Planning and Priorities CommitteeEducation and Policy CommitteeEconomic CommitteeAppeals CommitteeDelegationAction ItemMonitoring ReportSuperintendent's Report
June 19, 2013
To: / Board of Trustees
From: / Cory Gray, Superintendent of Schools
Subject: / Full Day Enhanced ECS Programs
Originator: / Bobbie Sorensen – Early Learning Intervention Coach
Resource: / Jody Beck, Supervisor of Inclusive Education
Norah Lambkin, Literacy Consultant
RECOMMENDATION
That the Board of Trustees receive a year-end update regarding Full Day Enhanced ECS programming for Grande Yellowhead Public School Division.
BACKGROUND
GYPSD continues to support Full Day Enhanced ECS programming to provide children with the opportunity to develop the foundational skills and knowledge that he or she requires to be successful from the first year of formal schooling and throughout lifelong learning endeavors.
At the beginning of each school year, ECS teachers utilize the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment for Learning 3 (a global screening tool for assessing the developmental skills of children) to ascertain areas of strengths and needs for their students. This data, along with a parent questionnaire, teacher observation and anecdotal notes,was used to identify if students had any mild or moderate delays, or in some cases, as an indicator to investigate the possibility of a severe disability. At the end of May, the teachers use the DIAL3 assessment again as an indicator of growth for the students. Results from the DIAL3 assessment will be presented at the Board meeting.
The ECS divisional planning days continue to provide the opportunity for ECS teachers to develop programming ideas to address curricular expectations. They also serve to enhance collaboration and communication among the ECS teachers in their towns, zones and throughout the district as a whole. ECS teachers attended a full-day workshop, focusing on building emotional resiliency through play in the early childhood years – Fun Friends Program. The teachers also participated in a two-day workshop focused on exploration, emotional resiliency and play in early childhoodprogramming with Jonathan Rivero Founder and CEO of Qi Creative Inc.
This year, ECS teachers and community members were able to see the data collected from last year’s EDI (Early Developmental Indicators) questionnaires for all students with parental permission. This was and continues to be part of the Five-year Early Childhood Development Mapping research project. Results were shared within each community through Community Information Package Release Events – each community has an Early Childhood Map Facilitator and has created a coalition and community brand to continue to support the mission of the project that, “aims to strengthen Alberta’s ability to make positive early childhood development a reality for every child in the province”. (
Conclusion
Bobbie Sorensen, Early Learning Intervention Coach for Grande Yellowhead Public School Division and various school and community partnerscontinue to work in collaboration with parents, families and community partners to enhance capacity as we support children’s early childhood development.
Report to the Board Regarding Full Day Kindergarten 2012-13
This is the sixth year that full day kindergarten students have been assessed using the Dial 3 assessment tool. This test measures motor skills, concept development, language skills, as well as an overall score as a percentile rank for each child. Students are tested in September and again in June to measure growth over the course of their year in Kindergarten.
A compilation of the 2012-13 results is as follows:
Average PercentileRank Sept. 2012 / Average Percentile Rank June 2013 / Improvement69 / 84 / +15
These results indicate that based on the standards set by the Dial 3 assessment tool, the ‘average’ student GYPSD entered Kindergarten in September, 2012, at the 68th percentile when compared to all the other students tested during the validation of this test. In June 2013, the ‘average’ student in GYPSD exited Kindergarten at the 83rd percentile, an improvement of 15 percentiles points. These results are a compilation of the results of all regular students including students identified as having developmental delays. (Code 30’s). PUF students are excluded from these results.
These results are quite consistent with the previous 4 years as shown below:
Year / Sept. Average PercentileRank / June Average Percentile Rank / Improvement2007-08 / 64 / 80 / +16
2008-09 / 63 / 78 / +15
2009-10 / 60 / 79 / +20
2010-11 / 64 / 81 / +17
2011-12 / 65 / 82 / +17
2012-13 / 69 / 84 / +15
To further assess the impact that a full day program has on Kindergarten students, we analyzed the data and looked at the results of only the developmentally delayed students. The average developmentally delayed students entered kindergarten at the 28th percentile and exited kindergarten at the 61st percentile, a gain of 33 percentile points.
Average Results of Code 30 Students( in percentile)
September % Results / June % Results / Improvement28 / 61 / +33
Average Results of All Kindergarten Students(in percentile)
September % Results / June % Results / Improvement69 / 84 / +15
It is worth comparing these two results. These results show the significantly larger improvement of the at risk students, and exemplifies the benefits of a full day program, particularly for students who enter kindergarten at risk.