School District to shift focus in tracking student progress

SD 52 is introducing some new
concepts to the education system

School District 52 is about to change the way that they measure academic success at the intermediate level, with the introduction of a new approach that will be doing away with the traditional measuring stick of the Letter Grade.

The details of the new program to be implemented for the Grade 4 and 5 level were provided as part of an update following the December 8th meeting of the SD52 Board, with a portion of the information release detailing the shift in focus that the School District will be taking.

In a report at the December 8th meeting, Director of Instruction Andrew Samoil, Port Edward Principal Deb Taylor and teachers Karen Kowal and Kathy Murphy provided the School District Board with a review of what the project looks like.

The new report card development process was outlined, created through a collaborative process with teachers in all of the elementary schools.  The new template will move away from letter grades and instead help teachers to identify the strengths of each student as well as areas that need further development.

Parents will be getting their first look at the new concept when the first report cards for the year come out, once they have had a time to look the revised report format over, teachers will be looking for feedback from the parents about their impressions of the new process.

That is not the only shift in direction for the School District when it comes to measuring student progress.

The School District also announced that in the New Year they will be holding a Thought exchange survey of students, parents and staff members.

With the District making use of the information gathered to help determine which areas of student success are important to education stakeholders in Prince Rupert. Once collected, the School District will be creating a document called the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning.

The locally developed document is designed to provide support to BC's education transformation, within the context and unique opportunities that are found in our community.

The Framework process was described by School District officials as one that will help the District measure student success with a focus on continuous improvement.

You can review more of the notes from the December 8th School District meeting here.

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