Ecole elementaire Arc-en-ciel

School Information

School Name: École élémentaire Arc-en-ciel
District Name: Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est
School Address: 1830 boul. Portobello, Orléans, Ontario, K4A 3T6
School Phone: 613.744.0486
School Fax: 613.841.3494
Principal: Chantal Cazabon
Principal E-Mail: cazabc@ecolecatholique.ca
Web Address: http://arc-en-ciel.ecolecatholique.ca

Demographics

Number of Students: 494
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: NA
Percent of Limited English Proficient: NA
Percent of Special Education: NA
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: NA
• Black: NA
• Hispanic: NA
• Asian/Pacific Island: NA
• Other:  NA

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends – for example, three consecutive years or the first, third, and fifth years. The data report should always include the most recent school year and should always offer a basis of comparison (for example, state scores, national scores, similar SES schools). 

Standards of Learning Assessement Results
Scale: % passing

Data Tables for Grade 3e:

School: Grade 3e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	71	61	84
2008-09	82	82	85
2009-10	84	82	95

School Board (CECCE): Grade 3e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	71	71	82
2008-09	76	76	88
2009-10	80	75	88

Provincial: Grade 3e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	62	60	74
2008-09	66	66	76
2009-10	72	68	81

Data Tables for Grade 6e:

School: Grade 6e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	67	75	76
2008-09	83	81	79
2009-10	73	84	88

School Board (CECCE): Grade 6e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	84	81	86
2008-09	87	83	86
2009-10	87	84	87

Provincial: Grade 6e (EQAO), % of students passing
	Math	Reading	Writing
2007-08	78	75	80
2008-09	80	77	79
2009-10	81	80	80

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the data that you feel is particularly significant.

We will continue to raise the bar and close the gap!

Please present any additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact upon students and/or teachers.

After reviewing the data which provides evidence of increased levels of student growth learning over a three-year period, I asked the teachers what do they think they thought caused the increase? One teacher replied, “when we transitioned from working in isolation where one teacher was responsible for her students’ learning to a team effort approach where a team is responsible for the learning of every child; then, we saw an increase.” Another teacher said, “when we became a data driven school where decisions are based on current data then we saw an increase as well.”

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis

We monitor student learning at two levels: school level and at the professional learning communities’ level.

School level:
In the last three years, l’école élémentaire catholique Arc-en-ciel has proven that our PLC model does work for us in assuring every student success at school. Our school’s provincial testing has seen radical improvements in all subjects tested: reading, writing and mathematics.

We have developed a three year strategic plan for our PLC’s. To better monitor student learning, part of the strategic plan is an alignment throughout the school based on the data collected by the collaborative teams. We assure alignment by having the school administration and the resource teacher present at all collaborative meetings. A school level PLC has been planned for mid and end of the school year.

PLC level:
Our data walls include a monitoring spread sheet for every classroom which includes dates to monitor student learning. We start with the end in mind therefore, teachers plan their summative evaluation. Then, they elaborate a diagnostic evaluation in order to have an accurate profile for every student. All teachers in their collaborative team are aware of what every child of the same grade level must know and learn. As all teams work at the same level, they elaborate and plan their learning blocks including its timeline. Effective strategies are discussed and elaborated to make sure that every child is performing at a higher level. The most important factor of our effective PLC is to discuss and analyze data in order to be able to plan the learning blocks. The leadership team is empowered with a sense of efficacy and the conviction that their work matters. They are also assured that their teaching strategies are effective since they are guided by data and facts collected frequently (eveyr two weeks) over time. They can then proceed confidently to the heart of monitoring. Characteristics of effective monitoring include not only frequency but validity, data sources, reliability and correlation analysis.

Our school vision, mission, values and common goals (our school culture) are clear…  We make sure that every teacher knows that they are not judged … Trust in one and other is essential. Our school’s focus is set on student learning. We all understand and know that it is a collective effort and not individual results that matter… Our school culture is felt and understood by all personnel at l’école élémentaire catholique Arc-en-ciel.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

In order for teaching methods and strategies to improve, we have created a system in which it is possible for every teacher of the same level to observe another teacher in action. It is understood that the school administration must always be involved in order to let teachers observe each other. Teachers modeling best practices are observed and shared in the collaborative teams and in the classrooms. Through modeling, each teacher identifies each others strengths in teaching. By determining each teacher’s strength, they not only learn from each other, but it helps them assign reading groups.

Some of our collaborative teams have implemented reading learning pods. This means that students of the same grade level are grouped by reading level. Teachers determine needs and strategies that are best suited for each reading group. Teachers revise the student’s needs and will change the reading groups when and if necessary.

3. Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

It is very important for us that every September, we revise with staff, our mission, vision and school values. Once this is discussed and understood by all staff members, we establish our norms of functioning in a collaborative team. That sets the tone for our collaborative teams for the school year. That September day, all staff, as a collaborative team, uses data provided by our school board to set our SMART school goals. Now having the end in mind, the year is planned for team meetings and all who are involved know the road to success and focus on results that are clear… our SMART goals. Analyzing and collecting data have oriented our teaching methods and strategies. This is proven to be effective as our school results are on the rise. Teachers recognize that uniformity and alignment throughout all levels are crucial for student learning. Our strategic planning for student success is monitored throughout the year in the collaborative teams through our data walls. To assure even more effective strategies and to ensure all teachers’ “buy in”, many workshops were created for teachers by teachers of our own school.

We set our SMART school goals at the beginning or every year and all teachers at l’école Arc-en-ciel, understand that we are interdependant in attaining those goals. Our school culture is clear. We are driven by results for student learning. This is our priority. That is our “tight” in our school organization. Every school has its own profile of resources. We understand that the school principal has to analyze and deploy effectively those resources in order to obtain the highest level of student learning and to create systems to provide support necessary to achieve those goals. We find that this type of school culture has helped l’école Arc-en-ciel to improve results every year…