Healthy Active Schools and Student Success Bruce Ferguson SickKids and U of T HASC, Belleville February 29, 2008

Our Vision Success is... Competence – academic, social, physical Character Caring Connections Confident

What parents want …. Parents want their children to be happy and well-balanced – active participants in and contributors to society. They want them to be confident of their future and to be eager to have children of their own. Our children force us to go beyond the present to ask what sort of world will the future produce.

Education Traditionally, Education has often been likened to a three-legged stool, which will always adjust to the most uneven surface (unlike a four- legged chair) The Home (Emotions) The Community (Inspiration) The School (Intellectual) Progressively, however, modern society had attempted to define Education as Schooling and has defined schools as having a similar three parts - Academic, Socialization and Control

Education It is my observation that, over the last 50 years we have come to expect schools/teachers to do it all – neglecting our knowledge that real education of young people requires the responsive and responsible involvement of parents and the whole community! We now need to find a way back from our “default position” of asking the schools to do it all. Involving the whole community produces “social capital”!

To blame schools for the rising tide of mediocrity is to confuse symptoms with disease; schools can rise no higher than the expectations of the community which surrounds them. Dr. Ernest Boyer President of the Carnegie Foundation and Former US Commissioner for Education, commenting on the Excellency Report of 1984

Promoting Success Teacher Engagement Student Engagement Parent Engagement Community Engagement

Making our children and youth successful  Healthy families  Healthy schools  Healthy communities

How are we doing? In international tests of academic proficiency, Canadian (and Ontario) students are performing very well! However, there is more to this story – the UNICEF Report Card

Report Card 7 Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries A comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in economically advanced nations. UNICEF, 2007

“You can’t expect children to grow up to be intelligent, in a world that is not intelligible to them”. John Abbott

We must always think of education/schooling in the context of the world we all inhabit - the information age – the communication revolution - the nature of work - the globalization of the market economy – economic changes - demographic imperatives – aging populations - immigration and multiculturalism - changes in families, communities and governments - concerns for a sustainable world – global warming and biodiversity - happiness/the meaning of life – spirituality/ religion - our society’s view of children and adolescents

Economic globalization, income gaps, concerns for a sustainable world, global warming and biodiversity - income gaps – first and third worlds – in Canada?? So what? - sustainability – Ronald Wright Massey lectures

Why we should worry!

“If civilization is to survive, it must live on the interest, not the capital, of nature. Ecological markers suggest that in the early 1960’s, humans were using 70% of nature’s yearly output; by the early 1980’s we’d reached 100%; and in 1999 we were at 125%. Ronald Wright A Short History of Progress 2004

Student Success - Ontario Ministry of Education LITERACYLITERACY NUMERACYNUMERACY PATHWAYSPATHWAYS COMMUNITYCULTURECARING

Community safety – physical and psychological belonging – entitlement and responsibility participation – academic, social and physical shared values – value learning, value people, etc.

Culture fairness – both school and classes respect – diverse backgrounds and needs expectations/aspirations – Rosenthal effect professionalism – high quality instruction

Caring educators care – and show it! kids care – and show it! make it “cool” to care Healthy schools = community + culture + caring!

How do we make our kids successful? By being understanding, flexible and proactive By being engaged and engaging them By living with an attitude of “trust” By helping them learn self-awareness, self- management, decision-making, social awareness, and relationship building By living the way we want them to live

What should we be teaching our students? According to Ferguson: Excellent strategies for learning and thinking Their strengths and weaknesses as learners/thinkers How to know when they know To take control of their learning And, of course, lots of useful content

Cognitive Apprenticeship 1. Modeling 2. Scaffolding 3. Fading 4. Discussion... a way of "going beyond what comes naturally". A form of intellectual weaning that balances the rate of physical maturation. John Abbott

How can we make our students successful? By creating healthy schools  The best models/mentors are competent, confident, connected, caring teachers/adults who consistently demonstrate the character we wish our students to have!  When every teacher commits to the success of every student!

How do we make them successful? By having every adult commit to the success of every child!

Why do this! It is the morally correct (and Canadian) thing to do Our children and youth deserve no less than our best Our children and youth make up 25% of our population but represent 100% of our future To make Ontario and Canada the best place in the world to be a child/youth!

Finlay and Moby

Why have Children? (Children are not just for Christmas)

Why do we have children? For the pure joy of having them in our world! WE MUST GIVE THEM THEM OPPORTUNITY TO BE AS GOOD AS THEY CAN BE!