Dear fellow petitioners, It's official: we can vote out those who won't protect the quality of our children's education against the un-Inspiring Education initiative. Now is the time to ask your MLAs and every politician who knocks on your door what their stance is on Inspiring Ed and the Alberta math curriculum: -- Would they listen to the mathematicians (who had even submitted a position statement to them on this) and make standard algorithms (eg. long division, vertical addition/subtraction with carry over) MANDATORY in the curriculum? Will they ensure that teachers know that they should not teach multiple strategies? Do they believe in memory work and practice? -- What are their opinions on Inspiring Education? Do they value content knowledge, ie "knowing something" and not let it be de-emphasized in school? Do they value books, handwriting, reading/writing/arithmetic? Do the feel that we should help make every child academically-successful? Do they value having percentages/grades on report cards? Will they ensure accountability by maintaining standardized testing? Do they know that 21st century competencies are snake oil? Do they know the harm that results from over-emphasizing inquiry-based/discovery-based learning? Do they know the harm in shifting to a more digitally-based curriculum? -- Would they listen to us and stop wasting money on this needless expenditures such as Inspiring Ed that parents, academics and professionals are against and overpaid superintendents/school board administrators? Will they instead invest in having more teachers, training subject-specialists, build more schools, invest in special needs programs/aids, maintain libraries, fund music programs, etc? -- Let me know their response and I can repost it so that all the voters will know who NOT to vote for. And many thank you to those working with me to collect signatures on a paper petition to make our stance against un-Inspiring Education/21st c learning loud and clear. Now that we know the election is on May 5th, if you don't mind terribly continuing to collect signatures until that time. I'm starting to receive some of the petitions in the mail, and the early estimate is about 1100 signatures so far from 10 fellow petitioners. I'm still waiting to hear back from at least another 90 others. Our online Knowledge is Power petition against IE is 1500 and so, you can see the great potential to magnify that number many times over and put us in the position to shame a gov't that does not listen to thousands of Albertans. If you can still help us collect signatures on the paper petition until the election, I would be so grateful. Please email me at mrgranthd@yahoo.ca and I will email you a copy of the paper petition against Inspiring Ed. Thank you so much for helping protect all our children's education. Kindest regards, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alberta-Math-Petition/715037091853017 The following are also other groups working to protect our children's education. Please lend your voices to support them as well: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Education-Cuts-Be-the-VOICE-of-our-Children/799467463475466 https://www.facebook.com/parents4choice?fref=ts https://www.facebook.com/wisemath.org?fref=ts And here's an excellent letter written by SB succinctly addressing all the concerns about the un-Inspiring Education initiative: “Is Inspiring Education detrimental to our children”? I’m a parent of a young girl in Grade 4; I’m extremely concerned with the direction our Government is taking Education. I know while many other parents are concerned, many aren’t aware of what “Inspiring Education” involves. I myself have learned a great deal from researching the subject and talking to many other parents that share my concern. Inspiring Education is a “policy shift” to completely change Education in Alberta . It is experimental, not evidence-based and has failed in other jurisdictions. No longer will children be taught by a Teacher; students are put into groups to “discover meaning” and teach themselves. The Teacher becomes a “Guide on the side”. Knowledge and skills are no longer a priority. Instead our children will learn by “Discovery”, with emphasis on computers, videos, and kids teaching kids. Learning outcomes will decrease, dumbing down of content because the “Discovery Learning” process takes much longer. Proponents claim “teaching knowledge” is unnecessary – students have “Google and Spellcheck”. This Curriculum Rewrite is costing Taxpayers millions of dollars and with the projected “Budget Cuts” our money would be better spent on saving our Teachers, investing in more Teacher Aides, and resources for children with Special Needs. Unfortunately it seems this isn’t a priority; instead our Government is investing in an experimental system that will be implemented in all Alberta Schools September 2016. The Ministry should not dictate teaching methods. Our experts, “Teachers” should decide teaching methods! Under the Government’s plan, textbooks and workbooks will be replaced with software, apps and e-textbooks. Ipads and Tablets will be on supply lists, making it necessary for parents to supply these devices. Technology is fine as a tool, but not to replace Teachers! School Libraries are scheduled to become “Learning Commons”, spaces where students gather with their devices. More and more schools will allow test rewrites, open book exams, allowable cheat sheets; why? – to ensure statistics look like all students are succeeding! Academic Students are being pushed down, and not allowed to advance at their own rate. Testing will soon be eliminated all together; marks or grades already consist of terms like “Consistent, Frequently, needs support sometimes”. No longer will schools or students be held accountable. Discovery Math in Alberta is a disaster; turning many students off math with its convoluted strategies. It cost Parents thousands of dollars on Tutors, Learning Centres, etc. The Ministry knows Discovery Learning has failed in other jurisdictions, but still chooses to implement it in all subjects next year, even after hearing from University Professors, Teachers, Professionals and thousands of Parents about the damage this system will do to our children. Discovery Learning isn’t a new concept; why is our Government trying to “reinvent” the wheel”, but this time expecting a different result? “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Isaac Newton The Government claims that for the first time ever our schools will be “student centered” and “Teachers must teach less for children to learn more”. They say with “Inquiry based learning” kids full back on their previous knowledge. How can young kids fall back on knowledge they have not yet learned? Young kids need “direct instruction”; the evidence shows this is the best way for young children to learn. I believe Teachers have always been “student centered”! Discovery Learning will cause a lot more work for Teachers and leave our children without the knowledge and skills they require to further their Education. Is this the Government’s true agenda? – to no longer prepare our children for secondary education, but to prepare them to become labourers? Shouldn’t “our children” be the most important “Stakeholders” – not “Big Business”? Parents are uniting and there is province-wide support growing to stop Inspiring Education. A very knowledgeable Parent, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies has started a Petition against the implementation of Inspiring Education. I have a copy of the paper petition and am hoping once Parents have researched the subject, many will sign it. I love the Teachers at my daughter’s school and believe they went to University to obtain the knowledge and skills to educate our children. I don’t want just a “Guide on the side”; I want them to teach, share their knowledge and prepare our children to compete in the “Real World”! My concerns are with the “System” our Government and Ministry are implementing; definitely not our Teachers! I’m very concerned we will lose experienced Teachers and our children will suffer. We Parents are our childrens advocates and must ensure they receive the best education possible! A Concerned Parent SB http://www.theprovince.com/story.html?id=10946120