Dear Fellow Petitioners: Re: Inspiring Education Alberta Education has a new website (https://education.alberta.ca/). No where on the site can I find any mention of Inspiring Education or Curriculum Redesign. Can it be that Minister Eggen has listened to us and stopped the Inspiring Education initiative? If so, we're off to a great start to the new year. I think it would be wonderful if we could inundate Minister Eggen (Education.Minister@gov.ab.ca) with Thank You notes for having the courage and wisdom to stop a detrimental initiative unleashed on our children by the previous government. It would give us parents great peace of mind to know that the quality of our children's education (with great emphasis on knowledge and fundamental skills) will be protected and that we would never again hear the disconcerting words "Inspiring Education", "Curricular Redesign" or their marketing catch phrase of making our children "ethical, engaged and entrepreneurial of the 21st century" uttered in this province. In your thank-you letter, please let Minister Eggen know that we are also looking forward to seeing him rewrite the 2013 Ministerial Order on Student Learning, which was the direct result of the 2010 Inspiring Education policy document, led by Sharon Friesen (president of the Galileo Network). Minister Eggen may not be aware that Friesen's Inspiring Education team had reported at the Calgary IE Symposium in Dec 2014 that the "Ministerial Order on Student Learning is a key milestone toward achieving the vision of Inspiring Education" because "it establishes a clear mandate for Alberta Education and school authorities to follow when developing provincial curriculum." If you read the 2013 Ministerial Order, you will see how it reinforces verbatim Inspiring Ed in its mandate to shape Alberta schools and teachers in such a way that there is "greater emphasis on competencies than on content; inquiry, discovery and the application of knowledge than on the dissemination of information"; that is, dictating how teachers teach. Therefore, these facts directly contradict the statements made in the many letters sent from Minister Eggen's office to you reassuring you that "Inspiring Education was a 2010 report to the Government of Alberta; it is not a government policy document and does not provide instruction to teachers or boards on student achievement or curriculum." Minister Eggen still has some work to rectify the fallouts from Inspiring Education (eg. Flex Time, Learning Commons instead of libraries, excessive Techno push in the schools, increased Inquiry-based schools), but Minister Eggen is heading in the right direction. We cannot afford to let the negative impacts of Inspiring Ed linger much longer for our children's sake. I am sure Minister Eggen would not disappoint. So, please let him know that we have great faith that he would not disappoint. Re: Math The following is a link to the summaries of changes to the Alberta Math Curriculum (2014 and 2015) as a direct result of our petition for re-implementation of greater standards of practice in mathematics: https://education.alberta.ca/media/464620/sum_of_clarifications_to_math_k-9_pos.pdf https://education.alberta.ca/media/481799/2015_sum_of_updates_k-9_math_ach_ind.pdf https://education.alberta.ca/media/481795/factsheet-algorithms.pdf https://education.alberta.ca/media/1626664/additional-support-resources-list.pdf The challenge now is to get all the teachers, school boards and superintendents back on the same page after years of misguidance under the excessive discovery/new math push (since 2007 in Alberta). That is why it is so wonderful that parent groups like the CAPSC in Calgary have pulled together math experts who have been directly responsible for delivering proven, measurable results for students. Tickets are limited, so it is best to register early. To register for this event, please visit capsc.ca or tinyurl.com/CAPSCFacebook SHARING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MATH EXCELLENCE! Thursday, January 28th 7 PM | Tickets $7 Performing Arts Centre Webber Academy | 1515-93 Street SW Kindest regards, Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies (mrgranthd@yahoo.ca) ps. Here's additional info re the Math Night in Calgary: CAPSC is pleased to offer parents the opportunity to learn more about how to achieve excellence in math education! SHARING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MATH EXCELLENCE! Thursday, January 28th 7 PM | Tickets $7 Performing Arts Centre Webber Academy | 1515-93 Street SW (see attachment for registration information) Great math education is a major topic of interest for Calgary parents. There is much discussion in the media, on the playground, and in homes about what is happening in math, and how to ensure every child is set up for success. Parents are curious about how schools are achieving strong results in math. CAPSC is pleased to present our Math Excellence Night on behalf of Calgary parents. Through this event, education stakeholders can get a glimpse of some best practices, and hopefully continue the dialogue in their own community afterward. JOIN US TO HEAR WHAT THESE OUTSTANDING EDUCATORS HAVE TO SHARE ABOUT MATH LEARNING: STUART WACHOWICZ | Confucius Institute, Edmonton Stuart Wachowicz, B.Ed, B.Sc, M.Ed, is an educator with 44 years of experience. He taught for 25 years in Alberta, where he primarily taught mathematics and served as a school administrator. In 1997 he became Director of Curriculum for Edmonton Public Schools. He is one of the key architects of the education system that shot Alberta to the top of the world education rankings in the early 2000s. Upon retirement in 2009, Mr. Wachowicz became Director of the Confucius Institute in Edmonton, of which he is presently Chairman of the Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Mr. Wachowicz will be including a discussion on how strong math results were achieved in schools with a high English as a Second Language population. NEIL WEBBER & JAY NIVEN | Webber Academy, Calgary Neil Webber, President/Head of School at Webber Academy, has a PhD in Mathematics Curriculum. Jay Niven, Senior High School Mathematics Instructor, holds a B.Ed and Masters degree in Mathematics teaching. Webber Academy is a non-denominational, co-educational, university preparatory private school offering Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12. There is an environment of high expectations for student achievement and behaviour. After 18 years of operation, Webber Academy has become an international school with students from many different backgrounds, cultures and religions. AARON RENART | The Renert School, Calgary Aaron Renert, M.Sc, LL.B, is a mathematics educator and the founder of Renert Education, a Calgary-based company that has been offering academic services to over 80,000 students since 1992. The company is known for its unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching. In its 26-year history, Renert has been an educational innovator and the first to offer diploma examination review courses, on-demand tutoring centres. Aaron is the curriculum lead and developer of Bright Minds – a revolutionary mathematics enrichment program that groomed dozens of math competition winners Aaron’s techniques and methods have helped thousands of students to overcome their fear of math and to thrive in the field. Renert’s latest project is The Renert School at Royal Vista, a K-12 private school which opened in September 2013. The school offers a new model of education dedicated to nurturing. ANNA STOKKE | University of Winnipeg Anna Stokke is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Winnipeg. She received a Ph.D in mathematics from the University of Alberta in 2003, an M.Sc (Math) from the University of Manitoba and a B.Sc (Math) from Brandon University. She is the President of Archimedes Math Schools, which is a non-profit organization that was founded by math professors in Winnipeg who recognize the need for a low cost after-school math program for elementary school children. Anna is a math education advocate and a cofounder of the Western Initiative for Strengthening Education in Math (WISE Math). She received a 2015-2016 YWCA/YMCA Women of Distinction Award in the Community Activism and Social Enterprise category for her work in math education. She also received the University of Winnipeg’s Clarence Atchison Award for Excellence in Community Service in October, 2015. We look forward to seeing you at this event focused on best practices in mathematics education.