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The Huron Expositor, 1989-06-21, Page 5THE 'HURON EXPOSITOR, JUNE 21 1989 - 5A SEAFORTH OPTIMIST Q �+� � �all►'i Er WINNERS TRIP TO CUBA Minna Scott, Seatorth 0100. CONSULATION 'PRIZE Ken 'McMillan, Goderich SEAFORTH BIA FATHER'S DAY WINNERS Four Weeks Complete ,Lawn Care WAYNE CRONIN Four S25. $IA Shopping Vouchers Robert McClure - $25. Mrs. 1. Hubley - 525. Isabel Gardiner - 525. Helen Van Sake! - $25. DO YOU REMEMBER LAST SUMMER? it's Tillie To Buy Asir Conditioning CLIMATE MASTER NO MORE PLEEZE - It was a bit nippy on Saturday, and to the chagrin of volunteers, the Queen's Tavern held its Dunk Tank anyway. All proceeds went towards the Seaforth Community Hospital Expansion fund. Mcllwraith photo. .General level A recent study shows that the Huron Coun- ty Board of Education should be doing more for its general level student population. The impetus for the study was George Radwanski's "Radwanski report" -the same report which outraged educators in the province in 1988. Radwanski's study of the dropout rate pointed out that the majority of dropouts are general level students, as opposed to basic .level or academic level. Radwanski said there are three reasons for this: dropout general level students (those who study Mathematics and English at the general level, and typically.don't plan to attend university) don't adjust well to high school - when they start in Grade 9, don't form a strong bond to the school and typically aren't involved in clubs, teams, choir, etc., and many have after school employment. Arnold Mathers, Superintendent of Pro- gram with the Huron County Board of Education (HCBE), says most educators misjudged the Radwanski report. "To most people it was a surprise. Most teacher groups reacted very poorly to it and said `you're a reporter, 'you're not part of the education system'." But in March 1988 Mr. Mathers and other educators from Huron County attended a "Mission Possible" conference in Toronto where George 'Radwanski was the keynote speaker. Mr. Mathers says he was impress- ed with the way Radwanski presented his :repel -ton' 'I think he did a masterful job -of answer- ing the critics," says •Mr. Mathers. "And we got back and said does this exist in 'Huron County, and if it does what are the underly- ing reasons?" The first thing the General Level Study Committee did was determine the dropout rates in the various levels. In 1987-88 in Huron 102 general level .students dropped out, while only 11 academic level students left school..ln the 198687 school year the dif- ference was nearly as dramatic: 107 general level dropouts compared to 20 academic students. Having determined that what are typical- ly thought of as urban school educational problems also affect Huron, the committee set up an exit survey to find out why students leave school. What they like and what they don't like, what they can take and what they can't. The committee also put together a package, to be given to students when they WEDDINGS students deserve better leave school, with materials to help them find agencies that would assist them in fin- ding work, farther their education through correspondence, or getting an appren- ticeship, etc. "We wanted people to leave with a good feeling about the school, and what we've found is by doing this kids will come back in- to the school and ask 'how can I take a cor- respondence course'," says Mr. Mathers. TRANSIITIONITO GRADE 9 Next the committee looked at the transi- tion students must make from Grade 8 to Grade 9. An experiment was done at South Huron secondary school in Exeter where a staff member from the school was assigned to each of South Huron's feeder schools to meet with the Grade eights, bring them in- formation, help them select courses, and generally become a friendly face for the coming school year. Another experiment will be to eliminate streaming in Grade 9, and Central Huron in Clinton will try this next year. Instead of streaming students into basic, general or academic levels, all students will take the same course, To eliminate streaming in Grade 9 is also a recommendation in the provincial government's throne speech. ATTENDANCE PATTERNS The General Level Study Committee also looked at attendance patterns leading to dropout, and found you can predict as far back as grade three or four a student who is going tee drop out /in Grade. 10,tby:the:fact that they will ,already' have 'developed it-_ regular attendance habits. "Which means that you have to intervene much earlier in attendance. Attendance councillors must be willing to take on parents who are letting kids stay home," says Mr. Mathers. He adds that there was hardly evidence of a student with perfect attendance leaving school, except in circumstances where there is a family problem, a student getting preg- nant, or a similarly traumatic experience. UNFAIR EVALUATION Mr. Mathers says the last area of study was something of a surprise for the committee. "Teachers felt that they treated advanced and general level students equitably when marking, but the statistics didn't bear that out. The committee looked at how students are evaluated in the five high schools in Huron county, and foundthat inequalities exist. At one school students taking general level Grade 10 Science were judged to be marked 16 per cent harder than students taking academic Grade 10 Science. "Overall the kids (in general level) are being judged five per cent harder. So it meant we had to take a look at how teachers are evaluating general level students," says Mr. Mathers. Teachers have beer. made aware of the marking inconsistency, and Mr. Mathers says in coming years general level students should be able to expect a fairer evaluation. TEACH T 0 PASS One hundred teachers from Huron took part in a "Teach to Pass" workshop on general level students in November. "You have to reward the student for com- ing to school," is what Mr. Mathers says is the central concept behind this program. So students are given half of their mark on their work in a course, and the other hall on attendance, work ethics and social skills. Mr. Mathers says the result of this program is that students end up with not only higher overall grades, but higher grades on their regular course work. This program was tried on 350 students in Windsor, and since the workshop it has also been introduced in some Huron schools. ONGOING PROJECT The report of the General Level Study Committee was recently accepted by the board, but Mr. Mathers wants this work in the general Bevel to continue. Says the con- . „Igusion,dt•the report:, a`1ihe seuudeuts in today'sa, generiil'level 1 classes are the people who Will enable tomorrow's society to function. They well own our shops, fix our ears, maintain our in- stitutions and live next door to as. 'We owe them the highest standard of education we can deliver. We urge the board to take such steps as•it feels necessary to help produce confident, caring and . well-educated citizens." Mr. Mathers sees progress made by the general level committee. "We got into causes of dropouts and iden- tifying those kids earlier. We're getting into a better transition from Grade•8 to Grade 9. We're getting better teaching. materials into the hands ot general level teachers. We hope we have better bonding of the general level student to the school, and hopefully the students .will stay longer. And we've made it easier for the dropout to come back," he said. CENTRAL AIR UNITS ELECTROHOME WINDOW UNITS (5 Year Warranty) HURRY,,,WHILE'SUPPUISS LAST VERBER'N E APPLIANCE AND REFRIGERATION "Where Sales and Service Go Hand in Hand" Don't Delay , - , Call 345-2262 Frank Verberne Today KELLY -CAMPBELL Catherine Teresa Kelly and James Robert Campbell were married Saturday, May 13, 1989 at St. Patrick's Church in Dublin, by the Reverend J.J. Carrigan. The bride is the daughter of Fergus and Anne Kelly of RR 2 Dublin and the groom is the son of Charles and Peg Campbell of Seaforth. Maid of honor was Mary Margaret Kelly, sister of the bride, ,and :bridesmaids were Anne Marie Nicholson, also sister of the bride, Christine Stapleton, cousin of the bride, Lucille Delaney, friend of the bride, and Chris Campbell, sister of the groom. Best man was Barry Campbell, brother of the groom, and guests were ushered by Mike 1{elly,,:brother,of the bride, Darren Crocker and Brian Coombs, friends of the groom, and Ted •A°hara,,uncle of the groom. Master of Ceremony, was Jim Crocker, friend of the groom. ,Following a reception at the .Seaforth and District Community Centres, the couple .took -a honeymoon trip to Puerto •Plata. They now reside in Sarnia. Edythe •Rock,photo. RESIDENTS OF TUCKERSMITH TOWNSHIP GARBAGE PICKUP is available starting FRIDAY, 23 • and every other Friday $4.00 Per •Pick -Up cm! 345-2432 or 345-2862 Will only pick-up for residents who have called WARREN BENNEWIES ,Call Heather or Neil With ,.yt ur news tips. 5274)240. ;40. 4BOX-POSTILL Barbara Jean -Box :tend -Traw+iss Allan Postil1 weremarriedSaturday,, June17,:1989 at ';St. „James iRornan :Gathohc hhureh ,in Seaforth by °the ;Reverend *tv'G 'Caruana. The:bride ts;the daughtenOVNIary'E.Box,nf 'hayfield and t}he te;Dick 3kos, .and the groom sis ;the ;:Iron atif" ',arth and Patricia •Postal .of ittR ;;3 'pinto. Barbara was -escaor'tedntyilloniidiVaseeiof Toronto.,:Maid ri£rhonortivasTIVOVO lcninaof:6oder ch and .lit'illesllkfidantare:'Jean eA =kaon- - iilon,Al1iison*l , if'4 .' tontalldlioather 34tacDona1cLof.S� fort. tmanwasDar z 'AuPostal ,of' eVarna, and ,gueaks were t heta .Eby':D,avid Anttemomof Ulinton, Leon 4944.014 111.0 'Ii o144,1,10dF:M1 etonspf rs-w e era VladOrufaiM dantlanisl g� Quaid .of firth z.reereptlon•was sl Id f lthe�,Rn1d4tenueunItyy-. tre 'Gregor iatelibeliili ,ePh. -°d , ,nCarter For Trustee .uron1COunty Board of :Education earesenhpB The -11170 t nship•rof iuc kersrttith wild the 4 /illage c�if -Men aII itJ 1, , ! ,N 45X, ;IVNE 26 XourOPRItOttetiottlifibelgreatlyAppreciated xfor,,inforrr►ation.eall 233.7458 NOTICE OF POLL Township of Tuckersmith A poll will be held in the Township of Tuckersmith to elect: 1 TRUSTEE TO HURON COUNTY :BOARD OF EDUCATION tor the Township of Tuakersmlth & Village of Hullett POLLING DAY, will be Monday„June 26, 1989. Polis will be:open from 10:00 o'clock in the morning and will close at' 8:00 in the evening at the following locations: POLLING SUBDIVISION 1 — POLLIN'G SUBDIVISION 2 --.Bethel Bible le Church POLLING 'SUBDIVISION 3 . — Bethel Bible Church Egmondville POLLING SUBDIVISION 4 Alex Townsend's Residence Lot 40, Conc. 3, LRS. Rena & Jack Caldwell's Residence, Lot 9, Conc. 11 HRS POLLING SU:BDI"VISI•ON, 5 Muronview POLLING SUBDIVISION 6 ADW,ANCCE POLL Ullill be held for the ;pwpm gf:rreceiving the votes of electors who expect ,to'i a ;unebi'e ,tp..vote :on the reguler•:Pp1lling Day. The Advance Poll will be belptnithe.Recrsationcentre, Yanasttateerk, pn Saturday, June l ib,1909 And Thursday,.J,une22,19189. TbeAdvance:Pollwill beOpenet 10:00o'clpck do the teeming etl 1=1rle.se At ft= otcipok in the ,avenin g. PROXY ¥P R ApersonWhA teefieen Apppirnet. 141Arpting, prom ow Apt* ip°theclerk rtottetertken 0.0k4k:Intalestter000n4,041ling Daylocraceivea•ctertifipete ttoiuotet y,pr by forlthesPalliosra4pdivis on in 1Whioh,the perepn Appointing =dhe moiln ar fY tisoPnlitietl o ,ypte. 431VON01I11tE l.M.YttiANAittils 4401443evumnp. 'loop 444., f"fil;an,, „itNIN 0099,ER OWN KH1 F frpggon Vanastra Recreation Centre Mt 11 4