Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  1. Why has the project been put forward and supported by the various partners? What is the purpose of the Leading Student Achievement project?

    A partnership of ADFO (Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes), CPCO (Catholic Principals' Council of Ontario), OPC (Ontario Principals' Council), and the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat has designed an innovative and comprehensive plan for delivering support to school leaders as they build professional learning communities in their schools and across their districts. The intent is to offer school leaders in 18 pilot boards a pathway to mobilize schools to improve the literacy and numeracy achievement for all students in grades K to 6 and to document successful strategies that can be shared and implemented across the province. The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat has a mandate from the Government of Ontario to ensure that by 2008, 75% of students reach the provincial standard. 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.

  2. Who are the pilot boards?

    ADFO

    • Conseil scolaire Centre-Sud
    • Conseil scolaire Franco-Nord
    • Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario

    CPCO

    • Dufferin-Peel
    • Halton
    • Durham
    • Waterloo
    • Renfrew
    • Nippissing Parry Sound
    • Kenora
    • Toronto
    • Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington
    • Brant Haldimand Norfolk

    OPC

    • Toronto
    • Halton
    • Renfrew County
    • Keewatin-Patricia
    • Near North
    • Waterloo
    • Kawartha Pine Ridge
    • Grand Erie


  3. What is the role of the principal team leaders? Principal team members? Principals' associations? Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat? School boards? Research team?

    a) Principal Team Leaders:

    • Attend the training sessions/symposia in August 2005, January 27, 2006, June 8 and 9, 2006.
    • Complete Multidimensional Inventory for Emotional Intelligence if desired.
    • Work with members of his/her principal learning team (PLT) to share ideas, knowledge and strategies to mobilize and sustain professional learning communities in participating schools:
      • Maintain a record of the discussion at the meetings over the year.
      • Work with the PLT to define specific achievement goals to pursue.
      • Facilitate the meetings.
      • Organize professional development from project resources: principals' associations (ADFO/CPCO/OPC)/Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat/Boards of Education.
      • Coordinate inter-visitation for mutual support.
    • Work with the research team to gather, analyze and respond to project data.
    • Communicate with the various partners: PLTs, Supervisory Officers, Student Achievement Officers, and principals' associations (ADFO/CPCO/OPC).

    b) Principal learning team members:

    • Attend all team meetings.
    • Work with members of his/her principal learning team to share ideas, knowledge and strategies to mobilize and sustain professional learning communities in participating schools:
      • Work with team to develop specific goals related to improving student achievement in literacy and numeracy.
      • Embed professional development from project resources at the school level.
      • Share evidence of implementation and results.
    • Work with the research team to gather, analyze and respond to project data.

    c) Principals' associations (ADFO/CPCO/OPC):

    • Communicate with team leaders and board contacts to provide:
      • Overview of the project.
      • Contact information for the person in charge of the project at the provincial association.
      • Agenda and registration package for each of the provincial sessions.
    • Develop programs for the training and symposia days.
    • Provide the professional development sessions and resources as identified by the principal learning teams.
    • Provide access and training for e-learning tools such as web casts, net meetings, web conferences.
    • Monitor progress of the principal learning teams.
    • Work with the research team to gather, analyze and respond to project data.
    • Liaise with the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (LNS) as required.

    d) The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat:

    • Establish and maintain contact lists of project participants.
    • Correspond with Directors of Education as required.
    • Support principal learning teams through liaison with regional Student Achievement Officers.
    • Liaise with provincial principals' associations as required.

    e) School boards:

    • Identify participants for the project and inform the LNS.
    • Promote this project as a priority within boards plans.
    • Assign supervisory officers who will:
      • Attend the training sessions and large group sessions.
      • Participate in the PLT meetings as required.
      • Communicate with other supervisory officers regarding the project.
      • Visit the schools and work with principals to celebrate the successes and address challenges to meeting the goals of the project.
    • Provide support for the project

    f) The Research Team:

    • Develop research framework in consultation with the LNS and the principals' associations.
    • Develop the indicators of progress and the action research process that will be used to collect data and evidence related to the benefits of the project and student achievement in literacy and numeracy.
    • Gather data and reports results to the principals' associations and the LNS.


  4. How will the success of the project be measured?

    Success will be measured in a variety of ways:

    • Assessment data collected by you and your staff will be an indicator of success. Both anecdotal and numerical data will be considered, including:
      • Provincial data (EQAO results)
      • EI data
      • Teacher surveys
      • Principal surveys
      • Records and reports from the teams and SAO's


  5. How will the information from the surveys be used?

    Surveys of teachers and principals will inform the research conducted in conjunction with this project. The research is focusing on provincial trends, not on individuals, schools or boards.

  6. What does the project need in terms of tracking our progress?

    The principals' associations will be requesting a learning plan from you outlining your goal(s), meeting dates, requested workshops and other data you think pertinent. We may send you some simple templates to complete. We are interested in your conclusions and insights as to the effectiveness of this model. Discussions at the symposia in January and June have added to the information gathered.

  7. What is CSC?
    • Curriculum Services Canada is an independent, not-for-profit, charitable organization that provides professional, standards driven services for educators. The Professional Learning Services department offers professional development opportunities that meet the specific needs and requirements of Canadian teachers, program staff, superintendents, consultants, administrators and other educators.
    • How will CSC support the project? CSC will provide blended solutions to help serve the communication and training needs of the Leading Student Achievement initiative. CSC will do this by providing:
      • Video streaming, video on demand and downloadable material that LSA participants can use to further their goals. Materials made available will be chosen by the project steering committee. For example, if you are interested in using a motivational piece, please download Avis Glaze's plenary speech. PowerPoint presentations are also available as downloads to accompany downloadable videos.
      • Training via web conferencing. If the OPC, ADFO, and CPC decide together that there is a training session they feel should be made available to all participants, CSC will host the training using web conferencing. If you are interested in making suggestions for possible training sessions, please contact CSC at csc@curriculum.org.
      • GoToMeeting. We will provide the training and support needed to conduct live meetings via the web and ensure that these meetings are timely and cost-effective and will push schools to move initiatives beyond their own school boards.
      • An interactive LSA website that is accessible from all three association websites. The LSA website is intended to reflect the needs of all three associations and provide participants with a single place to retrieve information concerning the Leading Student Achievement project.
    • How do I access the CSC website?
      You can access the CSC website from the LSA home page at www.curriculum.org/LSA/home.html, and click on the link in the bottom right-hand corner. Or, access the CSC page directly by going to www.curriculum.org.
    • How do I set up teleconferences and webcasts?
      Please contact CSC at csc@curriculum.org if you are interested in any of our services.


  8. What changes in leadership practice are expected over the course of the project?

    At the end of this project, principals will have increased their knowledge base in the subjects of literacy and numeracy, assessment, target setting, action research, and mentoring. Principals will accomplish this through the creation of professional learning communities among themselves and within their schools.

    Collaborative skills will be enhanced, and through the experience of setting up PLCs and with the support of their colleagues in the principal learning teams, principals will learn how to distribute leadership and build capacity within their schools and the larger educational community.

    Principals will be more fully informed on exemplary classroom practice and further develop analytical and observational skills that will allow them to better understand practices that support teachers.

    This project emphasizes and highlights the instructional leadership aspect of the principal's job. It will lead to increased focus on student achievement, continuous growth and results.

  9. What will a 'professional learning community' school look like?
    • Successful schools will have learning rather than teaching as a focus. Teachers will work together to analyze student work and consider best practice.
    • Instructional decisions will be based on data, emphasizing formative as well as summative data.
    • Collaborative conversations will be a part of the regular school day for teachers.
    • There will a focus on results and staff will hold themselves accountable.
    • Professional learning teams will function successfully on a variety of levels leading to improved student achievement.
    • SMART goals will be understood and used meaningfully.
    • Action research or principal/teacher inquiry will inform practice.
    • Students who are experiencing difficulty will be supported. Learning is for all students.
    • Students will do better on a variety of assessments. They will feel more confident about literacy and numeracy and develop a stronger love of learning.


  10. What are reasonable goals to set?

    Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-limited. SMART. Principal learning teams will set goals. As well, each school team will set their own goals based on their own analysis of student achievement. These goals should reflect school and board improvement plans. They must have student achievement in literacy and numeracy as their focus.

  11. How do I find out more about action research?
    • OPC offers a workshop: Principal as Action Researcher: the Balanced School Day. See the OPC website for information on this workshop.
    • One useful book is Richard Sagor's The Action Research Guidebook (2005), Corwin Press.
    • Another useful book is Powerful Designs (2004), National Staff Development Council (NSDC).


  12. What are some good print resources for information on professional learning communities, literacy and numeracy?

    Click on Resources on the Leading Student Achievement home page to find a list of print resources that you may find useful. You will find many excellent titles here. We will continue to update this list as new or better resources come to our attention.

  13. What might a principal learning team meeting look like?

    Interested principals will gather "to share ideas, knowledge and strategies to mobilize and sustain PLC's in their schools" (Leading Student Achievement, 2005). Meetings will have no more than 10 to 12 members. Collaborative, focused conversations will be a mainstay of the meetings. Research and student and/or teacher work may be shared and discussed. There should be an element of goal setting and/or review at each meeting. Meetings have a built-in peer-to-peer accountability. Participants should commit to implementing what they have learned when they return to their schools and be prepared to share their findings at the next meeting. The workshops and in-service offered by the associations will be a valuable piece of your learning but would not constitute one of the eight meetings. CPCO has a video that addresses learning teams and shows a number of examples of how they work.

  14. How do I begin at the school level?

    Richard DuFour says, "To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively, and hold yourself accountable for results." The basic steps in setting up a learning team might include the following:

    • Teachers are invited to be a part of a learning team.
    • The teachers jointly select goals in consideration of student assessment data.
    • These goals should be SMART goals and should reflect the school and board improvement plans.
    • Teachers meet to analyze student work, discuss existing practice and relevant research, and design class activities and/or formative assessments. There are many structures that can be considered here. The PLC courses available from the associations will explore many of them. A good resource for possible structures is the book Powerful Designs published by NSDC.
    • Teachers apply the lessons learned from the learning team meeting and work towards achieving the goals in their classrooms.
    • Teachers meet again to assess their progress, design new activities and assessments, and set new goals if previous goals have been accomplished.


  15. How do I arrange to have workshops or consultations?
    • Does each PLT pay for workshops/consultations?
      No, the cost is covered by the Principals' Associations through funding by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat.
    • How many workshops/consultations does each learning team get?
      Three.
    • Who do I contact to set them up?
      Your Principals' Association
      OPC: Susan Nesbitt: snesbitt@principals.on.ca or 416-322-6600 and 1-800-701-2362
      CPCO: Barbara McMorrow: bmcmorrow@cpco.ca or 416-483-1556
      ADFO: Martyne Laurin mlaurin@csdccs.edu.on.ca ou au 905-832-3153 ou Serge Plouffe au sergeplouffe@adfo.org ou au 613-789-1998


  16. If two learning teams get together, how many workshop or consultations do we get?

    Since each learning team is eligible for three, together you are eligible for six. Perhaps your PLT will do some joint PD with another team and some individual PD.

  17. Will there be supply-teacher coverage for teaching principals and for support teachers filling out surveys etc.?

    Speak to your board about supply coverage. They have committed to supporting this project and may consider such measures as part of the support.

  18. What are some of the strategies that can be used to support the project beyond meetings?
    • Teleconferences
    • Webcasts
    • Visiting other schools
    • Individual peer support (conversation and consultation)
    • Workshops
    • Association consultations
    • Web conferences
    • Interactive websites
    • Video on demand


  19. What if there is a topic that we would like to explore further?

    Please let us know what you need. If it falls within the mandate of the project we will find a way to support you. Workshops have some flexibility built into them. As well, consultations will be on an individual board basis. These can be offered on-site or by phone and email.

  20. What workshops are available?

    OPC: Workshops that support this project include: Emotional Intelligence: A key to effective leadership, Literacy: The principal's role, Principal as Action Researcher: The balanced school day, Professional Learning Communities: The principal as instructional leader, Supporting Math Education in Schools. Vital Signs Revisited: Improving literacy and numeracy results. See the LSA website for more detailed information.

    ADFO: Atelier d'interprétation des résultats du sondage sur l'intelligence émotionnelle, Atelier sur la mise en œuvre d'une communauté d'apprentissage professionnelle (CAP), Atelier d'appui à un programme équilibré de littératie.

    CPCO: Offers workshops on Assessment Literacy, Professional Learning Communities, Literacy and Numeracy, Emotional Intelligence, Mentoring, and Leading from Within - a Spiritual Retreat.
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