Welcome to Education This Week - The Canadian Edition

Since opening our Canadian office in November 2003, the Educational Policy Institute has provided ground-breaking research on education issues that matter to Canadians. During the past six years, EPI has and continues to provide dozens of free publications and data tools for policymakers, researchers, and educators across the country to bridge the gap between research and practice.

This week we are pleased to expand our Canadian services with the addition of Education This Week: Canadian Edition. Education This Week includes commentaries by EPI President Dr. Watson Scott Swail (and a University of Manitoba/Red River College alum), plus regular guest commentaries by Roseann Runte (President of Carleton University), Ben Levin (University of Toronto), and Patricia Moore Shaffer (EPI VP of Research and Development and a graduate of Brock and OISE). Other guests are being rounded up.

We hope you enjoy EPI’s Education This Week. Please forward this note to your colleagues so they can sign up for our weekly newsletter, plus adjust your membership preferences so you can receive either the Canadian or US editions or both if you prefer (you can read the US Edition by clicking the link above).

Happy Reading.

COMMENTARY

Alberta, We Have a Problem

WATSON SCOTT SWAIL, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute

This week the Alberta provincial government announced that it was allowing post-secondary institutions to hike their tuition and fee charges for 2010, given that provincial subsidies will be zero funded for the next couple of years at a minimum. As expected, student and other groups are up in arms about the increases, suggesting that the Stelmach government is pulling the rug out from under students in Alberta. And, to a degree, they are. Interestingly enough, this comes during the same week where the University of California’s Board of Regents increased tuition 34 percent. It could be worse, Alberta.

The continual challenge for post-secondary education is the act of balancing check books: institutions require a certain level of revenue to operate, and are at the mercy of the provincial authorities as to (a) what subsidies they receive for operating revenue and (b) what tuition and fee charges they can levy against students and families. If there aren’t enough funds to operate institutions, then either seats (students) must be reduced, efficiencies created, or quality reduced. Not that complicated. READ MORE...

Twenty years after the U.N. adopted a treaty guaranteeing children's rights, 1 billion children are still deprived of food, shelter or clean water, and nearly 200 million are chronically malnourished, UNICEF said Thursday. The report noted one of the convention's most outstanding achievements was the improvement in child survival. The number of deaths of children under 5 decreased from around 12.5 million in 1990 to an estimated 8.8 million in 2008 — a 28 percent decline, it said. The convention has the widest support of any human rights treaty, with ratifications legally binding 193 countries to its provisions. But not all countries are implementing its requirements. Only two countries — the United States and Somalia — have not ratified it.

Source: UN Says More Children in School and Fewer Dying

THE NEWS

More Homework Rebels Speak Out
Erin Anderssen, Globe and Mail
A Calgary couple who fought their children's school to stop homework is just the tip of the iceberg. Parents across the country are weighing growing evidence that homework may hinder more than help. While a survey by the Canadian Council on Learning found that the majority of parents felt that homework enhanced learning, more than 60 per cent said it was a source of stress in their homes.

Montreal Goes Into High Gear to Inoculate Children
Aaron Derfel, The Gazette
Montreal public-health authorities yesterday launched an H1N1 vaccination blitz in the hope of immunizing as many as 170,000 elementary and high school students before the Christmas holidays. On Monday, elementary and high school students across the island will start being bused to vaccination clinics. Authorities hope to bus 9,000 students a day for flu shots. Logistically, the mass busing is expected to pose challenges to schools, bus companies and parents. Poirier suggested that some boards might first start busing high school students at least 14 years old, because they don't require parental consent for flu shots.

Tough Alternatives for Schools
Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
As enrolment declines, parents seeking unique learning environments for their children face fewer options, and that's causing arguments. Like most other school boards across the province, Ottawa's public board is facing decreasing enrolment, putting pressure on its specialized programs. It's a tough place to be -- the OCDSB needs specialized programs to stay competitive with other area boards, but with fewer students, it means these programs are increasingly difficult to maintain and expand.

Two-tier Health, Two-Tier Education
Don MacPherson, The Gazette
Not only does Quebec have two-tiered access to health care, it has also had a two-tiered system for admission to English-language schools. Bill 101 generally restricts admission to English schools to children who have already received most of their elementary or secondary education in English in Canada, or whose parents, brothers or sisters did. But since the restrictions do not apply to schools that do not receive any government funding, parents who can afford tuition fees at an unsubsidized English school can buy their children's way around them. The only question has been whether this privilege should be available only to the really wealthy or to the middle class as well.

Time to Reel in Phoney Fish Sales
Edmonton Journal
A new national survey including input from 95 students at Edmonton's Old Scona secondary school found that, similar to the results of an earlier study, roughly 25 per cent of the fish we buy is likely "mislabelled." You don't have to be a confirmed cynic to guess that this involves cheaper species being sold as more expensive products

B.C. System to Ensure Post-Secondary Institutions Meet Quality Standards
Jeff Bell, Vancouver Sun
The Education Quality Assurance system is designed to ensure B.C.'s post-secondary institutions meet quality standards is a first in Canada. The EQA program will not duplicate established regulations or quality-control methods, and will be an important part of marketing and promoting B.C. as an education destination.

Bad Time to Raise Tuition Rates
Calgary Herald
Raising tuition during an economic downturn when part-time jobs to finance a post-secondary education are at a premium will only result in lower enrollments. Compound all that with the fact the University of Calgary's undergraduate tuition, at $4,958 a year, is fourth highest in Canada, and the average post-secondary tuition in Alberta is third highest at $5,520 annually. Yet, the province says it will allow post-secondary schools starving for cash to apply to increase base tuition in their professional programs. [Featuring EPI’s Dr. Swail]

U.S. College Athletes’ Graduation Rate at 79%
The Chronicle-Herald
U.S. College athletes are continuing to graduate at a record rate. For the second consecutive year, the NCAA said Wednesday, the graduation rate was 79 per cent for student-athletes entering U.S. college in 2002-03, meaning they earned their diplomas within six years. That ties last year’s record for a single class. According to federal statistics, college athletes are still graduating at a higher rate than the overall student body.

Stressed Out with Papers And Exams? Just Say 'Om'
Vancouver Sun
If the stresses of college have put you at risk of high blood pressure, try transcendental meditation. A new study in the American Journal of Hypertension found meditating students had “reduced psychological distress, anxiety and depression.” They also showed greater reductions in overall mood disturbances, anger, hostility, and better coping skills compare with meditation training wait-listed students.

The Best Kind of Investment
The Leader-Post
Starting in January, $70,000 promoted by former Prime Minister Paul Martin, will help train 22 aboriginal students at Scott Collegiate in business and other disciplines. Concerned about the drop-out rates of aboriginal students, high rates of unemployment and poverty, Martin started an education fund under his family's name in 2006 after leaving office. The first project, a First Nations school in Thunder Bay, saw graduation rates improve to 75 per cent compared with the national average of 40 per cent on reserve and 57 per cent off reserve. Now, he will help launch 22 business careers.

Universities 'Bail Out Students'
BBC News
Students of poorer families experiencing higher education for the first time are being particularly hard hit as aid to around 70,000 students in England is still caught in delays. Now, universities are being forced to absorb costs such as rent, food, and course materials for students still awaiting loan moneys. The Student Loan company has apologized for the problems.

School Students Warned Against Work Overload
ABC News- Australia
In Australia, it’s believed around 260,000 students combine work with high school study. This is a positive experience for most, but a Parliamentary report shows too many hours can affect students’ studying. Sharon Bird, committee chairwoman Labor MP says secondary students value the chance to earn their own money.

Academic Researchers’ Conflicts of Interest Go Unreported
Gardiner Harris, New York Times
A report from the Department of Health and Human Services shows 90 percent of universities rely on researchers themselves to decide whether money made in consulting and other relationships with drug and device makers was relevant to their government-funded research. In addition 50 percent of universities don’t ask their faculty members to disclose the amount of money or stock made from drug and device makers, too.

College Resurrects Grave Digging
BBC News
Peterlee Town Council in England realized the number of their staff members retiring or moving on. The council now has a new need to skill their parks workforce in grave digging. The council contacted East Durham College, explaining the situation, and before too long, staff resurrected a grave digging course, dropped four years ago due to lack of interest. More institutions are beginning to adjust to the needs of changing environments.

Teachers Prepare Anti-Government Election Campaign
Ben Worsley, ABC News- Australia
The Foundation for Young Australians surveyed 900 students from high schools across Australia to try to quantify the problem of schoolyard racism. The survey found that 70 percent of students reported suffering some form of racist abuse. It also found that Africans, Afghanis, Indians, Pacific Islanders and indigenous Australians suffered the most and the worst-affected group is first-generation migrant females in years 11 and 12.

Study Allays Concerns about Peer Effects Among Aboriginal Students