Full-day kindergarten in Ontario - Drummond report

In a heavily anticipated report:

Kill full-day kindergarten, Drummond report 

I agree with this suggestion: cutting full-day kindergarten. This is the difference between an expensive 'education', which isn't what preschoolers need, versus a nurturing, open-ended, activity-based, day care which provides opportunities for pre-reading skills to develop.

Early Childhood Education - what it is NOT!
Kids do not benefit from having reading skills forced down their throats. They need time to be nurtured, while being exposed to activities that will allow them to develop naturally. The philosophy of early childhood education is being robbed, in lieu of standard trained teachers, with little knowledge of pre-reading skills. They are trained to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, but not how to create an open environment in which creativity is nurtured.
They need to be read to, not forced to read.
They need to be able to sit and relax, not exposed to those awful school bells every day, every 40 minutes, PA announcements at the whim of the boss, living their day on a 40-minute schedule.
They need to be exposed to a rich environment that includes a variety of materials, language, literature and experiences.

I know. I've done home day care. I've raised three children. I've taught JK to grade 8, mentored student teachers. I have a degree in ECE - four years of education in young children: psychology, human growth and development, at Ryerson University, with 900 hours of practicum placements in nursery schools, day care centres, private and public schools. Yet, it is the politicians who tell us to place our young children in institutions all day. It is just plain wrong.

Education quality indicators are a far better means by which we assess Ontario education: school attendance, teacher training and performance evaluations, addressing special needs, student attendance. This is how we predict school success.
Access to additional teacher qualifications (ADQ) -university courses: to develop specialists in math, reading, special education, etc. I have ADQs in primary education, my special education specialist, and M.Ed. in curriculum. All expensive courses that build better teachers and a better curriculum. Not day care in the guise of full-day kindergarten, all costing taxpayers far more than we need spend.

• We need working parents to be able to find caregivers (especially for disadvantaged kids) who can provide a safe learning environment in which these skills are not taught (read forced), but facilitated, at the speed at which the learner is able to handle them. 
• We need ECE grads who understand pedagogical practices, with sociology, psychology, and an understanding of the Key Experiences in Early Childhood, e.g., Classification (attributes, similarities, difference), seriation (ordering), numeracy, literacy, spatial relations (behind, up, down), temporal relations (today, tomorrow, yesterday). 
• We need caregivers who can manage a child in day care, who are trained, responsible, and understand ages and stages.
• Caregivers who know the questions to elicit thinking skills.
• We need caregivers who understand that 'curriculum' is a dirty word in early childhood, and that the Ministry of Education cannot enforce cookie cutter learning expectations for 3 and 4 and 5-year olds.

a day based on 40-minute periods

 

desks in rows

dress up for a princess

crafts that look all the same - teachers with name tags,
walkie talkies, watched by principals, superintendents
concerned about performance and test scores

Let each teacher spend time in improving their curriculum, and increasing their awareness of disabilities and integrating curriculum and technology. Professional development is an important part of this, more training in classroom behaviour, and teaching, not testing.

games and songs!

So much more depends upon high test scores than a test at one point in time.

indoor free play

role play

more dress up!

being read to - with no pressure to perform

EQAO testing in Ontario

EQAO Testing
Kill full-day kindergarten, Drummond report 
This article suggests Drummond will say to cut Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) testing, which costs millions. I agree.

outdoor play

(Even though Don Drummond is a former TD bank economist, when it comes to education, and Ontario's $16-billion deficit, he may not know how right he is!)

free painting

Having worked on the first grade 6 EQAO Math tests, marking the pilot tests, I find that there is no advantage to children or parents in publicly advertising EQAO scores. There is no advantage in determining provincial scores and comparing students from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnic groups, new Canadians, the learning disabled, by scores. Theoretically, each school takes their reports and comes up with 'new' strategies for improving scores. This in an era of cutbacks, lower school populations, and public schools funded on a per student basis.

water play

EQAO Testing: What is it?

tvoparents.tvo.org/article/eqao-testing-what-it

30 Apr 2010 – EQAO stands for Education Quality and Accountability Office. It is the provincial agency that designs and tests Grade 3 and Grade 6 students

Getting rid of EQAO testing

Any feelings about doing away with EQAO? This has become a monster tail wagging the dog of education. If the Ministry is looking to save money (given these lean days) then eliminating EQAO would be a good place to start. View the full discussion.

making play choices

the SK classroom - too busy for ADHD kids

Full-day kindergarten in Ontario

Music and fun

I want to weigh-in on this one. Retired, you may think I have no reason. But I do. I see what my grandchildren are doing at school and I shudder. I see where my tax dollars are going and I shudder.
I see faux activity-based curriculum and I shudder.
I have written in my blog: *Thank Your Teachers, several posts about full-day kindergarten.

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB.ca), where I taught for 25 years or so, has been debating, with parental input, on how to manage full-day kindergarten (ages 4/5) with parents who need day care. The provincial government has been spending a lot on this initiative.

I am really opinionated about this and totally against it.

dress-up

You see they are holding info sessions, bringing in outside 'experts' to celebrate an integrated system, whereby the school board will be the day care provider, rather than having an outside provider chosen by parents, or third party providers in the school. Is it day care or is it pre-school?

Having taught Junior Kindergarten and all the grades up to gr. 8, including many split-grade and special education classes, I do not believe that keeping a child in a school-based institution from age 4, all day, up to grade 12 is a good idea. Too much politics in education these days. Politically driven agendas and decisions. The costs to taxpayers for full-day kindergarten are incredible, too.  Trustees were also expected to vote on adding five more full-day kindergarten classes, at a cost of $750,000.

Reading buddies: gr. 4 read to K
This is great pre-reading interest-based learning.

As a teacher, the continual ringing of the bells, the constant interruptions by the PA system, the fire drills, lockdown practices, fundraising, inflexible routines, full-school assemblies, not to mention the student-teacher ratio (1:20 or 25) in many classrooms isn't right for many a youngster. I've seen them. Especially the kids who are active, and need truly play-based activities.

Parents have choices, from nursery school to non-profit, for-profit day care, or home day care. There is a huge myth that children in school will learn more. Research does not support this notion. It supports play-based learning.

Worksheets
Children are being coerced to do homework/worksheets in JK, when many are unable to hold a pencil properly or well. Pre-reading and pre-writing skills do NOT look like this! Fun for some, but not a prerequisite to writing and small-muscle coordination.

This is art: doing a free drawing.
This is representation of an experience.
This is pre-reading: having a scribe to write your story.

Pre-school 'worksheets'
this is NOT learning

The teacher doesn't have time to watch children develop proper techniques, not with a 1:25 teacher/student ratio. There are many who hold a pencil awkwardly, or haven't developed the fine muscle skills, or eye-hand co-ordination to trace the letter 'T', or to use scissors. They simply are not ready.

Play-based Learning
I have a degree in Early Childhood Education. I know what Play-based Learning is all about. It is NOT these wrote exercises. Children need to be drawing freely, drawing what they want, when they want. The whole premise of play-based learning is choosing the activity: the dress-up centre, puzzles, books, art activity, not teacher-directed activities. Teachers haven't mastered this in the education system in many circumstances.

open-ended nature studies
-a teachable moment possible in day care

Too many teachers pre-cut figures, in order to allow the child to do 'cut and paste' well before a time when they are able. Early on kids learn that their art doesn't quite look like another's. Because these are cookie cutter activities. Everyone's art looks the same at the end of the activity. This is NOT play-based learning. Gender issues alone indicate that learning is achieved on an individual basis.

Play-based learning means integrating the Key Experiences in early childhood: active learning, exploration, using language (receptive and expressive), classification, seriation, numeracy, literacy, spatial relations, temporal relations, representation of experiences and ideas.

Research-based Decision-Making
The Kate Hammer, at the Globe writes:
Ontario’s program is the most ambitious because it includes four-year-olds as well as five-year-olds, and aims to bring before- and after-school care as well as year-round child care to every school.
But it will be years before there’s conclusive evidence as to whether the investment of billions of dollars by the Ontario Liberal government in full-day kindergarten is justified.

Sand play!

Hammer tweets a comment by Annie Kidder (People For Education), Annie asks- Have we moved from evidence-based decision making to decision-based evidence making in education?#p4e2011
Yes, we have. But it isn't new. We do more research in education and we ignore much of it, as well. The pendulum ever swings in curriculum design.

normal drawing development
begins with the mandala
a universal trait
open-ended, free drawing

In fact, there is little proof that early forcing of reading and writing works for many children. Children, in a play-based learning program, ought to be developing at their own speed. Gender research shows that boys read and write later. The proof is in long-term testing, which our politicians little understand.

Education vs. play-based learning
We know how the 1965 Head Start programs in the US failed to show an impact in many circumstances. These programs work for high-risk kids, ESL kids, kids without the basic background knowledge, and pre-literacy knowledge and education of the average family. But Head Start is a far cry from full-day kindergarten.

Program Costs
The cost of day care to working class families can be exorbitant. OCDSB is suggesting $26/day for before and after-school care. What happens in summer, when kids should and can hang out, away from an institution? We need intimate, caring caregiver sites, where children are treated like children, not students. This is where the best learning takes place. I've seen it in day care, home day care and early learning centres. I have seen little of it in school-based institutions.

Hillier and Hudak, political party rhetoric

Theoretically, in a political campaign, a party present its platform, made of of various planks:
I loathe the communication that says, pick the most important issue of the campaign.
A political party needs to come up with an holistic platform that will support their work in the next four years. It should cover all of the important topics, as a politician is responsible for all constituents, from jobs, the economy, healthcare, looking after newcomers, there are many issues...

Select just one!

•  Crime
•  Economy
•  Education
•  Environment
•  Health Care
•  Transportation

Hydro

Home maintenance & repairs

Hillier, my local (LFLA) MPP, doesn't seem to understand Hydro. I mean, who should pay for hydro? I believe that users have to pay. It is not cheap. When we cannot afford to pay our hydro bills, or maintain our homes, we will have to down-size. We have cashed in some money to pay for a new roof this week. If you cannot maintain your home, you need to make changes. House hunting we saw so many neglected homes. Residents who neglected themselves, too.

An excellent, well-researched article about Hillier's hydro position by Geoff Davies, reporter with Perth Courier, provides balance:

But Hillier needs to get his facts straight, says Bill MacDonald, the local candidate for the Liberal party.
When contacted for comment by The Perth Courier, MacDonald first took issue with the Tory pledge to scrap the HST from energy bills.
“The Liberal government has already removed 10 per cent off the top,” MacDonald said, whereas Ontarians would only see an eight per cent savings if the HST’s provincial portion is removed.
Next, he addressed the “weird math” behind the promise to scrap the debt retirement charge. 
(Read more here: MPP Hillier talks hydro)

Healthcare

Then there is healthcare...I am tired of those claiming the system is 'broken'. Those with a grudge, or an individual incident. Many do not understand healthcare protocols, and rant and rail at the system.

No room for elderly in Ontario hospitals, coalition charges

In Ontario, according to information from the health care workers' coalition, 18,500 hospital beds in Ontario have been closed over the last 15 years. Hurley said workers are concerned that further downsizing, and the movement of services, such as surgery, from smaller community hospitals to regional centres, may be on the way. The members of provincial parliament for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and Leeds-Grenville, Randy Hillier and Steve Clark, have both expressed concern about small-town health services moving to Kingston and Brockville, Hurley said.

There are many elderly in hospital and LTC. We are short beds, and have many ill at home, which is where they want to be. Hudak, provincial Tory leader, claims that we need to 'change'. I fear this.

Well, you can't have it both ways: either you cut taxes, and cut services, or you increase taxes and provide more services.

spring meltwater

The Environment
@randyhillier - "Dalton McGuinty banned pesticide use across the province.” http://ow.ly/6qgF9


This tweet blames bedbugs on the use of pesticides. As if. The professionals are still using them, but with restrictions, and not in the way we used to use them on private property. Hillier, get your facts straight! 


Especially for those of us living a rural life, we cannot continue to let cows pee in the river, or dump pesticides on the land where we draw our well water. We don't pee in your pool, don't pee on our watershed.


The recent LFLA debate was crazy, with many landowners demanding 'back off government', without understanding the purpose of environmental laws, and protections. Regulations and red tape, the libertarians claim, prevent landowners from making a living. Perhaps, they are saving us from extinction. We don't clear cut anymore. We cannot exploit the land for our own gains, as we are only borrowing the land from our children. These same libertarians decline to pay property taxes (i.e., liberty from government), are against same-sex marriage, etc. (The Tea Party Libertarians in Ontario #ontpoli http://bit.ly/mVc3Al) 
(onpoli Ontario Politics 

.@randyhillier, please pay your taxes. IC: "satisfied that the financial disclosure form is clear". bit.ly/rtZZ55 #PCPO #onpoli)
THIS makes @randyhillier look foolish!http://ow.ly/6u8KG

Thanks to Environment Canada for protecting our wildlife: the flora and fauna that makes Ontario a good place to live. We need to protect those who will exploit wildlife.
Here is one story:
Burns pleaded guilty to depositing bait within 14 days before the first day of the open season for waterfowl and hunting waterfowl within 400 metres of a baited area that has not been free of bait for seven days. He was fined a total of $2,500 for the offences, plus court costs. Burtch pleaded guilty to depositing bait within 14 days before the first day of the open season for waterfowl and knowingly making a false or misleading statement to an officer. He was fined a total of $1,750 for the offences, plus court costs.


Education

Just so you don't think that I back either the Liberals, or any other parties, I don't. McGuinty has instituted some foolhardy schemes: full-day kindergarten. This has resulted in crowded schools, and a lack of proper day care facilities for parents of you children. They confuse full-day school attendance with actual bang-for-the-buck learning. Kids learn by play, in a comfortable environment, in a day care where they are regulated by the school bell, when they can nap if needed. It is expensive putting 3 1/2 and 4 year-olds in school full-time, and truly ridiculous. My daughter thrived in day care, as has her daughter. We need licenced day care providers, not expensive teachers, with an ECE degree, not a one-year-degree and B.Ed., who may or may not understand young children. I taught kindergarten, and know that not all kids need, want or require full-day schooling.

Full-day kindergarten in Ontario

Role play and play dough

The costs are enormous. The benefits for the kids are questionable. Many schools are crowded, with portables set up even before a new school opens.

Solving problems children don't have

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/...

Full-day K vs. day care? Does it make sense to take money from kids who need it and give it to kids who don't?

finger puppets

As someone with a B.A. (ECE) I think tax dollars are being wasted on full-day Kindergarten. Kids need more love, nurturing, and play-based learning than regular teachers in a union care to understand.

Kids learn best in an activity-based setting, not a school, but a day care-type setting, in a comfortable environment, in which life isn't controlled by that gawd-awful bell.

Playing

Where teachers with more than a 1-year B.Ed., but knowledge of creating playspaces have a holistic understand of of wee ones learn.

I've worked in schools and done my time in day care, and private schools. McGuinty is making a mistake creating a full day school for kindergarten kids who learn by play, by makig choices about sand, water, art, house centre, not sitting at tables colouring pictures..

We need subsidized day care for the kids who need it. The working poor. Schools are too expensive, the infrastructure too onerous. Single parents, kids with disabilities, need licenced day care, not an education. In licenced day care, with registered, trained caregivers kids get the best start. We could help many more children who need early identification of psychosocial, emotional disabilities. We need to ensure they have dental and medical care.

running outside in the forest
outdoor play is a big part of an integrated program

We need subsizided day care places in top notch centres, for children who need day care while parents work. These are children who benefit most from quality, government supported assistance. We know that kids need to develop prereading skills through play.

Early Childhood Education specialists who understand the developmental process, not a teacher slotted into a kindergarten by a principal/manager who similarly may not understand how forcing an education on a child may be a huge mistake.

Playing 'snake' with kittens
running free

We need teachers who integrate crafts with social skills, playtime is learning time. We need kids to be exposed to prereading skills, not to have reading pressure thrown at them. Especially the boys who tend to read later than girls.

Swimming at the beach
RVCA

Hugs from gramma

The McGuinty government claims they are introducing a 'new' theory, yet when I earned my ECE degree at Ryerson (1979), this is the philosophy of most of the theorists and the philosophy of most of the facilities in Toronto, where I did 900 hours of practicum placements in nursery schools and day care centres. It was not the philosophy of most of the JK, SK, Gr. 1 classes. The school system still fights the play-based learning and integrated programs.

finger puppets

toes in sand

water and sand play

buckets, shovels; playing with others