Card, titled Catching Up:
<http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/reportcard/archive/2010/07
/31/catching-up-education-news-over-the-summer.aspx>
Education News During the Lazy Days of Summer - Part 1.
Thank you, Janet, for keeping Minister McDiarmid's conclusions about the
disappointing results of the FSA scores on the front burner. When I read
the Sun's article on her "calls for changes in schools as test scores fall"
(July 1, 2010), I was stunned to read that her conclusion is that "we
absolutely must find new and innovative approaches to student learning."
If Bill 33 were respected and students needing Individual Education Plans
(IEPs) received the one-on-one support they are entitled to, there would be
no need to speculate on what the outcomes would be if only we could come up
with more innovative approaches. Before 2002, when class size and
composition legislation was respected, I worked with many successful
students with IEPs in my mainstream classrooms, but it was the
individualized attention they received from support workers that made it
possible for them to be successful.
FSA scores are dropping? The government needs to enforce its own
legislation to see them rising. Minister McDiarmid needs to stop hiding
behind the "flexible funding" argument for the failure of Bill 33 to be
implemented across the province - if School Boards can be required to
balance their budgets, they can also be required to implement Bill 33.
Then we would see FSA scores rise dramatically. That would make much more
difference than any pedagogical innovation!
Starla Anderson, Ed.D., in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on
Language and Literacy Education
