Parents ‘n Schools

With the new provincial election, and cabinet shift that followed, Alberta (once again) has a new Minister of Education… the fifth (or is it sixth?) in the 8 years my kids have been in government schools. Hard to fault children for not completing high school when government itself suffers from such questionable “stick-to-it-ive-ness”.
This new Education […]

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Mossi White was the keynote speaker at the Alberta School Councils Association’s (the parents’ voice in provincial public education) conference banquet this past weekend. Ms. White lives in Utah and is a former President of the National School Boards Association in the United States. She is an engaging speaker and a sincere advocate of […]

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The ASCD’s Educational Leadership magazine’s April 2008 issue at page 14 begins an article titled “Closing the Teacher Quality Gap” thusly:
“Many of us educators, in our roles as parents, have worked hard to get our own children into the classroom of an unusually good teacher — or out of the classroom of a teacher who […]

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I want to thank you, Gentle Reader. And let you know that you are not alone.
Operating statistics for this website reveal that in its first month of existence there have been over 1200 unique visits and over 4000 page views. Whatever that means. I think it means there’s more than one of you and that […]

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I’ve mentioned before that in my past life as a parent representative on education professional development boards I would occasionally be asked why so few parents come to conferences — even the portion-of one-percent that were organized specifically for parents. One facet of the answer is “when parents actually DO attend, how are they later […]

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I have a mind of my own. No really. I do. I think. And that’s kind of what this entry is all about. But I may undermine it right off the bat by revealing that it may actually not be my mind that is at work here, but Amazon’s. (I’m telling you… they’re gonna be […]

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When my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary not long back, I found myself “flashing forward” to my own…
“Heh, Grandpa… what did you used to do when Mom was my age?”
“Well, Grandchild-Whose-Name-Escapes-Me, I spent my days “partnering” with government schools regarding your mother’s education.”
“Government schools? What are they? Governments don’t deliver schooling.”
“Not anymore, child, thank […]

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For all of us who always wanted to read the encyclopedia from A to Z but didn’t (or didn’t quite finish), the Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs (2004) is a great substitute. A kind of “patch” for the learning addicted. It reads like a travelogue. Not through foreign lands, but through the pages and entries of […]

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Have you tried the “Bookstore” button over there to the left? Have you? You really must. Totally cool technology from the folks at Amazon (you mark my words, that company is going to be BIG someday).
Well, I clicked on it the other day again myself in the gruelling responsibility of staying on top of this […]

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Golly. Just as you’re pondering what to write about next, the mail arrives. And in the mail yesterday was the regular “education update” from ASCD. And what did they find worthy of front page status for April is an article titled “Tapping Parent and Community Support to Improve Student Learning”. Excitedly I dropped everything and […]

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