How B.C. can build on its educational success
Policies must meet the needs of all students, Charles Ungerleider writes.
International assessments have repeatedly confirmed that B.C.’s public schools are among the highest performing in the world. That success is attributable primarily to two factors: the quality of the teachers in the province, and the relative absence of severe inequalities in Canadian society.
That does not mean all students succeed. Educational success has been elusive for some groups. Indigenous students and students with special needs are two that have not succeeded as well as the majority of their peers. Two others are children and youth in care of the Crown, the majority of whom are Indigenous, and a minority of students for whom English is not a home language.
While there is evidence of increasing educational success among students of Indigenous ancestry, there is room for improvement. Children and youth in care have begun to receive the attention they deserve, but a minority of students for whom English is not a home language continue to struggle and most students with special needs continue to languish.
There are policy options available to move B.C.’s public schools from good to great. Previously high-performing systems that have plateaued cannot be improved unless the factors impeding those students for whom success has not been achieved can be identified. Measures must be taken to devise, implement and monitor plans to overcome the challenges those students face — and to change those plans when circumstances warrant.
To do that, there are a number of things needed. First is better use of administrative data to identify the factors impeding success over which the system can exert influence. This requires significant analytical ability and strong measures of student performance that can be applied at regular intervals throughout a student’s educational career.
Regular assessment of educational progress for every learner is an essential ingredient in addressing educational inequalities. Such assessments should begin at school entry and continue at grades three, six, nine and 12. We must know if students entering school face challenges that can and should be addressed from the outset. We must also monitor student progress so we know whether students who face early challenges are succeeding at later stages in their education.
We need teachers who are able to use their professional judgment to determine the instructional program they will implement to address the needs of learners that struggle. Those teachers will need to understand what the accumulated evidence says about the practices that are most effective in addressing the challenges those struggling learners face.
It will be essential that the progress of those students is closely monitored by the teachers, by administrators, by parents and by the Ministry of Education. Successful teaching will require complementary supports from parents and administrators.
Teaching requires significant energy that precludes teachers reading reviews of evidence. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to ensure the accumulated knowledge about effective practice is mobilized and communicated to experienced teachers using a variety of media as well as workshops.
Because it is responsible for licensing, the Ministry of Education should ensure that knowledge is reflected in its requirements for certification of new teachers. Teachers are professionals who must maintain their currency of their knowledge about teaching, learning and assessment. Teaching is one of the few professions that does not require licensees to maintain the currency of their knowledge. That should change. The ministry should ensure that knowledge is reflected in its requirements for the maintenance of one’s certificate.
Teaching alone is insufficient to ensure student success. For vulnerable students, successful schooling requires complementary policies that support them and their families. That includes poverty reduction strategies and services such as family mediation services, outreach workers, safe houses and shelters, housing, and the like.
British Columbians can be proud its teachers and the absence of significant inequalities help most students achieve successful outcomes. The only obstacle to B.C. having a great system of education would be a failure to devote more nuanced attention and deliberate and determined effort to the minority of students for whom school success has remained elusive.
Only systems in which all students succeed can be considered great.