Results Without Rancour or Ranking: Ontario

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Results Without Rancour or Ranking
Ontarios Improvement Strategy
Dr. Avis E. Glaze Ruth Mattingley Ontarios
Education Commissioner Senior Executive
Officer Senior Adviser to the Minister of
Education The Literacy and Numeracy
Secretariat May 2008
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• GREETINGS FROM
• TORONTO!

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Our Shared Sense of Purpose
Making public education the best education is
the single most important thing that we can do
together to build a bright and promising future
for all of us. We can build a
stronger economy, a stronger society, a stronger
Ontario, by strengthening the education and
skills of our people.

The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of
Ontario
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• Ministry of Education Key Goals
• High levels of student achievement
• Reduced gaps in student achievement
• Increased confidence in public education
• Provincial Achievement Target, K-6
• Every student in Ontario will develop
  reading, writing, math and comprehension skills
  at a higher level by the age of 12. Progress will
  be measured by ensuring that by 2008, 75 of
  students reach the provincial standard.

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• Provincial Achievement Target, Grades 7-12
• That 85 of students will graduate from high
  school by 2010-11
• The Student Success/Learning to 18 Initiative
• Increased graduation rates
• Student success teams
• Expanded co-op credits
• Specialist high skills major
• Dual credit program
• Lighthouse projects
• Grade 89 transition

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• Excellence and Equity
• The Moral Imperative
• The Economic Imperative
• The Value-for-Money Imperative
• The Demographic Imperative
• The Social Justice Imperative
• The Community Health Imperative
• The Human Rights Imperative

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• Education The Lifeblood of Democracy
• A civil society
• Literacy an investment in human capital
• The sense of urgency
• The cost to a nation of inadequate education
• Establishment of the Literacy and Numeracy
  Secretariat
• Educating all children successfully

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Educating Children for Tomorrows World

• Selected global trends
• Need to prepare for the Semantic Web
• Need to prepare for SPOT technology (Smart
  Personal Object Technology)
• The invention of nanotechnology
• The technology that the millennials will be using
  

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The Millennials or The Net Generation
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(No Transcript)
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9 Key Strategies

1. Work with district school boards and set targets

1. Identify teams at all levels to drive continuous
   improvement in literacy and numeracy

1. Reduce class sizes in the primary grades to a
   maximum of 20 students per class by 2007-08

1. Allocate resources to support target setting and
   improvement plans

1. Build capacity to support student learning and
   achievement

1. Mobilize the system to provide equity in student
   outcome

1. Embark on a process of community outreach and
   engagement to build support for the literacy and
   numeracy initiative

1. Demonstrate a commitment to research and
   evidence-based inquiry and decision making

1. Establish a growing presence on the national and
   international scene

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The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
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Selected Accomplishments

• Increased funding (in spite of enrolment decline)
• Ambitious targets with clearly-defined
  intervention strategies
• Reduction in class size
• Ontario Focussed Intervention Partnership (OFIP)
  directed at 1200 schools
• Schools on the Move Lighthouse Program
• Statistical Neighbours data analysis tool
• 270 locally developed innovative projects
• A focus on equity of outcome

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Selected Accomplishments

• Student Achievement Officers work directly with
  schools and boards
• School improvement plans with clearly defined
  strategies to achieve targets
• Specific research initiatives with faculties of
  education
• Capacity building and job-embedded professional
  learning for teachers
• Webcasts - with a focus on instructional
  effectiveness and leadership development
• Empirical research in Ontario schools on
  teaching, learning and leadership effectiveness

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• Selected Accomplishments
• Multiple partnerships with stakeholders and
  faculties of education
• Capacity building for groups at all levels of the
  system
• Directors Leadership Alliance Network (LANSA)
• Expanded tutoring initiatives
• Character development province wide
• National and international conferences

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• Selected Accomplishments
• Production of state-of-the-art documents and
  resources
• What Works Research into Practice for classroom
  teachers
• Improvement teams at the regional, district and
  school levels
• Leadership development initiatives for
  principals, superintendents and directors of
  education
• Establishment of clear implementation strategies
  to ensure that initiatives are having an impact
  on classroom practice

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• Selected Accomplishments
• International experts as Critical Friends
• Turnaround Teams Initiative
• Professional learning communities in schools
• Capacity building on specific areas needing
  improvement as identified by EQAO test results
• Research on eight successful school districts
  with the sharing of success criteria

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• Selected Accomplishments
• A national agency to evaluate the effectiveness
  of the Secretariats goals, strategies, impact
  and results
• A Working Table of key stakeholders to provide
  input on key directions
• Training on specific areas of interest to
  teachers, e.g., differentiated instruction
• National and international conferences
• A character development initiative in all Ontario
  schools based on community consultations

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Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test Percentage of First Time Eligible English-Language Students Who Passed over Five Years
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Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test Percentage of First Time Eligible French-Language Students Who Passed Over Five Years
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Percentage of Schools Achieving 75 or Above in
Grade 6 Reading
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Percentage of Schools at or Below 34 in Grade 3
Reading
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Equity of Outcome

• Gender
• The gender gap in mathematics is closing
• Girls continue to out-perform boys in reading and
  writing
• Students in Special Education Programs
• Demonstrating steady improvement
• English-Language Learners
• Demonstrating steady improvement
• There is evidence that the achievement gaps are
  closing steadily!

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Equity Of Outcome

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Equity of Outcome

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English-Language Learners Improving Steadily

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English-Language Learners Improving Steadily

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English-Language Learners Improving Steadily

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English-Language Learners Improving Steadily

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Improvement Trends in School Boards

• Since 200203
• 99 of boards have improved in reading
• 96 of boards have improved in writing
• 92 of boards have improved in mathematics
• 64 of boards have improved for three straight
  years in writing
• 33 of boards have improved for three straight
  years in mathematics

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(No Transcript)
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The Globe and Mail, November 29, 2007
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• Pan Canadian Assessment Program
• Pan-Canadian Assessment Program for 13 year olds
• Replaces the SAIP-School Achievement Indicators
  Program
• Conducted by CMEC-Council of Ministers of
  Education Canada
• First administration of PCAP-13 took place in the
  spring of 2007
• Result of this administration released 28/04/2008

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The Ontario Focused Intervention Partnership
(OFIP)

• Key Expectations
• Uninterrupted literacy and numeracy blocks
• A common assessment tool
• A school improvement team
• A school improvement plan
• Targeted resources
• Regular monitoring
• Professional Learning Community

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• Improvement Through Focused Action
• Preliminary analysis indicates that in 2006-07
• 75 of OFIP 1 schools improved in Grade 6 Reading
• 66 of OFIP 1 schools improved in Grade 3 Reading
• 73 of OFIP 2 schools improved in Grade 6 Reading
• 77 of OFIP 2 schools improved in Grade 3 Reading
• 61 of OFIP 1 and 2 schools improved by 10 or
  more in at least one of Grade 3 and Grade 6
  Reading

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• External Evaluation of The Secretariat
• When considering the work of the LNS in total,
  one predominant theme emerged in partnership
  with school boards, there has been a significant
  shift in the culture of Ontario schools that is
  focused on enabling the success of all students.
  There has been sustained improvement in student
  achievement. The LNS has created and sustains a
  Sense of Urgency that permeates the educational
  language being spoken throughout boards.
• Canadian Language and Literacy Research
  Network (2007)
•            

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• Character Development in Ontario
• Character development in schools
• Character in the workplace
• Building communities of character
• Finding Common Ground Character Development in
  Ontario Schools, K-12
• Provincial consultations
• Essential components
• Academic achievement
• Character development
• Citizenship development
• Respect for diversity
• Equity and inclusive education

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Character Development
What Business Wants We in the business world
dont want young people coming into our
employment and into our communities who are
brilliant, but dishonest who have great
intellectual knowledge, but dont really care
about others who have highly creative minds, but
are irresponsible. All of us in business and the
entire adult community need to do our part in
helping build young people of high character.
There isnt a more critical issue in education
today. Sandy McDonnell
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• Results without Rancour or Ranking The Strategy
• Dialogue and engagement
• Forging consensus
• Developing a common sense of purpose
• Building commitment and motivation
• Pressure and support
• School improvement planning
• Class size reduction
• High yield strategies
• Deep implementation and monitoring

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• Results without Rancour or Ranking The Strategy
• Targeted resources
• Capacity building at all levels of the system
• Teams and networks
• Community outreach and engagement
• Assessment of district and school effectiveness
• Focus on professional accountability
• Excellence and equity
• International comparability

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Signs of Progress

• A clear focus on improving student achievement
• Increased evidence of a team approach to planning
  and learning
• Increased job-embedded professional learning
• Improved morale and confidence in government
  direction
• Smaller class sizes and more teachers
• Positive energy - students and staff
• More effective use of research-based
  instructional practices
• Expanded professional learning programs for
  teachers, principals and superintendents

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Re-affirming Our Mission

• Democracy and education are inextricably
  intertwined
• Democracy is strongest where education is
  strongest
• A robust publicly-funded education is a hallmark
  of our democracy
• The quest for equity and excellence must be
  relentless for the health, prosperity and
  wellbeing our country
• Our moral imperative to improve life chances
• Education is the ultimate tool of empowerment

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Lets ImagineA Preferred Future

• Children delight in school because learning is
  fun. Their attitudes to learning and their
  behaviour are exemplary. Attendance is high.
  The care, guidance and support of children are
  exceptional and emphasize childrens emotional
  health. Teachers squeeze every last drop of
  creativity from children. The rich curriculum is
  packed with experiences that fully engage
  learners. Children with learning difficulties
  and or disabilities and those who speak a
  language other than English receive support of
  the highest quality and achieve equally well.
  Staff create a magical place to learn where
  academic rigour and emotional well-being happily
  co-exist. The leadership of the head teacher
  drives the whole school team to Reach for the
  Stars!
• Mumby (2007)

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Thank You!