The Alberta Teachers’ Association

The following media excerpts do not necessarily reflect the views of the ATA.

Finland could teach Canada a lesson

The debate about standardized tests may soon become moot. Alberta’s new [Student Learning Assessments] aim to address many of the concerns of critics, by broadening the definitions of skills and capability. They are also less stress-inducing and will no longer alienate the teachers who have to administer them. It’s not even clear yet that the results will be made public. …This new model may prove to be a bellwether, but there are no plans in Canada to do without testing, like Finland. Darlings of the global education community, the Finns regularly score near the top of the OECD survey even though they emphasize ­autonomy in teaching, rely very little on marks in the primary years, and limit homework as well as tests. Their system is ­nimble, independent and decentralized—the antithesis of the rote-learning, test-obsessed education model.
—Rachel Giese and Caroline Alphonso, Globe and Mail, May 31, 2013

In principle, school board is right

At first glance, the decision by Edmonton Public Schools to raise the rents of community tenants might seem to be a short-sighted and possibly self-defeating move. … In principle, though, the school board is right. It may be that a public subsidy to help community groups is a good idea, but that doesn’t mean narrowly focused institutions such as schools should have to provide it. … Let the city or province come up with a program to provide such aid, and then defend the decision to taxpayers, if they think it is necessary. Let the school boards concentrate all their ­resources on education.
—Editorial, Edmonton Journal, May 30, 2013

Modern learning, antiquated plumbing

The way schools are built is frustrating, and has been for a generation, at least as far as Grande Prairie is concerned. … The DHT [Daily Herald Tribune] interviewed Education Minister Jeff Johnson recently about all this and why local boards seem to have been left stranded while dealing with rapid growth and classroom space crises. … Modulars, which appear almost as soon as a new school is completed, “are not the old ATCO trailers (portables). These are high-performance, very costly classrooms,” he said. Tell that to the mother who wrote the DHT about how her daughter and her classmates had to dress to go outside in winter across to the main building to get to a bathroom. Even ATCO trailers have toilets, sir.
http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/2013/05/24/does-government-really-believe-in-education