Education Today Spring 2008 Highlights

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Book Review

review by John Borst

Reality Education

John Borst highlights two books that focus on the reality of school leadership. Tales from the Principal’s Office: Case Studies in School Administration by Marilyn Hogg and Marilyn Merler, and The Dysfunctional School: Uncomfortable Truths and Awkward Insights on School, Learning and Teaching by Michael Reist are both Canadian, and both tell it like it is.

Law

by Jason Green

Education and the Virtual World

While the electronic age has opened the door to successful applications in education, this new virtual world has created a number of legal issues for school boards. It has also provided a new medium for bullying. Jason Green of Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP reviews some of these issues and the role of Bill 212.

Features:

Cover:
We Are the World: Peel DSB Embraces Diversity

by Saul Chernos

All school boards in Ontario are experiencing growth in their multicultural communities but the Peel board currently reigns as one of the most ethnically diverse. Peel’s Web site offers information in 25 languages and board-published materials recognize 17 different organized belief systems. Author Saul Chernos traces how Peel’s multicultural strategy has developed over 25 years and highlights how it successfully welcomes a global population.

Full-Day Kindergarten

by Sean Fine

In his fall 2007 re-election campaign, Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to put full-day kindergarten in the province’s schools. Sean Fine discusses the impact of this plan for Ontario boards and whether it will be a $400-Million fix.

Virtual High School

by Kim Arnott

 “Does virtual reality have to be any less real than actual reality?” asks author Kim Arnott.  Looking at online education, she shares what she has found out about AMDEC, Avon Maitland Distance Education and their successful online high school.

Healthy Active School Communities

by John Schofield

Five years ago, the Hastings and Prince Edward DSB was one of the first boards in the province to launch the Healthy Active School Communities initiative. Author John Schofield details the long- and short-term benefits of the program and how it provides healthy lifestyle choices to elementary students.

TSTOP: Starting a Passion for Science

by Gloria Hildebrandt

Three Ontario teachers share their experiences with the Teachers Science and Technology Outreach Program, an initiative of the Ministry of Research and Innovation. As Gloria Hildebrandt writes, this initiative pairs elementary and secondary science teachers with researchers in various fields, all to enrich the passion for science and technology in the classroom.

This site features selected articles written by staff of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, and are copyright OPSBA. Copyright on articles by freelance writers remains with the author.