Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Aligned/Blended Home Education Programs in Alberta

Aligned/Blended Versus Traditional Programs: Do you know what you are signing up for?
Here is an analogy to help you decide what fits for you and your family:

Aligned/Blended Program
Imagine the aligned program is a like a school classroom. The certified teacher sits in the teacher’s chair and the children are doing schoolwork mandated by Alberta Education and covers the Alberta Program of Studies. The parent is the volunteer aide, unpaid, and under the teacher’s supervision. While the teacher is out of the classroom, having coffee, the parent volunteer sits in the certified teacher’s chair and assumes the role of the teacher while she is out. Now, imagine a child having trouble with an assignment or refusing to write an essay.

Is the government and administrators going to come and fire the parent volunteer? No. Will they hold the parent volunteer responsible? No. Do they expect the parent volunteer to document what was learned and what wasn’t? No. Will they take away the resources (funding) in the class because the child isn’t learning? No. Will they supervise the paid teacher closer and figure out what is wrong with the teaching methods? Perhaps. Will they kick the child out of the class and tell the parent to homeschool him? (Asking parent to drop down to tradional instead of aligned) Not on your life! The certified teacher will come back and assume control of the classroom and the parent volunteer aide, who has been helping the teacher will be back in the volunteer role on the side.

The teacher will continue to mark the assignments that the parent handed out and which the parent provided tutoring on. The teacher will gather the assignments that the parent volunteer facilitated on their behalf while the teacher was having coffee, and will submit them to the government as evidence of their teaching the curriculum. If there is no evidence of teaching/learning, the teacher, and school board will be answerable to Alberta Education. Not the parent volunteer aide.

When you are homeschooling on a blended or aligned program, you are the parent volunteer aide. All you do is help the paid teacher carry out her work. You are not responsible for delivery, assessment or even documentation! That belongs with the teacher, the administrator and the school board. Alberta Education funds the school to pay for the teacher,(not the parent volunteer aide) classroom, resources and administration and therefore expects all to follow it's mandated Alberta Program of Studies.

Traditional Program

In the above analogy, the parent pulls the child out of the school and takes them home or in the community. The parent and child decide which philosophy, curriculum, and goals will be met in the year. The parent can use whatever resources they choose. The parent is totally responsible to Alberta Education for meeting the targets in theSchedule of Learning Outcomes for Students Receiving Home Education Programs That Do Not Follow the Alberta Programs of Study

The School board gets some funding and has to share half the amount with the parent. The parent is responsible to Alberta Education for the planning, delivery and evalution of the Traditional program. The certified teacher is only responsible for ensuring that the child is progressing toward the goals set out in the above Learning Outcomes. No marks will be given.

Hopefully, this will help parents decide what type of program is beneficial for their families.

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