Tories grill Lamrock on teacher qualifications

Published Wednesday May 21st, 2008
MEGAN O'TOOLE TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

FREDERICTON - Intensive French teachers will not be held to the same qualification standards as immersion teachers when the province's new plan kicks into effect this fall, and students will suffer for it, the Opposition Tories charged Tuesday.

Critic Madeleine Dubé repeatedly pressed Education Minister Kelly Lamrock on the issue of teacher qualifications during Question Period. Starting in September, a universal intensive program beginning in Grade 5 will replace both core French and early immersion.

"If you want to have the best results for our students, we need to have the right teachers with the right qualifications in the classroom," Dubé said.

Her concerns were tied to Policy 309, an education department document that establishes guidelines for the provision of French second language programming in New Brunswick's anglophone school districts.

Section 5 of the policy dictates the minimum levels of teacher proficiency for core French and immersion programs, as defined by the province's Second Language Proficiency Scale. For core French, that level is set at Advanced. For immersion programs, teachers must function at the Superior level.

The document does not account for the new intensive French program, leading Dubé to press the issue. Later in the day, Lamrock pegged that level at Advanced Plus, a step down from Superior.
....

Link here to see the rest of the article.

Great Letter May 21

Daily Gleaner
Lamrock misleading public on immersion

I am so frustrated at the continued misinformation spread by Education Minister Kelly Lamrock.

It is clear that while he is very articulate in arguing his case, he is clearly misleading the public and resorting to divisive arguments to support his misguided changes to the anglophone system.

Why do I say this? There are three reasons.

He is arguing his changes to French second-language programming will provide universal access and help 70 per cent of children become bilingual. The problem: His stated goal for those 70 per cent is Intermediate, which will not get students any bilingual-designated job in this province. He's done away with the one program where over 70 per cent of graduates attain an Intermediate Plus or Advanced level of proficiency.

So much for self-sufficiency. All our brightest students will go elsewhere, as they won't be able to get a job in New Brunswick.

He blames early French immersion for streaming, and streaming for lower-than-the-national-average literacy scores.

Guess what? The Education Department's own data and the Croll-Lee report both show that comparing scores between EFI and non-EFI students in elementary school reveals no differences. Their numbers show the streaming effect is a lot worse with late French immersion - the program that Lamrock is keeping.

And the worst thing? No child will learn French before the age of 10, if they are in the anglophone school system. So much for rapprochement between anglophone and francophone New Brunswickers.

My three children will be incapable of comprehending their francophone friends in the language of their choice. Lamrock is systematically dismantling bilingualism in our province, but he is too polished for most people to realize it.

And our Liberal government supports him, without really understanding what they are supporting.

Peta Fussell, Fredericton

School Crackdown

Education Schools, teachers that don't measure up will be held accountable for their inaction,
MEGAN O'TOOLETELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

FREDERICTON - Education Minister Kelly Lamrock is cracking down on teacher accountability, and he thinks more standardized testing is the key.
...

A whack of new standardized testing unveiled this month, including a pre-kindergarten assessment, will go a long way toward determining the difference each school and teacher makes in a child's development, Lamrock said.
Those that don't measure up will be held accountable for their poor results.
...

"At some point, we're going to have to come up with a clear plan for what happens when schools consistently don't perform," Lamrock added, though he discouraged "overly punitive" measures, such as shutting down schools or transferring students elsewhere, which could end up having undesired side effects. More incentives should be created to motivate teachers to strive for excellence, and then encourage others to learn from the "stars," Lamrock said.
...

He pointed to the example of fantasy football, an online game he participates in where users can draft players and earn points when those players score. The program publishes data annually on "keys to victory," he explained.
"You can actually see the guy who bet on Brett Favre in the fifth round did a lot better than the guy who drafted Carson Palmer in the first," Lamrock said.
"Amazingly, a society that has the ability to drill data down for fantasy football leagues, we aren't yet able to say, 'Wow, over a five-year period over 80 per cent of the students who had this teacher showed marked improvement in literacy.' "
...

Brent Shaw, president of the New Brunswick Teachers' Association, was dubious that beefing up standardized assessments will lead to any real change.
"If you look at any of the countries that are doing the best in the world, one of the things that makes them the best is certainly not external evaluations," Shaw said, noting a better way to measure student success is through teacher-driven, "authentic" evaluations that reflect each classroom's unique learning environment.
Evaluating problems doesn't solve them, he added, and departmental resources could be better directed.
"You can't fatten a pig by weighing it," Shaw said.
...

Click here to link to article
__________________________

A sampling from 53 comments-to-date on the Telegraph-Journal webpage in response to Minister Lamrock's comments in this article.
__________________________

My, the Min of Ed certainly knows his sports analogies! Wow, isn't he impressive! Give me a break, now it is the teachers! First it was the EFI program and not it is the teachers. Of course there are a few bad apples, trust me I have seen them, every profession has them. But there seems to be more than the Liberals fair share of bad apples. Min of Ed at least 2-3 times a week has a new announcement, he is just putting up smoke screens to make the people not see what he is trying to cover up, his idiotic decision to eliminate EFI in the Canada's ONLY bilingual province. People, please wake up and smell the coffee, see what "Lamerock" is really doing. We will not forget, 2010!
72Thumbs Up 8ThumbsDown
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 7:45:56 AM ADT
___________________________
Minister Lamrock should start to listen to "experts" and to do his own little research. This look like "No Child Left Behind" from the US and it has not been successful. It is so easy to blame the teachers! It is also easy to see "the couple high school teachers who have no business in the classroom". Most teachers are doing an excellent job. The Scaba report says exactly the same thing. The NB teachers are well trained and efficient, but the system is mismanaged. She said that for the immersion program too. It is mismanaged. The problem is not with the program, it is with the way it is managed. Scaba also said to refrain from adopting a one-size-fit-all approach to solve the problems. Poor, poor students and teachers! This is a real mess. Lamrock has to go faster than 2010!
76Thumbs Up 3Thumbs Down
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 7:56:25 AM ADT
___________________________
A headine from the citizens of NB:
Government Crackdown
Education Minister, Premier and Liberal MLAs that don't measure up will be held accountable in 2010
70Thumbs Up 3Thumbs Down
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 8:31:28 AM ADT
___________________________
I'm one teacher who can no longer tolerate Lamrock's obsession with “testing” and his opposition to educational choice. This teacher, with an advanced degree and work experience in the field that I teach in, has been given the "incentive" and "motivation" to leave the province by Kelly Lamrock.
I can no longer participate in an education system that runs contrary to expert advice and opinion, taking us to follow the most unsuccessful models of education and assessment. I agree with Mr. Shaw, testing does not solve problems. Broad based, authentic evaluations performed by teachers, over the course of a student’s schooling should not be considered irrelevant next to a test of memorization skills. It is wrong.
I do not need Kelly Lamrock to write a test on assessment and education to see how little he knows about assessment and education. The result is painfully obvious to this trained educator.
75Thumbs Up 3Thumbs
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 9:27:17 AM ADT
___________________________
Could Kelly Lamrock possibly get more time with the Telegraph Journal Editorial Board???
Ridiculous.
A little journalism here, folks - No Child Left Behind has left a generation of students in the US unable to read, write or think.
Even George W. Bush's closest supporters agree.
LAMROCK MUST GO.
57Thumbs Up3Thumbs Down
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 11:03:27 AM ADT
___________________________
Doug Willms, besides being the public policy professor that published the sole brief in support of Lamrock when the C&L report got into trouble, is also the director of a for-profit company that has, until now, done much of the educational testing for the province: http://www.ksiresearch.com/

It would, of course, call future testing into question if the same person were to do future testing as the person who has put his public reputation at stake and who has been commissioned to make a report that supports the C&L process.

I trust the Ombudsman will recommend that any future spate of testing be performed by the many capable firms outside of our province. This will benefit NB, too, because Willms' company would be presumably be drawing further business into NB and expanding its market, not simply circulating cash within the province.
38Thumbs Up 2Thumbs Down
B. Robertson, Sackville on 19/05/08, 12:18:54 PM ADT
___________________________
I work with teachers everyday, and they never cease to amaze me. They run from the minute the students come in in the morning until the final bell, frequently without a break. They rush to prepare for the next day, frequently attending professional development after school. They make the most out of impossible situations, oversized classes, no resources, unreasonable parents, special needs children etc etc. They take money out of their own pockets to pay for books, classroom resources, lunch, milk, parties, decorations and on and on. They make the BEST out of an IMPOSSIBLE situation. MR Lamrock, you should be ashamed for putting MORE PRESSURE on teachers, and WASTING even more money on testing that should be going to resources. You owe the teachers of NB an apology!
45Thumbs Up 2Thumbs Down
Anonymous Reader on 19/05/08, 12:21:43 PM ADT
___________________________

Parents protest FSL changes --

Miramichi Leader OnLine Edition, by Daniel Martins
Published Monday May 19th, 2008

School District 16 superintendent Laurie Keoughan faced an angry crowd of parents at a meeting on May 13 at Croft Elementary School.

Keoughan was there to talk about upcoming changes to the French education curriculum, but many parents were more interested in restoring the early immersion program cut by the provincial government earlier this year.

"For 30 years we were on the right track," said Mindy Schenkels. "And today I am stunned that I will leave this gymnasium. I have a child, and I have no option for that child."

Schenkels' brother in law, John Schenkels, was more critical, saying the changes had been forced through by the provincial government and Education Minister Kelly Lamrock.

"There are a lot of parents here that feel they're not being heard by the minister, because he's refused to really acknowledge that this is an issue, even though people have spoken out," he said.
Under the new program, early french immersion will be eliminated, as will core french instruction prior to Grade 5.

That's when students will undergo intensive French which, for half of the year, will require them to receive 70 per cent of their instruction completely in French.

For the second half of the year, the French component will be rolled back to around 150 minutes per week, scheduled for one afternoon. This would be followed by compulsory post-intensive French in grades 6-12.

Keoughan said the district plans to implement the changes as early as September 2008 to avoid the upheaval of a longer-term adjustment period. According to Keoughan, several teachers will be trained in the program over the summer. He said the curriculum for Grade 5 intensive french, as well as post-intensive programs for grades 6-8 are already written, with curricula for the remaining grades on the way.

"We are, as a district, concerned that we get this right," he said. "They're your kids, and I know that's your concern as well."

But he stressed that whatever his personal feelings, he was just the messenger.

"The minute I walk into that office, I leave my personal opinions behind because I am directed to implement school curriculums in the school district. That's my job."

John Schenkels said the details coming from Keoughan were too vague for the parents' liking.

"It's May, and we're looking at starting this thing in September. The details should be there," he said. "We should know what should be coming in Grade 6. We should know what should be coming in Grade 12. That plan should be there. We need the details."

District 16 Second Language Coordinator Jacqueline Roy-Patterson told the parents research and experience with intensive French in other provinces, based on research from Memorial University in Newfoundland and sources in New Brunswick, had shown positive results, even with children considered to have difficulty in Grade 4 English.

"The intensive French program is good," she said. "It does produce results. The teacher training is good, the methodology is sound."

John Schenkels suggested the research was uncertain and incomplete.

"You have no way to tell me today that, at Grade 12, my child is going to be in the intermediate grade, because you haven't proven it anywhere," he said. "You haven't proven it in Newfoundland; you haven't proven it in New Brunswick; you haven't proven it in Quebec. It isn't proven."

Jennifer Amos was also skeptical of the program, saying mandatory intensive French in Grade 5 would be hard on some students.

"The fact remains that not every child has the capacity for a second language," she said.

Cynthia Wiley agreed, noting it would be even harder without core French in earlier grades.

"To me, it's kind of scary to throw your kids into a different language with no background at all," she said.

Keoughan acknowledged some children could struggle, but said the answer was not to exempt them from the program.

"I think we need to think outside the box to find new ways of including them," he said.

Lila Barry attacked the mandatory nature of the intensive program on the grounds that children with mental disorders could struggle with it, leading to frustration, anger-management issues and problems at home.

"Why is the department of education setting these high-risk children up for such a state?" she asked. "As a parent, none of those outcomes are acceptable."

Keoughan replied that the department would look at each child's individual needs.

"As the months roll on toward September, I'm sure those issues will be dealt with," he said.

At the end of the evening, many parents were still demanding that the changes be reversed. Bill Schenkels demanded to know what could be done on the parents' part to accomplish that, and said many teachers had been forced to stay silent on the issue.

"If we need to support the teachers and give them a voice, we will do that," he said.

"I'm very passionate that this is the wrong decision. It has been forced through and we're putting our children at risk."

Click here to link to article

Bloggers' comment: Reminder -- The description of intermediate proficiency from NB DOE includes:

"Able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements. Can handle routine work-related interactions that are limited in scope. In more complex and sophisticated work-related tasks, language usage generally disturbs the native speaker." ... "The individual's utterances are minimally cohesive. Linguistic structure is usually not very elaborate and not thoroughly controlled; errors are frequent. ..."

It appears that having 70% of our graduating class capable of minimally cohesive utterances is acceptable to the Minister. We wonder whether it is acceptable to New Brunswickers, especially when it comes at such a high personal cost to the hundreds of students who will no longer graduate as truly bilingual citizens.

Letters May 19th, 2008

Reasons not to stay in New Brunswick

In order not to be included in the "silent majority," we would like to add our voices to the overwhelming outcry from parents, parent groups and associations, various language learning experts, concerned citizens and teachers (before their freedom of speech was revoked) over the cancellation of the French immersion program in English language schools.

Our move to New Brunswick and our decision to stay was considered unusual.

We moved to Moncton nine years ago from California, via Vancouver, and brought with us over 20 years of post-secondary education from the U.S., U.K. and British Columbia.

One of the main reasons for our decision to stay in Moncton was the excellent school system and possibility to live in a very inclusive multicultural city. The prerequisite to get to know the other cultures and people is to know their language and we, as adults, have tried and are still trying to improve our French language skills.

However, for adults with various other duties, this is not an easy undertaking and we realize that we will never be completely fluent and will never be able to speak without a very strong accent.

Without any hesitation, we enrolled our son in the excellent French immersion program and, thanks to excellent teachers and the present school system, he is now fluently and without any accent tri-lingual, while still extremely well-educated in every other respect.

Language proficiency has allowed him to have friends from both anglophone and francophone communities, allowed him to be enrolled in speed-skating and karate programs that are given in French, and in the future will open many doors for him in Canada and elsewhere.

We were looking forward to sending our younger son to the same school and the same system. Unfortunately, he will not be given the same opportunity (at least not in New Brunswick).

As parents and as New Brunswickers by choice, we were very proud of the school system and were boasting about the excellent opportunities that children here have.

I wonder what we will boast about in the future and what will be the force that will draw us and many other highly educated people to New Brunswick.

Surely not the school system changes proposed by the current provincial government.

And neither will the other changes and propositions that are currently underway.

When the whole world is open to educated people, they will not chose to live in a place that has uranium mines, decaying infrastructures, increasing pollution and, probably most importantly, the growing division between people based on their mother tongue.

I hope it is still not too late to get back to senses, reverse these highly unfortunate decisions and bring out the good in this wonderful province and allow us all to be once again proud to live here.

Miroslava and Adrian Culf, Moncton

Is immersion support gone?

To The Editor:

When Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced his decision to terminate Early French Immersion programs in New Brunswick schools, he stated that all children currently in the program would be able to remain there and that he did not want to disrupt children's education.

Since that time, some disturbing information has surfaced. We have heard that literacy support for Early French Immersion students in District 8 has been changed (read terminated); children needing the help will no longer be taken out of the classroom to work with support teachers. Further, we have heard that a summer program in District 18 for Early French Immersion children needing extra help has been cancelled. The District 2 website now has absolutely no mention of Early French Immersion even existing.

Where are parents of students in Early French Immersion, roughly half of all students in District 2, to turn now for information on their children's education? Parents of young children already in Early French Immersion should be extremely worried about what will happen in the coming years.

Will my grandfathered children become second class citizens within their own schools? Will districts invest in materials for my children with the knowledge that their usefulness will be short-lived? There are strong indications that the education they receive in the early years will suffer as a result of the government's changes. We seem to be going from a poorly supported program to one in which there is absolutely no support provided.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the minister and the Department of Education are turning their backs on the children already in this program. It makes us wonder about the minister's commitment to looking out for all children. A cynical person might speculate that cutting all support for this program will bring standardized test scores down among immersion students, leaving the new revamped English program to look like the comparative success. Would politicians really stoop so low? For the sake of my children and their classmates, I sincerely hope not.

Joanne Masson, Saint John

Choice is vital in school system

Although there have been some positive changes made by this government lately to the school system, such as the increase focus on physical education, music and art, I fail to see how that is addressing the problem with the literacy math and science performance of our children. Why couldn't these changes be done without the abolishment of the only proven program to produce an advanced level of French proficiency, early French immersion?

I try very hard to understand how four special needs children in a class instead of five is going to make such an impact that suddenly the teachers are going to be able to teach more effectively. It just doesn't make sense to me. Why doesn't it seem to be an issue with other provinces?

I recently received a statement from a MLA and it said "If we want to have 70 per cent of our children to have capacity in French, we need to start teaching French to 100 per cent of kids not 30 per cent." What about parents who want more for their children than just capacity in French?

What about the parents who feel that their children are having a difficult enough time just grasping the English language and truly don't think learning a second language is going to be beneficial for their child?

If there is one thing we cannot take a universal approach to it is how we educate children. Choice is important and it should be made by parents.

LISA HERRINGTON, Willow Grove

Parents losing rights in education

The school system in New Brunswick is becoming a dictatorship. Parents are losing their rights and freedoms over their children's education process.

This can be seen in points stated in my previous letter: banning the selling of chocolate for fundraising, the drastic actions taken with regards to food allergies and the forced changes in the French curriculum.

I thought Canada was a democracy, I guess I was wrong.

MONIKA LANE, Kingston

LEADING LANGUAGE EXPERT DISAGREES WITH NEW BRUNSWICK FSL PLAN

Bloggers' preamble: Education Minister Kelly Lamrock has been quoting Dr. Fred Genesee's work in attempts to justify his decision to elimate Early French Immersion and replace it with an untested late French Immersion program. Following are some of Dr. Genesee's comments about French Second Language education in New Brunswick. It is clear that Dr. Genesee does not share Minister Lamrock's views.

Friday, May 16, 2008 at 3:53pm
From Citizens for Educational Choice -- Fredericton

Wednesday night in Fredericton, Dr. Fred Genesee, a leading expert in French Second Language education, expressed grave concerns over the New Brunswick government’s recent changes to the delivery of French instruction in Anglophone schools. “I don’t get it”, Genesee stated, “it is clear that in bilingual settings such as New Brunswick, the way to produce the largest number of bilingual students is to utilize FSL programming that starts at an early age so children are not only learning the language in the classroom, but they can also take advantage of exposure to the language outside the classroom.”

Genesee is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University, Montreal, where he has worked since 1978. He has carried out research on some of the first immersion programs implemented in Canada and has helped educators around the world develop their own immersion programs. His work has sought to debunk persistent myths surrounding bilingualism and second language acquisition in early childhood. His visit to Fredericton came on the same day a provincial group of parents filed papers requesting a judicial review of the government’s decision to eliminate Early French Immersion from New Brunswick schools.

“Early French Immersion is the most equitable program to teach children to become bilingual. The notion it is a program only for elites or children of higher abilities is not supported by research. Children from all across the ability spectrum can and do thrive in Immersion settings; this has been well-documented in research carried out in early immersion programs.”

“It appears the issues New Brunswick has with the program may be due to the lack of educational supports the government has provided the program over the years and the lack of information provided to parents who are concerned about their children’s performance if they are in Immersion. Frankly, I find it amazing they have been able to get away with it for so long without parents demanding the government provide equal access to the support systems available to students in the English programs; New Brunswick is not alone in not providing Immersion students with the full range of supports that students in the English programs enjoy” stated Genesee in response to questions pertaining to the situation in New Brunswick.

In his lecture that was simultaneously broadcast from UNB’s Wu Centre to Mount Allison University, Genesee discussed myths that continue to be held by many concerning bilingualism. “Research has shown that many beliefs held regarding the impact learning a second language has on the first are simply false. What makes it difficult for people to accept certain ideas is that we find that many outcomes are the opposite of what one would expect when it comes to language acquisition. For example, there is no basis for the belief that a good grounding in one’s native language is a requirement to learn a second language. You only learn how to read once and those skills can transfer from the second language to the first language if students are in immersion. Removing the option for a child to start learning the second language in the early grades is only going to lower proficiency in the end and will not have any significant impact on first language literacy.”

-30-

Fred Genesee
Tel: (514) 398-6022
Fax: (514-398-4896
Email: genesee@ego.psych.mcgill.ca

Letters to the editor

Telegraph-Journal
Education decision takes lustre off N.B. -- Published Saturday May 17th, 2008

We would like to add our voices to the overwhelming outcry from parents, parent groups and associations, various language learning experts, concerned citizens and teachers (before their freedom of speech was revoked) over the cancellation of the French immersion program in English language schools.

We moved to Moncton nine years ago from California, via Vancouver and brought with us over 20 years of postsecondary education from U.S.A., U.K. and British Columbia. One of the main reasons for our decision to stay in Moncton was the excellent school system and possibility to live in a very inclusive multicultural city.

Without hesitation we enrolled our son in the excellent French immersion program and thanks to excellent teachers and the present school system he is now fluently and without any accent trilingual while extremely well educated in every other respect.

We were looking forward to sending our younger son to the same school and the same system.

Unfortunately, he will not be given the same opportunity (at least not in New Brunswick).

We were proud of the school system and were boasting about the excellent opportunities that children here have. I wonder what we will boast about in the future and what will be the force that will draw us and many other highly educated people to New Brunswick.

I hope it's still not too late to reverse these highly unfortunate decisions and bring out the good in this wonderful province and allow us all the be once again proud to live here.

MIROSLAVA and ADRIAN CULF, Moncton

Will EFI students be orphaned?

A central tenet of Minister Lamrock's embattled plan for French language instruction in our province is that children currently in the early French immersion program will be "grandfathered." Recent events suggest that it will be more like "orphaned."

Children in Grade 1 should expect to have 11 more years of their program; yet District 2's website has expunged any mention of the program.

As a hint of worse to come, District 18 has removed all remedial help for EFI students, and similar programs are being cut in District 8.

Studies over the past decade have argued that the proper way of reducing streaming out of EFI is to provide it with better support, as is done today in Nova Scotia.

However, when Lamrock apportioned funds from the joint commission on classroom composition last year, more than $1 million were provided for special help in the core program, and only $4,000 for EFI students. No wonder parents of struggling students are encouraged to migrate to the core program.

It seems that if Lamrock is allowed to continue down this uncharted path, he will do even more to ensure that EFI becomes the "elitist" program he has criticized.

STEPHANIE McCARTY, Fredericton

___________________

Letters to the editor Published Saturday May 17th, 2008, The Daily Gleaner

Immersion children may not get proper resources

When Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced his decision to terminate early French immersion programs in New Brunswick schools, he stated that all children currently in the program would be able to remain there and that he did not want to disrupt children's education.

Since that time, some disturbing information has surfaced. We have heard that literacy support for EFI students in District 8 has been changed (read terminated); children needing the help will no longer be taken out of the classroom to work with support teachers.

Further, we have heard that a summer program in District 18 for EFI children needing extra help has been cancelled. The District 2 website now has absolutely no mention of EFI even existing.

Where are parents of students in EFI, roughly half of all students in District 2, to turn now for information on their children's education?

Parents of young children already in EFI should be extremely worried about what will happen in the coming years.

Will my grandfathered children become second-class citizens within their own schools?

Will districts invest in materials for my children with the knowledge that their usefulness will be short-lived?

There are strong indications that the education they receive in the early years will suffer as a result of the government's changes.

We seem to be going from a poorly supported program to one in which there is absolutely no support provided.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the minister and the Department of Education are turning their backs on the children already in this program. It makes us wonder about the minister's commitment to looking out for all children.

A cynical person might speculate that cutting all support for this program will bring standardized test scores down among EFI students, leaving the new revamped English program to look like the comparative success that the minister is hoping for.

Would politicians really stoop this low? For the sake of my children and their classmates, I sincerely hope not.

Joanne Masson, Saint John, N.B.