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Education

Around The District

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Red Deer Public Schools-2
Here are some of the events happening in the Red Deer Public School District between now and the end of the month.

MONDAY, APRIL 3
EVENT: SPELL-A-THON
School: Joseph Welsh Elementary
Time: Daily
Location: Various around School
Details: Joseph Welsh, in conjunction with the School
Council, is holding a Spell-A-Thon. Students will collect
pledges for doing their best on the Spell-A-Thon test. Anyone
wanting to contribute to the Spell-A-Thon is invited to call the
school. All funds raised are for school activities.
Contact: Rafaela Marques at 403-346-6377

MONDAY, APRIL 3
EVENT: WEAR BLUE FOR AUTISM AWARENESS
School: West Park Elementary
Time: All Day
Location: Various around School
Details: Staff and students will be wearing blue to support
Autism Awareness Day (Apr. 2) and the month of April.
Contact: Brianne Lindsay at 403-343-1838
MONDAY, APRIL 3 – FRIDAY, APRIL 7
EVENT: AUTISM AWARENESS WEEK
School: Hunting Hills High
Time: Daily
Location: Various around School
Details: Students will be working to help educate and
provide opportunities to learn about the autism spectrum
Contact: Jonathan Davies at 403-342-6655

TUESDAY, APRIL 4
EVENT: MAKERSPACE OPEN HOUSE
School: Mountview Elementary
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Location: Mountview – Makerspace Room 4
Details: Open house focused on STEM development (3D
modelling, coding, etc.)
Contact: Jeff Plackner at 403-346-5765

TUESDAY, APRIL 4
EVENT: FRENCH IMMERSION AND INTERNATIONAL
BACCALAUREATE INFO NIGHT
School: Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High
Time: FRIM: 6:30 pm; IB: 7:00 pm
Location: School Cafeteria
Details: : The information night is for the parents and
students (currently in Grade 8 French Immersion) that are
interested in continuing in the LTCHS French Immersion
and/or International Baccalaureate programs.
Contact: Dania Hill (FRIM) at 403-347-1171, ext. 1305
Dave Smith (IB) at 403-347-1171, ext. 2104

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5
EVENT: FESTIVAL OF PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL
CHOIR PERFORMANCE
School: Joseph Welsh Elementary
Time: 9:30 am
Location: Sunnybrook United Church
Details: Students in grades 3-5 from the Joseph Welsh
School Choir will be participating in the Red Deer
Festival of the Performing Arts. The choir has prepared
two pieces. Family and friends are welcome to attend the
performance.
Contact: Alison Veldkamp at 403-346-6377

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5
EVENT: ADVANCED PLACEMENT INFORMATION
NIGHT
School: Hunting Hills High
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: School Gathering Area
Details: Parent information night for our AP program.
Contact: Sue Merry at 403-342-6655

THURSDAY, APRIL 6
EVENT: RED DEER COLLEGE PERFORMING
FRIENDS IN TIME PLAY
School: Mountview Elementary
Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: School Gymnasium
Details: RDC students will be performing a play about
friendship for all of our grade 4 students.
Contact: Diane Roberts at 403-346-5765

SATURDAY, APRIL 8
EVENT: GRAD TIGHT N’ BRIGHT BOWLING
School: Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Heritage Bowling
Details: An enjoyable evening of bowling and socializing
for the 2017 Grads.
Contact: Lisa Olesen at 403-347-1171

TUESDAY, APRIL 11
EVENT: GRADE 8 ORIENTATION PARENT
INFORMATION NIGHT
School: Hunting Hills High
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: School Gathering Area
Details: Information will be shared with parents and
students to help transition new students to grade 9.
Contact: Trevor Pikkert at 403-342-6655

TUESDAY, APRIL 11
EVENT: THURBER IDOL
School: Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Memorial Centre
Details: The 14th Annual Thurber Idol features some of
the most talented students. This year’s talent includes 13
varied and impressive acts from singers to dancers, and
musicians who have been chosen from many acts that
auditioned. Tickets are $13 and are available in advance
(Apr. 6-11) at the Student Leadership Exec Offi ce during
lunch times and remaining tickets will be available at the
door.
Contact: Alan Towne at 403-347-1171, ext. 1305

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
EVENT: KNOW A THON WRAP UP PIE IN THE FACE
School: Mattie McCullough Elementary
Time: 1:30 pm
Location: School Gymnasium
Details: Our top classes raised over $1500 each for our
Access For All playground and won the opportunity to
hit the admin in the face with a pie. Our know-a-Thon
raised over $13,700.00 for our park with phase 1 being
installed this summer.
Contact: Lisa Spicer at 403-343-8958

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
EVENT: RED DEER PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD
MEETING
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Central Service Offi ce, Board Room
Details: Regular school board meeting.
Contact: Cyndi Ramsfi eld at 403-342-3713
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
EVENT: SPRING FLING
School: Hunting Hills High
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: School Gymnasium
Details: Midsummer Night’s Dream themed dance.
Contact: Jonathan Davies at 403-342-6655
To visit the Red Deer Public Schools website CLICK HERE

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Education

Higher spending on K-12 education does not result in better student outcomes

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Derek J. Allison

Higher levels of per-student spending do not achieve higher student scores on standardized tests, either internationally or among the provinces, finds a new report published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“Just spending more on K-12 education does not lead to better student outcomes,” said Derek J. Allison, Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of School Spending and Performance in Canada and Other High-Income Countries.

The study compares provincial per-student spending on K-12 education in 2018 (the last year of comparable data) to other high-income countries in the OECD and to performance on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

It finds that higher per-student spending levels are not associated with stronger academic achievement. In fact, in 2018, 10 countries—or one third—of the high income OECD countries included in the analysis spent more per student than Canada but achieved significantly lower PISA scores.

Similarly, among the provinces, Saskatchewan was the highest per-student spender among the provinces but ranked 8th out of 10 on PISA scores. Manitoba was the second-highest per-student spender and recorded the lowest PISA scores nationwide. Conversely, British Columbia was the lowest spender per student in Canada and achieved the fourth-highest PISA scores.

“The evidence is clear—simply spending more on established K-12 schools without finding new and better ways to help kids learn will not improve student outcomes,” Allison said.

Provincial per-student spending (2018) compared to core PISA score

Province                                          Spending                  Core PISA score

Saskatchewan                                Highest spender      8th
Manitoba                                         2nd                             Lowest PISA score
Alberta                                             3rd                              Highest PISA score
Nova Scotia                                     4th                              5th
Ontario                                             5th                              3rd
New Brunswick                               6th                             9th
Quebec                                              7th                             2nd
P.E.I.                                                 8th                             7th
Newfoundland and Labrador      9th                             6th
British Columbia                            Lowest spender      4th

Click here to see the full report

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COVID-19

Learning loss piles up alongside snow while ‘e-learning’ collects dust

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Alex Whalen and Paige MacPherson

During COVID school closures, students in the province missed at least 125 days of school between March 2020 and February 2022, more than any other province (except Ontario), generating a significant learning loss from which students have not caught up.

In a world increasingly connected by technology, and given the Nova Scotia government recently spent tens of millions of dollars enabling at-home learning, one might think that students would seamlessly shift to online learning during the recent snowstorms to avoid losing crucial instructional time. Unfortunately, that’s not happening.

During COVID school closures, the Nova Scotia and federal governments spent at least $31.5 million dollars on “virtual school” and other technological upgrades so students could, according to the provincial government, “succeed, even in an at-home learning environment.”

Unfortunately, the electronic learning infrastructure—which includes Chromebooks, laptops and iPads for students and teachers, and additional support and new teachers for Nova Scotia Virtual School—is collecting dust in a corner while Nova Scotia kids are falling further behind.

This isn’t some blip in an otherwise strong record of instructional time for Nova Scotia students. During COVID school closures, students in the province missed at least 125 days of school between March 2020 and February 2022, more than any other province (except Ontario), generating a significant learning loss from which students have not caught up.

Indeed, according to the latest results (2022) from the Programme for International Assessment (PISA), the gold standard of testing worldwide, Nova Scotia 15-year-olds trail the Canadian average in reading by 18 points and trail the Canadian average in math by 27 points. For context, PISA characterizes a 20-point drop as one year of lost learning.

Moreover, between 2003 and 2022, Nova Scotia student performance in reading dropped by 24 points—more than one year of learning loss—and dropped by 45 points in math. In other words, in math, 15-year-old Nova Scotia students today are more than two years behind where Nova Scotia 15-year-olds were in 2003.

These troubling trends underscore the need to put the existing e-learning infrastructure to work. During a recent two-week period, students in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education school district missed seven days of school due to snow. And some students missed an additional five days due to weather and power outages. That’s nearly three weeks. While more instructional time is not a silver bullet for student success—and with power outages, e-learning is not a perfect solution—it could still make a big difference.

According to international research, missed classroom time causes learning loss and impacts children for life, reducing their life-long earnings. Nova Scotia education researcher Paul Bennett found that lost classroom time due to inclement weather compounds absenteeism and sets back student achievement and social progress.

The Houston government should ensure that Nova Scotian students have access to teacher-directed e-learning when schools are closed and, like other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States, abandon the practise of simply cancelling school due to inclement weather. It’s simply common sense. The snow may pile up, but there’s no good reason why learning loss must pile up with it. Parents are right to demand access to the e-learning they’ve already paid for through their tax dollars.

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