Education excellence requires equity

Take 6 minutes and watch this video.



I'm all for improving our public schools. I want my children's teachers to be better than me.

But what if our focus on reforming our schools is a distraction from addressing income inequity and poverty?

Poverty isn't an excuse -- but it does explain why so many families and schools are struggling to set children up for success.

The most important problem facing American children today is not bad teachers -- it's poverty. 

Canadians, and more specifically Albertans, are not immune to this. Take 9 minutes and watch this video to see how two schools in Calgary can be so very different.



I could care less about the achievement gap. If we want to set all children up for success then we have to care far more about the opportunity gap.

The good news is that we don't have to choose between improving our schools and addressing poverty -- but let's not pretend that education can lift people out of poverty.

Without equity, excellence is a pipe dream. 

Alberta: 11,000 new kids with 14.5 million less dollars

The Alberta government has cut 14.5 million dollars from the education budget. With the addition of 11,000 new students and an increase of 7% in the ESL population, students will feel the pinch. Visit www.stopthecuts.ca to send a message to the Alberta government.

Glenn Kelly/For Metro

So how do these number translate into real life?

Sharad Gadhia, a grade 10 student at Queen Elizabeth High School in Calgary wrote an email to Alberta's Education Minister Jeff Johnson that explained how being stuck in classes with more than 40 students is impairing learning.

This story was covered by Calgary Metro News: 

Sharad Gadhia, who attends Queen Elizabeth High School, said up until Monday, two weeks after classes began, students in his class had been forced to share desks with the teacher and each other, and sit on stools. He said, even now, a large table has been moved in to accommodate a few kids and instructional time resembles something closer to that seen in a university lecture hall.

Here is Sharad Gadhia's letter to the minister:

  Student Letter

The Alberta Teachers' Association knows that class sizes are a major problem that needs to be addressed. After all, a teacher's working conditions are a student's learning conditions -- and while it's true that smaller class sizes alone may not be sufficient in increasing student learning, it is absolutely necessary.

Alberta's burgeoning classrooms are boiling over so intensely that on the same day Edmonton Metro and Calgary Metro ran headlines that have Edmonton and Calgary competing for the most overcrowded classrooms in the province:

Calgary Board of Education high school class sizes among highest in province before cuts

Data reveals EPSB high-school class sizes among highest in province before budget cuts

Here are two videos that the Alberta Teachers' Association has published in order to advocate for teachers and students who are faced with overcrowded classrooms.

Remember, class size doesn't matter unless you're one of too many students or the only teacher, and when people say class size doesn't matter, they are talking about other people's children.

Alfie Kohn is coming to Calgary

WHO: Alfie Kohn

WHAT: The Homework Myth

WHEN: Thursday, May 10. 7:00 pm

WHERE: Calgary, Alberta. Murray Fraser Hall (University of Calgary). Lecture Theater #162

WHY: Because too many kids get too much of a bad thing.

HOW: Tickets can be purchased for $35.00 here.




Here are all of my blog posts on why we need to rethink homework.




Here are a number articles by Kohn on Homework:

Rethinking Homework

Studies Support Rewards, Homework, and Traditional Teaching. Or Do They?

"But I Need to Assign Homework! Look at All I Have to Cover!"

Abusing Research: The Study of Homework and Other Examples

The Truth About Homework

Changing the Homework Default

Down with Homework

Kids may be right: Homework stinks

Interview with Alfie Kohn about homework

Ross Greene is coming to Calgary

Ross Green

WHO: Ross Greene

WHAT: Collaborative Problem Solving Advanced Training

WHEN: May 9-11

WHERE: Calgary, Alberta. Executive Royal Inn.

WHY: Because children will be successful when they can, we need to move away from "doing things to" children and move towards a "working with" approach.

HOW: For more information on registration check out this page.

Here are a couple posts I've written about Ross Greene's book Lost at School:

Ross Greene's approach for working with children

Ross Greene's Lost at School

Alfie Kohn's interview with Ross Greene

Here are all of my posts on rethinking discipline.