The best of the web on education from kindergarten to postsecondary, as chosen by Globe and Mail education editor Simona Chiose.
Canada has lowest rate of vocational training in postsecondary
Monday's Conference Board of Canada report ranking Canada in the middle of the pack on socioeconomic measures has more detailed information on the educational and employment situation of youth in the country. The most startling finding is that we have the lowest proportion of students in vocational training among the countries the study compared. But the data raise a lot of questions with some extraordinarily high numbers of students in training in Austria and Belgium among other countries. Beyond issues of what is being measured, one wonders if having so many students in non-academic programs poses social mobility issues of its own.
Conscientious objectors
A Seattle teacher writes about being a conscientious objector to standardized testing. Groups of teachers at several schools in the city are refusing to administer the tests because they believe they do not reliably measure or help student achievement. They could face suspension for their actions even as the boycott may spread across the U.S.
Grammar test challenge
A grammar test administered to British students asks them to identify passive and active sentences, gerunds and place hyphens correctly. Test yourself.
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