COLUMN: Think Again – School boards must always prioritize academic excellence

Election day is less than two weeks away. Advance voting starts this Saturday on Oct. 17.

There are lots of candidates running to be a Hanover School Division trustee. Unsurprisingly, every candidate claims to prioritize academic excellence.

But what does this look like in practice? While it’s easy to pay lip service to academics, voters have every right to insist that candidates do more than simply include academic excellence as a bullet point on a campaign brochure.

Prioritizing academic excellence means keeping a laser-like focus on improving student achievement. This means promoting teaching methods that are consistent with the science of learning.

Incorporating the science of learning in schools simply means using teaching methods that have been shown by peer-reviewed research to be effective at helping students learn. For example, there is a wealth of evidence that learning phonics (sounding out words by individual letters) is an important component of effective reading instruction.

In 2022, the Ontario Human Rights Commission released its Right to Read report which found that ineffective reading instruction programs such as “three cueing,” where students guess the meaning of words based on contextual clues, are far too prevalent. This particularly disadvantages students from lower-income families since these parents are least able to hire tutors to help their children learn how to actually read.

Last year, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission released a similar report that came to the same conclusion—namely that there needs to be a “direct and systemic teaching” of reading skills.

Research also shows a strong connection between background knowledge and reading comprehension. Simply put, the more you already know about the topic of a book or article, the more likely you will be able to understand what you’re reading. It’s not enough to teach students how to decode individual words—they need broad-based content knowledge. This means ensuring that students receive knowledge-rich instruction in all subjects.

Similarly, research shows that memorizing basic math facts such as the times table makes it easier for students to solve more advanced math problems. Teachers need professional development that encourages them to have all students commit the necessary math facts to memory.

We must also reject the often-repeated adage that teachers should be “a guide on the side rather than a sage on the stage.” Students aren’t going to learn new skills through a magical process of self-discovery. Instead, teachers must take charge of their classrooms, provide clear instruction, give students plenty of opportunity to practice new skills, and ensure that students receive meaningful feedback about their work.

In 2012 education researcher Barak Rosenshine published his Principles of Instruction which highlighted 10 research-based instructional principles.

Rosenshine’s principles include everything from presenting new material in small steps with student practice after each step to asking a large number of questions and checking the responses of all students. Not only are these principles common sense, but they are also backed by research.

Fortunately, Hanover School Division’s newly approved 2026-2030 learning plan explicitly incorporates Rosenshine’s principles and affirms the importance of direct instruction, guided practice, and clear routines for students. Whether one calls it traditional teaching, back-to-the-basics, or research-based, this new learning plan has a strong focus on academic excellence.

This stands in sharp contrast with the progressive education ideologies pushed by professors in faculties of education. If we want our school division to keep moving in a positive direction that affirms the new 2026-2030 learning plan, it’s important we elect trustees who support the principles outlined in it, and who will ensure this plan gets fully implemented.

School boards must always prioritize academic excellence. Let’s make sure we elect trustees who share this goal.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.