Page 53 - Learning for All – A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2013

Planning for Student Transitions
All students in Ontario schools make various kinds of transitions. When transitions are planned and managed appropriately, they can be learning opportunities for students, helping them develop resiliency and the capacity for self-advocacy.
As students progress along their individual “learning and growth continuum” from Kindergarten to Grade 12, they may be involved in some or all of the following transitional experiences:
• entry to school;
• transitions from one activity or setting to another, or from one classroom to another;
• transitions between grades;
• a move from one school to another or from a community agency to a school;
• a move from a First Nation school to a provincially funded school;
• the transition from elementary to secondary school;
• the transition from secondary school to a postsecondary destination (apprenticeship,
college, community living, university, and/or the workplace).
The information about individual students’ strengths and needs gathered in developing
a class or student profile – along with information gathered through the All About Me portfolio and the Individual Pathways Plan – can contribute to effective transition planning. Personalized and precise transition planning provides the foundation for a successful transi- tional experience that can help the student learn to cope with change and adapt to a variety of settings.
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Class/Student Profiles and Transition Planning
At one board, teachers from three schools – one primary/junior, one intermedi- ate, and one secondary – were selected to participate in a professional learning community (PLC) focused on the Learning for All project. In these three schools, students tend to progress from the junior to the intermediate school, then on
to the secondary school. A long-term goal of the project was to pass profiles developed in one grade on to teachers in the next grade as the students moved through the grades on their way to secondary school graduation.
The profiles were shared with the schools’ Student Success Leaders and Curriculum Program Leaders, superintendents, and Information Services staff. Information Services developed programs for the electronic collection of student achievement data and for the use of relevant data in applications such as an electronic transition form, used to assist students making the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9.
The process of developing and reviewing an effective transition plan involves consultation with the student and with significant individuals in his or her life, including educators, parents, and other relevant professionals.