Parents and teachers met at Cando Community School last week to talk about student achievement, but rather than taking place between only parents and teachers, students presented their work on poster boards in the gym.
The non-traditional parent-teacher meetings are called student-led conferences (SLC).
Cando School has been trying a number of methods to improve the educational experience of First Nation and Métis students.
“Students come in with their family members and they celebrate their learning together, so it’s kind of a nice new way of doing it and keeping the kids engaged,” principal Jennifer Larocque said.
First Nation students in Living Sky School Division statistically haven’t performed as well as their non-First Nation peers, and their graduation rates are lower.
Recent thinking has suggested a reason for these findings is that First Nations students are less engaged than non-First Nations students, and better engagement (and higher attendance) would result in better outcomes.
Initiatives to improve student engagement have been a main focus of Living Sky School Division and the Ministry of Education in recent years.
Larocque said Cando School has tried the presentation-style parent-teacher meetings that involve students before, with successful results.
Another program the school offers is Entrepreneurship 30. Led by teacher Rhonda Head, students must collaborate to work on an entrepreneurial project, and adopt different organizational roles, including board directors and brand managers. Teachers loan money for the projects, which must be paid back with interest.
Contributing to the project has increased attendance and engagement, Larocque said.
One project featured at the SLC was Tansi Bombs, bath bombs that come in three different sizes and six different scents. In addition to the roles associated with business, students also make the bath bombs themselves.
Cando School has also seen recent efforts by teachers to introduce students to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Students have been interested in coding, a form of computer programming. Larocque said students will participate in Hour of Code, which is an Internet-based tutorial experienced by students in 180 countries, according to its website.
“In the future everything’s going to be linked to programming,” Larocque said.
Larocque said she was surprised how quickly young students can learn coding.
Cando School has received funding from a government initiative called Following Their Voices. Larocque said funding goes towards hiring a facilitator to help students through a five-cycle program to improve engagement. Relationship building is key, and Larocque said such work isn’t graded.
Larocque credits Living Sky board member Todd Miller for being active in the community by attending school community councils and ceremonies, and by knowing the students.
Among other efforts, the school division’s recently acquired welding trailer has been popular with students, and the RBC-sponsored Junior Achievement Program has helped improve financial literacy.
