For further information, please contact Richard Deadman at rdeadman@deadman.ca or Sue Gray at 945-7645.

Alternative Education: The best choice for many Ottawa families

 By Richard Deadman

When asked about different programs offered by the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, many parents will name the English program and French Immersion. A small number might mention the gifted program. Others may comment on specific special ed services.

 But there is another publicly funded choice with six dedicated schools found throughout Ottawa: the Alternative Program.

Kids have different learning styles and different needs. Educators talk about auditory, visual and hands-on learning styles, and mold curricula to accommodate a variety of approaches in one common teaching system.

But learning styles are just part of the picture – only one way of looking at the complex challenge of meeting varied needs. Some kids need quiet space.  Some need energetic activity.  Competition drives some kids to do their best and turns other kids off altogether, for fear of failure or simply because they learn better in a cooperative environment.

So if kids have different needs, it only makes sense that they are offered a variety of learning environments.

It was this reality that led a group of parents to spearhead a new teaching model in Ottawa. These parents turned Lady Evelyn Public School into Ottawa's first Alternative School, funded by the OCDSB. Twenty-two years later, there are six Alternative Schools in Ottawa, many at the bursting point.

The success of the program is proof of its value.

So why is the Alternative Program still so unknown?

It’s hard to sum up alternative education in a short sound bite. Other programs, such as French immersion and gifted, are also OCDSB programs tailored to a specific learning requirement, but their names alone describe exactly what they offer.

But just what does alternative mean?

In a nutshell, the Alternative Program is based on the concept of student-driven learning.

Current research about how kids learn shows that many kids flourish in an educational setting when:

• They take ownership of their work. Alternative programs emphasize child-directed learning, group projects and peer presentations.
• Intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic motivation. Kids do better when they want to learn something than when they are told to learn something.
• Competition is more of a disincentive for most children rather than a motivator. For every winner, there are many losers.
• Education doesn't end at the last bell. Alternative schools have always emphasized the participation of parent/guardians as volunteers in the classroom.
• Anecdotal reporting is more useful and less harmful than grades. Parents get more out of precise feedback on what is going well and where their child needs to catch up, than from grade letters or percentages. Grades are really only useful when competing for university spaces.
• Mixed grades are offered to accommodate childrens’ natural strengths and weaknesses. A child may be reading at a grade four level but only doing math at a grade three level. Mixed grades challenge kids to progress to a higher level and allow them to spend more time where needed. Kids are also encouraged teach and help each other. 

From all this came the Alternative vision founded on the cornerstones of mixed-grades, child-directed, non-competition, anecdotally reported, volunteer-friendly schools. The basic philosophy and successful practices are so strong that other schools are starting to borrow some of these ideas.

But it is only in Ottawa’s six Alternative Schools that these ideas are provided as a holistic package, supported by the OCDSB mandate. And for some kids, those who don't thrive in more traditional classrooms or competitive learning environments, Alternative Education really works.

“My son is six and already reading at a grade three-level. The stimulus he is provided motivates him to want to work hard,” says one parent of a child at Lady Evelyn Alternative. “I had no idea the Ottawa Carleton Board offered such a program. This environment suits him perfectly.”

Each Alternative school can accept students outside of its catchment area with an approved cross-boundary transfer.

For more information, check out the home page for the Ottawa Carleton Alternative Schools Advisory Committee at http://www.igs.net/~asac/

It’s too bad that, for lack of a sound-bite, it is not better known.

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Word Count: 680, cutlines follow below.

 Please note that parents have given their permission for the following pictures to be published. Contact Lady Evelyn Alternative School for further information.

 Cutlines:

Picture 007.jpg:  “Joseph, don’t move. I’m not finished counting how long you are,” says Brianna Beel, 5, while measuring how many cubes it takes from Joseph Abourahal’s (age 7) head to his toes, during Math Mania day at Lady Evelyn Alternative School, March 7, 2003.

 
Picture 014.jpg:  Nathan Mendoça, 8, constructs a three-dimensional “scorpion-like robot” out of pennies and plastic joints at the annual Math Mania day held March 7 at Lady Evelyn Alternative School.

Picture 011.jpg:  Micheil Beale, 8, enjoys eating a few marshmallows while constructing a three-dimensional house at Lady Evelyn Alternative School’s annual Math Mania, held March 7, 2003. His geometric house also included a few toothpicks.