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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

How a TV Reporter Came to Love the "Worst School" in B.C.



Tired of simplistic calls for ranking schools by publishing test scores? Fed up with think tanks tearing a strip off public education? Ever wish reporters would know exactly what you're up against every day before commenting on teachers' lives, pay or performance?

Have I got a video for you.

Three years ago, the Fraser Institute ranked elementary schools in British Columbia and decreed that Roosevelt Park Elementary School in Prince Rupert was the bottom of the barrel - the worst school in the province.

Imagine the blow that must have been to the teachers, students and community there.

Now, imagine a reporter setting out to discover the truth about Roosevelt Park, by actually teaching there for a week.

No credentials, strong desire
Set aside the fact that CBC reporter Mark Kelley had no teaching credentials. He knew he didn't have the paper nor the experience. But he had a strong desire to get to the truth about this maligned school and the many at-risk students it served. And that's exactly what he did.

Kelley travelled to Prince Rupert to do your job for a week - and learned so much in those brief five days.

Part one of the series has been lost somewhere in the CBC archives, (if you find it online please let me know). But part two has been preserved by some thoughtful soul on Google Video.

Spend the next six minutes on this one and enjoy the feeling of watching someone wake up to the fact that teaching is incredibly tough, test scores are a poor measure of the work both teachers and students do, and school rankings aren't worth the newsprint they're wrapped in.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 17, 2010 11:49 PM

    Excellent program. I am glad to see someone investigated that a school is waaay more than test scores and that there are many factors that can affect a child's education.

    Thx. for posting this.

    Dave

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  2. Raman JobMarch 18, 2010 11:20 PM

    Glad you liked it. And you're right on about the many factors that affect a child's education. We all know that a student's success is never solely up to the teacher.

    Think tanks like the Fraser Institute are fixated on one form of output - standards tests. But they conveniently ignore all of the inputs that go into the system. You can't measure one without measuring the other.

    Thanks for your comment, and if you ever come across the first part of this series, please let me know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris WejrMarch 22, 2010 10:19 AM

    I have been searching for this for a few years! Thank you so much for posting this!

    If only the Fraser Institute could spend a week in our school before they pass judgment and rankings.

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