In 2003 AIMS released the broadest set of public information ever presented on Atlantic Canadian secondary schools. The much-anticipated Report Card paints a rich, complex picture of the unique nature and performance of each high school in the region. The first in an ongoing project to provide transparency in education.
“A powerful tool in understanding what is going on in our schools.” – Brian Lee Crowley, President, AIMS
AIMS Releases first Report Card On Atlantic High Schools, Peter Fenwick on Newfoundland's Failed Welfare Reform, Atlantic Canada and the Canada - US Border of the Future, Immigrants and Atlantic Canada, AIMS before Commons Committee and AIMS' Swedish health care project garners national attention.
Who pays and who benefits from our massive public spending on universities and colleges? In this article, AIMS author and intern John Philippe, continues to analyse the costs and benefits of a post-secondary education to both the individual who acquires that education, and the society that finances the greatest portion of the cash cost. Following-up to his enlightening report, “What’s a Degree Worth: Who Pays and Who Benefits at Atlantic Canada’s Universities?”, Phillipe argues in part that it only makes sense for students, as the major beneficiaries of their education, to bear a greater share of the costs than they currently do. He also discusses how the current regime of relatively uniform tuition levels across disciplines and levels of study is wasteful in that it prohibits universities from shifting money to the areas that are in highest demand. Publication: CHH & GC, May 14, 2002
Atlantic Canadian taxpayers give substantial financial support to our region’s university students. Similarly, students invest considerable resources in time, tuition fees and forgone income, to get their university degrees. But what value do taxpayers and students respectively get in return for their investment? And does each contribute to the cost of a university degree in proportion to the benefit they receive from it?
Education Minister's new Action Plan will improve accountability for education results but more needs to be done.
In this column, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley comes to the defence of Teachers Union President Brian Forbes against too hasty critics who say Forbes is quarrelling with the very notion of the usefulness of testing in the schools. Crowley cites three significant areas of agreement between the latest AIMS research paper “Testing and Accountability: The Keys to Educational Excellence in Atlantic Canada” and Mr. Forbes’s recent article criticizing AIMS, published in the Chronicle Herald. To see why Crowley and Forbes can agree that that testing has its place in the public schools, that the tests have to be interpreted in the context of the individual school and that testing alone is not enough go to: http://aims.wpengine.com/Media/2002/prmar1302.htm Publication: CHH, March 13, 2002
On 27 February, 2002, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley published a column addressing the need for improved standardized testing in Atlantic Canada. The column reflected the findings in AIMS’ newest research paper, “Testing & Accountability: The Keys to Educational Excellence in Atlantic Canada”. Crowley argued that well designed and properly administered standardized tests can provide a valuable measure of both student achievement and instructional effectiveness, but they cannot be used as the sole measure of either. On the other hand, without such tests, the school system cannot be held properly accountable for the results that it is producing. And higher standards of accountability are something that the public schools need.
Atlantic Canadian taxpayers invest substantial sums in our region’s universities, but what value are they actually receiving in return for their investment?
Accountability, not money, is the key to improved student performance say the authors of AIMS’ report “Testing & Accountability: The Keys to Educational Excellence in Atlantic Canada" It is clear that taxpayers, and the students they help support, are getting less for their investment in education than they deserve and certainly less than their counterparts in some other provinces.