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Most Significant change at my school in past 5 years

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Most Significant change at my school in past 5 years

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With the completion of a new dining hall in June 2015 we shifted to 'community dining'. Staff and students all eat nutritious meals made by Sage catering company together between set times. Although this was initially met with significant backlash from students and staff; Sage and the head of school have worked hard to iron out the concerns. Now the majority of people are happy! It has definitely increased our sense of community and feeling connected to faculty and students. Students also report that they appreciate sitting for the set period without technology; just eating and talking.

Over the past five years we have had 5 different directors of the senior school. New initiatives often get dropped and not followed through as a result.

Natasha Bathgate

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3 current trends in education - by Natasha

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3 current trends in education - by Natasha

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1 - recognition of the need to shift to student centred learning
2 - increasing interest in the value of inquiry based learning: project based, problem based etc. More aligned with real world problems
3 - the 'maker movement' : recognises that we are currently in a consumer culture where the function and meaning of 'objects' is decided by others. the maker movement aims to shift this perspective; allowing people to create their own understanding and meaning in their world.

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Our school board eliminated percent marks on 7-9 report cards and harmonized with K-6 report cards to have a 1-4 point scale based on stems. Some parents do not like this, many students are still trying to 'convert' from percent grades to the new rubric, even though there is not intended to be any explicit connection. In my opinion, this focus
on competencies rather than marks has hugely improved feedback to students, reduced student stress, and facilitated more personalization of learning.

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Three significant trends in our school and school board
1) Personalization of education - teachers are expected to provide more individualized lesson plans and activities.  This process is to be driven by increased metacognition by students.
2) Focus on formative assessment - the majority of professional development in our school system over the past few years has been around instructional design and formative assessment.
3) Ongoing changes to math instruction - reflects underlying trend towards multiple ways of knowing. Has created significant tensions between parents and teachers and within teacher groups as we sometimes struggle to find the right balance between teaching math skills vs fostering deep understanding of the curriculum

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The Most Significant Change...by John McBain

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The Most Significant Change...by John McBain

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The most significant change my school has seen in the past five years can be summed up in one word - accountability. I arrived in Nelson House seven years ago as a Grade 8 teacher. The administration at the time had adopted a rather cavalier attitude around teacher ethics and protocol. Teachers came and went as they pleased, there was no monitoring of teaching practices and few had criminal record checks. Some were found daily showing movies to their class and playing games on their computers oblivious to the fact that they were in a major breach of professional ethics. Soon after, a much more effective school leadership team was chosen and moved into make significant changes in the way teachers performed their duties. Within the course of a few years, the whole school climate turned around into an atmosphere of professionalism, ethical practice and a renewed focus on pedagogical growth and development.

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3 current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education
system by Steve Drapala

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3 current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education
system by Steve Drapala

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a.     Creating personalized and flexible assessment.  Assessment should take into account the differences in students and how they learn; including the timing of the assessment.

b.     Student centered curriculum that allows for “deep learning”. The redesigned curriculum has allowed the time for in-depth exploration of topics.  I am curious to see how this will unfold in the next few years.

c.     Increasing student engagement (at the secondary level).  Data shows that student engagement decreases as students get older (particularly at the secondary level). Finding ways to reverse this trend will be a key focus moving forward.  Cross curricular learning, outdoor education, inquiry and problem based learning, technology and gamification are just a few ways that educators are trying to increase engagement.

What do you consider to be the most significant change at your school in the past five years?

This past year we switched from a 4 block semestered timetable to a modular timetable (still semestered).  In this model we are able to have classes of varying length and with varying amounts of set-class time dependent on the needs of the class.  No longer do we have to treat every class the same.

In this system classes don’t necessarily meet every day.  Students have the opportunity to fit extra classes into their timetable as well as get more support if needed.  When students are not in a set class they can attend a learning centre of their choice that is staffed with a subject specific teacher.

By defining space and time differently for our students we feel we are better preparing them for life after high school, have been able to maintain course offerings in a climate of declining enrolment and have provided the opportunity for teachers to be creative with how they offer their courses (team teach, combine courses, etc).

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Current and Significant Trends in K-12 (according to Daryl Pearson)

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Current and Significant Trends in K-12 (according to Daryl Pearson)

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This is an interesting question and that I have been pondering for a few days now. It's

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Three Trends or Issues in K-12 Education  by John McBain

A. Absenteeism is a huge challenge in my school. The issue has plagued First Nations schools for many years and the reasons behind this are as varied and complex as the communities themselves. The painful history of the residential school system, mass poverty and substance abuse and a deep-seeded mistrust of a predominantly non-abouriginal team of educators has devalued the importance of education substantially. With excessive truancy, and few if any consequences, students routinely miss a substantial amount of instructional time leading to lower grades. These students then become disillusioned  with their lack of success, develop significant issues with self-esteem and most often drop out.

B. Technology and its incredible influence upon education has proven to be one of the most crucial factors in promoting student learning. From smart boards and tables to iPads and laptops - the influx of such tools promotes engagement and enthusiasm in classroom learning. Alternatively though, a negative trend is developing with students obsessed with their own devices, addicted to online gaming and both a growing yet frightening ignorance around the dangers of cyberspace. The dilemma is clear - we can no longer ignore the presence of technology in our children's world, but at the same time we must educate them on how to use it safely.

C. The dramatic growth of mental health issues in the classroom setting has become one of our greatest challenges. As a former administrator in paediatric psychiatry, I see countless examples every day of parents and students who present with the symptomology of a host of disorders. Post-traumatic stress, depression, anger, compulsivity as well as suicidal and homicidal ideation are just some of the issues present amongst our students. Compounding these behaviours is a lack of treatment options available n First Nation's communities leaving most mental health issues undiagnosed and untreated. These behaviours then manifest themselves in the form of bullying, assaults,  self-harm and murder/suicide. This, in my opinion is the foremost issue in abouriginal education.

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Pressing Issues

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Pressing Issues in K-12 (according to Mike Greenslade)

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Pressing Issues in K-12 (according to Mike Greenslade)

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1. Staying "relevant" in a world that is changing faster and faster:  Just yesterday at lunch my colleagues and I were discussing how much education has changed since we were students - For example, one of my peers noted that as a female she was not permitted to take any of the Applied Skills courses when she was in high school (mid 80's).  Long story short, we were wondering how to keep ourselves and lessons "current" and relevant to the what our students are experiencing now and in the near future. What skills should we be focusing on? How do we use technology in the classroom? How do we create inclusive environments? (Lots of questions, but very few answers...)
2. Student-driven learning: Rather than having a "one size fits all" approach to the classroom, I believe the idea of tapping into students' passions and expertise and serving as a mentor and facilitator to make student learning as intrinsic as possible.
3. Dealing with late, overdue, and missing student work: In my fifteen years of teaching I have yet to find anyone with a solution to this problem. I've seen some teachers have penalties for each day overdue. Others, simply assign a zero. While in some cases, I've seen a student hand in a pile of overdue assignments on the last day of classes and still expect credit for the course.

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES AT MY SCHOOL
1) The school is moving to include the IB MYP program from next year - it already has the DP program in place
2) Increasing student numbers is leading to a major restructuring of the dorms and related activities (ECAs & CAS

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The most significant change that has occurred at my school in the past three years (I've only been here three years) has been in the shift from teachers being the instructors of knowledge to becoming the facilitators of learning. This has been quite the paradigm shift for some teachers at my school. Some have had a hard time seeing the value in doing inquiry based learning. They still prefer to do textbook and worksheet assignments, however, in the past year in particular several teachers have explored using an inquiry based approach to teaching and were actually surprised at how well it work for them in their class. Some were able to let go of the notion that they need to know everything about a topic to teach it. I think this change came about this year because we used professional inquiry on staff to exam how we are teaching. Eight of eighteen teachers and one administrator participated in this process.

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Current or Significant Trends in Education by Karen

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Current or Significant Trends in Education by Karen

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1. Technology: How do we use technology for research, for assignments, and for reporting in a responsible way so that we are being respectful of the boundaries of students and teachers? We are all aware of the expectations to respond in the quickest time possible. We use Freshgrade or Showbie or other applications where either students or parents expect us to provide feedback  instantly.  How do we find that new level of balance now that we are more readily available to parents and students?
How do we function in our schools when some schools have easy access to technology and others don't?   Not all schools are equal.
How will we make the redesigned curriculum work when we are at a school without technology.
I have been fortunate enough to be at schools with technology I am still learning how to use it in many ways. I am worried about when I get to a school that doesn't have the same technology that I've used in the past but am not able to provide the same programming.
2.  Personalized Learning: This is a direction that I am looking forward to moving in as I have worked with IB and inquiry based learning where students take their learning in the direction they are interested in. With personalized learning students are more engaged and focussed on what they are learning,
3. Indigenous Perspectives: How do we do this with limited resources? Or when everyone is trying to access the same resources? This is one area where many of the teachers at my school are struggling with. They are also afraid of teaching or saying the wrong things. It is now an expectation throughout the redesigned curriculum. Will there be supports provided for teachers to be able to meet this expectation?

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* Technology everywhere!
* Student centered learning, differentiated learning
* Experiential Learning

Significant Change

*Building school pride and removing the stigma of having a learning difference.

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*Increased use of technology

*Student-centered learning

*Social Emotional learning

Significant Change at my school:

*Building school pride-removing the stigma of having a learning disability, embracing abilities and learning differences.

Kulbinder Bains

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Issues in the K-12 education system 

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Issues in the K-12 education system 

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1. Teacher-centered approach    Expecting students to do the same thing, in the same way is what I consider a teacher-centered approach.  I think this happens way too much in education today.  Sure, we all went to school sitting in our seats, listening to the teacher talk, taking notes, expected to remember everything the teacher said knowing we’d have to regurgitate it later on a test.  This is how we went to school, so this is how we teach (and it is what most parents expect of us).  But, is this really learning at it’s best?  I don’t think so.
Our education system needs to empower educators to tune in to the students under their care and make decisions that are in their best interest.  We are in desperate need of more student-centered approaches to teaching and learning.  Personalized learning experiences. Providing students with choice.  Empowering students to take learning into their own hands.  Turn the focus on the students and away from the teacher.  The results will amaze you! ·
2. “This is the way we’ve always done it” Mindset
We do what we know, and when we know better, we do better.  I believe that was Maya Angelou who said that.  Sadly, many educators are “suck” in one way of thinking and struggle to see other ways of doing things.  I believe we need to help people working within the education system be more open-minded and give them permission to take risks and try new things.
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow…” – William Pollard
3. Lack of creativity and innovation
Students are naturally curious and have lots of questions about the world around them.  As educators, we should be using this to our advantage.  We are all born creative.  Somehow, some way, school has sucked it out of us and this is just wrong!  We need to rethink the way we teach and design learning experiences.  Our world needs innovation and creative thinking.  We should be promoting this in school, not diminishing it.

The most significant change at ISNS in the past five years.
My school, ISNS has spent the last two years implementing the three IBO programmes (PYP, MYP, and DP) in preparation to become an IB World School.  This has had significant change on our school culture.  Because of our partnership with the Department of Education in New Brunswick, we had to redesign our curriculum to blend NB with the IBO.  It has been a tremendous task, but one we are very proud of.  Even now, our curriculum continues to evolve with our students.  Our school community is constantly reflecting and making plans to do better next time.  This has become our culture.  It’s wonderful!

Gina Awalt

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From my experiences I would have to say:
1. Keeping up with technology and the question of balancing/incorporating Digital Literacy/ IT within our teaching and learning and best practice.
2. MIndfulness
3. PSE Personal Social Education.

The biggest change in my school over the past five years has definitely been ILearn platforms. We are 1-1 laptops from Grade 2 - 12 so it has been a very steep learning curve for our staff. It has been an amazing process and we are very lucky but there are days when it scares me as well. Such a huge debate in terms of how much screen time and what skills we need to be teaching our students.

Nicole Tripp

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Current
and significant trends/ issues in the K-12 education system

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Current
and significant trends/ issues in the K-12 education system

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1.      Resourcefulness – our education system needs to focus more on getting our student to be creative and think for themselves instead of just using resources and doing things mindlessly. Unless they learn to innovate at a young age, they may not be equipped to successfully face the future.

2.      Technology – students need to get a more hands on experience using technology but not misusing it. There are too many students (and adults) that use up their time playing games and being on social networks instead of learning new things and creating things themselves. Teachers need to be leaders in showing students how they could use technology to improve themselves.

3.      Psychology and Brain Research – our education system needs to start using the studies and what current research says about learning. More and more schools are cutting out recesses and physical activates when that is necessary for student to develop and keep healthy brains.

Significant Change
The school that I work for has undergone so many changes in the last five years! Considering that it just opened in 2009, we’ve had to create new positions, materials, policies, etc. This is the first year we’ve had a vice-principal and an academic advisor. As the academic advisor, I’ve had to create new materials and put new systems in place to help our school run better. Regarding academics, BC will be changing the curriculum next year and there won’t be as many provincial exams (it will be very similar to Ontario’s curriculum) which makes teachers and students happy. Since I am a fairly new (I’ve only been at my school for two years) I cannot comment on the past five years but I can comment that we have made a lot of progress in these past two years.

Monika Madik

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1) Inclusive Education - Gone are the days of isolation.Thanks to the advent of the Internet and Social Media, people cannot hide from the world. This stark reality forces people to build the capacity to include others. Across curriculum we have the special honor to facilitate this change. We have the honor of teaching students to include peers who look different, have different sexual orientations, or who have special needs.

2) Technology - Teachers traditionally were Guru's in the classroom, but now have become facilitators of capacity building.   Each student is a gem whose value is hidden.  Technology is a platform that can be used to unify communities and help students interact with each other without so many barriers.

3) Globalization -Students need to develop the character to not only include "the other", but also be able to foster working relations with others of diverse cultures, and backgrounds.  This takes a lot of character development and social and emotional work.

Significant Change

I am really excited about this change because it was the precursor to me pursuing the MAELM.  Last year, we got a new principal.  Everyone who has been in the Education System for over a few years knows what it is like to have new leadership - yes, you can take a deep breath now.  Well, in my 35 years of life I can tell you I've come to really believe that everything happens for a reason.  I know it sounds cliche, but there may just be a method to the randomness of the universe.  I teach at a Special Needs school in Qatar.  If you don't know much about Qatari culture, let's just say that if you aren't "normal" then you should just go somewhere and be "hidden away".  So, our school was just surviving on the margins with few advocates.  I don't know how he did it, but he came in and shook things up!  Firstly, many of our students do not have special needs in the intellectual sense, many have behavioral special needs.  He went all the way up to representative of the Emir in Qatar and was able to secure a position for a Behavioral Class for our high flyers. Secondly, he changed the schedule so that each teacher in the school taught one RTI (Response-to-Instruction) block.  Overall, the students are improving by leaps and bounds, just because we gained an able leader.

Boshra Rasti

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3 significant trends or issues in the K-12 education system

*  A focus on wellness of students and staff - including a wellness component in our daily teachings.  Using the current research and programs related to SEL to help us meet the needs of our students and staff.

*  Technology - Utilizing the technology that students use on a daily basis to increase student engagement.

* BC's Renewed Curriculum & the Core Competencies - this curriculum focuses on process and doing, versus knowing, which is exciting. But how will we support the new curriculum at the school and classroom level?

Changes at Prespatou Elementary Secondary School
I have only been at Prespatou School since September of this school year.  My partner and I have focused on creating opportunities for our staff to have conversations.  With our Elementary staff, we focused on the Faye Brownlie Class Profile conversation. We also created a Learning Services Team, which meets on a bi-weekly basis.  Once a month we also hold a CORE team meeting, which is an optional meeting for all staff where items are brought forward by the staff.

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Outdoor Ed. Doing and Learning at The Vancouver Aquarium. But (panic!) did we use the smartboard this week?  Trying to do it all in today's busy classrooms...

Alexa C

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Me To We Club School Wide Toy Sale. A student driven initiative. Kids learning to be "Global citizens"

Alexa C

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Based on your experiences and knowledge, what do you consider to be three current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education system?What do you consider to be the most significant change at your school in the past five years?

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Based on your experiences and knowledge, what do you consider to be three current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education system?What do you consider to be the most significant change at your school in the past five years?

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3 CURRENT AND SIGNIFICANT TRENDS. (In no particular order)

1-Mindfulness, Social Responsibility and Social/Emotional Learning.

Growing importance is being placed not only on who each of our students are but where they are at in terms of their emotional literacy. How that informs their growing identities at school and as "Global citizens" can be seen in initiatives such as The Me to We movement and programs such as "MindUp" which advocate for the importance of emotional literacy and student driven acts of kindness to students as young as Kindergarten to inform all aspects of their growth and learning.

2-The ever changing role of technology in the classroom and the impact its having on more "traditional" modes of instruction for learners.

To blog or not to blog?
Social Media's impact and usage as well as the increasing fluidity to guidelines on cell phones/tablets in the classroom. Should we be pro active or reactionary on this issue? What can be done in the trenches now in order to better integrate technology even in elementary classrooms?

3-The face of public education in this country.Reminding the tax payers that teachers are community leaders and have a vested interest in their children.

How can we change public perspectives when it comes to the professionals helping to raise our kids, 8 hours a day (at least). 5 days a week, 10 months out of the year?
I was taught in the public system. I teach in the public system and I believe in the public system and its role in the communities it serves.
As a student in Ontario, I lived through the rotating teaching strikes of the late 1990s. As a newly minted teacher in BC, I lived (survived?) the strike of 2014. How do carry on in the face of such public scrutiny and blow back? It's a complex albeit extremely relevant issue facing the education system today.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS?

During my 6 years of teaching thus far, I've been at 1 school for 4.5 years and another for 1.5 years and part of that was a massive strike in BC and another chunk of that was mat leave.
I will speak to my district as a whole to the best of my understanding to answer this question.
The answer has to be how fast technology has changed. When I started it was black/white boards and photocopies (to generalize).
I have watched my learning community transform through the installation of smart boards. tablets and mobile laptop labs. I've had Gr. 5 students email me their assignments instead of throw them them in a basket in the corner of my desk. My desk has never looked neater! (Just kidding.. my desk is always a mess.)
I've watched PAC (Parent councils) fit the bill time and time again for this technology because the board can't keep up. Again, how does that shift the dynamics/relationships between families and school staff? Let me tell you, it does.
What's the blow back? The echo all this technology makes as it reverberates back to our students at lightning speed?
"Kids need less screen time! More time outside!" And they are not wrong.
Outdoor classroom/outdoor learning spaces popping up everywhere and fundraising being funneled in 2 different directions. How do we reconcile the two? Tech and the need for outdoor learning? It can be done. They don't necessarily need to oppose one another. But the ways they intersect and cross and butt up against the dwindling economy of time in a teacher's day is one that is at the forefront of my mind as I start this program and head back to work in September. I think the most significant shift I've observed in education where I work in the last 5 years and would say with some degree of confidence, a complex issue facing most learning communities today.

Alexa C.

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a) I believe that the removal of all standardized grade 12 provincial exams in BC is probably a mistake. Over the past few years, I feel that the standards of achievement that our high school graduates have enjoyed in the past has been declining with the dropping of all but one provincial grade 12 exam - and this latest change will probably make it worse. I also believe that this has hampered our students' ability to succeed in their post-secondary programs. The long term result will likely be that BC students will become less able to compete for and maintain spaces in local universities.

b) I am concerned about the apparent trend in BC's new curricula for some science courses whereby content is de-emphasized In favour of process. There are many branches of science where content will always remain critically important and to suggest otherwise seems misguided to me.

c) I think that the branch of the BC Ministry of Education assigned with the task of re-doing the K-12 curricula should probably be given more time and likely more resources. It seems to me that they have far too big a job to handle given the timeline and funding available to them. Additionally, BC schools have not been given any additional resources to implement the new curricula. This will likely mean that only some schools will be able to find funds to purchase new resources - and that seems unfair to me.

2. The most significant change to our school over the past five years actually happened in the last year. That change was in our governance structure that involved hiring a School President to oversee our Administrative Team and also act as a liaison between them and our Board of Directors.

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Current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education system - Devina Dosanjh

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Current and significant trends or issues in the K-12 education system - Devina Dosanjh

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1) Recognition of the importance of social and emotional learning. It has become clear over the past few years that children's social and emotional needs are not being met. This has created a growing trend within school to make SEL (social emotional learning) a focus.

2) Greater emphasis on doing rather than knowing. I believe this has in part to do with the fact that, thanks to the internet, we can find out just about anything at any time. The focus is now on empowering students to become life longer learners by developing the skills to think critically, develop questions etc that will help them in real world situations. The redevelopment of the BC curriculum was designed with the  know-do-understand model at it's heart.

3) Recognizing the importance of Aboriginal Perspectives in the classroom. There is a huge emphasis on the importance of including aboriginal perspectives and worldviews in the education system. The education system now recognizes that the damage done to the Aboriginal culture is in a large part due to the residential schools. It is finally being recognized that in order to begin to mend the relationship that was damaged by education, we must begin with changing our education system.

What do you consider to be the most significant change at your school in the past five years?

This is a difficult question for me to answer being that I have only three years experience and have been at a different school each year. At my current school, I often hear senior teachers talking about how each year a higher number of students seem to be struggling with self-regulation. This has led to more professional development days focusing on the topic of self regulation and a call for resources/information to help guide teachers in supporting their students social and emotional growth. This is also being reflected to a greater degree in BC's new curriculum.

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Current & Significant issues/ trends in K-12 Education 

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Current & Significant issues/ trends in K-12 Education 

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-        Mindfullness/ Social Emotional Wellbeing / Resilience training         (Student depression and anxiety levels are higher than ever)

-        Purposeful Data Collection vs Standardized testing

-       Growth vs fixed mindset

-       Professional Learning Communities

Significant Changes at my School in the Last 5 Years

I have only been at my current school a month but one of the biggest challenges I see them facing adapting and changing to the requirements of IB.  Although some of the community members are open minded and have begun the journey others are clinging to the past and old philosophies. This time of transition can be frustrating as the school still needs to function while decisions for long term are made. Some of these sticking points are: standardized testing and results, maintaining our charter, expansion, assessment practices.

Catherine

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Significant Issues in K-12 Education System

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Significant Issues in K-12 Education System

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A.
1.  The End of Specialized Programs for Struggling Students - When I first started teaching there were highly effective intervention programs at school sites and at the District level, for students who found reading challenging, as well as, specialized District behaviour programs for students who found the classroom emotionally overwhelming.  These programs were run with the intention to give the struggling child the specific instructional intervention(s) that he/she needed in order to be able to go back into the classroom a successful learner.  But now these programs are often shamed as exclusionary, shut-down due to budget cuts, or stripped down to bare bones so that they are crippled to meet the needs of students.
2.  The Loss of Legacy at School Sites Due to Low Teacher Retention - Layoff and Legacy may start with the same letter but that is all that they have in common.  So many schools in my District see a significant turnover in staff every year due to mass layoffs.  It is near impossible to create a living legacy of school community when your staff is decimated every year.
3.  The Need to Teach Social Emotional Learning - So much talk about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and so many programs for (SEL).  I often hear colleagues say that we never used to teach children how to behave and to be respectful in the classroom because they were taught this at home. But now it seems that teachers can't begin to teach academics effectively without addressing the SEL piece. How can educators swim the sea of information on SEL and develop ways that truly help students to recognize and manage their feelings in productive ways within the social context of a school and classroom?

All three issues: the end of specialized programs for struggling students,  the loss of legacy at school sites due to low teacher retention, and the need to teach social emotional learning, are having a great impact (both positive and negative) on my students' views of themselves and their commitment to their school community.

The most significant change in our school in the last five years has to do with staffing. Four and a half years ago our two department head teachers retired, six months later our principal retired, and our school has lost a minimum of three staff members per year due to layoffs, retirements, or posting out. Our traditions have been lost and our school is a shell of its former self. Each year we try as a staff to build a positive identity but the turn-over of staff is crippling to morale.

Michelle Hernandez

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Three current and significant trends that I see happening in the K-12 Education System in Alberta are:

1- Reduction in "knowledge based learning outcomes".  The curriculum is being redesigned so that it is more about critical thinking and problem solving rather than simple knowledge based outcomes.  I believe that this trend is occurring with the advancement of technology.  Students can "google" almost any fact on their electronic devices and have the answer to knowledge based questions in mere seconds.

2- Focus on technology. Let's face it, now a days, the majority of our students have access to technology 24/7.  They have had access to smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc... from a very young age.  Let's use their addiction for good and get them engaged in learning activities through the use of technology!

3- Response to Intervention!  What do you do if your students aren't learning?  This is a big focus at least in my school district.  We have both subject and grade level teams that work together to make sure every student is learning at a high standard.

Changes at Pine Grove Middle School:

The most significant change in my school in the last 3 years (I have only been at my current school for 3 years, not 5) is the reduction in Educational Assistants in our building due to budget cuts. Over one-third of our population is on Individualized Education Plans and it is difficult to meet all of their needs in an inclusive classroom without a second body to help out. I only have a EA in 1 out of 3 academic classes that I teach!

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Part One
Current Trends or Issues
1. Diploma Weightings in Alberta:  the emphasis over the 70% School Awarded Mark and the 30% Diploma Exam. Relevance of grades over the value of learning and how we are preparing our students for post-secondary education with the reduction in weighting of the diploma exam.
2. Collaboration Groups within the Teaching Community:  the effectiveness of self-directed professional development days where like-minded teachers self-initiate whole learning programs. These collaborative groups have been fundamental with in our school district as our teachers can see the relevance to their Professional Development Plans (PGP).
3. Engagement of Students in a Technological Age : With the redesign of the curriculum in Alberta, this constant question remains a focus on how to actively engage our learners in a responsible manner. This also lends itself to what blended programming looks like and the future of flexible time-tabling.

Most Significant Change at My School
The most significant development was the establishment of Beaumont Outreach as being seen as an alternative option to current secondary schooling. This has been accomplished with the development of reciprocal relationships with the local high schools. Our highly talented students take their core subjects (Math, Science, English, Social) with us and optional courses are taken at the High School in a "reverse Intered " manner. This has fostered community and overall success for our students.

Laurie Jensch

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A. 1.First Nation children and children/schools having less resources and funds that Canadian schools -- All Canadians should be entitled to the same amount of support and resources.

2. Self Regulation and children's emotional well being -- children have an increasing amount of stress in their lives. I see a growing number of children whom have behavioural and retention issues due to stressors in and around their environments. Stress and self regulation are directly related to a child's success in school.

3. Children being pushed ahead when they are not ready. Many children falling further behind their. I am not saying we should move to a mastery system of learning, however we are often pushing children and youth ahead before they are ready. There has to be a way to help our struggling learners.

B. The most significant change in my school in the last 5 years is that we hired two elders to work within the school. The elders are fluent in our native language in the Yukon, our beloved elders have really changed the ambience of the school.

Erin Pauls
from the Yukon!

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1.  Character Education
2.  How to equip teachers to include all learners in lessons (IPPs, disabilities).
3.  Outdoor time (in regards to environmental education, not PE)
It is hard to determine the most significant change as I am a fairly new teacher but I think the varied types of education available is incredible. When I was young it was two choices; Public or Catholic. Now my son was in a charter school and is going to an arts school in the fall, there are many types of schools and delivery platforms. Choice is more about preference, not location.

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Free Image on Pixabay - Classroom, Cooperative Learning

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Download this free picture about Classroom Cooperative Learning from Pixabay's vast library of public domain images and videos.

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A.
1. Anxiety/Mental Health – I feel a current issue in education is the increase in the amount of anxiety and mental health issues that are affecting our students, their parents and the teachers.  The causes of this are many.

2. Outdoor Education – A significant trend in education is the recognition that we need to get students outside more – for learning and play.

3. Technology – The rapid pace of change and the increased use of technology is impacting our students and all of us in terms of our social and emotional well-being. The short term or lasting impact of this increase and pace of change is unknown.

B. The most significant change in our school in the last 5 years is that we increased our recess time to 90 minutes a day without affecting our instructional time. This has had a tremendous, positive impact on our students.

Jeff Borsten

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1) In Alberta the TQS is changing next year to include a focus on FNMI youth.  I feel that a pressing issue is ensuring that teachers are able to apply foundational knowledge about First Nations, Metis and Inuit people within their practice.
2) The practice of 'Inclusion' in education.  Not all teachers have the capacity, yet to be effective with this.  As leaders we need to find ways to support them in this.
3) Environmental Education seems to always be here... I think that the movement around Nature Schools from Ontario is gaining some traction now in AB and parents are seeking out schools that offer these approaches more now.
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The most significant change in my school in the last 5 years has been the introduction of the Exemplary Frameworks.  As a school we have a set of guidelines that we strive to maintain, as students, teachers and administrators.  It is a living document that is visible in all rooms in the school that gives us the same language around pushing our practices.  It looks at 3 headings:
1 - Who We Are (Relationships and School Culture)
2 - What We Do (Teaching and Learning)
3 - How We Do It (Teaching and Learning)
Each of these headings contains topics within as well.  Below is an example of the one we have for Teaching.

Marla Paxton