About Us

The Purpose

Leading Student Achievement (LSA) is a project developed by the provincial principals' associations, l'Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO), Catholic Principals' Council of Ontario (CPCO), and the Ontario Principals' Council (OPC), in partnership with and funded by The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (LNS) and supported by Curriculum Services Canada (CSC).

The LNS has a mandate from the Government of Ontario to ensure that "75% of students reach the provincial standard on province-wide testing." This project is designed to help principals as they support their teachers to 'raise the bar and narrow the gap' between high and low achieving students. A second purpose is to develop research on effective schools from an Ontario-based context.

The project is based on an innovative tri-level approach to provide support to school leaders as they:

• improve literacy and numeracy achievement for all students;
• (collaborate) in principal learning teams to improve instructional leadership for elementary school participants;
• build professional learning communities within and across their schools and boards;
• use evidence-based inquiry to inform instructional practice;
• share successful strategies that can be implemented across the province;
• develop teaching-learning networks at local, board and provincial levels;
• contribute to educational research rooted in the Ontario context.

LSA Framework: Tri-Level Collaborative Leadership

SCHOOL

Professional Learning Communities Teachers and principals collaborate in teams to improve instructional practice through evidence-based inquiry.

BOARD/DISTRICT

Principal Learning Teams Principals work in teams to increase their capacity as instructional leaders, impacting on instructional practice that leads to improved student learning.

PROVINCE/SYSTEM

LSA Steering Team The LSA Steering Team provides system leadership to the project by offering a variety of professional learning opportunities to principals.

The LSA framework in the figure above represents the capacity building role of principals as they implement professional learning communities in the context of their own schools. Elementary school participants collaborate on principal learning teams, and access the support of their districts, principal associations, Curriculum Services Canada (CSC) and the LNS in order to improve classroom instruction. The three circles overlap, acknowledging the collaborative roles of principals, teachers, district leaders and system leaders at the provincial level as they work to increase their capacity to meet the provincial student achievement target.

Objectives to Guide LSA

The LSA project continues to offer participants support to:

• Focus the content of the conversations within board principal learning teams (PLT) and school professional learning communities (PLC) on the Teaching-Learning Critical Pathways (TLCP) and key school conditions which robust evidence tells us have the most powerful direct effects on students learning.
• Deepen participants' understanding of effective collaborative learning team processes and refine their skills in managing such processes in their own PLCs/PLTs.
• Develop principal and teacher capacities for effective literacy and numeracy .instruction.
• Integrate LSA goals and actions with other Ministry initiatives.

LSA Secondary School Pilot

The purpose of this project is to improve student achievement by developing teaching-learning networks of principals, teachers and system leaders.

Building on the infrastructure and success of the Leading Student Achievement project (2005-09), the 24 schools in the LSA Secondary School Pilot will adopt LSA project strategies:

• Tri-level approach to capacity building (school, district, system);
• Principal Learning Teams focused on instructional leadership; and
• Teaching-Learning Critical Pathway process for improving instructional practice, adapted to the secondary school context.

Priorities for LSA

School Conditions with Powerful Direct Effects on Student Learning:

• Academic Press
  This is the degree to which there is a school-wide focus on student achievement. In schools with academic press, staff set high but achievable academic goals and standards, and believe their students are able to achieve those standards. Students value these goals, respond positively, and work hard to meet the challenge.
• School Disciplinary Climate
  There is a collective belief on the part of the staff and students about the importance of minimizing indiscipline, violence or other disruptive behavior. A sense of collective responsibility exists across the school for preventing distractions to the academic priorities of the school.
• Collective Teacher Efficacy
  Teachers across the school perceive that their efforts, as a whole, will have positive effects on student achievement. Teachers organize and implement whatever educational initiatives are required for students to achieve high standards of achievement.
• Teacher Trust in Colleagues, Parents and Students
  A belief or expectation on the part of teachers that their colleagues, students and parents support the school's goals for student learning and will work toward achieving those goals.
• Time for Learning/Opportunity to Learn
  School schedules, timetables, structures, administrative behaviours, and instructional practices are all designed to ensure that students are engaged in meaningful learning as much of their time as possible. Distractions from meaningful learning are minimized.
• Focused Instruction
  This condition speaks to the explicitly goal-directed nature of what a teacher is intending to accomplish, the constant monitoring by the teacher of what students are doing and interventions by the teacher to help ensure that students are actively engaged in meaningful learning.

Responsibilities of the Participants

Board Leaders:

• Participate in the provincial symposia
• Work with their principal team leaders to support and facilitate the project
• Promote LSA within their board

Principal Team Leaders: (Elementary)

• Participate in the provincial symposia
• Develop a collaborative annual Learning Plan and submit it on behalf of their principal learning team(s)
• Collaborate with their principal learning team to share ideas, knowledge and strategies to mobilize and sustain professional learning communities of participating schools
• Cooperate with the research team to gather, analyze and respond to project data
• Communicate with LSA project partners
• Complete a collaborative Year-End Review and submit it on behalf of their team

Principal Learning Team Members: (Elementary)

• Attend all team meetings
• Collaborate with their principal learning team to share ideas, knowledge and strategies
• Work with their school communities to communicate the goals of the project
• Develop specific goals related to improving student achievement
• Embed professional learning at the school level
• Cooperate with the research team to gather, analyze and respond to project data
• Complete the principal surveys
• Encourage teachers to complete the teacher surveys

Principals: (Secondary)

• Secondary school principals will work with a school team to plan, implement and support the Teaching-Learning Critical Pathway process. School leaders will work with teachers to promote the use of proven strategies for student success (curriculum planning, moderated marking, data collection and analysis, big ideas, etc).

Research into Practice

The role of research under the auspices of Dr. Kenneth Leithwood encompasses the following:

• To assess the effectiveness of the LSA project in meeting its mandate
• To determine professional learning needs project participants
• To acquire data about successful instructional strategies in literacy and numeracy

Surveys of principals and teachers take place in the fall and spring of each school year. Teacher surveys are conducted through Curriculum Services Canada. In addition, Dr. Leithwood's research team conducts telephone interviews of a random sampling of principals.

Surveys are developed with input from:

• LSA steering team
• Representatives of the provincial principals' associations
• Representatives from the provincial teachers' unions
• Dr. Kenneth Leithwood, OISE/UT

Dr. Leithwood's analysis and report on the survey data provide an assessment of the value of the LSA project, not of individual principals, teachers, schools or boards. All responses are anonymous and confidential

Support for LSA Participants

• Professional learning based on the "research-led practice and practice into research" model.
• Provincial Symposia for elementary principal team leaders and superintendents/board coordinators.
• Provincial Symposia for secondary pilot school principals, teachers and SOs
• Faciliators to support and guide the secondary pilot schools
• Face-to-face workshops for principals.
• Web conferences on the alignment of Ontario Ministry of Education initiatives, the key school conditions with direct effects on student learning, and the Networks for Learning with a focus on the Teaching-Learning Critical Pathway (TLCP).
• Communication of successful practices: website, LSA Web Network (Ning), brochures, research reports, symposia reports, DVDs and facilitator's guides.
• Opportunities for involvement in regional elementary TLCP sessions for principals and teachers within LSA: Networks for Learning.

LSA Steering Team:

The role of the steering team is to work in collaboration with the various project partners to plan, implement and support the goals of the LSA project.

ADFO Normand Delparte Gisele Neil Carole Wilson CPCO Mary Cordeiro Barb McMorrow Patty Orecchio OPC Bob Jackson Linda Massey (Chair) Bev Miller Joanne Robinson	LNS Judi Kokis Judy Speirs CSC Jennifer Coens Hélène Fournier Leadership Development Branch, Ontario Ministry of Education Steven Reid Student Success Branch, Ontario Ministry of Education Helen Beck Issam Massouh (FLEPPB) Demetra Saldaris
Secondary Advisory Committee: Toronto District School Board: Rauda Dickinson Sheryl Freeman Carrie McLaren Laura Somerville Toronto Catholic District School Board: Adrian Della Mora Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud: Carole Wilson

Participants

ADFO: 10 Districts

• Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario
• Le Conseil des écoles catholiques de langue française du Centre-Est
• Conseil scolaire de district des écoles catholiques du Grand Nord
• Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario
• Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est Ontarien
• Le Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud
• Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario
• Conseil scolaire de district des Aurores boréales
• Conseil scolaire catholique Franco-Nord
• Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l'Ontario

CPCO: 22 Districts

• Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board
• Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board
• Dufferin- Peel Catholic District School Board
• Durham Catholic District School Board
• Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario
• Halton Catholic District School Board
• Huron Perth Catholic District School Board
• Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board
• Kenora Catholic District School Board
• London District Catholic School Board
• Niagara Catholic District School Board
• Nippissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board
• The Northwest Catholic District School Board
• Ottawa Catholic School Board
• Peterborough Victoria Northumberland & Clarington Catholic District School Board
• Simcoe-Muskoka Catholic District School Board
• St. Clair Catholic District School Board
• Sudbury Catholic District School Board
• Superior North Catholic District School Board
• Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
• Toronto Catholic District School Board
• Waterloo Catholic District School Board

OPC: 18 Districts

• Bluewater District School Board
• District School Board of Niagara
• Durham District School Board
• Greater Essex District School Board
• Halton District School Board
• Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board
• Keewatin-Patricia District School Board
• Lakehead District School Board
• Limestone District School Board
• Near North District School Board
• Peel District School Board
• Rainbow District School Board
• Renfrew County District School Board
• Superior-Greenstone DSB
• Thames Valley District School Board
• Toronto District School Board
• Upper Grand District School Board
• Waterloo District School Board

Secondary Pilot Districts

CPCO: 5 Districts

• Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board
• Niagara Catholic District School Board
• Peterborough Victoria Northumberland & Clarington Catholic District School Board
• Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
• Toronto Catholic District School Board

OPC: 4 Districts

• Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board
• Keewatin-Patricia District School Board
• Toronto District School Board
• Upper Grand District School Board

ADFO: 3 Districts

• Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud
• Conseil scolaire catholic de district des Grandes Rivières
• Conseil des écoles publique de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO)