Saskatchewan: Look West

(Yes, I am biased, in a big way coming from Alberta. Alberta has had money longer than Saskatchewan (no I don’t need spell checker to spell it, I do remember from school how to spell the provinces name). They have been dealing with some greedy politicians of late, but they overcome in the end, they always do…Alberta just needs someone like Ralph Klein. :)NO ONE can be Mr. Klein.)

I moved to Saskatchewan to help a friend about a year and a half ago. We tend to listen to 650 am on the radio. I hear this Saskatchewan radio station take examples from the United States more often than they do from right next door in Alberta. 

For instance, it was tragic what happened to a child on the acreage because the ambulance could not find the farm. However, Alberta has had their grid roads marked since 1979. Many Saskatchewanites should know this as they do a lot of shopping in Alberta. So why are your Radio news casters looking to some of the states in America for examples when right next door Alberta has a great example to learn from?

Alberta’s roads are marked with RR, rural road or TWP, township road with the number relating to the road…hear is a pdf that could explain more:

http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/docType233/Production/12Rural_Address_Signs.pdf

Another example is standardized testing in schools.

Many in Saskatchewan do not believe this is a good thing. Are you told that standardized testing SHOULD help teachers focus the attention on where the children in their class need help?

I use my children as an example, when I got the report, I knew EXACTLY where my children needed the help. If they needed extra help in Math, I was able to pick up a math book from Wal-mart and help them through it. If they needed help with writing, well…I was able to give them some ideas. Reading is another story, however...some days I cannot get a book out of my childrens hands, but other children need someone to take the time to help them sound out the words properly. (Dick and Jane should have just been rewritten for the new age) 

Other students do not get to see what your childrens' marks on those tests and your child has no clue how other students did.

It focuses on what children NEEDS are in learning and not just throwing them into the wind, hoping they get it in the end. 

That is how kids are forgotten in the school system, that is how they are left behind. Standardized testing will help those forgotten children learn what they have to learn so they can succeed as well.

Of course with all the BLEEDING HEARTS out there that say we CANNOT fail a child because it will hurt their "feelings", we have to do something drastic so these children are not left behind...because in the end we are failing them if kids are leaving school without the knowledge they need to succeed in the real world. 

What happens when they "graduate" or drop out without the skills they need is the worst part of all, they end up on assistance or in dead end jobs and SOCIETY says they are lazy when they end up on assistance because they do not know how to add, read or write.

Alberta is doing an overhaul on their Standardized testing. I completely agree with Alberta’s decision on changing WHEN they do the test. It makes more sense to do the test at the beginning of the year so students have the opportunity to get the help they need right away, not the following year.

A website that explains Alberta’s new standardized testing will be a big help to you if you choose to read:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/alberta-to-overhaul-standardized-testing-emphasize-creativity/article11821827/