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Ontario Classroom Dispute Puts Sports, Clubs at Risk
Source: Globe and Mail, August 30, 2012
Excerpt: "A small but growing faction of angry teachers will withdraw voluntary services--from club supervision to coaching and directing plays--casting a cloud of uncertainty over the coming school year in Ontario. The move is not a directive from unions, but a decision by individual teachers who feel betrayed by the Ontario government. Educators are up in arms over legislation being pushed through at Queen’s Park this week that dictates the terms of their next contract."
Ontario Dead Last in Terms of Inequality, Poverty and Funding for Public Services
Source: Toronto Star, August 29, 2012
Excerpt: "Ontario is dead last in Canada when it comes to growing poverty, increasing income inequality and financial support for public services, says a coalition of labour and community groups formed last spring to oppose the province’s austerity budget. The report by the Ontario Common Front released at Queen’s Park Wednesday, aims to inform Ontarians about the social and economic issues at stake as the province begins drafting next spring’s budget, the group says."
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ON: 5,000 Teachers Rally at Queen’s Park to Protest McGuinty’s Education Bill
Source: Toronto Star, August 28, 2012
Excerpt: "The self-styled “education premier” has been schooled by angry teachers. About 5,000 educators outraged by Premier imposing a two-year wage freeze and curbing their collective bargaining rights rallied in protest Tuesday on the front lawn at Queen’s Park. It’s a comeuppance for McGuinty, who has counted on support from the powerful education unions that loathed his Progressive Conservative predecessors Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, to remain in office since 2003. While the Liberals increased teachers’ compensation by more than 25 per cent over the past nine years--and enjoyed labour peace--the warm relationship has ended."
Stresses of Poverty May Impair Learning Ability in Young Children
Source: National Institutes of Health (US), August 28, 2012 (news release)
Excerpt: "The stresses of poverty--such as crowded conditions, financial worry, and lack of adequate child care--lead to impaired learning ability in children from impoverished backgrounds, according to a theory by a researcher funded by the National Institutes of Health. The theory is based on several years of studies matching stress hormone levels to behavioral and school readiness test results in young children from impoverished backgrounds. Further, the theory holds, finding ways to reduce stress in the home and school environment could improve children's well being and allow them to be more successful academically. High levels of stress hormones influence the developing circuitry of children's brains, inhibiting such higher cognitive functions such as planning, impulse and emotional control, and attention. Known collectively as executive functions, these mental abilities are important for academic success."
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Simon Says Don’t Use Flashcards
Source: New York Times, August 23, 2012
Excerpt: "Parents who want to stimulate their children’s brain development often focus on things like early reading, flashcards and language tapes. But a growing body of research suggests that playing certain kinds of childhood games may be the best way to increase a child’s ability to do well in school. Variations on games like Freeze Tag and Simon Says require relatively high levels of executive function, testing a child's ability to pay attention, remember rules and exhibit self-control--qualities that also predict academic success."
PEI: New Funding for Best Start Program Provides Enhanced Supports for Children and Families
Source: Government of PEI, August 20, 2012 (news release)
Excerpt: "In 2010, Government introduced the Preschool Excellence Initiative, one of the most progressive programs in the country. The initiative marked a fundamental shift in Government’s policy focus in the early years from child care to early learning. Government also made a strong statement when they implemented a full-day kindergarten program into the provincial school system. To date, 45 Early Years Centers have been implemented across the province, which has been a huge success and a vital step in the creation of an Early Learning and Child Care System. Now, the provincial government is investing an additional $60,000 to the Best Start program, on top of the $90,000 new money provided last year, bringing the overall funding to more than $1 million annually. The new funding expands the program, allowing families the opportunity to receive Best Start services until their child is 36 months old. Previously, the service was only available until the child became 24 months old."
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Edleun Acquires Four Centres in Ottawa
Source: CNW, August 17, 2012 (news release)
Excerpt: "Edleun Group, Inc…. announced today that it has entered into an agreement with a single vendor to acquire four child care centres in Ottawa, Ontario, the second largest metropolitan area in the province. Edleun is purchasing four Montessori centres consisting of 195 licensed child care spaces for $2.3 million. All of the centres are located in leased premises under long term leases at market rental rates."
SK: Child Care Centres Receive Professional Development Funding
Source: Government of Saskatchewan, August 14, 2012 (news release)
Excerpt: "The Government of Saskatchewan is once again offering child care facilities funding to provide professional development opportunities for staff and board members. Since the grants were introduced in 2009, early childhood educators, centre directors, board members, cooks, family child care home providers and their assistants, have accessed a variety of professional development opportunities to enhance the quality of care provided to children. … More than $675,000 in grant funding is available for licensed child care facilities based on the number of child care spaces…"
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ON: Kenora City Council Voted Monday to Close City-Run Day Care
Source: Kenora Daily Miner & News, August 13, 2012
Excerpt: "Kenora is getting out of the day care business. Following a half-dozen deputations from parents of children in city-run day care, workers at the Castle of Learning Children’s Discovery Centre and union leaders representing 17 employees running nearly an hour, council voted 4-2 to shutter the city run program and affiliated after school and summer camps at its regular meeting Monday. Citing inconsistent numbers provided to the community surrounding the program’s budget, a short notice and lack of public consultation, the presentations were unanimous in calling on the city to either vote down or delay the motion to end the programming as of Dec. 31 this year."
QC: Daycare System Would Have Spaces for Everyone if PQ Forms Government
Source: Montreal Gazette, August 12, 2012
Excerpt: " Marois, a mother of four and grandmother to two, started the popular $5-a-day daycare program in 1997. On Monday she said she now wants to complete the project by adding an extra 15,000 spots on top of those already promised by the Liberals, to bring the total to 250,000 by the end of a PQ mandate. The spots are in such demand, most parents-to-be place their names on a waiting list as soon as there’s a positive pregnancy test."
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ON: How Can the Province Afford Child Care Costs?
Source: Ottawa Citizen, August 9, 2012
Excerpt: "As part of a new public consultation, the Ontario government has a lot of questions for parents and people who work in the licensed childcare sector. Too bad it didn’t ask any of the big ones. The first would be what is the rationale for spending millions of dollars on a government-regulated childcare sector that is only accessible to the well-to-do and those receiving substantial government subsidies? Licensed child care in Ontario serves only about 20 per cent of children and, as the government acknowledges, there is no money to expand the program."
ON: Urgent Need for More Child Care Spaces Across City
Source: Ottawa Citizen, August 7, 2012
Excerpt: "The number of children waiting to get into a licensed child care centre exceeds the number of spaces available by more than 70 per cent in a dozen Ottawa wards…. Hiscott said the problem is not a new one and noted some families may wait up to a year and a half to secure a space in a licensed child care centre. That leaves hundreds of children and families in limbo... Such delays often force parents to rely on family members or turn to unlicensed providers for care--or, alternatively, make difficult career choices or move to another part of the city where child care is more readily available, all of which can put added stress on families."
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ON: Child-Care Modernization Plan Panned by Critics
Source: Ottawa Citizen, August 6, 2012
Excerpt: "In the latest paper--which sets out a three-year timeline--the province pledges to introduce a new funding formula, make capital investments to help operators adapt programs to suit younger children, develop mandatory program guidelines for child-care operators and update the Day Nurseries Act, which hasn’t been reviewed for almost 30 years. That’s not good enough, some industry insiders say…. There’s no commitment to support the non-profit child care sector and no clear sign the province views child care as an extension of education, even though the day-to-day management of the file has been moved from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to the Ministry of Education… She also fears the cash-strapped province will let private, for-profit child care operators pick up the slack in terms of creating new spaces, which is why the union and others are calling for a moratorium on the licensing of new private child-care centres."
Should You Stay at Home or Pay for Child Care?
Source: Globe and Mail, August 7, 2012
Excerpt: "University of Toronto economics professor Michael Krashinsky, who just began a study looking at what point the cost of child care starts to tip behaviour patterns, says that while some men choose to stay at home with the kids, in the majority of cases it is still women who exit the labour market. “Even though many women now earn more than men, typically it is the woman who considers dropping out.” Of course, staying home or returning to work are not the only two choices. It is increasingly common for parents to adjust their working lives, cobbling together free care from grandparents, a move to a part-time job or shifting their hours to provide child care themselves, Prof. Krashinsky says. "Maybe one person works nights and the other works days … so the kid is getting care from the parents but the parents are being driven over the edge.""
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Summer Widens Rich/Poor Learning Gap
Source: Toronto Star, July 25, 2012
Excerpt: "Children in rich, educated families tend to become better readers over the summer — improving at almost the same pace as if they were in school — largely because they have more time with their highly literate parents, new research shows. But students in less affluent, less educated families can lose almost a month’s worth of reading skill, widening the learning gap between rich and poor while school is closed for the summer. McMaster University sociology professor Scott Davies, who is leading the landmark study funded by Ontario's Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, said the findings underscore the need for intense reading help for high-need students in summer and maybe eventually on weekends and after school, "to take a bite out of that learning gap.""
Rich Kid, Poor Kid: How Mixed Neighborhoods Could Save America's Schools
Source: Atlantic (US), July 25, 2012
Excerpt: "Efforts to rejuvenate urban neighborhoods and fix public schools have historically followed separate paths. As buses began rolling across color lines in the 1970s to desegregate public schools, they crisscrossed acutely segregated public housing projects and suburbs. In the 1990s, education reformers began trying to lift the performance of public schools with racially homogenous, high-poverty populations. Charter schools -- public schools run by private organizations -- became the hallmark of this new approach. But because many charters concentrate on educating the poorest of the poor, they tended to exacerbate racial and economic separation in the public schools..."
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Daycare Advocates Seek $10-A-Day Plan for B.C.
Source: CBC, July 24, 2012
Excerpt: "B.C. childcare advocates desperate to create affordable daycare in the province have presented a proposal for universal daycare to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. It's been dubbed the “$10-a-day plan” because that's what parents would pay, but it does come with a price tag for the B.C. government. The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., who met with a deputy minister Tuesday, says that only 20 per cent of children who need it can get into licensed daycare."
Bernanke Champions Early Childhood Education
Source: Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2012
Excerpt: "Educating children starting at an early age increases their opportunities and benefits the larger economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a video prepared to be shown Tuesday. Effective education can help reduce poverty, increase lifetime earnings and boost personal satisfaction at home and on the job, Mr. Bernanke said in a prerecorded video prepared for a conference of the Children’s Defense Fund in Cincinnati. The Fed chief didn’t discuss monetary policy in his remarks."
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