Calgary & Area Schools

[mersar]

How about the downtown campus as well?

U of C announces Downtown Campus site

The University of Calgary has finalized the site of its new Downtown Campus, which will welcome its first students in September 2010. The new site, located at 906 8th Avenue S.W., in the western end of the core, will house students in a variety of programs.
“The Downtown Campus will quickly become the intellectual and cultural centre, and meeting place of Calgary,” said Harvey Weingarten, president and vice-chancellor, University of Calgary. “It will offer students new and exciting experiences, deepen our engagement with the community, and free up space on our main campus.”
The University’s Board of Governors approved the project and site on Wednesday. The new facility will be fully funded and operated within a special funding envelope provided by the Province of Alberta. The University will lease the entire building and will control all the space in it. The building provides 127,000 square feet of flexible space.
The Downtown Campus will significantly expand the University’s capacity to offer students experiential learning opportunities, particularly in the area of community service learning, which connects students directly with local businesses and non-profit organizations. Final decisions on which programs will be located in the Downtown Campus will be made early this year. It is anticipated that the downtown site will house programs such as the U of C’s Continuing Education, executive education and professional development programs, and other initiatives where a downtown presence would enhance the teaching and learning experience for students and community members. The new building, which will be gutted and renovated to LEED standards, will be flexible to ensure various groups are able to access and benefit from the downtown location.
“Students tell us they’re looking for a very high quality solid classroom experience coupled with experiences in experiential learning, working with community groups, social groups and the business community,” says Weingarten. “This is exactly the kind of facility they need to round out their education—to make it relevant, contemporary and useful.”
The selection of the site was made following an extensive due diligence process that identified possible downtown locations. The 8th Avenue location was selected for several reasons, including its proximity to the LRT, the flexibility of the space, the ability for the University to create a significant store-front presence, and the timely availability of the space.
The new Downtown Campus builds on the U of C’s existing slate of programs and initiatives operating in the heart of Calgary. To date, the Faculties of nursing, social work, fine arts, environmental design and the Schulich School of Engineering, among others, offer students the opportunity to participate in community-based learning activities. Pilot projects have included partnerships with the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope and the Children’s Village.
“Every student potentially has some part of their program where a connection with the community adds value to their undergraduate experience,” said Weingarten.

Source

[Vascilli]

If anyone's wondering where to see how schools rank against each other, the Fraser Institute School Performance Report Card's can be viewed here:

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/repor...ce/alberta.htm

Keep in mind that this is strictly academic, in no way does it rate other equally important aspects of schools. Extra-curricular and the such are non-existant at Webber Academy, which ranks 1st in the report, and their sports teams are fairly bad too. (I was on it..) Other schools such as Western which ranks 11th or St. Mary's which is 124th have much more going for them, with so many teams and courses and clubs and all sorts of fun stuff.

Just some food for thought.

[frinkprof]

^The Fraser Institute School rankings should be taken for what they are. An amalgamation of selected statistics, which is then sorted by total "score." While I will not argue that it isn't useful to form some basis for some conclusions, it does not tell a whole story.

Northland School Division number 61 routinely has, by proportion, the lowest ranking schools. Fair is fair and numbers don't lie. However, having attended and graduated from one of these schools, in a lot of ways, it is a whole other world apart from places like James Fowler and Forest Lawn, much less Western or Webber Academy.

So many examples to draw from, but things like having gym facilities that aren't large enough to be classified as a gymnasium (Activity Room is apparently a word for "small room that happens to have a couple basketball hoops"); all students in grades 10 to 12 (numbering about a dozen depending on the year or even time of year) being in the same room together, with 7 different math courses being facilitated by a single instructor at the same time; or having the better part of a couple weeks worth of school wiped off the calendar every year due to snow or cold or both.

This is of course not to mention cultural and environmental factors such as comparatively rampant alcohol, drug, physical, or emotional abuse at home; or a labour job in your own back yard in the oil and gas or forestry sectors waiting for anyone with a grade 10 education, or not, if demand is high enough.

Lastly, it is also important to know who is putting out these annual reports. Wikipedia and cross-reference "Fraser Institute." No matter your political leanings, by all accounts they are a right wing (some might throw the libertarian tag in too) think tank. Draw from that whatever conclusions you will.

[Vascilli]

Mmm, well said. The Fraser Institute is typically the "standard" for school rankings, hence I referenced it. All biases aside, Webber really wasn't that great in my mind. They just aren't the best school in Alberta, and their Fraser score really makes me look crazy.

But I digress, these rankings really are unfair. There are just too many factors that have nothing to do with the school that affect their scores, as you said. At Webber (As an example because I have experience, this likely applies to all private schools, such as Rundle and STS) it's the "ideal world" to be learning in. Family problems are far and few in between, financial worries are unheard of (I think I can count the number of people with jobs in my grade on a single hand) and drug use is unknown. Why do I say unknown? Because when a rich teenager has nothing to do with their money, they start spending it on stuff, and drugs are one of them. My friend's brother got expelled on Wednesday after he got caught with weed.

All in all, the social aspect of Webber is very stable and predictable, which I suspect is a prime factor in their rank. (With my tinfoil hat on, I suspect Dr. Webber has screwed with something to achieve such a rank) At Western every one of my teachers is better, even though we rank lower. Hm.

Edit: This is another tinfoil hat fact, but Webber was created and is run by Dr Webber who happens to be a conservative, and the former vice president Len Webber is (re)running for MLA in Foothills. Back in grade 8 they put their signs up on the walkways at school, I thought that was rather rich for a "non-denominational school."

[MalcolmTucker]

If you took the IB programs out of Mary's and Western, I think you would find comparable or higher levels of achievement than Webber, just as Old Scona is reasonably close in Edmonton.

For having a fair number of students that are not french immersion (self selected by parents, etc) and not IB (grade based selection) Western does very very well.

[Vascilli]

I am in full IB, and it's without a doubt better than what my friends at Webber are learning, even in AP there. None of my friends like it there. I'm also learning faster than them, we have semesters and because I'm in IB I'm taking Math 20IB and Chem 20IB now in grade 10, and at Webber they don't have semesters, so it's 8 courses all through the year, and all at 10 level.

[Dafunk]

Ultimately I dont think it matters which school you go to. All that that matters is that you have that personal drive to do well. School rankings can only do so much. I too took Full IB back in high school, and after I finished my post secondary education, I realised that the best students I encoutered were not necessarily from schools that offered higher level programs, but passed from regular high schools. They were just exteremly ambitious and goal driven.
________
volcano vaporizers

[Vascilli]

At Western today:

[Vascilli]

* Non-Resident Students residing in Canada by virtue of a student visa are not eligible for the Alberta subsidy for resident students. Consequently, these students must assume the total cost of education each year they attend the school.
* First Nation students living on the reserve are not included in the per student provincial operating grants since their education is funded by the federal government.


..Is the entire truth? The whole First Nations thing surprises me. (This is an excerpt from the Webber 08-09 Fee Structure)

[mersar]

Yep. I know that in Cochrane when I was in middle and high school there were a fixed number of spots in each school for native students who lived out in Morley, and the number was fixed as it was dedicated funding from the federal government that covered their entire schooling and it was built into the school budget different then the per-student grants from the province. The non-resident part is no different then a non-resident student going to the University, they pay a substantially larger amount per year as there is no provincial grants.

[Vascilli]

Weird. I wonder why they don't get provincial funding..

[frinkprof]

^In the case of non-resident students, they don't pay taxes to the province.

Same thing for first nations, but they are also under the jurisdiction of the federal government. The funding is available for first nations to go to high school and post-secondary.

[Vascilli]

Okay, here's an odd question: What does it take to offer a new course at a school? As an example, say I suggest Rabbit Petting 10/20/30 be offered at school. Somehow a year later I'm taking Rabbit Petting 10. What happened in between? Or, some weirdo suggests Albino Hedgehog Petting 10/20/30. It's denied. What stopped them?

Other courses I suggest:

Guns 10/20/30
Mass Transit 10/20/30
Eating 10/20/30
Cults 10/20/30
Sleeping 10/20/30
Tank Driving 10/20/30

[mersar]

It may have changed since I was in high school, but at that time there was a huge book of courses that were approved by Alberta Learning that could be offered if there was sufficient interest and resources available at the school (meaning a teacher who wanted to teach it and equipment needed or budget to acquire the equipment). My dad works at the other high school here and mentioned the other day that my old high school was finally adding a woodworking class that will be held at the school he works at since my old high school doesn't have a woodshop but there is enough students who wanted it.

Adding a brand new course that isn't in that book though would probably take convincing Alberta Learning, and likely by the time you had them convinced the students who wanted it would be graduated.

And after a quick search, it turns out the list is still in place and is on Alberta Learning's teachers site. Most of the choices fall into the CTS program, though there are some in other areas.

[Vascilli]

So if I'm reading this right, What is Wildlife? is a 10 level, 1 credit course part of the Wildlife strand, meaning that a school would probably have a Wildlife 10 course comprising of that and 4 other introductory level courses, correct?

Very interesting, thanks for the links mersar, it's time to bug my school to offer Wheel Alignment and Silviculture.

[frinkprof]

There's 2 high schools in Cochrane?

Also, I took a few credits in forestry and wildlife in high school.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

There's 2 high schools in Cochrane?

3 now actually. 2 public (Cochrane High and Bow Valley High, on the hill tops on either end of town) and 1 separate (St. Timothy's, which is Calgary Catholic and is located off Highway 22 north of the former western heritage centre, now our town hall). We just about need a fourth as well, and will if the growth keeps happening. The new subdivision on the north side of town will need its own set of at least 3 more schools if it builds its full size or RVS decides to build bigger schools which is unlikely)

[frinkprof]

Wow I guess I could see one Catholic and one public, but that seems like a lot given the population.

[mersar]

Bow Valley has around 500 students, Cochrane High has around 800 (both are grade 9-12) and St. Timothy is around 300 I believe (grade 7 through 12). RVS typically sticks to smaller school sizes, pretty much all but Bow Valley are in the 800-900 student range and none are larger then 900 based on the numbers I've heard for this year). By comparison Airdrie has 2 public (Bert Church and George Macdougal) and 1 separate as well, though twice the population but likely a different demographic. One factor that would impact Cochrane is that we also pull everyone from the Calgary city limit west to Morley pretty much, so all students in Bearspaw are bussed in to Cochrane after they get past the grades that are offered at Bearspaw.

[Vascilli]

I can't believe there's nothing related to urban planning or infrastructure or the likes. Closest thing is Logistics, which is only good if I want to make Fedex Jr.