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 The Edmonton Catholic School District is very pleased to take part
in the new 3 year (2003 - 2006) AISI
funding  cycle that will enable the district to continue its
focus on improving teaching and learning. Based on the success of
the projects undertaken over the past three years and the learning
acquired from these projects, the school district is about to initiate
projects that will transfer the learning to new areas and add to
our understanding of the teaching and learning process. Our new
projects will include:
 Improving Secondary
Math & Science Results
Improving ESL
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Site-Based Technology
Integration Program
Early Language
Literacy K-3
Backward Design:
Assessing for Understanding
High School Completion
Strategies
District Exams
in Math and Language Arts (English & French)
Teaching Exceptional
Learners in the Inclusive Setting
Enhancing Learning
and Student Achievement Through a Visual and Performing Arts Project
1. Improving Secondary
Math and Science Results
Upon the request of our Superintendent
to improve the Diploma
results in mathematics
and science in our District, a number of initiatives
have been under taken to achieve this goal. In mathematics, a professional
development opportunity to deepen a teacher's understanding and
learning of high school mathematics was offered in the form of a
course. During the Math 10/20 Pure course, the teachers examined
in depth the principles, content and pedagogy of the new Pure Mathematics
programs. The teachers also learned new strategies that would help
them to improve students' achievement in mathematics.
The mathematics consultant and a group of teachers also developed
a common exam for Math 10 and 20 Pure and Applied. A formal analysis
of these exams was not done due to monetary reasons. However an
informal analysis of mean and standard deviation was performed.
The main area of concern for the science consultant was the Science
30 results. The consultant arranged for the Science 30 teachers
to attend an inservice facilitated by John Dradder, the Science
30 Exam Manager for the province. The teachers were taught how the
test is designed and they were given a number of strategies to improve
their results. The teachers were invited to be on Item Development
Committees and were invited to participate in the marking of the
Science 30 exams. The consultant also gave all his department heads
a listing of the websites the government uses to develop questions
for the Diploma Exams.
Learning
Support Services, the curriculum and instruction department
at Edmonton Catholic Schools, seeks to continue and to improve the
development of common district exams in Mathematics 10 and 20 pure
and applied. It also seeks to develop a common district exam in
Physics 20, Chemistry 20, and Biology 20. A common exam in Science
10 and 20 will not be developed because the Science 10 curriculum
will change in September 2004. However, a professional development
plan will be developed for Science 10 teachers to align their teaching
with the Program of Studies, as well as showing them practical ways
to implement the strategies learned in AFL.
The teachers will be taught different methods to assess their students.
It is our belief that student achievement, as reflected by the
results of these common exams, will improve over time and we hope
to see this reflected in the analysis of trends over time. We anticipate
improvement also on provincial diploma exams of students in Math
and the Sciences at the 30 level.
We also believe that through this project, teachers will work more
effectively towards the alignment of curriculum, increasing their
focus on actual programs of study. Administrators, teachers, and
consultants (the district) will better be able to identify areas
for growth and provide appropriate scaffolds for students through
the robust analysis of data.
An effective professional development support program is also an
integral part of the implementation process. We believe that this
project must effectively link with most other Edmonton Catholic
AISI proposals and district priorities by making a direct effort
to interweave the multiple initiatives. Districts normally respond
to growth and change by intentionally offering a variety of approaches
to teaching and learning. Therefore, in order to prevent what Fullan
so aptly coined "multiple initiatives colliding", we believe that
part of our strategic planning must be include communication and
purposeful linking between all relevant programs.
2. Improving ESL
Teaching and Learning Strategies
Building capacity to improve teaching and learning strategies for
English Language Learners involves thirty-six schools and eighty-
four content area teachers and resource facilitators/ESL teachers
over a three year period.
- Set criteria that these schools must meet to participate in
the project will be included in the invitation. Evidence that
ESL student learning and achievement is a school priority with
administrative support will be crucial.
- Recent research on brain functioning as it relates to working
with limited-English children in the classroom states that planning
reflectively and strategically will provide teachers with a basis
on which to structure a positive learning environment for students
to succeed. The professional development model of this project
will use current research, study groups, mentoring modeling and
coaching to assist teachers in making informed decisions about
practice and programming that effectively meet the needs of ESL
students at their school.
- Developing a District ESL protocol that reflects new standards
and procedures for reception/assessment/benchmarks will provide
the district with consistent reception/programming process.
- Lead teacher will provide on site support in assisting teachers
with implementing skills, and strategies by mentoring and coaching.
- Parent program will provide immigrant parents with a basic understanding
of how our school system works, what expectations the school has
for their children, how a second language is acquired and what
they can expect from the school system.
3. Site-Based Technology
Integration Program
This project would be an expansion of the Site Based Technology
Integration Program currently being offered by Educational
and Administrative Technology Services. Presently the program
consists of one Technology Teacher Leader assigned to a school site
for approximately a 3 week period to work with the entire staff
and student population. The Teacher Leader role is to assist teachers
with the development
and implementation of a multidisciplinary project using technology.
The expansion of this program would include an increase in the number
of facilitators available to work with school sites. Two additional
teacher leaders would be required to provide this program to schools
in our district over a three year cycle. An annual follow up program
would also be part of the cycle to ensure that integration continues.
The ICT outcomes are designed to be achieved within core curriculum
subject areas. The Site Based Technology Integration program is
designed to assist teachers in the development and implementation
of an ICT integrated
curriculum project of their choice. Teachers receive professional
development on how to create lesson and unit plans using technology
which would provide them with many of the prerequisite skills required
to work with students. Our Telus
Learning Connection
Lead Teachers would support this program by providing the hands-on
professional development sessions in the area of Effective Internet
Searching and Web
Quest development.
Once in the lab, the Teacher Leader would initially model the instruction
using technology and the teacher, along side their students, would
witness the dynamics of instruction in a lab setting. During the
program, the Teacher Leaders would move from model to coach and
the teacher would move from observer to instructor so that the teacher
has opportunity to deliver instruction using technology with the
support and guidance of the Technology Teacher Leader.
In order to ensure that integration continues after the site has
participated in the program, a follow up program would be included
to provide continued support and coaching for the teachers. Teacher
Leaders would return to the schools a minimum of 3 times during
the year after the conclusion of the program to share resources
and to continue to plan with teachers as well as coach instruction.
Education
and Administrative Technology Services would continue to staff
one facilitator after the three year AISI cycle.
4. Early Language Literacy
K-3
This proposal is an action plan in response to the superintendent's
directive in Teaching and Learning in Language
Literacy.
"Through the implementation of a strong focus in division one
language literacy that would challenge our district to ensure
to do its utmost to see that every child, leaving division one,
would be reading and writing at his or her potential."
Dr.
Dale Ripley (Goals and Priorities for 2003-2004)
The existing situation that gave rise to this proposal began six
years ago with the Early Literacy Initiative from Alberta Education . This inspired a group
of consultants and administrators to design an intervention project
that developed teacher capacity in teaching and learning by working
with at-risk readers.
When the ELI funding was extended in 2000, an Early
Learning Focus group was assembled that included teachers, administrators,
consultants and Alberta Education. This task force looked at the
future directions for early learning in Edmonton Catholic Schools
by examining current research and data in the areas of:
- school improvement (Hill and Crevola)
- literacy teaching (Richard L. Allington)
- change culture (Michael Fullan and Assessment For Learning Project
in Edmonton Catholic Schools)
Two major issues emerged from this focus group:
- An Early Reading Intervention program based on sound research
is important to sustain our struggling readers - a commitment
to the Reading Recovery program
was then founded.
- A professional development series in the area of good first
teaching and assessment for ALL children was needed for K - 3
teachers. A framework was developed for Edmonton Catholic Schools
that would support teachers in taking a systematic approach in
maximizing literacy teaching and learning.
Implementation of the above two factors needed support through
a school-site leadership position, called the Site-Literacy Coordinator.
This role is multi-faceted and is to work with the school admin
team in supporting the teachers in their journey of understanding
the model for effective literacy instruction and help lead the establishment
of a professional learning community.
Even with the very best classroom teaching, a significant proportion
of students fail to make satisfactory progress. Early intervention
is essential to enable these students to catch up quickly to their
peers. Without timely and effective intervention, these students
continue to fall further and further behind in their schoolwork
and experience diminished self-esteem and increased alienation from
schooling. There is a narrow window of opportunity to assist these
students; the research literature indicates that efforts to correct
such problems beyond third grade are largely unsuccessful.
5. Backward Design:
Assessing for Understanding
The Backwards Design: Assessing for Understanding project will
impact 77 Edmonton Catholic Schools; it will become an integral
part of teaching and learning experiences in Divisions II and III
social studies and language arts programs as it encourages teachers
to work more effectively towards the alignment of curriculum, increasing
their focus on standards as set by the programs of study. Administrators,
teachers, and consultants will better be able to assess student
understanding through the use of authentic performance-based assessments
and the collection of evidence of student learning over time.
Teachers will create units of study based on Alberta program standards
for social studies and language arts, directed at uncovering key
understandings in curriculum and are focused around essential questions
that drive inquiry. Each unit must use a performance task as evidence
of student learning demonstrating a combination of outcomes, accompanied
by a rubric stating criteria for success up front. Clearly identified
knowledge and skills will be addressed throughout the unfolding
of the performance task. A range of other assessment evidence (i.e.,
informal checks for understanding, observations, dialogues, quizzes,
tests, academic prompts) will be used throughout the course of the
unit to provide ongoing feedback and enhance the formative assessment
collection.
Through the metacognitive practices of self-reflection and self-assessment
students will learn to monitor and articulate their understanding
and achievement. Students will also come to recognize the relationship
between teaching and testing and better performance.
This project purposefully links to other district AISI proposals
and, through the direct efforts of Learning
Support Services staff, every effort will be made to correlate
the multiple initiatives.
6. High School Completion
Strategies
AISI High School Completion Project Slideshow
AISI
High School Completion Project Powerpoint
 Identification of Problem
Although different studies generate varying data about high school
completion rates, depending upon the methodology used to assess
what constitutes a high school graduate, all studies point to at
least 20% of the student population that does not complete their
high school within the conventional 3- year time frame. For that
group, a significant number of students will drop out of school
before reaching their third year in high school or will not have
accumulated the credits necessary to graduate or will not complete
specific courses identified as part of the high school diploma.
Many students who have experienced difficulties in grades 10 and
11 find themselves in a situation in grade 12 where they might be
able to graduate; however, they are unable to fulfill their graduation
requirements because of potential course conflicts within the school
timetable. The most often used approach, correspondence, has a completion
rate is lower than that of traditional schools. In addition, correspondence
school diploma averages have traditionally been well below provincial
averages.
Overview of the Solution
A mechanism for identifying potentially at risk students before
they begin high school already exists on for Edmonton Catholic
Schools. Grade 9 students who may have difficulty completing
high school are selected from the student records program,
SASI, and displayed on Centreview. Attendance and the failure
of two or more core subjects is used as criteria for selecting
students. The parameters set to select students can
be altered to suit individual school situations and list can
be updated through the year to differentiate students who have
shown improvement and those who might be entering an at-risk
phase. This allows the receiving high school to follow the progress
of students as they arrive from grade 9 and follow those students
as they move through high school.
Once students are selected, a teacher mentor monitors
progress. Failure in courses or the potential to drop out of a
course because of poor attendance or academic frustration can be
mediated by a replacement course at anytime throughout the year.
Edmonton Catholic Schools, through Revelation Online Learning,
provides on-line learning opportunities in a number of courses.
On-line courses provide flexible alternatives to scheduled classes.
If the on-line courses are supported by an in-school staff member,
ensuring that goals are set and progress is monitored, the completion
of these courses will increase.
7. District Exams in
Math and Language Arts (English and French)
In the spring of 2001, upon the recommendation of Edmonton Catholic
School principals and the Superintendent,
Learning Support
Services struck a District Exams Committee composed of the
Assistant Superintendent
of LSS, administrators, consultants, and teachers. Their task was
to provide direction for the development of common district exams
in the areas of language arts (English) and mathematics at grades
2, 5, and 8, in order to support teaching and learning in the pre-Provincial
Achievement Test years, grades 3, 6, and 9. Over the past two years,
the Committee continues to consider the implications, uses, involvement
of stakeholders, effectiveness, measures, and shape of these common
district exams.
Under the guidance of consultants (some external), and with the
enthusiastic and dedicated participation of numerous elementary
and junior high teachers and administrators, our district has been
reshaping their assessment philosophy as well as building valid
and reliable exams in mathematics and English language arts.
We hope to build on the success we have noted in the exciting professional
dialogue regarding curriculum alignment, the development of consistent
approaches, the potential of performance-based assessments, the
prospect of district marking sessions, and the continued and re-energized
focus on student achievement and success.
With the advent of new AISI
projects in Alberta , we at Edmonton Catholic Schools are encouraged
to now envision a broader scope and application of our common district
exams. We anticipate maintaining our focus on grades 2, 5, and 8,
and to also include French Language
Arts and French mathematics, as well as to go deeper in our
re-examination of assessment practices.
8. Teaching Exceptional
Learners in the Inclusive Setting
The goal of this project is to improve the achievement of exceptional
students in the mild and moderate categories. The project is designed
to help teachers develop attitudes, understandings, and skills to
successfully assess and teach exceptional learners in the inclusive
setting. These are students who have been coded as 80 (gifted),
as well as those who have mild or moderate exceptionalities and
have been given one of the code 50 designations. The project will
focus on students and teachers.
Focus on Students
Following the Special Education Branch review of services to students
in the mild and moderate categories, carried out this spring, it
was determined that while many of our practices in IPP development
are exemplary, we can improve the service by creating consistent
protocols. It was noted by the Special Education Branch that the
individual program plans examined in their sample were inconsistent
with respect to having observable, measurable short-term objectives,
regular reexamination points and parental involvement. It was also
noted that we can improve our transition plans so that the IPP is
effectively passed on from year to year and division to division.
It was also noted that our district needs to develop appropriate
and consistent assessment practices for identifying students with
mild and moderate needs.
A project goal is to create district standards for IPP development
and procedures for more effective transitions.
The first year of the project will focus on code 80 IPP development
and then include focus on the code 50 designations in years 2 and
3.
We will conduct research to compare the numbers of students coded
with the numbers of individual program plans developed.
The project will also include the development of a web-based IPP
(Individual Program Plan) that will become part of the new district
reporting instrument.
Focus on Teachers
Students who are coded in the mild and moderate categories may have
some of their needs met in a pull-out situation. It is generally
accepted that these students have needs that must be met on a more
consistent basis than is allowed for in a part-time pull-out program.
The major thrust of our planned professional development component
of the project will be to increase the capacity of classroom teachers
to better serve the needs of mild/moderate students on a daily basis
through differentiation of instruction strategies.
9. Enhancing Learning
and Student Achievement through a Visual and Performing Arts Project
This project is new to the new AISI cycle. Louis
St. Laurent Junior/Senior High School (designated) and St.
Boniface Elementary school (proposal stage) are designated fine
arts focus schools in the Edmonton Catholic School District.
This designation will give the opportunity for all schools in the
district to utilize the human resources and fine arts programming
provided in the these fine arts schools.
Teaching music, art,
drama and dance
is an expert job. To benefit from arts education children need to
be immersed in the discipline and practice the art. Teacher expertise
is a critical factor in student learning and in providing quality
arts programming.
This project will enhance student achievement by inspiring and
challenging teachers to improve instruction for pupils and help
build capacity at the school level for quality instruction in the
areas of music, art, drama and dance.
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