School trustees need to be held accountable
More than half of local public schools have more student test scores failing to meet provincial standards than they had five years ago.
Thirty-two of 53 elementary schools — 60 per cent — had more test scores below the standards in 2016 than in 2012. Ditto for eight of 14 high schools — 57 per cent.
At six elementary schools, at least 10 per cent more tests failed to meet the standards.
More scores fell below the standards at nine of the 10 lowest-ranked elementary schools in the Fraser Institute’s annual report last month. These are the schools that should be getting the most help.
Our students have scored largely below the provincial average for more than a decade. And their scores are worse now than they were five years ago.
You don’t have to like the conservative Fraser Institute. You don’t have to like ranking schools. These numbers have nothing to do with that. They’re based on the provincial tests in reading, writing and math in grades 3 and 6, the Grade 9 math test and Grade 10 literacy test. They track schools’ progress.
By any measure, with school improvement plans, professional development and more money for fewer students, you would expect higher scores after five years.
“That’s not good enough,” trustee Alan Halberstadt told the Star’s Dave Waddell.
No, it’s not. But you don’t hear that often.
The board set aggressive targets for improvement three years ago. It wants 10 per cent more students to achieve the provincial standards in Grade 3 reading and Grade 3 and 6 math. It wants five per cent more students to meet the standards in Grade 3 and 6 writing, Grade 6 reading, Grade 9 academic and applied math and the Grade 10 literacy test.
The board wants to meet these targets by September, and it’s using new reading programs and a new math strategy to get there.
School boards are required to write annual improvement plans. They’re not required to include numerical goals, but many do. This is the first time this board has set such aggressive targets for all nine tests.
But here’s the key: “Ultimately, we should be accountable for these goals,” Halberstadt said.
Yes, they should be. But you don’t hear that often, either.
The board has met its targets in three of the nine tests, Grade 6 writing and Grade 9 academic and applied math.
Grade 3 reading has improved by four per cent. Grade 6 reading is up two per cent. Grade 3 writing improved two per cent, then dropped four percentage points.
Grade 3 math has fallen six percentage points, and Grade 6 math is down four percentage points.
Board director Erin Kelly says elementary school scores would have been two percentage points higher, but there was an influx of students who couldn’t speak English. However, that doesn’t explain the decline in 60 per cent of schools over five years. Despite some successes, there is a long way to go in crucial areas like primary reading and primary and junior math.
If the board doesn’t meet all its targets, “we need an explanation,” Halberstadt said. “If we can’t meet the objectives, or we’re not at least moving in the right direction, there should be a good reason.”
If there isn’t, “it’s up to trustees to decide what the way forward would be,” he said.
School trustees no longer levy education taxes or negotiate the main labour contracts. Many people don’t even know who their trustees are.
Trustees seem to spend most of their time closing schools and competing for students.
But their main job is ensuring that kids learn. If they don’t do that, “what’s the point?” asked former education minister and local public school trustee Dave Cooke. “What is the value-added for trustees if they can’t deal with this?”
You can learn about the board’s test scores and improvement plans at its meetings or on its website. But most people don’t.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if the director gave a major presentation — what we’ve accomplished, haven’t accomplished, what our objectives are?” asked Cooke.
Like University of Windsor president Alan Wildeman’s state of the university address.
Some trustees and board officials didn’t like Waddell’s story on declining scores or Halberstadt’s comments. It was “demoralizing,” they said.
But, said Halberstadt, “the numbers speak for themselves. When it comes down to it, the basics are reading, writing and arithmetic, and that’s what these scores measure.”
Admit there’s a problem and fix it. Don’t blame everyone else.