The Alberta Teachers’ Association

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

Answer the question, Jeff

It’s an idea without merit that just won’t go away. Education Minister Jeff Johnson has reintroduced the notion of adapting the private-sector principle of merit pay for Alberta school teachers, a balloon that’s been floated over the provincial legislature several times through the years with no lasting effect. This time the polarizing proposal seems particularly ill-timed. Although Johnson says he sees no urgency for an examination of performance-based salary incentives, his musing this week comes just as 60 school boards across the province are negotiating labour contracts with their local teacher unions. … With no clear way to measure performance, no clear evidence of improved outcomes for students and no discernible cost savings for the taxpayer, merit pay for teachers seems like one of those notions with fuzzy ideological appeal that never quite stand up to scrutiny. Unless the province is contemplating legislation to gut teacher union contracts, there’s not much chance of the idea being implemented. So why are we having this conversation again?
—Editorial, Edmonton Journal, January 9, 2013

Newtown was for teachers what 9/11 was for firefighters

It’s a good week to be a teacher, I told a friend the other night over dinner, my eyes filling up. She knew exactly what I meant, thank God, and promptly burst into tears. What happened last Friday [December 14] at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was and remains terrible on every level, but for educators it is also akin to what 9/11 was to firefighters—an awful event that was a sharp reminder that the best of their breed is made of absolutely magnificent stuff. … Six staff — four teachers, as well as Ms. Hochsprung and Ms. Sherlach—were killed alongside 20 of their young charges. All were women. Those teachers who were luckier, whose classrooms weren’t under assault, nonetheless demonstrated remarkable grit and presence of mind. … Unexpectedly, through marathon training I took up late in life, I have ended up with a sizeable contingent of educator friends. … what I’ve learned is that being in the classroom is probably more stressful and difficult now than ever before, and that more is expected of today’s teachers than ever was asked of mine.
—Christie Blatchford, National Post, December 17, 2012

ATA’s Dr. Phil misrepresented

We’re not panicking yet, but we are hoping an international study that shows Grade 4 students in Alberta are reading at a lower level than just five years ago will prompt a sincere look at the decline. What isn’t helpful is the attitude of the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s Philip McRae, who tried to portray a drop in performance as good news of a sort. “If you look over the period of 2006 to 2012, we’ve had massive change in the demographics in our classrooms,” he said, suggesting reading results could have been worse. … Alberta teachers are well paid—earning 20 per cent more than their contemporaries across the country—and our system is well funded. It seems odd that our classrooms are more complex than those in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia, which edged ahead of Alberta in the latest round of reading tests. The average Alberta score dropped 12 points, and on the global stage, we slipped from third to 12th in Grade 4 reading. Improving reading performance must be a priority for everyone in the education system.

—Editorial, Calgary Herald, December 12, 2012; reprinted in the Edmonton Journal, January 2, 2013

ATA’s Dr. Phil redeemed

The Calgary Herald editorial asserts I portrayed Alberta students’ declining scores on an international standardized reading test as “good news of a sort.” This assertion is untrue and offensive. In the original interview about recent international test results, I addressed three significant concerns, none of them good news of any sort. … Teachers in Alberta are striving to cultivate in students both proficiency and lifelong enjoyment of reading. When children and youth read well, it establishes a solid foundation for learning and engages them in one of life’s great pleasures. If we are to improve students’ reading, we must identify and address the real challenges facing children and youth in our classrooms. Alberta teachers greatly appreciate the efforts of Postmedia newspapers that participate in Raise-A-Reader campaigns. It would be helpful if the newspapers would make the same efforts to explore the complexities around students learning to read, rather than focusing on the single issue of test scores.
—Dr. Philip McRae, Letter to the editor, Calgary Herald, January 4, 2013; reprinted in the Edmonton Journal, January 7, 2013