Directions Newsletter

Regular Meeting of the Board – February, 2012
 

Distance Education Status Report
Shelby Budd, Cyber School Principal and Bob Vavra, Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, gave a Status Report on Distance Education in Chinook School Division. Statistics and information was presented on registration and attendance, class averages, delivery types including Synchronous, Asynchronous and CSI (Continuous Student Intake), course offerings, and staff.

In 2010-2011, 787 student seats were occupied in the Distance Learning program. The Cyber School had a 98% pass rate in all delivery types, which consists of Synchronous, Asynchronous and CSI. The class average for Synchronous delivery was 82%; Asynchronous 81%, and CSI 78%, for an overall class average of 80.3%.

A focus has been put on student support and developing courses to support new curriculum. Student feedback was overall very positive about the courses and the program 

This report is available at http://chinooksd.ca/agendas-minutes.

Continuous Improvement Framework Report
Sharon Mayall, Curriculum Coordinator and Bob Vavra, Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, presented a Status Report on achievement results and data for Chinook School Division.

Balanced Literacy results within Chinook schools indicate that 79% of students are now meeting expectations on system reading assessment, which meets the goal that was identified for the initiative in 2009 and is a 16% increase since that time. There was growth of 7% a year in students meeting or exceeding expectations over the last three years and boys have increased by 25%. There was over a 90% success rate with Leveled Literacy Intervention as well. A maintenance plan is now in place for Balanced Literacy, with the focus moving to Math Momentum.

Chinook students’ final marks continue to average above the province. Chinook continues to score above the province in 16 of 17 areas for average final marks. Chinook has been higher for graduation rates in the last five years than the provincial average, and we are averaging above the province in earned credits. In French Immersion, the numbers within Chinook are increasing every year.

Other specific trends highlighted: Chinook scored above the province in all reading areas in grade 7 and 10, and 4 out of 5 areas in grade 4; in math, grade 5 results are above the province in all areas, and grade 8 results show a significant drop in two or three areas compared to the province.

Balanced Literacy maintenance plan is focusing on a mentorship model with Literacy Coaches, additional supports for struggling readers (Leveled Literacy Intervention), an early years learning assessment tool, and a middle years Balanced Literacy pilot.

Within the new Math Momentum Initiative, Chinook is putting an emphasis on the improvement of teacher capacity in math instruction, and a key component will be the collection of and response to student data.

This report is available at http://chinooksd.ca/agendas-minutes.

Public Section Logo
The Public Schools of Saskatchewan engaged in a branding and identity process in 2011. They have requested that public school divisions in Saskatchewan include a version of the new logo on all relevant materials. Chinook School Division will utilize the Public Schools logo where appropriate, as a secondary element along with the Chinook brand. This co-branding will be an enhancement of the Chinook School Division identity.

More information on Public Schools of Saskatchewan: http://www.saskpublicschools.ca/public-education/what-is-public-education/
 

Fairview School
The new joint use school project between Chinook and Holy Trinity School Divisions in Swift Current will add capacity for K-8 students on the north side of the city. During extensive public consultation, a preference for a K-8 configuration on the south side of the city was evident. The Chinook Board struck a working group that was made up of Swift Current School Community Council members. They submitted a report for Board review that included recommendations for grade configuration.

Decisions made by the Chinook School Division Board:

1. Fairview School, located on the south side of Swift Current, will become a grade K-8 single stream (English program) school, effective September 2014;
2. Fairview School, currently a grade 6-8 school, has significant space and functional deficiencies to house grades K-8. Therefore renovations to Fairview School will be made in order to accommodate K-8 capacity.