The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Parents need performance assessment

The Alberta Teachers’ Association has been calling for the demise of the Grade 3 and 6 tests for years. The group says the tests hamper teachers who try and please their higher-ups with good scores, and consequently teach to the test. Redford tapped into this discontent and pledged to scrap the tests, adding momentum to her campaign for the Tory leadership last fall. The Fraser Institute has been using the test results to compile its annual report card for the past decade, drawing criticism from politicians like former Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, who said it was a misuse of the data. That point is in dispute, but what is clear is that parents need an assessment of their children’s and school’s performance. By all means, improve the tests, but don’t scrap them or obscure the data.
—Editorial, Calgary Herald, June 6, 2012

Zeros don’t add up

Criticism of an Edmonton public high school teacher who gave students zeros for failing to hand in their assignments doesn’t add up in our books. Lynden Dorval has been suspended and expects to be fired for failing to mark missing assignments “not completed,” as required under the school district’s grading and reporting practices. We think Dorval, a physics teacher with 35 years’ experience, is just the kind of educator we need in our classrooms. Rather than coddling students and pretending it’s acceptable not to hand in assignments, Dorval is sending a powerful message—one that will help young people today and throughout their lives.
—Editorial, Calgary Herald, June 5, 2012

Rocky View, rocky start

Rocky View Public School board has released details of its contract negotiations with its teachers, much to the surprise of its teachers. Such a move does not foster a trusting working relationship. Sure the reporter in me wants to know what both sides are demanding, but I also know that any bargaining is a series of back and forth demands. I think there is still a lot of talking that has to take place. For the board to release the demands and proposals all in the name of “transparency” is a slap in the face to the teachers’ union.
—Angela Kokott, QR77.com, June 4, 2012

No zero, no fail … no motivation?

The no-zero policy is part of the bigger no-fail policy, in which no matter how badly a student performs, he or she gets promoted to the next grade anyway. That’s not quite the way things are in the real world, so if schools think they’re doing kids a favour by overlooking their poor performance—they’re not. … The no-fail notion has spread beyond the classroom. In team sports, every kid gets a trophy, including those who play so badly they really should take up some other sport. This sends a single message—why should I bother—with two different meanings. The kids who play well wonder why they should bother to give it their best effort when the worst player on the team gets the same trophy they get. The kids who play badly wonder why they should bother to work harder when they’ll get a trophy anyway.
—Naomi Lakritze, Calgary Herald, June 4, 2012