Meeting Minutes
Central Office Boardroom, Sherwood Park
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
7:00 p.m.
In Attendance:
Jacquie Surgenor - Westboro Elementary
Co-Chair
Natalie Bos - Wye Elementary
Co-Secretary
Crystal Hudson - Win Ferguson Elementary
Co-Secretary
Annette Hubick - Lakeland Ridge
Dan Carter - Glen Allan Elementary
Krista Scott - Fultonvale Elementary Junior High
Kaya Kasook - École Élémentaire Ardrossan
Elementary
Stacey Walde - Pine Street Elementary
Kathy Gunderson - Ardrossan Junior Senior High
Sally Navis - Sherwood Heights Junior High
Ryan Baldwin – Vegreville Composite High
Mabel Underwood-DeWilde - Fort Saskatchewan
Elementary
Trina Boymook - Chair, Board of Trustees
Colleen Holowaychuk - Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees
Harvey Stadnick – Trustee
Eileen Zimmerman - Instructional Services
Peter Barron - Instructional Services
Karen Sand - Communications Director
Susan Johnson – Communications Specialist
Welcome
Jacquie Surgenor called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.
Additions to the Agenda
Jacquie asked if there were additions to the agenda. The following were added to the agenda under For
Information:
d) Division Planning Update
e) Tell Them From Me Survey
f) Learning and Technology Policy Framework
g) Young Authors’ Conference
h) Inspiring Education Conference - taking place only in Calgary
Motion: To accept the February 5,, 2014 agenda as amended.
Moved:
Natalie Bos
Seconded:
Sally Navis
Motion Carried
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Approval of January 8, 2014 minutes
Jacquie asked if there were any errors or omissions in the January 8, 2014 minutes.
Motion: To accept the January 8, 2014 minutes as presented.
Moved:
Kaya Kasook
Seconded: Krista Scott
Motion Carried
Board Report – Presented by Trina Boymook, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) Board Chair
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Chair Boymook started her report indicating the Boundary Exemption requests will be accepted from
February 18 to March 14, 2014. Boundary Exemption information can be accessed through the EIPS division
website. Closed boundary schools are Wye Elementary, Pine Street Elementary, Win Ferguson Elementary,
and Fort Saskatchewan Elementary. The division may use a lottery system if there are more requests than
spaces available at any other schools.
Parents are encouraged to complete the Accountability Pillar Surveys. These surveys provide important
information to the schools and the division. Surveys are issued to parents of students in grades 4, 7, and 10.
At the January 15, 2014 Sherwood Park Chamber of Commerce lunch, the provincial Finance Minister was
positive in his message about being committed to schools. Alberta has had approximately 105,000 new
people move into the province in the past year including 22,000 new students. Loans for building schools
will be necessary to keep up with Alberta’s growth.
Chair Boymook attended the New Trustee Board Chair Conference and the Community Engagement
Conference which were sponsored by the Alberta School Boards Association.
At the January Board Meeting, the Board approved a motion to cover the cost of one school council member
per school to attend the Alberta School Councils Association Conference, which will be held April 25-27,
2014. Information about how to apply for this sponsorship will be forwarded to schools as it becomes
available.
Upcoming division planning will include parents (COSC representatives) and students as part of the
committee. This will start in the spring.
The provincial budget announcement is expected in mid to late February or early March.
Chair Boymook shared information about the Board’s recent meeting with the Mayor of Strathcona County.
This meeting was to establish a relationship with the municipal administration. Some of the topics that were
discussed included school zone safety and future sites for schools. Schools are encouraged to invite the
mayors and/or councillors to events to help build relationships with the municipal government. These
School Board/County Council meetings will be increased to four meetings/year (they were traditionally held
once a year in the past).
At the last C2 Committee meeting, discussion included communication, field trip forms (what if a “risk” is
missed on the form), and pressures teachers face to communicate in all forms of media (e.g., newsletter,
eTeacher pages, email, Twitter, etc.) The C2 committee includes the Superintendent, a trustee
representative, the ATA Local president, and teacher representatives who participate on a rotating basis.
Alberta Education requires C2 committees to meet twice per year. In EIPS, they meet monthly.
The Board has drafted a letter to Alberta Education regarding Fuel Price Contingency Funding. EIPS currently
receives $0.60/L to cover the cost of fuel and per the current funding formula. The division must supplement
with $0.54/L above that for a total average of $1.14/L. The letter outlines what the division has done to
balance the shortfall and encourages the government to review the funding formula. In EIPS, 19 routes have
been cut with the same number of children riding the bus. Some children ride the bus 120 minutes one way.
Average ride time is 45 minutes in Sherwood Park – but longer in the outlying communities. The Board is
encouraging other school divisions to write letters also.
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New modular classrooms have been approved for Fort Saskatchewan Elementary and funding for
modernization has been approved for École Élémentaire Ardrossan Elementary. The Ardrossan
modernization will bring the schools capacity up from the current 550 kids to 600.
MLA Jacquie Fenske joined Board members on a tour of Vegreville schools.
Trustees will be meeting with all three local MLAs in our division. They will present the MLAs with a
breakdown of how our division budget works specifically explaining how our reserves are broken down ($2
million are school generated funds).
Chair Boymook and Trustee Stadnick attended the Partners in Education Luncheon at the ATA Teachers’
Convention.
Inspiring Education Symposium will be held in Calgary on February 19, 2014. Alberta Education has offered
to subsidize $200/parent to travel to the symposium. Twelve breakout sessions will be offered including
curriculum redesign, SLAs, and diploma writing online. The symposium will update where Alberta is in the
Inspiring Education process.
Trustee school tours will begin on February 21.
The question was raised about collaborative busing with the Catholic system. This is already done in Lamont
and the County of Minburn. Cooperative busing is also done with Strathcona Christian Academy and Fort
Saskatchewan Christian. Natalie raised a concern about cooperative busing at the start of the year as it
relates to Wye Elementary and Strathcona Christian Academy. Students were being dropped off at Wye at
8:15 a.m. before supervision began. Adjustments have been made since then. Chair Boymook took the
information back to share with the Transportation Committee.
New Business
Assessment in EIPS - Presentation by Peter Barron and Eileen Zimmerman, Instructional Services
Key Elements
1. Research Based – thoughts on assessment grow and change over time based on what we know about
learning
2. Formative Assessment – all the different ways teachers/students provide feedback. It is part of teaching.
We learn when we get feedback (it is not graded per se). With quizzes and assignments, it is what is
done with the results that determine whether the assessment is formative or summative. Effective
formative feedback promotes learning.
3. Summative Assessment – specific assessment that is at the “end” of the learning. Not averaged out.
Comparing assessment to a sport: formative is the “practice” while summative is “the big game.”
Teachers decide what is used as summative. When marks are determined, not calculated, there is room
to ignore anomalies. The purpose of assessment is to demonstrate what students can do. Teaching is
based on outcomes.
Zeroes
Zeroes don’t align with the purpose of assessment. What they reflect is inaccurate. It is important to do
summative assessments, behaviour plans, and earlier interventions. Zeroes are a significant de-motivator for
students. To make students accountable, they need to do the assignment. Administration is usually involved at
the point when a “reluctant zero” is awarded.
Outcomes-Based Reporting
There are too many KLOs to report. Words are used instead of numbers. Being assigned a 70% in science takes
away the nuances of learning (how did the student does in the physics vs. biology vs. chemistry components of
science, etc.). With outcomes-based reporting, the grade is broken down. Hope is that it will help predict where
the student is struggling or doing well.
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In elementary, the EPAL (Excellent, Proficient, Acceptable, Limited) system is currently used. Percentages are not
as useful as you would think. They need to be contextualized (e.g., a baseball player that has a 40% batting
average is good while a pilot who safely lands 90% of his flights is bad). Words are thought to be more
meaningful and in line with the real world.
Assessment Discussion
COSC members shared the following thoughts:
 Different people interpret words differently (e.g., proficient seems to mean different things to different
people).
 Elementary report cards don’t reflect growth. One parent has twins who are achieving differently on tests
but receive the same mark on their report card.
 Proficient vs. excellent effort is used inconsistently (e.g., some teachers will say that they never give
“excellent” effort marks).
 Numbers and words in the real world don’t show strengths and challenges for employees. A series of
conversations, conferences, report cards, etc. (not just one form of reporting) give a clearer picture.
 There needs to be clearer communication in general. Zeroes and “excellent” really don’t give an accurate
picture (there is no such thing as perfection). If there is not a common understanding of the words used,
they are not meaningful.
 In junior high, formative is seen by students as “it doesn’t count” and “you don’t have to try”.
 Some parents like to see tests with a score (e.g., 13/15 instead of “proficient”).
 Problems arise with perception and interpretation. Proficient to some means “he can do better” vs. “this is
what is expected of everyone”. Words seem very subjective.
 Teachers are overworked with a wide array of student needs to meet. Report cards are a lot of work and are
just one more thing to worry about. Would like to see time and energy focused on in-class efforts.
The assessment process is being reviewed at the elementary level (Division 1 and Division 2) by central office
staff, principals, and teachers. They are looking at:
a) What do other districts do?
b) Research (what does research on learning/assessment tell us?)
c) Technology (what is available?)
d) Stakeholders (to provide feedback during process)
The intent is for staff to be able to do work that is valuable and use assessment tools that are useful. Parent
involvement will be in the form of being part of a stakeholder group in February which will develop a survey for
parents, staff, and students.
This information will be looked at in the spring and the committee will do more planning from there. The goal is
for (approximately) a fall 2015 roll-out. The assessments will be electronic and will be outcome based (those two
elements are not up for discussion).
Eileen shared that they realize current report cards are not loved and that they are looking for parents’
feedback.
Further Discussion
COSC members shared additional thoughts, opinions, and questions about the assessment process:
 Formative vs. summative assessments don’t foster work ethic. Kids will work for grades but also work for
non-graded activities such as extracurricular. Also words mean different things. Numbers are more
measurable (e.g., my kid knows 40% of the expected knowledge). Perhaps we shouldn’t limit assessment to
numbers or words only.
 Some parents are unclear of the range. Is an “excellent” 75-100 or 80-100?
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Some parents are disappointed we will still have to choose outcomes to assess and that we as parents are
being invited in when the process is already underway. She is worried nothing will change.
Eileen mentioned that whether we use numbers or letters, they will always be open to personal
interpretation. With Inspiring Education, the provincial SLAs are moving toward benchmarks. Assessment
will have to work with this. Percentages used as a form of assessment is sometimes not common in other
parts of the world.
Change will have to be made with Inspiring Education. Parents are worried they will not get enough
information and will be “surprised” by assessments. As parents, are we going to get an accurate
representation? Is there something we can be doing to help? Looking at the work of Howard Gartner and
multiple intelligences, is it appropriate to report only in one way? How do we get a clear assessment picture
of everyone? A paradigm shift is taking place as we have the burden to report on fewer KLOs with Inspiring
Education.
Where did EPAL come from? It started six or seven years ago and seemed that it was the best choice at the
time.
It is still uncertain what the curriculum will look like. What will students need to know, do, and have to
graduate?
Are effort marks subjective data? What information do parents want (e.g., are they social, resilient, ethical,
resourceful). Assessment will need to reflect new provincial outcomes/“competencies”.
What will the assessment review committee be looking for from parents? Suggested a COSC breakout group
discussion maybe in May or the fall similar to the group work we did with the “Parental Engagement”
workshop.
Will there be assessment accommodations made for those who do not speak English as their first language?
In the Northwest Territories there was a child who graduated from Grade 12 but couldn’t read. Because of
this incident, portfolios are now used and combined with frequent visits to the school. The report card is less
significant. Assessment is communicated on an ongoing basis and the report card is more of a formality.
Using numbers to report can also be inconsistent but pass/fail scenarios are a reality in life.
Will there be clarity on how assignments are weighed? Is the timing of this change realistic and in line with
curriculum changes?
Are final assessments always tests? Are oral presentations possible instead of tests? There will be pilots
which allow different ways to show what you know.
Some schools have moved from Parent-Teacher interviews after report cards to Parent-Teacher interviews
approximately six weeks before. This seems to be working well.
For Information
a) Board funding for ASCA Conference - information will be emailed to COSC members. The Conference and
AGM will be held from April 25-April 27 at the Delta Hotel in Edmonton.
b) ASCA awards of Recognition – On their website located at www.albertaschoolcouncils.ca
c) Parent attendance at My Voice – My Future conference which will take place on Tuesday, February 25th in
Vegreville at the Vegreville Social Centre from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
d) Division Planning Update
e) Tell Them From Me Survey
f) Learning and Technology Policy Framework
g) Young Authors’ Conference
h) Inspiring Education Conference - taking place only in Calgary
The next COSC meeting is Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. The main site will be in the Boardroom at
Central Office in Sherwood Park, with possible videoconferencing connections to other sites.
Mabel made a motion to adjourn at 9:10 p.m.
Motion carried.
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