Page 6 - Learning for All – A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2013

4 • Learning for All
result, those guiding principles – expressed in Education for All as a set of shared beliefs (p. 4) – are now also identified as program planning considerations in all revised Ontario curriculum documents.
The first draft of Learning for All, K–12 went out to directors of education across Ontario in 2009, along with funding to school boards3 to support related professional learning. Eleven “lead boards” also received funding to begin to use the strategies in selected elementary and secondary schools. The lead boards coordinated Learning for All K–12 professional learning communities in their respective regions; collected resources developed by school boards; formed a “Learning for All K−12 Provincial Network Team” to share learning and resources; and gathered feedback to inform the revision of the guide.
With the release of the revised draft of Learning for All, K−12 in 2011, seven lead school boards were added to expand the network, and the initiative “Learning for All K–12 Regional Projects”, which included teacher-led projects at the classroom level, was introduced to help mobilize knowledge. In addition, the “Learning for All K–12 Provincial e-Community” was established to facilitate the sharing of learning and resources. Throughout this period, the ministry also continued to consult with educators and key stakeholder groups and gather public feedback. The present document reflects the consolidation of the valuable information we received.
Evidence of Success
In 2012, CODE released Leading for All: A Research Report on the Development, Design, Implementation and Impact of Ontario’s “Essential for Some, Good for All” Initiative (Hargreaves & Braun, 2012; available at www.ontariodirectors.ca). The report was based on a two-and- a-half year study of the initiative, which found that, although it focused on students with special education needs, the initiative ultimately benefited all students and their teachers in school boards across the province. Based on evidence from the study, the report presents the following insights into the positive educational changes brought about by the implementation of the principles underpinning Education for All, K–6:
• By leading from the middle, school board leaders can drive system-wide change.
• Beliefs can and do change both before and after people’s practices change.
• Local authority by the school board, with the flexibility to address local circumstances,
enhances responsiveness to student diversity.
• Collective professional interpretation and responsibility enables educators to bring
student achievement data to life and helps them address real issues in student learning.
• Diagnostic assessment and measures of the growth or progress of individual students’
achievement tend to have a more positive impact on teaching and learning than do
standardized tests and imposed threshold targets.
• Technology can be beneficial when it is wisely integrated with effective pedagogy.
• Personalization of learning has increased, in that more flexible, customized ways for
students to learn are being promoted, but the kind of personalization that creates deeper and broader personal meaning and engagement in learning for all students has not yet been achieved.
• Special education reform can provoke positive change across the entire system.
• A one-time change can have a lasting impact.
(Adapted from Hargreaves & Brown, 2012, p. 96)
3. The term school board is used in this document to refer to district school boards and school authorities.