CENSUS says stay in school. Deciding what to do!

So, the latest census figures released by Statistics Canada tell what many of us have been saying for years, that whether you complete a trades certificate (to become an electrician, a carpenter, a plumber or a brick layer), a college diploma (for a career as a police officer or fire fighter), or a bachelor’s degree “staying in school [...]

Toronto Africentric school “within a school?”

According to the Saturday edition of the Toronto Star, Louise Brown says that the Toronto District School Board is proposing to put “Canada’s first Africentric alternative school within a school — not a free-standing building — for a wing of sprawling Sheppard Public School near the northwest corner of Sheppard Avenue West and Keele Street” in Toronto. [...]

Upgrading to Word Press 2.5 painless

Like so many people, I don’t particularly like change. So, when I was faced with having to upgrade to Word Press 2.5, the latest version, I was a little nervous. Particularly because it was reported to be quite different and I am not a techie by any stretch of the imagination. Well, I can report [...]

Ryerson — cheating or peer tutoring?

So, when is cheating not really cheating? Has the goal post moved or is it the changing technology that is making defining cheating that much harder? And, what exactly are study groups and peer tutoring and when are they considered cheating? For example, is it okay to work with a group of fellow students if you are [...]

Jeffreys principal proves Africentric not the issue

Not long ago I posted articles here on what makes an excellent school and a successful principal. I also published my disagreement with the Toronto District School Board decision to fund an Africentric black-focused school. This post will deal with an excellence piece in the Toronto Magazine section of Saturday’s National Post. Written by Ben Kaplan, it [...]

School choice for First Nations students

Imagine a school with the motto — Struggle and Emerge — and you will get an idea of what is so special about the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, a private high school located in Wilcox, Sask. Started in the 1930′s by Athol Murray, a priest with the personal credo — God, Canada and [...]

School board’s historically regressive decision

Cynics Unlimited has written an excellent follow up to the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) historically regressive decision last night to approve the offering of segregated programs and a blacks-only high school to open in the fall of 2009. I will not call it a black-focused school today because that is the politically correct wording of [...]

Good school principal=Successful school

Given the decision that is imminent by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) about the black-focused school in Toronto, we should all be shouting from the roof tops about what makes both a good principal and a successful school — starting and ending with total school board support in terms of the allocation of resources and [...]

Toronto’s black-focused school MUST succeed!

Assuming the trustees of the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) approve the blacks-only pilot programs and stand-alone school at tomorrow night’s meeting, the Toronto Sun’s Moira MacDonald is saying in a column today that failure is not an option. And, I whole heartedly agree with that hope — in spite of the fact that I [...]

What makes a school successful?

In the next week I will be doing a series of two articles on school success starting today with “what makes a school successful” — whether elementary, middle school or high school. A related article will follow on what makes a good school principal. To get a non-partisan view of this issue, I have done an Internet review of the literature using selected sources [...]