Page 60 - Learning for All – A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2013

58 • Learning for All
A Focus on Results
• One board reported that through discussions in a PLC, teachers devised ways of recording individual student progress and achievement on class profiles, providing individualized “evidence of growth” comments for every student that they were then able to use when preparing final report cards in June.
• In one school board’s PLC, a team of teachers examined diagnostic assessment data, made instructional decisions on the basis of the data, investigated a range of strategies and tools, and provided differentiated instruction and assessment for students. Towards the end of a semester, they found that their students’ achievement data uniformly revealed improvement.
• In one region, teams developed a list of key indicators for gathering student achievement data for students with special learning needs across the school boards in the region.
Conclusion
Building effective professional learning communities together requires that partners at all levels of the education system create the conditions that engage all students in the best possible opportunities to learn and to maximize their potential. This is a matter of equity and social justice, and it is our collective responsibility.
Leadership is second only to teaching in its impact on student outcomes. School and system instructional leaders play a critical role in supporting an integrated approach to student- centred learning through their commitment to equity and student outcome.10 Supervisory officers, principals, and vice-principals put in place supportive system and school practices and procedures such as professional learning communities. They facilitate forward planning, align resources, and engage educators as learners in collaborative professional learning that builds an integrated process of assessment and instruction in their schools.
Practice-driven collaborative teacher inquiry has been adopted as a common approach to professional learning. Through structured opportunities for professional dialogue and broader learning communities made possible by new technologies, educators across Ontario continue to mobilize knowledge and build on innovative practices to improve learning and teaching for all.
All educators, students, and parents hope that our schools will bring out the very best in our students and encourage them to reach their full potential. Much progress has been made, but we have more work to do. The effort to raise the bar and reduce the gap is a shared responsibility. It requires engagement, innovation, and partnership between parents, the school, and its community to create learning opportunities for all students.
10. Adapted from Preamble to the Leadership Frameworks for Principals and Vice-Principals and for Supervisory Officers (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007).