Rebuttal to Dr. Pushor's Article in The Conversation
Recently there's been a bit of a kerfuffle in Saskatchewan as math performance has tanked. Those of us who have been watching for a while, aren't too surprised, yet we were just curious when it would happen. Saskatchewan isn't immune to edu fads and progressive child centred teaching strategies, and their curricula guidelines aren't too different from other provinces which have seen similar nosedives in their academic performance as well.
What I take great exception to, is we now have some emerging from the world of academia pointing out that "parent engagement" is crucial in order to improve academic achievement. The writing couldn't be more clearer on the wall regarding the proliferation of constructivist pedagogy and weak curricula, yet we now have "experts" from curriculum departments telling us we need parents to get more involved in their child's education.
This is why I'm adamantly opposed to raising awareness about "parent engagement".
For the past 12 years, I have been involved with my children's schools, taking active roles on Parent Advisory Councils, I've presented at Board Meetings, served on committee groups, was part of consultation discussions in the community when our new curriculum rolled out, and have presented multiple times at parent meetings throughout the community. I have supported all of my children's teachers in the schools and have ensured my kids were available before, during, and after school when they needed additional support in their studies. NONE of this mattered though, when my eldest started struggling with convoluted math strategies in elementary school. She struggled with this for two years before we finally came to the realization that the only help she would receive, in order to achieve a basic grasp of her math facts, was through outside tutoring support. She was 10 years old. No matter how engaged, supportive or how helpful I presented myself as a parent, it didn't have any impact on my child's poor grasp of her times tables. Ironically, when I started inquiring about why my kid's weren't learning math effectively, my volunteer activities in the school no longer felt welcomed. My support in the school was only acknowledged if I helped with fundraising activities or to help with Staff Appreciation Events. Raising concerns about math class was out of the question.
Others have raised this issue too. In 2012 Professors Ross and Anna Stokke were featured on the cover of Maclean's magazine with the headline, "Why Is it Your Job To Teach Your Kid Math?" In particular, Anna raises the point about parent involvement in our schools:
What I take great exception to, is we now have some emerging from the world of academia pointing out that "parent engagement" is crucial in order to improve academic achievement. The writing couldn't be more clearer on the wall regarding the proliferation of constructivist pedagogy and weak curricula, yet we now have "experts" from curriculum departments telling us we need parents to get more involved in their child's education.
This is why I'm adamantly opposed to raising awareness about "parent engagement".
For the past 12 years, I have been involved with my children's schools, taking active roles on Parent Advisory Councils, I've presented at Board Meetings, served on committee groups, was part of consultation discussions in the community when our new curriculum rolled out, and have presented multiple times at parent meetings throughout the community. I have supported all of my children's teachers in the schools and have ensured my kids were available before, during, and after school when they needed additional support in their studies. NONE of this mattered though, when my eldest started struggling with convoluted math strategies in elementary school. She struggled with this for two years before we finally came to the realization that the only help she would receive, in order to achieve a basic grasp of her math facts, was through outside tutoring support. She was 10 years old. No matter how engaged, supportive or how helpful I presented myself as a parent, it didn't have any impact on my child's poor grasp of her times tables. Ironically, when I started inquiring about why my kid's weren't learning math effectively, my volunteer activities in the school no longer felt welcomed. My support in the school was only acknowledged if I helped with fundraising activities or to help with Staff Appreciation Events. Raising concerns about math class was out of the question.
Others have raised this issue too. In 2012 Professors Ross and Anna Stokke were featured on the cover of Maclean's magazine with the headline, "Why Is it Your Job To Teach Your Kid Math?" In particular, Anna raises the point about parent involvement in our schools:
Furthering this conversation should include all kids. On the flip side of the two tier education system, we have kids that come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those kids in foster care. In British Columbia, the last time any data was available on foster kids and academic achievement, was 2015. Ministry of Children and Family Department critic, Mary Turpel Lafond was crystal clear in her analysis in the report:
“It’s yet another year where no one has written the Math 12 exam,” Turpel-Lafond said. “I’ve been pushing the education issue for coming on seven years. I’m very disappointed that there isn’t single child in care that can take the Math 12 exam. I fail to accept that and that speaks to a continued challenge, not only to MCFD, but also to schools and education.”
So who's going to speak for these kids? What type of "parent engagement" will ensure these kids will aspire to catch up to their classmates who have the additional support of outside tutoring?
We're fiddling while Rome burns.
It's beyond frustrating to hear academia suggest parents need to do more to ensure their kids succeed academically, when they themselves have the power to implement meaningful change.
Parents do enough. We ensure they're at school, ready to learn, and the majority of us do the best that we can. Why suggest we need to do more? It's patronizing, and it doesn't help further the conversation that needs to occur: without ensuring rigorous curricula, strong textbooks and effective support exists for teachers in the students, no amount of parent engagement will ever affect declining academic achievement.
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