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School, like life, needs to be about outcomes, not inputs!

10/1/2013

4 Comments

 
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Is it my imagination, or sometimes does it seem to you that the education system has it backwards? The other day I had a mom come in to see me about her son. She was potentially interested in enrolling him with us but was waiting to see what services might be provided by his local school. Given the fact that it was almost October, I asked what I thought was the obvious question namely, "surely they must know what he needs by now?'. Her answer intrigued me. She told me that after they had read his psych-ed assessment, there was complete consensus about what needed to be done. Now, she was told, the school had to wait until after the September 30th special education grant submissions to the Ministry to find out if they had the additional money to provide the necessary support. The implication was, no extra grants, no service! 
Now here's the thing. This scenario gets played out all across the country. The Ministry is trying to divide the pie fairly, the school district is trying to deliver the best possible services with limited resources, the school is waiting for potential extra staff, and the child is sitting, probably until the end of October (with 20% of the school year gone), hoping for help that might never come. It would be nice to think that the Supreme Court decision last year in the Jeffrey Moore case (a former student at our school) would have opened up the floodgates of individual and school district funding. That has not been the case. It would be equally nice to think that, having been slapped on the collective wrists, all school districts were going to ramp up their level of service. That is also, highly unlikely. The reality is that most school districts and probably the Ministry would assert that the quality of programmes and services have improved significantly in the last fifteen years and that they are doing the best that they can. Two key issues that have framed this response were the fact that the Supreme Court did not find “systemic” discrimination – in other words, funding cuts by the province were not deemed to be automatically responsible for what was perceived to be uneven and discriminatory service reductions at the school district level; and, the ruling really zeroed in on “quantitative” issues not qualitative ones. The range or “intensity” of service was the core issue, not its quality or effectiveness. If the benchmark was set on how well the programme met the needs of each child then we could expect class action suits on behalf of every student in the mainstream who ever failed a course or dropped out without graduating. The SCC decision was about inputs, not outcomes. 
That brings us back to the conversation between mom and the school. Mom is talking about outcomes ("I want my son to improve his reading and writing".) and the school is talking about inputs ("We hope to get another Special Ed resource teacher".) The reality is that no matter what level of funding the District and ultimately the school get, this young boy will still need help. Help with his academics and help with his self-image and his mindset about what he can and can't do. So, if the current approach is backwards, how can we flip it on its head? How can we disentangle student growth and achievement from its dependence on the provision of additional specialized personnel? What do we need to do so that we can jump into action on the very first day that a child walks into our school and not make her or him wait, fingers crossed, for support that may be forthcoming weeks or months down the line?

The fact is, we need educators and schools who can envision a goal for each child and then work out a plan to help them get there. The key is to focus on measurable, attainable outcomes. It doesn't take a lot of extra money or staff, it just takes time and perseverance. Our school is filled with skilled educators who do it every day. They backcast from where they want the students to be, through reverse steps, right to where they are now. The result is the creation of a "micro" curriculum through an individual education plan for each student. Along the way the teacher establishes benchmarks and assessment criteria to measure progress (and help with mid-course corrections) and then when it is all in place, they can reverse direction and begin to move forward to the preferred future for each child.

It is grunt work for each teacher and each student, but they can do it. It doesn't take a special room or special resources. It just takes that special person to work with your child. And, the best part is, no matter where you are, they can start tomorrow! Maybe then we can stop worrying about what inputs we have coming into the school and put our energy where it belongs, on student outcomes.






4 Comments
Mark Brown
10/1/2013 09:25:18 am

You nailed it: "No special room or special resources"... just someone who cares enough to make sure the child is successful.

I literally just had this conversation today about a child's success becoming 'the buck that is passed' (i.e. passing the buck).

Perhaps you meant it when you said 'resources', but I would also say that no special programs are needed. I am saddened every time I hear of an educational program, of any description, becoming the input ("silver bullet") that will provide some missing output. Whether it be student discipline, "special needs" (don't we all have special needs?), or otherwise it really is all about the relationship between the learner and the teacher.

As you and I used to agree on: it isn't taught until it's been learned.

Reply
Harald Yurk
10/2/2013 04:48:58 pm

Jim,
I very much agree with you that measurable outcomes are what is needed to create an environment for learning. I also agree that schools and school districts need to develop individualized learning plans right away when the need for it has been established. The Ministry actually requires the school and the district to develop individualized learning plans for children who have been assessed as having a learning disability. You are also right in that school administrations are often to blame for not creating an environment where teachers can implement such a plan right away.

What I can't totally agree with but I am happy to think that I misunderstood that point is to shift the blame solely onto the teachers in the public school system. To give you an example my son's grade 3 teacher in his previous public school started to develop an individual learning plan even before he had had his psych-ed assessment, although she wasn't sure what his particular learning style ie disability might require. As soon as she had the assessment in her hands she started developing a more advanced individualized plan and looked for other resources within the district. However, she also has a classroom with 24 children of which at least four more (likely 6) children were already assessed or were waiting to be assessed. On the other hand she had very limited support in form of a resource teacher due to budget limitations. I would not go and blame her for not being able to give my son the individual attention he needed but I will blame budget cuts for her not getting the support to do exactly that.



Reply
Jim
10/2/2013 11:10:07 pm

Hi Harald,

Thanks for your comment. Actually, I think that we are on exactly the same page. I believe that it is through individual teachers rather than systemic interventions that the really meaningful interventions take place. Your account of a Grade 3 teacher in the public system is a case in point. You don't need to be in a specialized school like ours over even a District pull-out programme but rather need to have that one special teacher who sees what needs to be done and does their best to do it.
Your description of the barriers that get in the way of that happening (class size, lack of other supports) is the real tragedy in this. The "inputs" that are needed are more in the form of support that frees up talented teachers to spend one on one time with their students. A study years ago in the UK showed that if you put teacher aids or support personnel in a classroom, their most effective role was to work with the mainstream kids freeing up the teacher to work with the students who faced the greatest challenges. Pretty much the opposite to the way the system actually works in most jurisdictions.
Thanks again for your thoughtful comment!

Reply
Harald Yurk
10/3/2013 10:17:47 am

Jim,

I agree 100% with your assessment and I am not surprised about the findings in the UK study. I had talked to some teachers in Vancouver about the lack of support and they have told me that despite the official role of the support personnel they had made an arrangement with their aids to do exactly what the study showed to be the most efficient use of the resource.

On a personnel level, although I am not officially working as an instructor anymore I recall the personal satisfaction I gained from helping my struggling undergraduate students (those few of the 100+ that decided to contact me by e-mail or during office hours) to develop personalized learning goals with them. In the end it did not matter to (most of) them that they had not received the same grades as the top students in the course but they had gained confidence in their ability to learn a subject they originally found too difficult to understand and had regained self respect. This made me feel good like I did my job.

However, I failed so many other students in the course who could have had a similar experience but decided not to contact me or the Teaching Assistants. I contemplated many times alone and with colleagues on how to reach these students during class/lecture/seminar but I am wondering now whether these students may never have learned how to ask anybody to help them setting achievable learning goals for themselves, which means they were never taught how to learn. I am very happy to know that my son is in an environment where he is given the chance to learn how to learn at his own pace.




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    Dr. Jim Christopher is recently retired Head of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School in North Vancouver. A parent, author and long-time teacher, and educational administrator across Canada, he has been actively involved in the drive to differentiate learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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