Why Don't Public Schools Adopt Proven Practices?

Why?

At present, public schools are assured of a steady stream of students (and the associated funding) no matter what they do. Staff salaries and promotion are based on criteria other than student achievement and parental satisfaction. Teachers and principals are virtually guaranteed their positions, and unhappy parents are basically powerless.

Change is difficult and worrisome, and few people embrace radically-different methods and materials unless there is a compelling reason to do so. The monopoly enjoyed by public schools practically guarantees that school staff can continue to use the methods and materials they are comfortable with, regardless of whether or not the approach is effective. The progressive methods favoured by most educators have a mystique and jargon difficult for parents to penetrate, while requiring little of teacher or student. Many teachers (and parents) are distrustful of the rote learning and memorization which are part of the more effective direct instruction approach. Direct instruction has other strikes against it as well, including its requirement for much harder work and its lack of razzle-dazzle.

Most public schools are characterized by a culture of complacency and resistance to change. Competition (with its threat of lost funding and jobs) is the only force that is sufficiently powerful to galvanize educators into adopting proven practices. The wider the range of parents' possible choices, the stronger the pressure on schools to improve their programs. The choices should include:

• Regular public schools (parents should be able to choose any public school in the province);

• Magnet schools (as in Edmonton, some public schools should offer specialized programs, such as Montessori, International Baccalaureate, German immersion, single gender classes, and so forth);

• Freelance schools (public schools that receive the formula funding for their school directly from the province, minus a 10% holdback for general supervision, the actual cost of busing, and the formula cost of salaries);

• Charter schools (public schools that receive full formula funding from the province and are granted considerable autonomy so long as they fulfill the terms of their charters);

• Independent schools; and

• Funded home schools (as in Alberta).

Alberta is the Canadian province with the most school choice. It is also the province which does best on national and international comparisons of academic achievement.