Youth Development
The Ontario Government announces bold new changes to the education system; de-streaming revisited
BY PAUL JUNOR
It was a surprise to many parents, educators, teachers and education officials when the Minister of Education, Stephen Leece announced on Monday, July 6th that he is considering the de-streaming of Grade 9 in an interview with the Toronto Star. He stated, “The time is now to end this practice, and start giving racialized kids in schools a fair chance of success. The status quo is indefensible.”
Streaming of students into either an applied or academic pathway has been occurring since the 1990s, and Minister Leece expressed concerns that streaming and other related issues have equity implications. In a statement released by CBC Toronto on Monday afternoon, he stated, “It is clear that there is systemic discrimination built within the education system, whether it be streaming of racialized students, suspensions overwhelming targeting black and Indigenous kids, or the lack of merit -based diversity within our education workforce.” The Minister realizes that many of these issues are interconnected and overlapping and need a system approach.
On Thursday, July 9th in a news release from the Office of the Premier titled “Ontario Taking Bold Action to Address Racism and Inequity in Schools” the Ontario government announced bold new changes to the education system that will break down barriers for black, Indigenous and racialized students and provide all students with an equal opportunity to succeed. In order to ensure that this occurs, the statement outlines four things that the government will do. This includes ending Grade 9 streaming into spies and academic courses, proposing to eliminate discretionary suspensions for students, strengthening sanctions for teachers who engage in behaviours of a racist nature, and providing teachers with additional anti-racism and anti-discrimination training.
Streaming in Ontario has a long history and goes back to the 1960s with the removal of the departmentals, which were external exams that all students had to write before they graduate. At that time girls were channelled into secretarial science while boys were pushed into academic programs.
With the influx of West-Indians in the 1960s and 1980s and other non-Europeans into the Ontario education system there were many challenges and issues that arose. Several community-based organizations played an active role in advocating for changes to the system to help and support black students.
The Final Report of the Working Group on Multicultural Programs, which was released in 1976, and the Final Report of the Sub-Committee on Race Relations in 1979, looked at issues related to racism and came up with specific recommendations to deal with these them in Toronto schools. Organizations such as the Organizations of Parents of Black Children (OPBC) and the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators (CABE) have fought long and hard to ensure that black students were able to get an equitable education.
In 1985 George Radwanski was commissioned by David Peterson, the Liberal Premier to examine the dropout rate in Ontario schools. The subsequent release of the Radwanski’s report in 1987 made several recommendations, one of which was the de-streaming of high school. He summarized that, “Streaming is a theoretical error, a practical failure, and a social injustice.”
The Mike Harris Conservative Ontario government eliminated the general/advanced streaming system in 1999 and replaced it with the present applied/academic model due to pressures from the black community and others whose children were disproportionately placed in these lower level classes. Theoretically parents had the final say in deciding whether their children were placed in grade 9 applied classes or not, and students could move from applied to academic in grade 9 and 10 by taking a transfer course.
Many reports revealed the exact opposite was occurring. A report by Social Planning Toronto which was quoted in The Toronto Observer of September 27th, 2017 titled, “Still Streamed: How High Impact Decisions are Shaping Students’ Futures ” revealed that there is much confusion about streaming by students and parents. It showed that students from low-socioeconomic families are overrepresented in applied classes compared to those from high-income ones.
On April 24th, 2017, CBC News revealed the results of a report by Carl James, York University of Education professor that showed that 53% of black students were in academic programs as compared to 81% of white students. Conversely, 39% of black students were enrolled in applied programs compared to 18% of other racialized groups and 16% of white students. The report further notes that data from the TDSB shows that, “Black students continue to be directed towards essential and applied programs of study away from academic courses more than white and other racialized students.” Data from the PDSB also indicates the same pattern in the distribution of students.
Many of the responses to the de-streaming are supportive of Education Minister Stephen Leece for seeing de-streaming as an anti-racist issue. But many educational workers are concerned about how much money the provincial government will spend to ensure that there is support for teachers and students in a de-streamed classroom. There have been more resources and help for students who: have significant learning gaps, who are english language learners or who are in ESL classes. In addition, what will the curriculum look like for these classes? The Ministry of Education has not revealed details about what, and how students will learn in the future de-streamed world.
Ontario secondary school teachers in a statement released on Friday, July 10th states, “It is troubled by the Ford government’s refusal to provide details about major changes planned for publicly-funded education in Ontario, and the government’s unwillingness to commit adequate funding to accommodate those changes.
The proposal laid out by Minister of Education Stephen Leece, however, fail to provide significant details on how that will be accomplished. By all appearances, the Minister’s proposal falls short of that goal.”
There is much hope that there will be the release of funding information that will help boards plan, strategize and implement de-streamed classes.
Youth Development
Understanding the multiple layers involved in navigating education spaces Parents of Black Children launch Navigating the Education System
BY PAUL JUNOR
The work of the advocacy group Parents of Black Children (PoBC) has made a significant and revolutionary difference by bringing issues to the forefront that help Black families at all levels.
For over two years now, it has organized events, workshops and initiatives that have provided important information to the Black community to bring empowerment, knowledge and deep understanding of the multiple layers of the complex dynamics involved in navigating education spaces.
There are five core principles that underlie PoBC understanding of racism:
- Racialization
- Racism is about power
- Critical racial theory
- Our stories matter
- Racism is founded on White supremacy
On Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021, they launched the document “Navigating the Education System,” which was a very empowering, enriching and inspiring tool for diverse Black families. Kearie Daniels, one of the cofounders of PoBC and author of the document, moderated the launch. Furthermore, Claudette Rutherford, one of the cofounders of PoBC and author gave an extensive presentation of the details of the document, sharing useful insights, practical knowledge and interesting information.
PoBC shared a pdf document subsequent to the launch, which provided additional details in a fifty-three-page package. It contained relevant, contextual and vital resources. PoBC’s Advocacy Team supported the document, which includes Charline Grant and Xavier McLaughin.
In the introduction to the document the mission of PoBC is to “Provide support to parents of Black children across Canada and the United States. We advocate and work towards change and concrete action in our education system and adjacent systems such child welfare and the justice system.”
The launch of this vital document is a culmination of all the advocacy and activist work that PoBC has been extensively involved in. It serves to remind members of the Black community that there are resources, tools and supports available to ensure that Black children are able to thrive academically, excel mentally and flourish intellectually in spaces that may not be welcoming to their presence.
The document states that the navigate guide is “Geared towards families in Ontario, but the information can be applied to any jurisdiction where there are Black children and families.”
The document “Table of Contents” is useful and helpful. There is vital information on:
- School board terms you need to know
- Education organization you need to know in Ontario
- Black families and the Child Welfare System
- Black families and the education system
- Black students and Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
- Black students in High School.
- Developmental delays in learning exceptionalities
- Supporting students with learning exceptionalities
- Selecting a school system
- System abuse
PoBC presented a webinar on “System Abuse”. The document states,
“The system is not neutral. These systems were designed as part of a colonial framework that must be dismantled.” Furthermore, the document “Serves as a means to demystify the pitfalls within the education system and light a path towards a decolonized education system.”
BY PAUL JUNOR
There have been concerns, fears and anxieties as parents, caregivers and guardians anticipate the possibility of having their children under twelve vaccinated.
The Boston Globe reported on Friday, October 29th, 2021, that the FDA approved the administration of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of five to eleven. These children will receive one-third of the dose administered to teens and adults.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention met on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021, in order to finalize details with respect to which children should be vaccinated first. In anticipation of these developments, Team Toronto has initiated a series of outreach and education sessions, as well as town halls in order to inform the Toronto community.
Parents of children between the ages of five to eleven who attend public schools will be receiving an email and an invitation to respond to a survey to “Support vaccine planning.” This invitation will also be extended to parents whose children attend private independent schools as well. The survey will be administered by Toronto Public Health (TPH) and the City of Toronto VaxTO in order to “Better understand parents’ intent to vaccinate their children, how they would prefer to have their children receive their COVID-19 vaccine, and to obtain critical information on socio-demographic factors such as race and income.”
John Tory, Mayor of Toronto, is optimistic and positive about this development. He states in the press release, “While our work to get 90% of eligible residents vaccinated is continuing, we are also readying for when the vaccine will be available to protect kids five to eleven. We want to hear from parents, so we made sure we designed a vaccination program that works for kids and their families. This is just one more example of the outreach we are doing to prepare for this effort. This work is so important and will help us get kids vaccinated so they have the best protection against COVID-19 and so our schools can be as safe and as open as possible.”
Councillor Joe Cressy, Chair of Toronto’s Board of Health who has been at the forefront of advocating for the vaccination of margnizalied and at-risk communities is supportive of this campaign. He states, “At every stage of our immunization campaign, connecting with people on the ground has been critical to our success. Now, as we prepare for the rollout of vaccines to children aged five to eleven, we’re committed to engaging directly with parents, families, and community leaders to have active conversations about vaccinations for kids.”
In addition, Dr Eileen De Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health is a strong proponent of this campaign. She states,” When vaccines are approved for use and when we have supply we will ensure that we bring every resource to bear on this critical component of the vaccination campaign.”
The survey will be available as of Sunday, November 7th, 2021. It consists of fifteen questions that will be available online at s.tphsurvey.chkmkt.com in multiple languages. Parents and guardians will receive them from their children’s public school boards. In addition, there will be town halls for specified multilingual communities as well as neighbourhood-based telephone halls to ensure that the public has access to timely, necessary and relevant information for informed decision-making.
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