Administrators with the Good Spirit and Christ the Teacher School Divisions this month shared an update on the school year so far and what's coming in 2012.
2011 was a year of major capital investment for both divisions. Hundreds of thousands of dollars went into lighting and window replacements at Christ the Teacher facilities, while Good Spirit continues to work on expanding and constructing all-new schools in several communities. Driving the pressure for expansion is a growth trend in the region that reverses years of population decline. This fall, says Good Spirit Director of Education Dwayne Reeve, GSSD had 6,200 students registered.
"That's a level that we haven't seen for a long period of time."
Bringing technology into the classroom has been another priority this year for both divisions. A purchase of laptops for all teaching staff in GSSD has been showing results, says Reeve, as teachers become more comfortable with the computers and begin to integrate more technology into their lessons in "engaging" ways. Christ the Teacher recently gave all instructors the option of either a laptop or an all-in-one computer, and continues its mission to install SMART boards in all classrooms. About 70 percent of classrooms now have the interactive whiteboards.
"We're adding in the neighborhood of about 15 annually," says Darrell Zaba, Christ the Teacher's director of education.
In a new initiative, Christ the Teacher schools have added sound systems to many K-3 classrooms and provided wireless microphones to teachers to help them be heard.
A focus on improving literacy has occupied the two divisions this year. Teachers in Christ the Teacher School Division have been receiving additional training in assessing writing and utilizing the in-class libraries now available in K-8 classrooms, and more training is coming in the New Year. In GSSD, Reeve is excited about the new "leveled literacy interventions" now in use in the region's schools. Under this program, students with trouble reading and writing are identified, evaluated, and given intensive skill development sessions.
"We're really seeing progress being made with our students that were previously having very significant difficulties in the areas of reading," Reeve says.
Math is another instructional focus in the region's school divisions, and both directors say that progress is being made. Teachers in Christ the Teacher School Division are among those piloting the Saskatchewan Common Mathematics Assessment Project, a new method of assessing mathematics proficiency.
"We have 22 teachers in Kindergarten to Grade 9 who are going to pilot the use of all these assessments during the year, fine-tune them, see what the measures are of our students in mathematics, and in the future possibly the province will adopt these as common mathematics assessments," says Zaba.
Christ the Teacher School Division is now well into its three-year Faith Development Plan (with a focus this year on "Gratitude") while Good Spirit progresses further in its process for developing a new five-year strategic plan. Expect announcements on consultation opportunities for the public early in 2012.
Changes at the Ministry of Education will provide challenges for all school divisions in the coming year. New curriculums and a new provincial assessment system will change the way some subjects are taught and the way that data on students is collected and shared. Divisions have finally gotten a look at the new provincial funding formula, and according to Reeve the results at budget time this spring should be "positive."
Implementing the government's plan to delay the start of the school year until after Labour Day-a decision made without consultation with school divisions-will be another challenge. Good Spirit and Christ the Teacher are working together on a unified calendar that should be finalized in the coming months.
