School Plan to Enhance Student Learning - sd91.bc.ca
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School District No.91 (Nechako Lakes)
School Plan to Enhance Student Learning – 2018/2019
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School District No.91 (Nechako Lakes)
School Plan to
Enhance Student Learning
2018/19
Welcome to Evelyn Dickson Elementary School – home of the VI-KIDS. Evelyn Dickson Elementary School is an attractive building set in an
established neighborhood bordered by forest on two sides in beautiful Vanderhoof, B.C. Our facility features 12 classrooms, computer lab, library, and
gymnasium as well as an adventure playground, grass playing field, outdoor basketball court, and numerous trails allowing close access for hands-on
learning experiences which enhance the existing curriculum.
We are currently meeting the educational needs of approximately 250 students enrolled from Kindergarten through Grade 6. There is one
Administrator, fifteen Teaching staff, one part time Elementary School Counsellor, one part time school librarian, one Resource Teacher in addition to
11 support staff (Administrative Assistant, Learning Support Workers, and Custodians). Our staff members are dedicated, empathetic, well qualified
and enthusiastic about meeting the individual educational needs of all our students. Staff, students, and parents work together to develop knowledge,
skills, and attitudes necessary for strong academic, social and emotional growth.
With the implementation of the new re-designed curriculum a few years ago and the green light from the School District we felt that we needed to go
further with our work around growth mindsets and formative assessment and look at ways to rework our reporting process to reflect our thinking with
regards to supporting student learning. We decided, with the support of our school community, to move forward with ungraded report cards for
Kindergarten to grade 6 and redesign our reporting process. Two years later we are still improving on our reporting process and will continue this year
with some classes using Freshgrade(e-portfolio). We believe that with an improved reporting process we are able to:
Be Transparent
• Provide richer information about how students are doing
• Provide better understanding about where students are in their learning and ways to improve
• Show how First Peoples Principles of Learning and content are integrated into all subjects
• Become more flexible and adaptable to the individual needs of the student- like the new curriculum itself.
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Provide excellent Feedback
• Reports are on-going conversation about learning
• They help parents and students better discuss strengths weaknesses, and where help is needed, provide constructive feedback
• Reports represent a picture of a continuum of learning rather than end with a grade
Improve Communication
• Parents will have a deeper understanding of their child’s progress through relevant, timely information.
• There is an emphasis on creating an ongoing dialogue about learning between the student, teacher and parent.
GOAL AREAS
1. Literacy
Primary Writing Goal: to improve students’ stamina, thought completion, and sophistication in writing.
Objective: Students will print a legible (correct spaces, proper letter formation) sentence that encompasses 2 or more thoughts, increasing in
sophistication and writing style, from the beginning of the school year until the end, at each grade level.
Intermediate Writing Goal: Students will demonstrate grade level expository writing skills.
Objective: When given a piece of not-fiction text, students will identify (in writing) a main idea, and three supporting details, scored using a provided
rubric.
Our significant data of student performance comes from the RAD, PM Benchmarks, FSA and DRA. However, the teachers also use a variety
of other classroom assessments to help inform the needs of the students and help direct instruction.
2017 PM Benchmarks data show that 52% of last year’s grade 1 students were Fully Meeting and 63% of grade 2 students were Fully
Meeting.
2017/18 FSA Data indicated that 67% of our grade 4 students that year are Emerging in Writing.
Teacher discussions during collaboration times indicate that, although RAD is a reading assessment, scores could be better if students were
able to write better answers.
The Spring 2018 data from RAD for our grade 4 to 6 students show that about 73 % On Track and 17% Not Meeting.
A group of Primary Teachers attended the Janet Mort session in October 2018
Primary Literacy Strategies:
New Writing Strategies:
Kindergartens- write sentences using sentence frames
Gr 1- develop 3 of their own sentences on one topic
Gr 2- create complex sentences, with varied lengths and more detail, utilizing more accurate sounding out/ phonetic strategies
Gr 3- using a pre-taught structure, generate ideas, write ideas down, edit writing and produce a final product paragraph with a topic sentence,
ideas and concluding sentence
Resources:
--performance standards
--build writing stamina (continuous writing for 15 minutes)
--sound spelling to their ability
--7-17 sentence rule
To do the school wide write twice a year and teachers will continue to assess the writing in grade groups to maintain consistency and to
discuss best practice.
Use of BC performance standards to assess writing skills- All students moving up one step on the proficiency scale with 80% meeting or
exceeding expectations in writing
Strategies that we are currently using:
The primary teachers are committed to a Primary Reading Project focusing on the work of Janet Mort. All our K-2 teachers participated in
the fall workshop. Our primary collaboration time is currently used for discussion around implementation of Janet’s recommendations for
early reading and to discuss successes.
• Grade 3 focus on Daily 5 components; emphasis on comprehension.
• Joyful Literacy strategies for sounding out, comprehension, and expanding vocabulary.
• Schedule common and uninterrupted times for Language Arts(No PE, Prep, Lib time assigned)
§ Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – 9:00-10:30
§ Tuesday and Thursday – 11:00 – 12:00
• Embedding hands-on game based learning and higher level thinking skills in mainstream curriculum.
• Other reading and writing programs; Reading Power, Café, Guided Reading, Daily 5, Reading Power (fiction and non-fiction)
• School wide reading celebrations- Right fit books, home reading program, school wide book exchange.
• K/1 early intervention groups in reading, phonological awareness, and oral language development(Blitz)
- Students will be assessed on Sight words during the first weeks of school and students not yet meeting sight word
expectation will be involved with our “Blitz”. We will start with our grade 2 students.
- In class formative assessment strategies will be used to determine the success of the interventions and move students if
required
Blitz Fun!!
Each grade 4-6 teacher will administer the fall RAD assessment by the end of September to help with informing instruction. The RAD
assessments will be marked as quickly as possible with a district team.
New Intermediate Literacy Strategies:
Objective: When given a piece of not-fiction text, students will identify (in writing) a main idea, and three supporting details, scored using a
provided rubric.
Strategies:
- Kid friendly, school wide writing rubric(posted in classes and halls)
- Teacher provided topics
- Reverse writing techniques(given details create topic sentence)
- Determine main idea/details when given a piece of text
- Guide students to choose keywords in a small piece of text and determine main idea, then write it in own words
- Every subject/activity presented through literacy/writing lens(Social Studies, Science, Math)
- Explicitly teach note taking skills, sentence construction skills.
Resources:
- Kid friendly rubrics
- Paragraph templates
- Note taking templates
- Alternative ways to “Show what you know” (Speech to Text, typing, snap-type)
- 6+1 writing traits and rubric
- District Literacy Resource teacher to team teach.
To do the school wide write twice a year and teachers will continue to assess the writing in grade groups to maintain consistency and to
discuss best practice.
Use of BC performance standards to assess writing skills- All students moving up one step on the proficiency scale with 80% meeting or
exceeding expectations in writing.
Each grade 4-6 teacher will administer the fall RAD assessment by the end of September to help with informing instruction. The RAD
assessments will be marked as quickly as possible with a district team so that results can be used to help inform instruction.
• Schedule common and uninterrupted times for Language Arts(No PE, Prep, Lib time assigned)
§ Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – 11:00-12:00
§ Tuesday and Thursday – 9:00 – 10:45
• All classes are screened for students needing special services, or extra attention/support, in SBT Meetings every Monday.
• Weekly School-Based Team Meetings to monitor struggling students
• Use of IPads, school computers and document cameras by students when writing or to show what they know.
Students not able to meet learning outcomes at the tier one level will access interventions either at the tier 2 or 3. SBT meetings will be used
by school staff as a school-wide process for responding in a focused and timely manner to learning issues in literacy.
Interventions used to support learning may include:
• Team teaching 6+1 writing Strategies(class partnerships)
• Genius hour
• Library/computer time – research skills
• The triggering of subsequent after school meetings to review IEP’s that are not proving effective and to design improved strategies.
• Resource Teacher to support teachers in class, with assessments, and small group pullout and in staff development.
• Updated assessment of a learner’s progress (PM, DRA,Writing)
• Updated assessment of an entire class by the teacher to adjust intervention groups.
• Adjusting or changing of a teacher’s approach to an instructional strategy, re-organizing of groups, re-assigning of LSW within the
classroom, more frequent reading conferences with a learner or group of learners.
• Learning support Teacher push in or pull out.
• On-going teacher collaboration and meetings to develop, review and update classroom profiles that identified classroom strengths and
concerns which then guided instructional plans.
Indicators that will tell us that the goal/target is being achieved:
• Reading Performance Standards
• Various classroom assessments- Assessments “for” and “as’
• Work habits rubric student and teacher evaluation.
• RAD, PM benchmark, DRA, FSA, K assessment data2. Social-Emotional Students will demonstrate social responsibility by solving problems in peaceful ways in various/multiple school settings. Students will display a Growth Mindset as they learn and develop new skills. Objectives: In conflict situations, students will express feelings honestly, manage anger appropriately and listen politely as measured by scoring 3 or higher on their report card(BC Performance Standards) by the end of the school year. The evidence upon which our staff made this a priority: 82% of 2017-18 office referrals (based on Behaviour log reports) were for poor social interactions. 73% of those referrals were between students. 2017-18 Student Learning Survey indicates that only 30% of students answered the question “At School, I am learning to solve problems in peaceful ways” as strongly agree. Anecdotal teacher data indicate that teachers spend a large amount of time working with students to solve peer interactions in a positive way. Strategies: As a group, we learned that focusing on Growth Mindset as a school community has helped to foster a positive attitude toward challenging learning opportunities and to make learning feel safe. We want our students to feel safe as they learn how to interact with others in a positive way. We want to have students feel connected to the school and feel safe to try new task. Having a common language and focus as a school will strengthen and solidify student ownership of their Growth Mindset and as they work with solving conflicts peacefully. Having been introduced to the concept of growth mindset students have participated in a range of activities to learn more about it and try to display a growth mindset in school (and at home) around everything they do. Students are taught how their brains work and how new connections are formed when we try new things and practice them, over and over. We have had direct lessons and assemblies about growth mindset, but most importantly, teachers and students are trying to use the language and the way of thinking in most daily interactions.
The Heart Garden
Continue to teach students to self-regulate their emotions and to problem solve while interacting with others. Ensure that parents are learning about
self-regulation and the strategies they can try at home so that parents and staff become partners in this learning process.
• Grade 3 students/teacher introduced the SNAP program(STOP NOW AND PLAN)
- Introduce SNAP terminology/philosophy to all students during assemblies and on school bulletin board.
• Continue with class buddy programs between intermediate and primary classes
• Minds-up
• Fins Friends
• Use Roots of Empathy in the K classes
• Teach and review Zones of Regulation information, maintain a school and class Zones of Regulation bulletin boards
- Inform parents about the Zones of Regulation, MindUp, and Bucket filling on school website and in the school newsletter.
• Reverse lunch – EDS will continue with our Reverse Lunch program again this year. The new schedule allows students to play and be active
first, and then eat their lunch. We are confident that by continuing with this program, we will continue to see students:
- Focus on eating rather than rushing through lunch to get to the playground.
- Less Litter on the school grounds and inside the school.
- Return to the classroom in the Green Zone and with a Growth Mindset after lunch.• Provide a number of opportunities for students to participate in activities which connect them positively to the school.
- Student leadership opportunities – Office Monitors, Library Helper, Lunch Monitors, Peer Helper, Student Council.
• Breakfast club – Continue to provide a free and healthy breakfast to all our students. This allows students to come into the school to feel
connected. Students of all grades meet and visit over a healthy breakfast. Staff will continue to be encouraged to have breakfast with students
to develop positive relationships.
• Student council to continue with our House Team program, school spirit days, school dances and special events.
• Dress code – inclusive
• Support and develop a sense of belonging for our First Nation students.
- Begin each assembly with students acknowledging that we are honoured to be on Saik’uz traditional territory
- Aboriginal Education support worker connection with all our First Nation students
- Continue to add to resources that support cultural pride, literacy development, & sense of belonging, promoting the integration of
indigenous knowledge into instruction and assessment practices.
- Invite guest presenters to the school
- Offer support and resources for professional development to support staff with their journey as they include First Nations ways of
learning in their instructions. Field trips, special events at the school.
- Participate in First Nations events (Orange Shirt day, National Aboriginal Day) and encourage more school wide planning of special
days of important issues(Indian Residential Schools, Truth and Reconciliation).Salmon Feast Indicators that will tell us that the goal/target is being achieved: • Positive climate of the school – feel/look • “At risk” students will show increased success both socially and academically(as indicated on the number of office referrals). • Higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in social responsibility on students’ report cards • Smaller percentage of students reporting that teasing and taunting is a problem on surveys and to staff • Increase in the number of students reporting school as a positive place on surveys and to staff • Students able to identify staff who care about them • Students self-reporting that they are able to get into the optimal emotional zone for learning. • Student Core Competency self-evaluations indicate positive growth
3. Numeracy Improve student achievement in all grades in Numeracy determined by DNA, FSA, SNAP and other ongoing classroom assessments. Develop a school wide focus on Numeracy and make Numeracy more visible around the school. What our staff has decided to focus on: We have identified numeracy as an important area for improvement based on observations, teacher classroom assessments, FSA results, DNA and anecdotal observations of staff at EDS. All classes will be required this year to administer the DNA in February in order to help inform instruction and help start planning for next year. Early results from in class assessments indicate and students require extra practice/intervention with basic numeracy facts to support learning in all areas of math computation. FSA results from the past 4 years indicates our numbers have plateaued with no growth. 14/15 – 68% meeting or exceeding, 15/16 – 58% meeting or exceeding, 16/17 – 67% meeting or exceeding, and 17/18 – 41% Emerging and 56% On Track. Our Numeracy DNA data from the Fall of 2017 indicate 70% of our student are On Track.
A Numeracy Bulletin Board used to show Math can be fun and to make Math more visible in the school. Acton we will take to move the school forward: By developing a school-wide approach to numeracy instruction and common intervention time, we hope to create a smooth transition between classes and grades. Creating a school wide approach and using common language with all students will help to ensure all students are getting the same instructional support. Providing staff with a consistent and common assessment language will hopefully increase the collaboration between staff. We want our students to achieve a fully meeting or exceeding expectations in the areas of number sense, basic facts, and problem solving. We would like to support students in developing a positive attitude toward numeracy with a growth mindset whereby each student will at least try a problem, using strategies and skills they have. Two intervention blocks are included in the timetable for teachers to support student who “do not get it” during a lesson to support basic math facts. Students are assessed weekly to determine strengths and needs and placed in the appropriate intervention group. The groups are fluid and students can easily move as required. Primary classes are working on a common “number sense” program called Build Math Minds to help students develop a better understanding of number sense. The primary teachers are developing number sense in the early years (K to gr 2). They hope that by teaching and reviewing these early concepts and how they relate to larger numbers and are foundational skills for students as they progress through the years.
Strategies:
• Staff to assess students using the DNA and use the data to help inform a school goal. Primary and intermediate collaboration time
with be used to analyze discuss DNA results. We are also looking for a fall assessment which we can use as a way to inform
classroom instruction.
• Develop a School wide use of SNAP – introduce K/1 SNAP and encourage the use of SNAP in all classrooms – ongoing support
from the District Numeracy teacher.
• School wide use of Mathletics – continue to work with the program to get a better understanding of its full potential to classroom
teachers.
- School wide use of Mathletics – continue to work with the program to get a better understanding of its full potential to
classroom teachers. A fun way to support in class instruction. Also, investigate the new BC Learning Assessment tool as a
way for teachers to check student understanding earlier in the year.
• To foster ‘Best Practice’ in the teaching of Mathematics
• To promote Numeracy in the school and the community (for example, through newsletters, Math celebrations, classroom displays)
- Examine how we can support parents with regard to the content, concepts and language of Numeracy – newsletters,
Website and games night.
• Embedding hands-on learning and higher level thinking skills in mainstream curriculum.
• Make Math fun
- Numeracy Games time built into the intermediate timetable to pull all intermediate students together to play math and
strategy type games – Crib, Yahtzee, Skip Bo
- Plan a school wide Numeracy Family Fun night – invite the school community to a night of numeracy games and
challenges.
- Increased use of Math competitions(Math Masters competition)
• Weekly targeting interventions for students based on classroom assessments and daily lessons- grade 3-6
• Examine strategies to provide challenge for more able students in Math
• Increase teacher collaboration and planning regarding assessment data to plan for instruction and focused interventions.
• Focus on differentiated instruction, critical thinking and problem solving skills across all grades.A group of Teachers at a Math Conference
Indicators that will tell us that the goal/target is being achieved:
• DNA data will be collected and analyzed to determine individual and school strengths and areas of need. Have discussion at our
Collaboration times around score.
• Spring 2019 FSA data with 70% or more On Track
• More classes using SNAP to help inform instruction.
• Increasing opportunities for pupils to engage with Numeracy(Math Question of the Week, Math Masters competitions)
• Seamless transition from one grade to the other. Communication between new and previous teachers and increase use of AMS data.
• Students enjoying MathCONTRIBUTORS TO THE SCHOOL PLAN This plan was written, revised and updated with input by EDS staff(Teacher, counselors, and support staff) through staff meeting discussions, collaboration sessions and individual group meeting. The plan was shared with PAC members.
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