Empowered Educators in Canada: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality

BEST PRACTICES FROM CANADA'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEMS Empowered Educators in Canada is one volume in a series that explores how high-performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results. The anchor book, Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World, is written by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues, with contributions from the authors of this volume. Empowered Educators in Canada details the core commonalities that exist across Canada with special emphasis on the localized nature of the systems—a hallmark of Canadian education. Canada boasts a highly educated population, and the provinces/territories truly value education as evidenced by the significant proportion of public funds allocated to schooling. Operated by the provinces and territories, participation in kindergarten, primary, and secondary education is close to 100% across the nation. In addition to offering traditional academics, secondary education includes opportunities for students to attend technical and vocational programs. To demonstrate exemplary education systems, the authors examine two top-performing jurisdictions, Alberta and Ontario, which have developed strong supports for teacher development. Canadian teachers are highly qualified, and salary scales in all jurisdictions are typically based on a teacher's level of education and years of experience. While Canada has enjoyed much educational success, the education of First Nations students has historically been one of the country's more controversial and contentious issues. Overall, Canada is a country that is proud of its education system and places a high value on—and participation in—publicly funded education.

Table of Contents:
Foreword vii Acknowledgments xi About the Sponsoring Organizations xiii About the Authors xv Online Documents and Videos xix Chapter 1 Education in Canada 1 Overview of Canada 1 Governance of School Systems 5 Organization of the System 6 Primary and Elementary Education (Grades K–8) 6 Secondary Education (Grades 9–12) 7 Separate and Private Schools 7 Educational Funding 7 Student Expenditure 8 Working Conditions 9 Teacher Pay 9 Teaching Time 9 Aboriginal Education 10 Conclusion 11 Chapter 2 Teacher Policies and Practices in Alberta 13 Geography 14 Demographics 14 Inequity for Racial (Visible Minorities) and Aboriginal Populations 16 Students in Alberta 17 Student Population and Demographics 17 ESL and FNMI Students 19 Social Welfare 19 Student Learning in Alberta 20 Governance, Sociopolitical, and Historical Context in Alberta 20 Alberta Education (Ministry of Education) 22 The Alberta Teachers’ Association 22 Alberta Ministry of Innovation and Advanced Education 23 Funding for Education 23 Curriculum and Curricular Decision Making 27 Focus on the Whole Child 28 Student Assessment 28 Educational Equity Concerns 30 Teachers in Alberta 31 Teacher Compensation 32 The Work of Alberta’s Teachers 35 Teacher Attrition and Retention 39 Teacher Preparation 41 Funding 42 Teacher Preparation Programs 43 Teacher Certifi cation 50 Teacher Induction 52 Professional Learning/School Improvement 54 School Improvement 61 Change in Institutional Resources 62 Change in Teaching Approaches and Strategies 62 Alteration of Pedagogical Assumptions or Theories Related to Innovation 63 Teacher Evaluation/Supervision/Teacher Growth 65 Conclusion 66 Appendix 2–A Teaching Quality Standards 70 Appendix 2–B Vignettes of Teacher Preparation Programs 75 Ambrose University 75 Canadian University College 76 Concordia University College of Alberta 77 The King’s University 79 University of Alberta 80 The University of Calgary 83 The University of Lethbridge 85 Chapter 3 Teacher Policies and Practices in Ontario 87 System Improvement and Ontario’s Theory of Action 88 Ontario’s Theory of Action for Educational Improvement 90 Overview: Ontario Education System 91 Length of School Year, Instructional Time, and Organization of the School Day 93 Governance at the Provincial and Local Level 94 The Ontario Ministry of Education 95 Provincial Curriculum and Assessment 97 District School Boards 98 School Councils 99 Teachers’ Federations 100 The Ontario College of Teachers 101 Principals’ Associations 102 Partnership Working among Provincial and Local Organizations 102 Improving the Ontario Education System: Provincial Goals and Results 108 Focus on Priority Goals 109 Looking to the Future: A Renewed Vision for Achieving Excellence 115 Supporting Teachers and Teaching Quality 118 Initial Teacher Education 121 Recruitment 137 Induction: The New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP) 155 Continuing Professional Learning 160 Evaluation and Performance Management 182 Teachers’ Career Development 185 Leadership Development for Administrators 188 Leadership Recruitment and Succession Planning 190 Preparation and Professional Development of Administrators 192 Conclusion 197 Appendix: Methodology 203 References 205

About the Author :
CAROL CAMPBELL is associate professor of Leadership and Educational Change and codirector of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. KEN ZEICHNER is the Boeing Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. Prior to moving to the University of Washington, Zeichner was the Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Teacher Education and associate dean for Teacher Education and International Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. ANN LIEBERMAN is currently a senior scholar at Stanford University. She is an emeritus professor from Teachers College, Columbia University. PAMELA OSMOND-JOHNSON is an assistant professor of Educational Administration with the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina.