HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-10-03, Page 2Page 2 The Huron
sitor • October 3, 2007
News
Funding gives SPS an academic `turnaround'
Stew Slater
Approximately 500 educators
have attended tours and profession-
al development sessions at Seaforth
Public School as part of the provin-
cial government's "Turnaround" ini-
tiative for "low -performing" schools.
And, although versions of the pro-
gram in some other districts had lit-
tle impact, the teachers and admin-
istrators who went through this
particular site can be confident they
observed effective strategies: stu-
dent success improved dramatically
over the three-year period at
Seaforth Public.
"I guess the bad news is that you
were directed with this money
because you were a low -performing
school. And Seaforth had been a
low -performing school for about four
years," explained principal Kim
Black at an Avon Maitland District
School Board meeting Tuesday,
Sept. 25.
She added, "only about one-third
of the students were achieving to
standard" in the provincewide tests
administered to Grade 3 and 6 stu-
dents through the Education
Quality and Accountability Office
(EQAO).
Three years later, following the
input of one Education Ministry
teacher for exceptional students,
one "diagnostician" assessing the
practices of teachers, and one
Education Ministry principal
assessing Black's work, the school's
EQAO results have, indeed, experi-
enced a "turnaround."
In 2004, 30 per cent of the school's
students achieved the provincial
standard in Reading, and the
Writing success rate stood at 42 per
cent.
Last year's test results, released
recently, revealed 78 per cent of
Seaforth Public School's students
now achieve the provincial standard
in reading, and 82 per cent meet the
standard in writing.
Education superintendent Pat
Stanley explained that 2007-08 is
the school's "exit year" from the
Turnaround project.
Stanley described Turnaround as
a partnership between the school
board and Education Ministry that
provided access to "a great deal of
money" and took slightly different
forms in different sites across the
province.
"For many schools, this was a suc-
cess, and in Seaforth Public it was
certainly a success. In other dis-
tricts, it didn't always work out so
well."
Black took trustees on a tour of
the school and described the efforts
undertaken to boost EQAO results.
She said the biggest factor was
convincing teaching staff to buy into
the goals, so they would feel like
part of a team and be more willing
to consider changes aimed at assist-
ing the entire team.
"Teachers have made the differ-
ence — dedicated
teachers," the
principal said in
a subsequent
interview. "What
made it happen
was their being
open and willing
to change their
practices, and
being open and
willing to have
someone diag-
nose what they
were doing."
She added
the school's
teachers "are
now very articu-
late" in their
ability to explain
to students and
parents what
strategies they
will use to
enhance a stu-
dent's chances for
success.
Black conced-
ed that most
schools will not
be capable of
implementing
the exact mea-
sures taken at
Seaforth Public
School, because
those require sig-
nificant funding.
And, it's not
foreseeable that
such funding will
be provided on a
widespread basis.
But, she sug-
gested an effec-
tive model for
smaller -scale
changes is being
developed, based
on Seaforth
Public's experi-
ences.
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