Head of School

Last week’s education news in the US was marked by former New York City Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein, and American Federation of Teachers President, Randi Weingarten, agreeing that teachers should have to pass an exam very similar to the lawyer’s Bar Exam before being allowed to teach.

While it’s kind of bizarre that Klein and Weingarten agree on anything in education, the fact that what they’re agreeing on is a Bar Exam for teachers brings this most decidedly into the realm of the bizarre. Most experts whom I trust in the United States education world agree that the problem is how difficult it is to remove bad teachers from the system, not that the way to have fewer bad teachers is to dramatically raise the bar for entry to the profession. This is just bizarre and wrong.

I have known thousands of teachers in my life, mostly in the independent school system in the United States and Canada. Many of the best teachers I ever met and had the pleasure to work with never went to teacher’s college, though many did. What is a universal problem in North America is that there are amazing people with great work and life experience who desperately want to enter the teaching profession but can’t because of the barriers to entry, some of which are artificial.

I would love to see a system where it was significantly easier for a skilled and passionate person to enter the teaching profession. I would like to see it become much easier and accepted for these people to get their training on the job, along with any certification the system deems they need. Part of that, from where I see the world of education, should absolutely not be an additional examination that will weed out many teachers who are potentially stellar additions to the profession.

Don Adams, Head of School

This has been one of those weeks that even passive news consumption has been too much. Teaching students about world affairs has always been a complicated thing, that much more so when the events of the day revolve around potential war.

I have long advocated that schools need to not only teach peace, but to be places of peace as well. If we can make every school a better, more humane place, we are well on our way to making every city, region, nation a better place. It’s a cumulative effect throughout the world – cumulatively good when we do the right things, cumulatively bad when we don’t take the time to teach what needs to be taught.

I wonder what our students think when they consume news on their own. I worry that they sometimes assume that what they see on TV is the only version of reality, the reality actually being that reality comes in different sizes, shapes and colors. I can imagine that news weeks such as this past one make a lot of young people’s heads hurt. As it does mine.

Don Adams, Head of School

Last week was the American Presidential election. While the evening itself produced a race that wasn’t very close when all was said and done, the notion of an election is an intriguing one. We “elect” many things in our lives. We choose acts and omissions.

Every family at our school has elected be a part of our community and to entrust us with the care and education of their child. On a smaller scale, that’s as daunting as a population electing someone to serve in an office, such as President. It’s a trust that we take very, very seriously.

When we elect to do something, we also elect not to do something else. When schools in Ontario elect not to give parents of students with suspected learning disabilities the timely testing and Individualized Education Plan that they are legally entitled to receive, they are electing not to serve the needs of Ontario families.

Throughout our history at The Academy, we have elected the opposite. We have always served our populations quickly, thoroughly, passionately. From where we sit, it’s the only thing we can elect to do, given that these are families and teenagers often in dire straits. To elect to do anything less would be to elect not to serve our school’s mission, and that’s an election day you will never see at The Academy.

Perhaps you should elect to give us a call and see the school. You’re always welcome.

Don Adams, Head of School

On Sunday morning at 02.00, those of us who were awake set our clocks back an hour at just the right moment. We do that every fall and to remember whether to move ahead or behind, we learned “Spring Ahead, Fall Back” in school.

I don’t like the idea of ever falling back – I think that we should always endeavour to Spring Ahead. It’s a good thing that I’m not responsible for setting our clocks or for teaching students to remember that phrase.

Daylight Savings Time is actually observed in around 70 countries, though it was and remains something US-driven. The idea behind the concept was that it saved electricity. More recent US studies show that Daylight Savings Time may actually increase the amount of electricity used, though this may be state-specific.

Maybe Daylight Savings Time is akin to what we all-too-often do in schools. We look at the information available to us at a given moment and make a decision. We rarely take a fresh look at that decision (say, the idea of putting school desks in neatly-ordered rows), electing instead to just move forward and let the status quo congeal.

I’m wondering aloud how many of the historical decisions we have made in and about schools are ripe for re-examination. Not necessarily a major overhaul (though, of course, many are) but a reasonably gentle tweaking, like moving a clock back or forward by an hour.

What things would you suggest?

Don Adams, Head of School

In our recent advertisements and our YouTube site, among other places, you will see us described as an “alternative” school.

Alternative to what?

We think about this question a lot. For many reasons, we embrace the notion of being alternative. First, we are alternative to what was the status quo for the students who come to The Academy. In that way, our alternative is small, intimate classes; teachers who are experts in dealing with students with learning style differences and learning disabilities; administrators who are on the leading edge of research and thought in this area of education.

We are also alternative in our ability as a school to invert the history of a students experience at and with schools. Where schools were previously places of failure, The Academy is a place for success. We spend the entire year spreading the word about our school. We actively prospect for the students and families who would most benefit from being part of The Academy community and an education at our school. We take these students on the way into our school and throughout their time here, empower them to succeed on the way out. This is transformative and deeply alternative for the families who come to our school.

FInally, alternative is an attitude. From the minute the school day begins, the expectation is engagement and success. Students take from an education at The Academy what they put in. We create an environment here that makes it safe, comfortable, rewarding for students to check in. It takes time to change the paradigm from school being a passive thing that probably should be avoided, to school being an integral part of who you are, in a community that not only cares about you, but is equipped to help you succeed.

The Academy IS Toronto’s alternative school. It’s a beautiful time of year in the city – come join us for a tour and a cup of good coffee.

Don Adams, Head of School