Pioneer Program For LD Students May Get Axed
On June 30th, The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) will decide whether to renew its contract with the Arrowsmith Program. The TCDSB had invited Arrowsmith to waive its fees for two years while the Board conducted a review of the effectiveness of, Arrowsmith, as well as other programs designed to improve cognitive functioning in learning disabled students. Arrowsmith declined in a letter to the Board dated May 27th, 2009.
The Arrowsmith Program was developed at the Arrowsmith School in Toronto and has been available in the TCDSB for about a decade. The goal of the Arrowsmith Program, according to Arrowsmith: “is to help students strengthen the weak cognitive capacities underlying their learning dysfunctions. The Arrowsmith Program deals with the root causes of the learning disability rather than managing its symptoms.” It was one of the first programs for learning disabled students to apply the principles of neuroplasticity.
A memo from the Director of Education for the TCDSB to the Committee of the Whole for the Board indicated that the cost of delivery of the Arrowsmith Program to each student is roughly $14,000. Costs of delivery include yearly salaries for one full time teacher and one assistant at each school. The site license fee from Arrowsmith for the seven schools delivering the program is $174,000. For the TCDSB the issue if both program effectiveness and cost.
Currently, there are 70 students in the TCDSB enrolled in the program.