‘It simply doesn’t add up’: Education expert questions PD day pilot project at N.B. schools

Parents and educators react to a New Brunswick pilot project that will add professional development days to school calendars.

An education analyst says trading classroom time for professional development days at some New Brunswick schools this fall won’t improve test scores and student attendance.

The pilot project will see two professional development days a month (on Fridays) at 37 anglophone schools in New Brunswick, starting this September.

Paul Bennett, director and lead researcher at the Halifax-based Schoolhouse Institute, said the plan was “extremely unwise” in an interview on Monday.

“Most students will likely regress, parents will be left scrambling for daycare, and the value of instructional days will be further eroded,” he said.

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Claire Johnson announced the plan on Friday, and said the department would examine whether the changes resulted in higher literacy and math scores, along with better student attendance and teacher retention.

Minister Johnson wasn’t made available for an interview on Monday. The New Brunswick Teachers Association has endorsed the pilot project.

“I think the only beneficiaries will be teachers, and there may be some residual effects on the attrition rates of teachers,” said Bennett. “But other than that, in every other category… I’m talking about the impact on students, it will be negative.”

Bennett said the pilot project wouldn’t raise student assessment scores.

“So I have to ask: What’s the point of all this? Because the evidence is not there,” he said. “It simply doesn’t add up.”

Johnson told reporters on Friday, “there’s a lot of good data and good research that shows there’s a correlation between more professional learning and better test results.” The department didn’t immediately provide research and evidence when asked on Monday.

Bennett said the pilot project’s plan could address lost classroom time by extending other school days.

“If you add 50 minutes to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you have a fighting chance of ensuring student learning will be at least a wash,” said Bennett. “If you don’t add instructional time to those other four days, you can’t expect there to be any (test score) increase.”

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