Canada
Classroom Technology
Is Requiring Online Courses a Good Thing? Teachers in Canada Aren't So Sure
A proposal in Ontario to require students to take two online courses before high school graduation has drawn objections from a teachers' union in the province.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
British Columbia's Curriculum: A Glimpse of the Future?
Marc Tucker speaks with the leader of British Columbia's recent curriculum reforms that were co-created with teachers across the province.
School & District Management
Canadian Teachers Share 9 Ways They Support English-Learners
Canadian teachers use a variety of methods to teach ELL and refugee children to read and write in English, with remarkable success.
English Learners
Video
Nine Ways Canadian Teachers Support English-Learners
Three-fourths of the roughly 500 students at Islington Junior Middle School in Toronto, speak a language other than English at home. There are also a growing number of refugee children from Syria settling here, many of whom have had interrupted schooling and are not at grade level in their home language. Canadian teachers use a variety of methods to teach these children to read and write in English, with remarkable success.
Equity & Diversity
How Canada Found Success With English Learners (Video)
Within three years of arriving in Canada's public schools, children of new migrants do as well as native-born children.
English Learners
Video
English-Learners Are Thriving in Canadian Schools
About a third of Canada鈥檚 school-age population is either immigrants themselves or have at least one parent who was born in a different country. Yet, despite the well-known challenges immigrants face, Canada has one of the highest-performing education systems in the world. How do they do it? English-learners in Canada have access to a range of services both inside and outside the classroom, including experienced teachers and extra funding, outside tutoring and mentoring programs, as well as social programs and free health care. And with mostly positive community support for immigrants, it鈥檚 easy to see how these students thrive in their new host country. But Canada is not immune to the rising anti-immigrant sentiment that has become more pervasive in the U.S. and in European countries in recent years.
Education
Canada's Most Populous Province Offers Free Child Care Starting in 2020
In Ontario, children from two-and-a-half to kindergarten age will be able to attend free, full-day licensed child care year-round starting in 2020.
Equity & Diversity
In Canada's Public Schools, Immigrant Students Are Thriving
Immigrants in Canada's schools perform on par with native-born students within three years of arriving. What is Canada doing that the United States isn鈥檛?
Federal
Video
In Canada, a Welcoming Environment and Community Supports Help Syrian Students and Families Thrive
Canada has long been seen as a country welcoming to refugees. In recent years, there have been 10,000 refugees from Syria, settle in the Ontario province. While schools concentrate on improving their English language skills and reading and math performance, there are more than 200 settlement centers that help new immigrants integrate into the broader society. They鈥檙e often called a 鈥渙ne stop shop鈥� for immigrants, where settlement workers help show families how to do everything from access the health system and apply for jobs to how to dress for the winter and use a computer. Many settlement centers have offices in schools so it is easier for families to access services.
Teaching
Opinion
One Canadian School's Vision for Feedback-Based Assessment
Going gradeless was an idea that would begin to address a more active involvement by the students in the learning. I shared my thoughts with the staff and the School Council but cautioned them that I would need to seek approval from the Board prior to it becoming a reality. Initial reactions by most was to wonder if I hadn't taken a few too many hits to the head in a previous career.
School & District Management
News in Brief
Canadian Teacher Wins Prize for Work with Inuit
Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher in a remote village in the Quebec province of Canada, has won the 3rd annual Global Teaching Prize, sponsored by the Varkey Foundation.
Federal
News in Brief
Toronto District Stops Booking U.S. Travel
Canada's largest school district will no longer book any trips to the United States because of fears students might have trouble at the border stemming from travel restrictions enacted by President Donald Trump.
Teaching Profession
Canadian Teacher in Indigenous Community Wins $1 Million Ed. Prize
Maggie MacDonnell won the award for her work helping students in a rural, isolated community plagued by high suicide rates among teenagers.
Federal
Opinion
A Glimpse Into Canada's Practices Helps Us Examine Our Own
A report on professional learning in Canada provides insights we can use.