It has been well documented that the nation’s public colleges, universities, community colleges, and career training centers significantly boost the economic mobility of students who pursue and complete degrees and credentials after high school. The skills students acquire at these higher-education institutions lead to jobs that pay a wage premium in a modern economy. However, for many students, families, and society as a whole, decreasing state investments and increasing student-loan debt is threatening the value of a public postsecondary education—that is to say, the idea that a degree or credential beyond high school will deliver on the promise of a higher standard of living. To make sure that higher education attainment leads to improved outcomes for graduates, it is crucial that national policy choices ensure that public colleges remain affordable for
low- and moderate-income Americans and student-loan debt does not overly burdened graduates as they prepare for the workforce.
Attraction and retention of apprentices and completion of apprenticeships are issues of concern to all stakeholders involved in training, economic development and workforce planning. The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) has forecast that by 2017 there will be a need to train 316,000 workers to replace the retiring workforce in the construction industry alone (CAF, 2011a). In the automotive sector, shortages are expected to reach between 43,700 and 77,150 by 2021. However, shortages are already widespread across the sector, and CAF survey data show that almost half (48.1%) of employers reported that there was a limited number of qualified staff in 2011 (CAF, 2011a). Given this, retention of qualified individuals in apprenticeship training and supporting them through to completion is a serious issue. There is some indication that registration in apprenticeship programs has been increasing steadily over the past few years, but the number of apprentices completing their program has not kept pace (Kallio, 2013; Laporte & Mueller, 2011). Increasing the number of completions would result in a net benefit to both apprentices and employers, minimizing joblessness and skills shortages.
We use data for a large sample of Ontario students who are observed over five years from their initial entry into high school to study differences in postsecondary education participation. The students are grouped by average neighbourhood income and birthplace (Canadian or foreign‐born). We find substantial differences in the allocation of students based on their performance in Grade 9 courses and the types of PSE participation within achievement groupings.
We document differences in PSE participation based on the students’ birthplace. Foreign‐born students, conditioning on performance in high school, are more likely to continue onto university and college. Foreignborn students in higher income neighbourhoods are more likely to pursue a university degree than a college credential. Uniformly, Canadian‐born students are less likely to pursue a PSE credential upon the completion of high school.
The 2015 Campus Freedom Index is the fifth annual report released by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) to measure the state of free speech at Canada’s universities.
Starting with a survey of only 18 universities in 2011, this year’s edition has grown to include 55 publicly funded Canadian universities—the largest and most expansive Index released so far, with information relevant to the more than 750,000 students who attend these institutions. The 2015 Campus Freedom Index includes an individual report about each university and student
union.
Epitomized by the OECDs Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the US governments Race to the Top,
accountability is becoming a pervasive normalizing discourse, legitimizing historic shifts from viewing education as a social and cultural to an economic project engendering usable skills and competences. The purpose of this special issue is to provide context and perspective on these momentous shifts. The papers point to historic antecedents, highlight core ideas, and identify changes in the balance of power between domestic and global policy makers.
Student ratings of teaching have been used, studied, and debated for almost a century. This article examines student ratings of teaching from a statistical perspective. The common practice of relying on averages of student teaching evaluation scores as the primary measure of teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure decisions should be abandoned for substantive and statistical reasons: There is strong evidence that student responses to questions of “effectiveness” do not measure teaching effectiveness. Response rates and response variability matter. And comparing averages of categorical responses, even if the categories are represented by numbers, makes little sense. Student ratings of teaching are valuable when they ask the right questions, report response rates and score distributions, and are balanced by a variety of other sources and methods to evaluate teaching.
Abstract Although the literature on institutional diversity suggests that quality assurance practices could affect institutional diversity, there has been little empirical research on this relationship. This article seeks to shed some light on the possible connection between quality assurance practices and institutional diversity by examining the arrangements for
quality assurance in higher education systems that include two distinct sectors, one of which having a more academic orientation and the other a more applied orientation. The article explores the ways in which quality assurance structures and standards in selected jurisdictions provide for recognition of the differences in orientation and mission between academic and applied sectors of higher education systems. The research identified some features of quality assurance systems that recognize the characteristics of applied higher education, such as having different statements of expected learning outcomes for applied
and academic programs or requiring different qualifications for faculty who teach in applied programs. It is hoped that the results might be of interest to policy makers and quality assurance practitioners who are concerned about the possible impact of quality
assurance on institutional diversity.
Selon les estimations du Conference Board du Canada, la pénurie de compétences entraîne un manque à gagner annuel de 4,7 G$ pour le PIB de la Colombie Britannique et de 616 M$ pour les recettes fiscales provinciales.
• Le Conference Board a mené une enquête auprès de 854 employeurs de Colombie Britannique – ce qui couvre plus de 130 000 employés, soit 9 % des employés de la province – afin de connaître les compétences, les professions et les diplômes qui
leur sont nécessaires pour répondre à leurs besoins actuels et futurs.
• Il existe beaucoup de choses que les employeurs, les éducateurs, les gouvernementset les particuliers, notamment les étudiants, peuvent faire pour résoudre la pénurie ou l’inadéquation des compétences et préparer la Colombie Britannique à saisir les nouveaux débouchés qui lui permettront d’exploiter pleinement son potentiel économique.
There are about 420 registered private career colleges (PCCs) in Ontario – the number is in constant flux. 60% of schools are ten years of age or younger. They serve 53,000 full time equivalent (FTE) students, or about 1 in 15 Ontario postsecondary students. Their overall vocational revenues are in the order of $360M annually. They are mostly small; 70% have total revenues under $1M and average enrolment is under 200.
Background: Via the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), stronger accountability proponents are now knocking on the doors of the colleges of education that prepare teachers and, many argue, prepare teachers ineffectively. This is raising questions about how effective and necessary teacher education programs indeed are. While research continues to evidence that teachers have a large impact on student achievement, the examination of teacher education programs is a rational backward mapping of understanding how teachers impact students. Nonetheless, whether and how evaluations of teacher education programs should be conducted isyet another hotly debated issue in the profession.
Getting students to take their reading assignments seriously is a constant battle. Even syllabus language just short of death threats, firmly stated admonitions regularly delivered in class, and the unannounced pop quiz slapped on desks when nobody answers questions about the reading don’t necessarily change student behaviors or attitudes.
Strategies for recruiting employees and keeping them engaged have long been based around practical rewards like pay increases, bonuses or flexible working hours, attempting to cater to employees’ rational, business side. But this approach often leaves out a key consideration which informs every human action: our emotional connection to one another. Whether part of a traditional or virtual team, feelings-based personal relationships in the workplace have the greatest impact on employee engagement. When employees connect to their immediate supervisor in this way, they become more engaged with their role, working more effectively, staying with the company long-term, and acting as ambassadors for their organization.
For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.” Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group, and biological genocide is the destruction of the group’s reproductive capacity. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.
Abstract
The Ontario Ministry of Education announced the Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools in 2010. This policy aims to support parent engagement and provides a vision of its implementation at schools, boards, and the ministry. This mixed methods case study sheds light on its implementation and thus its implication by exploring the parent engagement
experiences of parents and teachers. The study results reveal that the actual and desired levels of engagement are different between new immigrants and the established or non-immigrant families, and that teacher education in parent engagement is desirable in optimizing parent partnerships.
Keywords: immigrants, parent engagement, policy, parent involvement, teacher education,
professional development
Résumé
Le Ministère de l’éducation de l’Ontario a annoncé le Parent politique d’engagement pour les écoles de l’Ontario en 2010. Cette politique vise à soutenir l’engagement parent et Implementing Parent Engagement Policy in an Increasingly Culturally Diverse
fournit une vision de sa mise en oeuvre dans les écoles, les conseils scolaires et le ministère. Cette méthodes mixtes étude de cas met en lumière sa mise en oeuvre et donc son implication en explorant la participation des parents expériences vécues par les parents et les enseignants. Les résultats de l’étude révèlent la réelle et désirée niveaux d’engagement sont différentes entre les nouveaux immigrants et les établis ou de non-immigrant, familles et que la formation des maîtres en participation des parents est souhaitable dans l’optimisation des partenariats parent.
Mots-clés : immigrés, participation des parents, la participation des parents, la formation des enseignants, le développement professionnel, politique, défense des intérêts du public
The earliest studies of undergraduate retention in the United States occurred in the 1930s and focused on what was referred to at the time as student mortality: the failure of students to graduate (Berger & Lyon, 2005). Historically higher education research has had an eye toward pathology with a focus on repairing students’ problems (Shushok & Hulme, 2006). To this end, much research exists on why students fail to persist as opposed to why they succeed. Strength-based approaches to the study of undergraduate retention involve studying successful students. Studying what is right with students may illuminate new aspects of successful student experiences which can in turn be applied to supporting all students. This paper will provide a brief historical overview of undergraduate retention followed by factors commonly related to undergraduate retention. Finally, an overview of the recent application of motivational theories to understand undergraduate retention including attribution theory, expectancy theory, goal setting theory, self-efficacy beliefs, academic self-concept, motivational orientations and optimism will be provided. Considerations for the future of motivational theories in undergraduate retention will be discussed with particular emphasis on the value of strength-based approaches to study and practice.
In Canada, Aboriginal postsecondary enrolment and completion rates are significantly lower than those of non-Aboriginals (Canadian Millenium Scholarship Foundation, 2004; Mendelson, 2006). This is most evident in disciplines involving science and mathematics (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2005). Moreover, Aboriginal student achievement in K – Grade 12 mathematics courses is significantly lower than those of non-Aboriginal students (Neel, 2007). In the contemporary Canadian context of low Aboriginal participation and completion rates in postsecondary studies of mathematics, it is important to provide Aboriginal students with experiences of mathematics that foster their interest and ability in the early stages of their schooling (Bourke et al, 1996; Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, 2002).
One of the deepest current concerns in higher education is to find ways to more fully involve students in learning. Astin (1977, 1984) found that greater degrees of involvement with the programs and activities of the campus influence student satisfaction with college, academic achievement, and persistence toward graduation. Involvement, "the amount of physical and
psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience" (1984, p. 297), includes five postulates, two of which are critical in understanding our task of building community on a college or university campus: "The amount of student learning and personal development associated with any educational program is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of student involvement in that program. The effectiveness of any educational policy or practice is directly related to the capacity of that policy or practice to increase student involvement" (p. 298).
The 2011 Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial level is the first milestone in the Gender Initiative, which was launched by the OECD to help governments promote gender equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship (the “three Es”). Reducing persistent gender inequalities is necessary not only for reasons of fairness and equity but also out of economic
necessity. Greater economic opportunities for women will help to increase labour productivity, and higher female employment will widen the base of taxpayers and contributors to social protection systems which will come under increasing pressure due to population ageing. More gender diversity would help promote innovation and competitiveness in business. Greater economic empowerment of women and greater gender equality in leadership are key components of the OECD’s wider agenda to
develop policies for stronger, better and fairer growth.
This paper reports the results of an analysis of persistence in post-secondary education (PSE) for college students in Ontario based on the extremely rich YITS-B dataset that has been used for other recent studies at the national level. We calculate hazard or transition rates (and cumulative transition rates) with respect to those who i) graduate, ii) switch programs, and
iii) leave PSE (perhaps to return later). We also look at the reasons for switching and leaving, subsequent re-entry rates among leavers, and graduation and persistence rates once switchers and re-entrants are taken into account. These patterns are then probed in more detail using hazard (regression) models where switching and leaving are related to a variety of individual
characteristics, family background, high school outcomes, and early pse experiences. Student pathways are seen to be varied. Perhaps the single most important finding is that the proportion of students who either obtain a degree or continue to be enrolled somewhere in the PSE system in the years after entering a first program remains close to the 80 percent mark for the five years following entry. Seventy-one percent of students graduate within five years of starting, while another 6 percent are still in the PSE system.
Community college systems were established across North America from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. The new systems had two principal models: in one model, the college combined lower-division, university-level general
education with technical education programs; in the other, most or all of the colleges were intended to concentrate on technical education. Ontario was the largest of the provinces and states in North America that opted for the second model. Many of the issues that planners confronted when designing these college systems have either persisted or re-emerged in recent years. This
article re-examines the debate on the design of Ontario’s colleges that took place when they were founded and considers its implications for the present.