Goal No. 1 Social Responsibility[Marker]
Province/District
Student Satisfaction Survey
The Ministry has tracked student responses to three key questions over five years.
Grade 7 Results:
- Do you like school?” “Sometimes/many times/all the times” responses have ranged from 78 to 85%. In 07/08 the percentage was 78%.
- Do you get exercise?” “Sometimes/many times/all the times” responses have ranged from 89 to 100%. In 07/08 the percentage was 96%. Physical health had a direct bearing on achievement.
- Are you teased bullied or picked on?” “At no time or few times” responses have ranged from 59 to 85%. In 07/08 the percentage was 85%. This was a significant improvement over the previous year at 59%.
Grade 4 Results:
- Do you like school?” “Sometimes/many times/all the times” responses have ranged from 87 to 100%. In 07/08 the percentage was 87%.
- Do you get exercise? Sometimes/many times/all the times responses have ranged from 87 to 100%. In 07/08 the percentage was 87%. Physical health had a direct bearing on achievement.
- Are you teased bullied or picked on? At no time or few times‚ responses have ranged from 67 to 79%. In 07/08 the percentage was 76%.
School /Classroom Data (Appendix A)
Teacher June Data
From 2003/04 to 2007/08, more girls than boys were meeting or exceeding expectations in teacher ratings for social responsibility. The same is true for academic areas. The ratings for boys and girls are most closely aligned in the area of numeracy.
Each year since 2003, classroom teachers have been asked to provide global ratings of student achievement in four areas: reading, writing, numeracy and social responsibility. Students were rated using the provincial performance standards scale: 1 – Not yet meeting expectations, 2 - Minimally meets expectations, 3 - Fully meets expectations and 4 - Exceeds expectations. The four variables continue to be strongly interrelated. When scores on reading, writing, and numeracy increase, scores on social responsibility increase.
The teacher ratings for reading, writing and social responsibility have remained fairly constant over the years. The social responsibility ratings were highest in 2007 and 2008. In 2007, the numeracy score was higher than in the other five years.
We have a small group of aboriginal students (10 in 06/07) whose performance parallels that of the regular population in all four areas – reading, writing, numeracy and social responsibility. This is too small a sample to generate statistically reliable results as a cohort.
In summary, the social responsibility data show that RCCES students are typically meeting or close to meeting teacher expectations for socially responsible behaviour. There are variations from year to year, showing that fluctuations do occur in teachers perceptions and student behaviour.
Student Data
We have focused on qualitative data to get a snap shot of student social responsibility. This year, we have included the student voice through excerpts from notes written to one of our senior students at the time of the death of his father during the school year. The comments are found in Appendix B. They reflect the high degree of internalization of two of our key words, respect and caring.
Goal No. 2 Reading
Province/District
FSA results over five years indicate an overall decline in Reading Comprehension at both the grade 4 and grade 7 levels. See Appendix C This has contributed to our interest in focusing on reading achievement, especially that of marginal readers.
School Data
Our school Learning Community Team Projects over three years have focused on reading.
2005-2006
The project question was to determine how primary student learning would improve if all students received uninterrupted focused literacy instruction for a series of 1-hour blocks for 8 to 10 weeks. The addition of an early intervention teacher allowed for smaller groups. The beginning readers exhibited increased self-esteem and confidence in reading. Reading scores improved as follows:
The number of students not yet meeting expectations decreased from 13 to 9.
The number of students minimally meeting expectations decreased from 15 to 10.
2006-2007 and 2007-2008
The project question related to the impact of using technology to help primary students that have not met expectations in spite of participating in guided reading and reading recovery small groups for two years. The on-line program “ClicknRead” was used to teach letter sounds, blending, word recognition and sentence reading. The plan was to supplement the pullout program with a class focus on the skills and strategies of good readers.
In the first year, the students involved continued to remain in the Not Yet Meeting category. However, they experienced growth within that category. The most noticeable improvement was in their attitude towards reading. All of them began to view themselves as readers and were more willing to read in a variety of situations.
In the second year, half of the grade 2 students who did not meet expectations in the fall improved to approaching expectations in the spring. The grade 1 students showed an even larger improvement. Most students did make progress, even if they remained in the same category.
Primary Students: PM Benchmark Assessment Results
We have identified 5 K students who are at risk using the fall screening results. We will begin to track these students next year in grade 1.
Teachers identified 23 grade 1 to 3 students as at risk. The PM Benchmark Assessment was used in the fall and in February to measure reading levels. Twenty-one students increased their reading scores. The increases ranged from one to seven levels. One student showed no change. One student arrived in January and only had one score. All students will be assessed again in June. While all students are still below grade level at the moment, the June scores will give us a better idea of how they are doing.
Intermediate Students: NWEA Results
Our intermediate students have participated in the North West Education Reading Assessment for the past two years.
Teachers identified twenty grades 5 to 7 students were identified as at risk. There were also five grade 4 students identified but we do not have sufficient data to report on these students until next year.
There was an increase in scores for 19 out of 20 students. The increase ranged from 3 to 35 rit points. In most cases scores are significantly below grade level and it will be important to look at the spring NWEA scores to check for improvements over last spring and scores that might be closer if not at, grade level.
It is important to note that almost all primary and intermediate students who struggle with reading are making progress.
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