COMMENTARY

The Winning Attitude

June 11, 2010

WATSON SCOTT SWAIL, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute 

I write today's commentary from Chicago, Illinois, where we are in the final day of our International Conference on Student Success, or RETENTION 2010. Thus, no more emails for another six months about this event. You must be relieved (Retention 101 coming up, though!).

More significant, perhaps, is that our host city is in the midst of a celebration after winning the Stanley Cup after a 49-year drought. The city just held a ticker-tape parade this morning and a few of us missed a conference session or two to watch the procession.

As a hockey fan, it was fun being here in Chicago for game 6 when the Blackhawks won the Cup two nights ago. There are many connections between my hometown of Winnipeg and Chicago. Twenty-two year-old phenom Jonathan Toews, a Winnipegger, led his team to Victory. And former Blackhawk and Winnipeg Jet Bobby Hull, who, as a 21-year old, led the Hawks to their last win in 1961, is taking it all in. READ MORE...

People in the prime child-rearing age group of 25 to 44 were most likely to move out of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and into the surrounding suburbs between 2001 and 2006, with one in seven (14%) making that move. In contrast, just five per cent in that age group made the move from the suburbs back to the city in Toronto and Montreal, and 4% did so in Vancouver.

Source: The National Post

THE NEWS

84% of Ontario’s grade 10 students pass literacy test
By EQAO News Release
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) released highlights of student achievement on the 2010 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), written in April by over 170 000 English-language students across the province. Of the students who wrote the test for the first time, 84% were successful, maintaining the high rate of success seen over the past few years—85% in 2009, and 84% in 2008, 2007 and 2006. About 88% of the Grade 10 students who wrote the literacy test this year had also written the provincial Grade 6 reading and writing test in 2006. EQAO’s tracking study showed that, of the 40 835 students who had not met the standard in reading in Grade 6, 62% (25 424) were successful on the OSSLT on their first try this year.

East Vancouver schools win accolades for student learning in new school skills study
By Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
Two east Vancouver elementary schools have had exceptional success in teaching basic skills and should be guiding lights for other schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, says the author of a study to be released on Thursday. David Johnson, an economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, said an examination of student scores in reading, writing and math indicates Britannia and Grandview are doing much better than other schools that serve poor, aboriginal and special-needs populations. “These two schools are clearly doing something right,” he told The Vancouver Sun as the C.D. Howe Institute prepared to release his study measuring the quality of B.C. elementary schools based on marks from the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) over three years.

School moves away from ‘coding’ kids
By Karen Kleiss, Edmonton Journal
Tucked in the city's deep south near 42nd Street and 12th Avenue, it is one of 16 city public schools testing an innovative new program that mixes kids who have special needs into regular classrooms. The two-year pilot project is part of an attempt to move away from "coding" students according to disability, then allotting funds based on the number of children with special needs. Instead, a new report called Setting the Direction encourages the province to move toward an inclusive education system that puts kids of all kinds in one classroom. Alberta Education spokeswoman Zoe Cooper said the province will make an announcement Friday about its response to the framework outlined in Setting the Direction.

Want to go to UBC? You’ll need an A average
By Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun
The vast majority of students applying to the University of B.C.'s Vancouver campus this fall need at least an A average, the highest marks ever required at the school. And some faculties, like science, require even higher marks than the 86 per cent needed for an A. "Science will look at students as low as mid-80s, based on the strength of a personal profile, but most of the students who get into sciences have grades in the very high 80s, or higher," said Andrew Arida, UBC's associate director of enrolment. The faculty of arts, traditionally one of the easiest departments to get into, now requires an 85-per-cent or higher average.

Laurier creates aboriginal programming council and appoints senior advisor
By Wilfrid Laurier University News Release
Wilfrid Laurier University has appointed Aboriginal elder Jean Becker as interim Senior Advisor: Aboriginal Initiatives to enhance post-secondary educational opportunities for Aboriginal students. Becker, an elder-in-residence for the Aboriginal Field of Study in Laurier’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program, will begin her term July 1. Reporting to Laurier President Max Blouw and Vice-President: Academic and Provost Deborah MacLatchy, Becker will oversee activities related to Aboriginal initiatives at the university, and will help develop future programming.

VIU will stop accepting credit cards for payments on tuition
By Sherry Wota, Canada Daily News
As of September, Vancouver Island University will join more than 50% of Canadian universities that no longer accept credit card payments for tuition. Credit card payment for student union and activity fees will also no longer be accepted. The cost to administer credit card payments to VIU is more than $420,000 per year, with credit card fees between $330,000-$340,000 annually. "We believe that these funds can be better used to develop quality programs and services for students attending VIU," school spokeswoman Toni O'Keefe said.

It’s onward and upward
By Kate Dubinski, The London Free Press
London isn’t a world-class city, and the University of Western Ontario isn’t a world-class university, but they’re both on their way, says president Amit Chakma. “I don’t think the University of Western Ontario can achieve its goals if the City of London doesn’t achieve its goals. We can’t have a world-class university in a city that isn’t world-class,” Chakma said in a speech Monday at the Rotary Club of London. “We have a desire to play at a world level . . . We’re in the business of educating our future leaders.” Chakma said he wants to “open up” Western to the rest of the world. One of his biggest goals, he said, is to increase the number of international students.

Careers-guidance statements demanded as Willetts unveils choice agenda
By Simon Baker, The Times Higher Education
Every university will be asked to state how they prepare students for the world of work by David Willetts' opening salvo to improve transparency in the sector. The Higher Education Funding Council for England is to write to institutions asking them to produce Graduate Employability Statements explaining how they support students in areas such as careers guidance and work placements, the universities minister announced. Mr Willetts said it was the coalition government's first move to help students make more informed decisions about their choice of university, and said he hoped to announce further measures in the months ahead.

Report warns of research shortfall
By Guy Healy, The Australian
China and India are attracting greater numbers of the world's top researchers, making it increasingly difficult for Australia to counter a looming researcher shortfall, the federal government has been warned. Allen Consulting, in a report to the government, says Australia will find it increasingly difficult to attract researchers from these countries as their economies continue to expand and funds flow into their domestic innovation systems. The report, titled Employer Demand for Researchers in Australia, comes to this stark conclusion after receiving advice from 72 survey respondents, including the University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology and the CSIRO.

Students at Canadian university get extensive real-world experience
By Karen Birchard, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Every four months thousands of University of Waterloo students leave their classrooms for offices, factories, and hospitals, supplementing their university education with real-world professional experience. The unusual combination is known as a cooperative program, and while the idea for it originated decades ago in America, it has blossomed at Canada's Waterloo. Waterloo, in Ontario, operates what it believes is the largest co-op in the world, with more than 13,000 students enrolled in it. And Waterloo's program is increasingly attracting international students, along with a growing number of marquee global companies, like Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank, and Google.

Engaging Faculty and Staff: An Imperative for Fostering Retention, Advising, and Smart Borrowing (February 2008)

Watson Scott Swail with Rebecca Mullen, Hyniea Gardner, and Jeremy Reed