Catholic District School Board gave the nod at plan aimed at improving student performanc

Trustees with the Northwest Catholic District School Board gave the nod here Saturday to a plan aimed at improving student performance–but not without a few reservations.
The plan, devised by curriculum co-ordinator Ron Fryer after consulting with teachers and principals, looks to improve student performance in the areas of math, reading, and writing tested by the Education Quality and Accounta-bility Office each year.
The specific goal is to see 50 percent of students currently achieving at Level Two to be performing at Level Three in two years, noted Fryer.
But while trustees acknowledged the amount of work that had gone into the lengthy document, a few questions were raised–questions that will see the plan come back to the board at its April meeting.
“How do you ensure strategies are being applied equally in all the schools. There has to be a reporting mechanism that shows that,” said trustee Wade Petranik, adding the board should discuss when progress reports will be returned during the plan implementation.
“If you can’t show you’re carrying through with a strategy, there’s no accountability,” he noted.
“My difficulty is with the lack of benchmarks. Without those, I think it will be difficult to manage,” said trustee Cynthia Cossais.
The plan will go on to the EQAO, as is mandated, but the board made a second motion to discuss a process for evaluation at its April 24 meeting here.
Education Director Carol Lynne Oldale stressed the importance of getting the plan out to teachers and principals as soon as possible, and not let the process of evaluation be an early stumbling block.
“We need to find out how the strategies are working from the schools. Then we can use that to decide what works and what doesn’t,” she noted.
The improvement plan includes a myriad of ideas, from math Olympics to more parental involvement to spelling software.
Possible methods of implementation include progress assessment surveys that go out to teachers and parents, older student “reading buddies,” and more variation in types of reading and writing.
The report will be available soon at the board office here.
Individual school results, board results, and provincial results were received from the EQAO back in October. Each principal reviewed his/her school’s results, compared them with the provincial results, and then followed a consultative process to develop a school report.
School reports from St. Michael’s, St. Francis, Our Lady of the Way, and Sacred Heart School were released to the public Dec. 1.
This was the fourth year for province-wide grade three testing, and the second students in grade six.
Also Saturday, the board:
•heard a school profile by St. Michael’s principal David Sharp, which highlighted the community’s frequent use of its gymnasium, its hot lunch program, Voyageur Days, and its recent Japanese intern, Yoko Niwa;
•received a report of cash disbursements for February equalling $826,178.48; and
•approved the March personnel report, which noted the self-funded leave of teacher Carolyn Callan and a leave of absence for teacher Marilyn Tinkess.