The Citizen, 2011-11-17, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2011.HPCDSB principals discuss student successes
Descriptive feedback and teacher
collaboration are two strategies
schools in the Huron-Perth Catholic
District School Board (HPCDSB)
will use to improve student
performance.
At the Oct. 24 HPCDSB meeting,
principals Tara Boreham of St.
James Catholic School in Seaforth
and Dan Gracey of St. Patrick’s
Catholic School in Kinkora told
trustees which issues their schools
were looking at when creating their
School Improvement Plans (SIPs).
Boreham said St. James wanted to
focus on oral communication as well
as “self-regulation”, a term Boreham
said many people misunderstand.
“When people hear ‘self-regulation’
they automatically think ‘are you
behaving?” said Boreham. “That is
not what self-regulation means…it’s
more about are the children using
success criteria, are they using
descriptive feedback to help make
their work better.”
In his presentation, Gracey
showed an example of success
criteria from a Grade 1 St. Patrick’s
class, where students review their
work for spelling, punctuation and
capital letters by looking at a simple
chart with smiley and frowney faces.
Descriptive teacher feedback is
also important, said Boreham.
Gracey described it as, “Here’s what
you do well, here’s what you need to
do next.”
Gracey added that student
expectations should be explained in
student language, while Boreham
emphasized teachers working
together.
She said 10 teachers from St.
James will join four teachers from
St. Marys Catholic School inListowel and 16 teachers from HolyName of Mary Catholic School in
St. Marys to form a Collaborative
Inquiry Cluster.
The process involves teachers
framing a question around
knowledge or skills needed by
students, then defining what skills
and knowledge teachers need to gain
in response. The next phases are
developing that professional
knowledge, engaging students and
assessing the results.
Boreham said teachers would
work in groups separated byprimary, junior and intermediatedivisions, adding that two French
teachers would have the rare chance
to work together as well.
In her presentation, Boreham said
that June 2011 provincial report card
data showed that only 56 per cent of
St. James’ students in an Individual
Education Plan (IEP) were meeting
the provincial standard of level three
or higher in oral communication.
Fifty-six per cent met the standard in
writing, 60 per cent in math, and 64
per cent in reading.
“Sixty-four per cent is not enough,56 per cent is not enough and 60 percent is not enough,” she said. Gracey
said that St. Patrick’s Kinkora
performed well on the EQAO,
despite being “boy-heavy”. Most
schools see a gender gap of girls
outperforming boys in EQAO
testing on reading and writing.
Gracey said that boys make up 56
per cent of St. Patrick’s student
population Asked by trustee Amy
Cronin whether St. Patrick’s will
measure results with EQAO, Gracey
said the 124-student school can’t get
an accurate measurement with justEQAO results. He pointed out that the current
Grade 2 class at the school only has
five students. When those students
write the Grade 3 EQAO, every
individual student’s performance
will count for 20 per cent of the final
score.
Gracey said that while EQAO
results are important numbers, the
school will follow report card results
and school achievement.
“Self-regulating is going to be one
of our leading indicators,” he said.
By Rita MarshallSpecial to The Citizen
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