“…those of us in mathematics education have yet to take seriously, from an equity perspective, the significant differences between teaching contexts with respect to mathematics reform.” (Rousseau & Powell, 2005, p. 29)
My efforts at a mathematical reform pedagogy kept hitting roadblocks and this article nicely articulates all of those blocks (and I have a couple others I could have added). Yet, looking at those mentioned is at least a hopeful starting point for change towards equity. Far too often much of this type of research has been dismissed as an American issue that is not as relevant here in Ontario. I and many other educators that I had previously discussed similar issues with did not see the disparity in educational equity as drastic here, in Toronto as that of the experiences of “those Americans”, but for me that had recently changed.
When I began my own change in pedagogy towards mathematical reform I started to experience many of the same constraints to change as mentioned in the article. I had no time for instruction in the classroom (in addition to barriers that were mentioned in the article, a lot of my time was also spent on teaching social skills and group dynamics), and I had very few available resources. The NCTM lists what should be in every classroom as a basic for student resources/manipulatives, but in my school this does not exist. The less than adequate number of resources for a K-8 school is located in one open math resource room. Thus, it is not easily possible to gather supplies when needed and student use of manipulatives at their free will does not exist (I have spent hundreds of dollars of my personal money trying to remedy this). In addition, planning time is wasted on moving from room to room finding an area to work, trying to gather/beg for resources, doing redundant paper work and filing instead of preparing class activities, planning and reflecting on practice (not to mention the wish of moderated marking).
The disparities became even more apparent when I experienced a concurrent comparison of Toronto (urban) and Peel (suburban) classrooms. I had recently changed the school my daughter attended from TDSB to Peel district and hearing her perspective on the differences in classrooms as well as my own observations of the differences reinforced the inequities. Last year she was in grade 4 while I taught grade 4 at the school in toronto that she had left. This year she is in grade 5 as I teach grade 5 in the same school in toronto. She is still in contact with many of the students in my class (through msn, phone, emails, on line games etc.) and still attends gatherings with them. Therefore, I constantly hear from my students and her (regarding curriculum and class activities) “how come they did not do this, how come she gets to do that, how come they did not learn this, how come she got to go there? Although I am very glad for the opportunities and experiences my daughter gets, I am extremely frustrated at the lack of opportunities my students in an urban setting are afforded, especially when it is known that these students need the opportunities even more (students of colour in lower SES communities).
I am not sure how long it will take before the message of Rousseau and Powell, on these systemic constraints, has a great impact on what is happening in our urban schools, but it really is time to stop blaming the individual teachers for the inequitable progression of these students.
Sorry for the rant, but that is how I felt after reading the article.
Rant away as it is completely understandable and justifiable!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have worked in an 'urban' school it was an independent one so I did not encounter the same difficulties as Teacher B has seen in this article, but I completely agree with you and the 'blame game'. Instead of looking at the constraints that the urban schools are encountering, teachers are being blamed for the inequities that are occurring and as you have said a lot is not within their control and to receive all the blame is unfair.
Until the 'powers that be' take note of what is truly happening within the classrooms, authors such as Rousseau and Powell have to keep writing articles such as these that articulate with evidence what is preventing true reform math happening in today's classroom until the message is received. The troubling thought is just how long will it take until the message is understood?
I'm glad your daughter is having a good time at her new school in the Peel board. With the difference between regions, I wonder how the funding for education systems work in each area. With Toronto being such a densely populated city, I would expect that its schools receive more money - but I guess at the same time they have to service a much larger population. I imagine Peel board and York Region board (where I teach) are similar in that they both cater to people who are better off socioeconomically, and thus the schools are also better equipped to implement more inquiry-based activities for students to enjoy because they have more funds and smaller class sizes.
ReplyDeleteLike LM said, real change will only occur when the 'powers that be' notice the factors that prevent all students from receiving an equitable education - lack of funding, class sizes, lack of teacher prep time - and they decide to make a permanent change for the better.
Thanks Jackie for your perspective on inequities in Ontario. This is one question that I had on reading the article. I am curious how this works from the administrative end.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1990 when the previous government was cutting and rearranging school funding, our board lost about $200 per student, but boards in Toronto lost several thousand dollars per student- we all started to get around $5000 per student plus extra expenses for special programs.
From prior work on school councils I think that each school board still gets the same amount of money per student from the provincial funds with other money allotted to transportation and special programs and the like.
Why then would Peel have so much more resources per student - Is the the bucket of money that comes with opening new schools? Is it fewer ESL & special needs students in Peel resulting in more money for classroom teachers? Is it a more cumbersome board office structure? Or is it an unequal allocation of funds between schools within the TDSB?
Other possibilities? Are there more complexities to the funding equation than I understand?