In 2009, 100,000 children in British Columbia (BC) lived in families who have incomes below the after-tax poverty line, with BC having the highest child poverty rate in Canada (First Call, 2011). Income inequality is also increasing among BC families (First Call, 2010), a trend that has emerged in Canada and the United States. This report provides…

There has been little attention paid to the issue of Year-Round Schools (YRS) in British Columbia's public education system since 1996. The British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) Research conducted extensive research into the issue of year-round schooling in the mid 1990s, when the growth in student enrolment was significant. At that time…

This report presents facts and figures on British Columbia's education for 2012. It is divided into the following seven sections: (1) Schools, which covers: (a) Number of public schools; (b) Number of independent (private) schools; (c) School closures; (d) Rural schools and students; (e) School-district amalgamation; and (f) School safety: Seismic…

Diane Ravitch's book, "The death and life of the great American school system," is an exploration and critique of educational change in the United States since the report "A Nation at Risk" in 1983 and more specifically since the passing of the No Child Left Behind legislation in January, 2002. Arguably, there are several reasons for Ravitch's…

A fundamental goal of teachers in public schools in British Columbia (BC) is to ensure all students of every age, through the principle of continuous learning, have an equal opportunity to develop their full capacity for artistic, cultural, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth. BC public school teachers believe that the primary purpose of…