Arbour Lake School 27 Arbour Crest Drive NW, Calgary, AB T3G 4H3 t f

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1 Arbour Lake School 27 Arbour Crest Drive NW, Calgary, AB T3G 4H3 t f arbourlake@cbe.ab.ca CBE and Provincial Goals See Board of Trustees Results Policies for full, detailed Results statements. Provincial Goals** Alberta s student s are successful The achievement gap between First Nations, Métis and Inuit and all other students is eliminated Alberta s education system is inclusive Alberta has excellent teachers, school and school authority leaders The education system is well governed and managed In May and June of 2016, grades 6 and 9 students wrote provincial achievement tests in English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. The purpose of these tests is to: determine whether students are learning what they are expected to learn; report to Albertans how well students have achieved provincial standards; and assist schools, authorities, and the province in monitoring and improving student learning. Provincial assessment programs are only one source of information. They must be interpreted, used and communicated within the context of regular and continuous assessment by classroom teachers. In addition, in the CBE, we consider the overall success of students, which includes the ways they demonstrate citizenship, personal development and character. **Alberta Education Requirements Highlights Continue to outperform province in all acceptable levels at grade 6 and 9 Continue to increase student opportunities through with in multi-grade groupings Many offsite opportunities for students Quebec trip, West Coast Sailing Trip, Whistler Band Trip Gold Medal Numerous clubs and school athletic teams Annual Drama Musical Production (approx. 450 students)

2 student results Percent of Students Enrolled Who Met the Acceptable Standard Percent of Students Enrolled Who Met the Standard of Excellence 2 7

3 Percentage Arbour Lake November, 2016 Arbour Lake PAT Results Students Writing Tests % 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% LA 6 Math 6 Scienc Social LA 9 Math 9 Scienc Social e 6 6 e 9 9 School Accept % 84.7% 91.7% 86.4% 91.5% 78.0% 86.3% 74.6% Prov. Accept. 91.5% 79.0% 86.1% 79.4% 86.7% 75.0% 82.3% 72.3% School Excel. 20.7% 17.6% 34.9% 33.1% 17.5% 17.3% 24.0% 16.9% Prov. Excel. 22.6% 15.2% 30.8% 25.3% 17.1% 19.3% 25.2% 20.7% For a complete report of student results visit our school website at For a complete report of CBE and provincial results visit the CBE website at 3 7

4 school development plan highlights Outcomes from our School Development Plan* Theory of Action If teachers share a common understanding of the adolescent learner and what constitutes a developmentally responsive, intellectually engaging middle years learning environment, along with common practices for the design and assessment of authentic learning opportunities true to the disciplines students are studying, Then students will engage with curriculum, through thought and action, whereby they develop an orientation to create original work, solve complex problems, collaborate with others and develop self-efficacy as individuals and as knowledge-builders, which is the foundation of intellectual engagement. We continued to consider task design through the lens of personalization and the Teaching Effectiveness Framework. Teachers worked in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to set goals based on student data, school theory of action and what teams were seeing as needs in their students. While we are making strides in offering choice and voice to students, we continue to emphasize the importance of task design and providing frequent feedback to students so they can continue to improve. Measures and Results * The following measures are some of the data sources that are used in determining the direction of the school for improvement: Tell Them From Me Survey - Students Achievement Test Results Alberta Education Accountability Pillar Survey Parents and Students Teacher Surveys Student Surveys Professional Learning Communities Data Provincial Achievement Tests (PAT) Our results continue to exceed provincial acceptable standards in both grade 6 and grade 9. Strong results in achievement underscore the importance of continuing the fine work that has been already established and building upon it as we move forward. When we compared this year s results with last year s results, one must be cautious as this data is comparing two very different groups of students with completely different learning profiles as a group. Acceptable Standard (Students who wrote the tests) Higher than provincial acceptable standards in all achievement tests by 1.4% to 7% at the grade 6 level. Higher than provincial acceptable standards at the grade 9 level by 2.3% to 4.8% Standard of Excellence (students who wrote the tests) Higher than provincial excellence rates at the grade 6 level in three out of four areas. Grade 6 LA was lower than provincial excellence rates by 1.9%. Our grade 9 students performed higher than provincial excellent standards by 0.4 % and lower in the other three areas ranging from 1% to 3.8%. Alberta Education Accountability Pillar survey** results: Areas that results continued to be positive Safe and Caring Schools Very High Learning Opportunities Program of Studies 86.6 % High Learning Opportunities Education Quality 85.7% High Citizenship 80.3% - High but has decreased Page 4 7

5 School Improvement 77.9% - High Categories of Concern: Parental Involvement has declined from 67.8 % in 2015 to 65.5% in 2016 Student engagement decreased by 5.7% from previous year (90.5% 84.8%) To improve student engagement, we continue to focus on the quality of tasks that teachers are placing in front of students. This will continue to be a focus of our PLC. We are also trying to improve parental involvement by having a curriculum evening where parents met teachers and learned about a basic overview of curriculum for the year and which teacher would be teaching which core subjects. We have also asked teachers to keep an up-to-date blog to inform parents about things that are going on in their classroom. Targets for * ACHIEVEMENT GOAL Students overall achievement in key learning outcomes across the subject areas will increase. Strategies: Student will be presented with rich tasks and be given opportunities to co-create and express their understanding in multiple ways Students will use formative feedback to set goals, adjust their learning strategies and reflect on their success. Students will have voice and choice to personalize tasks and make them more relevant and connected to their interests Students will have input into assessment rubrics so that learning outcomes are understood and student ownership is increased Achievement Measure: PAT data Report Card data related to target areas in each grade discipline area. There would be an increased number of 3s and 4s in specific report card areas identified by each grade team. Artifacts demonstrating increased student achievement in targeted learning outcomes. INSTRUCTIONAL GOAL Teachers will intentionally target and address the many facets of disciplinary literacies through their task design and assessment processes. Instructional Strategy: Teachers will create specific, measurable 100 foot targets for each PAT and report card outcome that has been identified as areas in need of improvement. Provide direct instruction around understanding essential learning outcomes and disciplinary ways of thinking and doing. Intentionally model, target and allow opportunities for students to explore and develop literacies across the disciplines. Develop school-wide consistency in the use of disciplinary vocabularies. Use flexible scheduling to provide opportunities for students to develop capabilities in multiple literacies. Continue to uses precision reading with identified students in grades 5 9. Continue to have student access to the student success center M-F. Precision reading this will provide ongoing support and development to students struggling with reading fluency. Instructional Measure: Teachers will use opportunities available in the Friday schedule to intentionally target school-identified multiple literacy outcomes. Page 5 7

6 Teachers will use the inquiry and knowledge building cycle within grade team PLCs and communities of practice to promote and develop valued student outcomes. Teachers will examine report card data to build common understanding and practices related to supporting students in understanding essential learning outcomes. Professional learning and development days will target teacher identified areas for growth and development. Common PD day with other middle and Jr. High schools will provide opportunities to expand upon and learn new strategies for literacy development in each of the subject disciplines. Each of the PLC meetings will focus on student work and how to improve the ability to use discipline specific literacy strategies. PLC minutes will reflect how teachers are improving the implementation of strategies into their learning tasks. Based on our results, we have set the following targets for improvement in our School Development Plan : Each grade team will set specific goals based on PAT analysis - % of growth aiming for in each subject/discipline area. Each grade team will set specific goals based on Report Card outcome analysis - % of growth aiming for in each subject/discipline area. Increase the opportunities for students to get assistance and guidance from our students success centre. *Alberta Education Requirements **A hard copy of the October 2016 Annual Education Results Report for school name. School is available at the school. our school Not only is Arbour Lake School a middle school in configuration, it is more importantly a middle school in the philosophies, structures and processes we have in place to support the learning of all our students. A middle school is different in almost every way from junior high schools of days past, which originated in the 1930s in response to the industrial needs of the era students were growing up in. Junior high schools were modelled after high schools, with a focus on the departmentalization of subject areas and siloed exposure to trades and technical areas of study. The societal context of today necessitates a shift in how we approach teaching and learning in the middle years. This is an exciting time for middle level learning environments across the world, as recent research on adolescent learning has shed light on how to best support these learners through this very critical developmental period. At Arbour Lake School we have aligned provincial and system education direction along with current research related to adolescent learning to create what we believe is the best learning environment for our early adolescent learners. Although it may seem that we are a large middle school of over 880 students, we strive to personalize learning for our learners by bringing together an instructional staff that is wellversed in teaching young adolescents. Each wing or hallway often includes varied grades so that older and younger students can work together during hallway or school projects and special events to create a sense of community. We also worked as a whole community to offer cross grade opportunities to work together on four different occasions this year. As a developmentally responsive middle-level school, we provide varied teaching and learning approaches including: Page 6 7

7 A structure that allows two core teachers (math/science and humanities) to spend a significant amount of time with their students in order to discover each student s learning potential; An opportunity to explore several options, from career and technology foundations to fine arts courses; A range of clubs, athletics and co-curricular activities; An emphasis on the Coyote Code respect for ourselves, respect for others and for this place. Class Size For a detailed report on the school and CBE average class sizes go to: School Fees For a detailed report of school fees and expenditures visit our school website at: or contact the school directly. School Council Involvement The council had arranged for Paul Davis to give a presentation to students and parents on social media challenges and strategies. The council supported volunteers coming into the school by setting up a coffee / tea fund for them. The council arranged for various teacher appreciation meals throughout the year. The council (and mostly, teacher and parent, Sandra P.) continued work on the school s playground project. A grant was awarded to the school to assist in the cost of the build next year. The council made funds available to assist low income families to send their students on field trips. The council supported the grade 4 student orientation by providing and serving a hot dog lunch. The council supported the school s cross curricular drama presentation and made a financial donation to cover expenses involved in the production. The council offered opinions and advice to the administration on a variety of topics including Provincial Achievement Tests, Flex Friday concepts, budget allocations and expected impact on learning and developing student character and citizenship. In the school year the council plans to continue its support of volunteers coming into the school and showing its appreciation of teachers through various meals and snacks. The playground build planning and organization will continue with the completion of the project in the spring of The council will continue with its support and its offer of advice and opinions to the school administration on various topics. Page 7 7