By Paul W. Bennett (AIMS Education Fellow) A New Brunswick principal, Brad Sturgeon of Fredericton’s Leo Hayes High School, has broken the silence and rung the alarm bell over the rapid spread of vaping among students – before, after and even (surreptitiously) during class. Today’s high schoolers, right across Canada, can now be spotted, almost [...]
By Dr. Paul W. Bennett (AIMS Author) Talk about the inordinate number of school snow days in the Maritimes never seems to go away. The current school year, it turned out, reflected the “new normal” in Nova Scotia with between five and 14 days lost to storm closures. Yet a fierce public debate continues to [...]
Student performance can be highly varied in school systems and differences among children and teens from different classes or groups, marked by income, ethnic, or racial disparities, are commonly termed the ‘achievement gap.’ While the school board and schools have introduced programs to improve student performance, there are still hurdles to overcome. (Click on [...]
By Paul Bennett (AIMS Author) The Chronicle Herald, 23 November 2018 This is part of a series on education in the Halifax Regional Municipality: Talking with Halifax principal Gord McKelvie restores your faith in the potential for schools to make a difference in the lives of teens in challenging circumstances. In his 41st year of [...]
By Paul Bennett (AIMS Author) The Chronicle Herald, 22 November 2018 This is part of a series on education in the Halifax Regional Municipality: Improving metropolitan school systems can be a Herculean challenge and it has defeated wave after wave of school reform initiatives. School leadership, teacher effectiveness and program excellence can make a difference, [...]
By Paul Bennett (AIMS Author) The Chronicle Herald, 22 November 2018 This is part of a series on education in the Halifax Regional Municipality: When it comes to finding out how public schools are performing, it is difficult to get straight answers. Senior district staff publish individual school results, but avoid comparing schools, claiming it [...]
By Paul Bennett (AIMS Author) The Chronicle Herald, 20 November 2018 This is part of a series on education in the Halifax Regional Municipality: Where you live can influence greatly the educational outcomes of your children. Some education observers go so far as to say: “The quality of education is determined by your postal code.” [...]
By PAUL BENNETT (AIMS Author) Troy Media, 27 February 2018 The days are numbered for Nova Scotia’s seven English language school boards. Since the release of Avis Glaze’s Raise the Bar report, defenders of the existing order have rallied behind the status quo and claimed that eliminating ‘elected’ board members spelled the end of local [...]
By PAUL BENNETT (AIMS Author) News 95.7, The Rick Howe Show 11 May 2017 Public-Private Partnership (P3) schools come with a lot of baggage: opportunistic edu-preneurs, the Horton High “Taj Mahal,” "gold plated" school extras, and skimming-off cafeteria revenues tend to cement unflattering images in the public mind. They also colour most previous assessments of Nova [...]
On May 11, 2017, AIMS author Paul W. Bennett joined the Rick Howe Show on News 95.7 FM to discuss his latest paper "Reinventing the Building of Schools."