Clever red-necks

Why can't WE do what Alberta's doing?!  Here's my friend's summary of this article from the Economist:

The Economist has an interesting story this week about Alberta's schools, which manage to graduate some of the best-educated children in the world.

Major factors:

-          rigorous standards

-          constant testing

-          accountability

-          CHOICE & COMPETITON

By embracing reform and choice, Alberta has managed to head off private schools, which are growing elsewhere in Canada but are superfluous in a robust public system.

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Clever red-necks

Sep 21st 2006 | VANCOUVER

From The Economist print edition

http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7945805

It's not just the economy that is booming; schools are too.

MANY eastern Canadians do not think much of Alberta's roaring economic success. They love putting down their wealthy western cousins as loutish rednecks who have the dumb luck to be sitting on pools of oil and natural gas. They do not seem to have noticed that the entire Albertan economy—not just the energy sector—is booming, growing faster than that of any other province. Maybe, with this kind of surging growth year after year, something more than a lucky inheritance is involved. It could be that Albertans are actually doing some things right in building their economy.

Many educators acknowledge that over the past 30 years Alberta has quietly built the finest public education system in Canada. The curriculum has been revised, stressing core subjects (English, science, mathematics), school facilities and the training of teachers have been improved, clear achievement goals have been set and a rigorous province-wide testing programme for grades three (aged 7-8), six (10-11), nine (13-14) and twelve (16-17) has been established to ensure they are met.