Banning cellphones in school has gained momentum and it will only grow in the wake of Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation, making a persuasive case that “phone-based childhood” is contributing to the child and youth mental health crisis. We may be at a public policy tipping point because a majority of adults  – principals, teachers, mental health professionals, and parents now favour a severe restriction or outright ban on the so-called “weapons of mass distraction.” Banning cellphones has been debated over the past fifteen years and previous policy initiatives in Canada an ..read more

High school graduation has long been cherished as a significant milestone in the vast majority of students’ personal lives.  News that it is now being reinvented was bound to evoke widespread concern, especially in a time of runaway grade inflation and ‘every-one-gets a pass’ education. That’s why the Ontario Ottawa-Carleton District School Board‘s plan to revamp its high school graduation ceremonies attracted so much public and media attention.  A story in the Ottawa Citizen  headed “No Pass, No Problem,” reported that everyone would get an achievement certificate whether they ..read more

Every school year for the past fifteen the last Wednesday in February has been recognized and promoted as Pink Shirt Day aimed at curbing bullying and reducing its harmful effects on children and teens. It originated on September 13, 2007 when Grade 12 Nova Scotia students David Shepherd and Travis Price at Central Kings District High School organized a protest to show their solidarity with a Grade 9 student who was targeted, in part, for wearing a pink shirt. Pink Shirt Day is now a cause célèbre which has mushroomed into a global “Anti-Bullying” movement. Since it’s founding, “Pink Day” has ..read more

A Mathematics teaching craze known as “Building Thinking Classrooms.” Is now sweeping across North American K-12 education. With post-pandemic student math scores languishing and senior administrators scrambling for a ‘quick fix’, BTC has quickly taken over classrooms with its small group engagement activities and wall-mounted strip white boards known as “vertical learning spaces.” It’s also acquired a new and rather cheeky moniker on social media – #sinking classrooms. Since its founder Simon Fraser University education professor Peter Liljedahl spoke at the Ontario English Catholic Teachers ..read more

Preventative health measures, such as masking, vaccines and rapid tests were effective at stopping schools and daycares from becoming vectors for the spread of COVID-19 during the peak of the 2020-2022 pandemic.  What’s less recognized is that school closures themselves had a negligible effect on containing the virus, the whole rationale for the shutdowns. Closing schools for so long, it now appears, was a mistake because of the attendant and unanticipated problems that arose in its wake – measurable learning loss, teen mental health issues, social isolation, and disrupted services for s ..read more

Two self-declared “old, white straight” North American education professors, Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves, have gone out on a limb.  Their latest book, The Age of Identity: Who Do Our Kids Think They Are? And How Do We Help Them Belong? (Corwin Press, 2024), wades into “identity politics” in K-12 education and attempts to bring clarity to the whole debate for the current generation of embattled school leaders. Troubled by the divisive “culture wars,” the educational leadership luminaries, Dennis Shirley, former Professor of Formative Education at Boston College, and Andy Hargreaves ..read more

Chronic absenteeism has reached crisis proportions.  One in five children in the United Kingdom are persistently absent from school and now described as “lost children.” The “staggering figure” has been identified as a national education crisis.  In a rare show of unanimity, Education Secretary Jillian Keegan and Labour shadow secretary Bridget Phillipson both agree that it threatens the “life chances” of today’s generation. Opening the London Sunday Times of January 7, 2024, a front-page news story grabbed U.K. readers attention.  “1 in 4 parents now think it’s fine for kids t ..read more

Six years ago, a positively gushing August 2017 BBC News story anointed Canada as an “education superpower” on the basis of its recent Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in mathematics, science and reading. Today, after the release of the PISA 2022 assessments, such a claim would be dismissed as preposterous. On the latest round of tests for 15-year-olds, Canadian students in mathematics, reading and science.  In Mathematics, the prime focus of the 2022 global assessment, our students dropped again from 512 in 2018 to 497 in 2022, a 35-point decline since 2003. Con ..read more

Students in Canada’s K-12 schools have not bounced back.  My latest report, Pandemic Fallout: Learning Loss, Collateral Damage, and Recovery in Canada’s Schools, (Cardus, November 29, 2023) identified the root of the problem and challenged governments, educators, and parents to recognize and respond to the deep and lasting effects of pandemic disruptions on education.   A week later, my essential analysis and conclusions were borne out in the latest Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) report (December 5, 2023)  testifying to the serious decline in the perfor ..read more

Social media use is now rampant among kids and teens and registering as a worsening public health problem. A recent New Brunswick Health Council  Student Wellness Survey, covering 2022-2023, delivered the shocker. Three in five youths (61.5%) reported that they spent 3 or more hours a day on social media sites or apps, up from 47.7 % the year before. Some 14 % of kids and teens spend 7 hours or more per day on social media. Simply put, students spend far more time on social media than they do in school. Mobile phones have also taken over today’s classrooms and are now described by overwh ..read more