Effective Practices

Effective Practices Toward School^PLUS:

An Overview

Development of Whole Child and Youth
At the core of the Effective Practice Framework is the goal of developing the whole child and youth. This encompasses intellectual, personal, social, physical and cultural/spiritual development. All educational activity must lead to positive outcomes in one or more of these developmental areas.

Learning Community
The learning community surrounds all children and youth. It is broader than the classroom and school and signals that meaningful learning occurs in all aspects of school and community life. Learning is not restricted to lessons in a school environment, but also takes place in family and community interactions on a daily basis.  Schools and communities must seek opportunities to support and foster this larger learning community to broaden the range of programs and services that meet the needs of all children and youth.

Effective Practices
Six effective practices that support School Plus have been identified through an extensive literature review and provincial consultation process. The practices include:

Responsive Curriculum and Instruction
Assessment for Learning
Adaptive Leadership
Authentic Partnerships

The effective practice framework identifies critical elements of each practice and provides supportive print, web-based and human resources that offer in-depth information about their use.

Community Education:
Engagement and Development
The realization of School Plus is beyond the purview of the traditional school. To maximize the learning potential of all children and youth, schools must expand their engagement of the community in a reciprocal relationship of sharing and support. Schools must be encouraged to continue the process of ‘opening their doors and windows' to the larger community. This will enable schools to access services and programs in the community, as well as providing opportunities for schools to partner with communities to meet common goals.

Collaborative Planning and Monitoring Process
A collaborative planning and monitoring process supports school divisions and communities in utilizing the Effective Practice Framework. The process begins with a community-based needs assessment conducted by school-community facilitation teams to determine the relative strengths of the local learning community in the six strands of effective practice. The data collected through the needs assessment enables the identification of division-wide priorities to enhance the use of the effective practices.

With the support of the Ministry of Education Regional Offices and Regional Intersectoral Committee Coordinators, school divisions will initiate activity to improve outcomes in the identified areas and monitor the progress of developments over a two time frame.

This Collaborative Planning and Monitoring Cycle is repeated on a bi-annual basis.