May 28th, 2013
Director’s Update
Waterloo Region District School Board – Committee of the Whole Meeting
On May 27, 2013 at 7:00pm, the WRDSB held its monthly Board Meeting. The agenda and reports for this meeting are available on the Board’s website by clicking here.
No delegations appeared at this meeting.
Good News
Trustees received an update on the Strong Start Program by Machelle Denison
Receipt/Approval of Minutes
Trustees approved the following minutes:
- Policy & Bylaw Standing Committee Meeting – April 8, 2013
- Special Education Advisory Committee – April 10, 2013
- Committee of the Whole Meeting – May 13, 2013
Trustees received the following minutes:
- Board Meeting – April 29, 2013
Reports
Learning Services Update (For Information)
Learning Services has evolved to incorporate several portfolio areas within one department. The four portfolio areas include Special Education Services, Program, School Effectiveness and Assessment, and Equity and Inclusion. The intent of the integration is to promote greater collaboration, alignment, precision and accountability by all staff in meeting the learning needs of all students.
In 2012-13, an area of emphasis has been on the “Engagement” of students. Engagement is one of the six strategic direction identified in the Board Strategic Plan and it is a focus for many efforts to improve learning and instruction.
Engagement can take many forms. It can be social, intellectual and academic in nature. Productive academic engagement is often associated with, and results from, the practice of differentiating instruction in an effort to promote critical and higher-order thinking skills. Differentiated instruction is an approach to learning that attempts to adapt instruction to suit the differing interests, learning preferences and readiness to learn of individual students.
In an effort to promote engagement, the work students undertake that results from differentiated instruction needs to be relevant, meaningful and authentic. Effective, engaging instruction is characterized by the thoughtful design of learning tasks with the following features:
- tasks require and instill deep thinking,
- immerse the student in disciplinary inquiry,
- are connected to the world outside the classroom,
- have intellectual rigour,
- involve substantive conversation
Videos were shown to trustees to demonstrate the positive results from various differentiated instruction strategies that have better engaged students in their learning.
Implementation of Policy 2010 – Assessment, Evaluation Reporting Update (For Information)
In 2010, the Ontario Ministry of Education released the Policy Document “Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools”. The policy is intended to promote effective assessment and evaluation practices across the province. In response, the Waterloo Region District School Board approved Board Policy 2010 – Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting.
The Waterloo Region District School Board recently developed a procedure to accompany Board Policy 2010. The Administrative Procedure 1660 – Assessment, Evaluation, Reporting Grades 7–12 takes effect September 2013.
The procedure focuses on three areas:
- Late and Missed Assignments
- Cheating and Plagiarism
- Percentage Marks of 50% and Below
Please refer to the report for more details.
Suspension/Expulsion Report to April 30, 2013 (For Information)
The report provides information about suspensions and expulsions for April 2013, as well as the data for the same month in 2012. Year-to-date suspensions and expulsions up to April 2013 are included in the report.
Staffing Information – Retirements and Resignations (For Information)
Staff members who are retiring or resigning from the Board are listed in this report. Thirty-four staff members with over 913 years of service will retire from the WRDSB. One staff member resigned.
Staffing Recommendations – Appointments (For Approval)
The Board is pleased to appoint two new support staff. The report lists the names of these new staff members.
Trustees approved the following recommendation:
That the Waterloo Region District School Board approve the appointments to staff as outlined in the report titled “Staffing Recommendations – Appointments”, dated May 27, 2013.
Parent Involvement Committee – Family Event (Verbal Report)
Trustees received a report from PIC Chairperson, Angelica Allen, about a highly successful Parent Involvement Committee event that took place for parents at GCI on April 13, 2013. Angelica shared details about the event including speakers, the distribution of attendees, and thanked all those who helped to organize the day. Another event will be planned for next year.
The meeting adjourned at 9:40pm
