Mind the Gaps

I was employed as a teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board for 18 years before resigning in 2018. During that time, I also became the president of the Association for Bright Children London Chapter (supporting gifted children and gifted children with another special education need), started advocating pro bono for children with different special education needs in public education, and began working on my community-based learning project that the kids who first participated called "Stanton Academy". In 2018, I put my name forward for appointment to TVDSB's Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). You can read more about all of this volunteer work in another post.

This post isn't about my commitment to improving the community through volunteerism, pro bono work, and advocacy though. It's about what I've learned from my experiences as a public school teacher in Ontario, my volunteer and pro bono advocacy work, and my time with a provincial children's charity supporting students with special education needs.

What I'm about to say is shocking to no one: our system needs improvement.

I see many wonderful things happening in our public schools. Those are the parts that we post on social media and that sometimes get shared as good news stories by the media. We like those stories - they affirm what is going well in classrooms and help us focus on our successes as a system. Great things are happening for many students. That should not be diminished in any way.

There are parts that are not so lovely and, in my time both as a teacher, advocate for parents, and advisor to the board, I have seen a real disconnect between what school staff and many parents know to be true and what is openly discussed as a significant issue: there are many kids who are not being served in the way that they deserve to be through public education. The disconnect exists because school staff can't openly address it and our school board staff doesn't talk about it openly either. If anything, it's downplayed.

There are many kids who are not being served. Even when staff is doing their best with what they have, this happens.

Some of those kids are instructional casualties: they haven't received the instruction they need to flourish. We see this being addressed in Ontario right now as a result of the Ontario Human Rights Commission's Right to Read Report.

Some of those kids are suffering from a reactive approach to intervention - or late intervention - when starting earlier could result in fewer resources being needed and a better outcome for students. We know that early identification and intervention make a huge difference. The disagreement seems to be about what "early" means, exactly. When we don't address learning concerns early and in a proactive manner, kids suffer.

It's commonly understood that behaviour is communication - that might look like withdrawal, acting silly, or becoming violent, for example. This can be evidence of needs not being met. When students are having "behaviour problems" that disrupt their own learning and that of others, none of those kids are being served in the learning environment. This is one of the most significant ways that I hear parents and teachers talking about a disconnect between reality and public face/perception. There are little fires everywhere but they are being considered as isolated incidents instead of being indicative of a larger issue: how does one teacher use Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction to meet the variety of learning strengths and needs in one classroom when the needs are so diverse and there are limited resources to assist the teacher and students to close the gaps that exist?

It's a promise to the public from the province that isn't being kept. Policy documents that continue to be released from the Ministry of Education speak to admirable goals for our public education system. But, just like policy that is created at the school board level, you have to make sure that there is a plan in place and resources to make it possible to enact it. In this province, the expectations from the government, the funding that is provided, and the ways in which our school system is organized are not aligned for student success.

Kids are falling through the cracks. They are falling through by not being given equitable opportunity to meet their academic potential, by experiencing social and mental distress in school settings that don't address their needs, by being awarded credits that do not reflect mastery of course curriculum, by parents choosing private school in order to have academic needs met, by having parents pick up their children regularly from school because staff don't have the resources to cope, by having parents become what is referred to as "reluctant homeschoolers" - educating their children outside the system on their own - as we had to do with our children who are highly gifted but not permitted to learn at their own pace in public school - but who would have preferred to participate in the public education if their child's needs could be met, or by refusing to attend school or dropping out altogether.

Public school board trustees aren't able to redefine the provincial funding formula - but we can advocate for change. We can understand the funding formula and how earlier identification of children's needs may actually lead to more funding of special education needs from the province. We can expect evidence-based decision-making so that supports and services for students aren't slashed in favour of an unproven alternative that, years later, we have no evidence is working and is likely contributing to unrest in classrooms. We can budget smartly by prioritizing front-line investments that result in direct and positive improvements for students. We can insist that we spend carefully and embrace a culture of efficiency so that public tax dollars are meaningfully spent in all areas. We can encourage innovation and solutions-focussed planning at the school level where principals decide on classroom organization. We can ensure that, when students leave TVDSB with their required credits, they are leaving with the knowledge and skills that should accompany them. There is so much we can do.

I'm a realist. It would be disingenuous to claim that I believe we can close the gaps in education based on our current circumstances with our government in Ontario. However, I absolutely believe that we can stop the widening of the gap and begin to narrow it through our actions at the board level.

We can do it. Children come first.