent schools have school-wide “homework policies” (compared to 35% in the public system), there is still typically a lack of a school-wide essential agreement on: appropriate grade level and departmental student outcomes; assessment strategies and student performance expectations; and, the role/volume/frequency of homework.     Faced with these challenges, what does the research say? It would appear that traditional homework does little to enhance learning – particularly at the primary/junior level (although interestingly this is the age group where parents see the most value in sending work home). A recent study of homework in the United States concluded that: 65% of homework assigned is unnecessary and marginal (at best) to student learning; 45% of all homework is never referred to again in class; and, 75% of overnight work is not marked, shared or evaluated in any way to ensure accurate completion or to address concerns. If that was not discouraging enough, it was also noted that about 80% of overnight homework is peer reviewed to ensure completion or accuracy but there is not meaningful analysis to aid in student understanding; 35% of all submitted homework is never marked or returned, and that 67% of what is returned is not done so in a timely fashion. Presented with those statistics it is potentially troubling to note that a 2007 OISE study found that on average independent schools assigned about double the homework to their students each night than that given by their public sector colleagues. The same study found that while 75% of independent school parents believe homework to be valuable, more than half of those same parents are strongly opposed to seeing their child spend more than two hours per night on their assignments. Finally, although it is hardly surprising: the positive or enthusiastic approach to homework on the part of students drops from 86% in Senior Kindergarten to 46% by Grade 12. So, what is to be done? There is no question that we are all struggling with this issue, and that no-one yet has found the “silver bullet” to solve it. There are lots of strategies and approaches but the basic principles are clear. Teachers should categorize what they assign; prune the unessential elements; and prioritize the rest. Departments, divisions and schools must facilitate collaborative discussions among faculty as to: Who does what, when? Are there congruent expectations for student workload and intended outcomes? Can some assignments be integrated to meet objectives in more than one programme and reduce the amount of total time needed to be spent by students? Finally, we should take the time to ask our students. What do they find valuable? What appears to them to be a waste of time? Are they getting meaningful feedback? Based on all these discussions you may wish to pilot a little “planned abandonment” of those assignments which are repetitive or that have drifted over into the make-work category. Homework will always be with us. Research projects, novel studies, exam and test preparation simply require time that is not available during the school day. Having said that, much of what we assign is not necessarily appropriate for all of our students. And, in some cases, assigning a more of the same set of problems, questions or “ditto work” may actually do more harm than good by fostering a negative attitude towards homework in general. In the final analysis, we have to act. Unless schools take control of this issue, parental pressure and student apathy or resistance will control it for us! Dr. Jim Christopher, Executive Director

Open Forum & Best Practices Conference

Adios April Showers! We're bringing you more than May flowers!

This year, May is bringing with it the opportunity to attend an educator's extravaganza in beautiful British Columbia!

On the evening of Thursday May 1, Crofton House School is hosting the Open Forum "Meeting the needs of students: How far should schools go?". Come and experience this opportunity to listen and interact with expert colleagues from our schools. See the flyer posted below for more details.

The following morning, Friday May 2, the 2008 Best Practices Conference will commence at St. George's School. The keynote speaker at this dynamic and informative event is Carol Ann Tomlinson, renowned researcher, consultant, author, and expert on "Differentiating Instruction", the theme of the conference.

Time is running out! To register for these events please visit the CAIS website at:

http://www.cais.ca/conferences2

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CAIS_Ad_08.pdf

Houses for Houses

For the first time ever in Canada, a school is working with Habitat for Humanity to raise the entire funds to build one of their houses. St. John’s- Ravenscourt School (SJR) has been working on an ambitious school-wide initiative to help raise $75,000 to build a home with world renowned Habitat for Humanity! A Groundbreaking Ceremony for the “SJR House” was held on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 and all members of the SJR community were invited to attend. The members of the student leadership teams of the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools were invited to officially represent the School, together with Head of School, Dr. Stephen Johnson.

The Habitat for Humanity movement was founded in 1976 in the United States and was famously backed by former President Jimmy Carter. “The program developed the idea of partnership housing, where people in need of adequate shelter, work side by side with volunteers from all walks of life to build simple decent houses”.

This year, a friendly competition invited the School's four houses to ‘compete’ for raising their quarter share of funds along with School-wide initiatives to build SJR House. They also invited SJR alumni and friends of the School to join in. For example, the SJR Kindergarten – Grade 3 classes all chose to support Habitat for Humanity as their philanthropy project. As such, when they hosted their Readers’ and Writers’ Café they dedicated their stories to Habitat for Humanity. After sharing their publications, the group joined together to meet in the Music and Arts Studio to sing “Everyone Deserves a Home” and “When We Work Together”. Additional student/school fundraising activities have included a Young House Chili Lunch, Hamber Garage Sale, Richardson “Bud, Spud & Steak Night”, Waudby garage sales, all-House ‘Guitar Heroes” tournaments, not to mention significant ‘gifts in kind’ from the parent and alumni community.

The SJR/Habitat project has brought an inspiring sense of community within the school, as well as with the neighbouring community. The students have understood how their philanthropic efforts affect people in need in a very tangible way. Pre-Habitat project, all the SJR students understood that they live in a house, and that ideally, everybody needs a home, but this particular fund raising effort highlights that people in need are close by, with no home, and that with a communal effort big changes can happen. Really big; house-size big.

To read more about Habitat for Humanity please visit http://habitat.ca/index.php

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IBSC 15th Annual Conference

International Boys' Schools Coalition 15th Annual Conference

New Worlds for Boys

Toronto, Canada, June 22-25, 2008

Hosted at Upper Canada College, Toronto, ON

Conference Partner Schools: Brebeuf College School, Crescent School, Neil McNeil High School, Royal St. George's College, St. Andrew's College, The Sterling Hall School, and Upper Canada College

A collaborative planning effort of seven Toronto IBSC schools, New Worlds for Boys will inspire each of us who attend to envision dynamic ways to prepare boys for new worlds. Boys need to be Global Boys, at home in a world of fast-paced globalisation and diversity. They need to be Green Boys, ready to care for the environment and tackle the challenges of climate change. They must become Just Boys, whose moral compass - integrity, caring, citizenship - will guide them steadfastly through a lifetime of change. Our work with them should promote Inquiring, Creative Boys, who can think creatively to solve the problems the future will bring.

To read more about the exciting conference keynote speakers and programs, and to register please visit: http://www.theibsc.org/page.cfm?p=950

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Professional Development Workshop for Montessori Teachers

Announcing a Professional Development Workshop in June for Montessori Teachers: ‘Tools and Approaches for Enhancing Critical Thinking and Inquiry in the Montessori Classroom’

The workshop is for Montessori teachers who are working to integrate critical thinking in their practice. It will be useful and inspirational for teachers who are beginning to develop their teaching in this area and  teachers who have some initial experience with the infusion of critical thinking in their teaching in this area already.

The workshop will be given by Garfield Gini-Newman who is a lecturer at OISE, and a senior consultant with TC2, a consortium that promotes the nurturing of critically thoughtful learners from Casa to graduation and beyond. Garfield's primary areas of research involve the pedagogy of critical thinking and ways to embed critical thinking in classrooms from kindergarten to graduate school. Garfield also has considerable expertise in effective assessment practice and the use of authentic assessment to engage learners. He has been working with Montessori teachers in a variety of schools including Aurora
Montessori, Tall Pines Montessori School and Toronto Montessori Schools and has a daughter in the Montessori Junior High programme at Tall Pines.

Location: Toronto Montessori Schools at 8569 Bayview Avenue, Richmond Hill ON
Dates: June 23 and 24
Times: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm each day
Cost: $50 per person

Please call Mrs. Linda Maguire at 905 889 6882 or lmaguire@torontomontessori.ca to register

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Roch Carrier Short Story Award Launched Nationally

“Bilingualism is not only an advantage; it’s also part of the great Canadian mosaic.” Roch Carrier

Previously only offered to Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada (SEVEC)  exchange participants, the Roch Carrier Short Story Award is going national for the first time this year! Students 15-17 years of age across the country are invited to send in a short story, in any genre, that celebrates Canadian identity, history or culture.

What makes this contest different from every other short story contest out there? At least 100 words of every story must be written in the participant’s second official language, making the Roch Carrier Short Story Award the only bilingual short story contest in Canada.

“We developed this award to showcase the writing talents of youth across Canada, and to provide students with a creative opportunity to practice their second official language,” says Laurie Clement, Executive Director of the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges Canada (SEVEC). The contest opens on April 1 and closes on June 1, and includes prizes such as a trip to Ottawa and meeting Roch Carrier, renowned Canadian author of The Hockey Sweater. The winner will also get a personally autographed copy of his book, as well as publication of the winning entry.

For more than 70 years, SEVEC has been connecting youth across Canada through its exchanges program, facilitating growth in language, culture, appreciation of diversity and the development of Canadian identity.

Story submission deadline is June 1, 2008. For more information contact: Marie Bilodeau, Marketing and Communications Coordinator of SEVEC 613-727-3832 ext. 205, mbilodeau@sevec.ca

For more details please visit the official contest site: www.rochcarrier.ca

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Drop Off in Drop Outs

By now we all know the benefits of achieving a high school diploma; better range of employment opportunities; once employed, a higher income; and generally more possibilities in life. That names just a very few of the advantages of completing school. For Independent high schools the goal is usually not just graduation, but moving on to post secondary education to further explore the opportunities in life.

After reading a brief article on the ABC News website http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=4569251&page=1 , it seemed that the highlights might be of interest to our schools. Independent schools do not have the same problem of drop out rates as public schools, but the way in which some American schools are tackling the dilemma may have broad range positive effects that all schools can learn from on some level.

Unlike Canada, where high school drop out rates have been improving over the last ten years, in the United States the drop out rate has been on the incline. Many US schools are trying to determine ways to fight the problem, and some are finding successful solutions. In Lakewood, Michigan, Clover Park High School made changes that have helped their graduation rate increase by 30% over the past few years.

After receiving a cash injection in the form of a Bill and Melinda Gates Grant, the school decided to restructure the school. The new format divided students into smaller groups, and paired them with the same teachers for their four high school years. For many students, the relationships formed with their teachers allowed them to feel comfortable seeking guidance on personal issues, as well as scholastic concerns.

Instead of seeing school as an intimidating institution, for many students it had a more “family-like” feeling, and for the kids with troubles outside the home, the student-teacher connection fostered a connection that allowed them to seek, trust, and ultimately follow adult guidance. The personal relationships didn’t only help the students build trust; they also allowed the teachers to cultivate a genuine concern for their pupils that they could see through to graduation. Also, the smaller class size and four year commitment removed the impersonal aspect of the classroom, and the teens were less likely to feel like a number in the educational system.

For many schools, keeping kids with the same teachers for the final four years of school may not be feasible or necessary, but it does illustrate how a trusting / mentor relationship can positively impact some students. Many adolescents are apprehensive to seek counselling from the Guidance office, but not from a teacher who seems to have a vested interest in their success.

A possible way to encourage students to utilize the services of the Guidance Counsellor may be to have the Counsellor involved in the classroom on some sort of scheduled basis. The students may develop trust if Guidance staff are not just tucked away in an office but are introduced to everyone in the classroom via an activity, seminar, or social engagement. High school can be a tenuous time for teens and school has the potential to be an excellent venue for them to find the support and leadership that they need and crave, and are not always willing or able to find at home.

Although, reportedly, 89% of Canadian high school students complete high school, whereas the US is now reporting a 70% graduation rate, we still fall behind nine European countries, including the United Kingdom, Slovak Republik and Switzerland. To read more on drop out rates in Canada please see the attachment below.

Lindsay Ireland, CAIS

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HighSchoolDropoutRateEN1.pdf