Mission Secondary

District Information

School Name:      Mission Secondary
School Address:   32939 7th Ave Mission British Columbia Canada

School Phone:      (604) 826 3399
School Fax:          (604) 826 8187
Principal:             Jim Pearce
Principal email:   jim.pearce@sd75.mission.bc.ca

Demographics

Number of Students:     1047
Number Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: N/A
Percent of Limited English Proficient:      2%
Percent of Special Education:                   15%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White     70%
• Black
• Hispanic
• Asian/Pacific Island
• Other     30%

First Nations, Indo-Canadian, Korean

 

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends –

DATA SOURCES
Source for the grade 8 results are from district assessments
Source for the grade 10 and 12 results are the Provincial Exam scores
Scores reflect the school % compared to the District % at the grade 8 level
Scores reflect the school % compared to the Provincial % at the grade 10 and 12 level

Grade 8	2005 (M.S/other)	2006 (M.S./other)	2007 (M.S./other)
Math	n/a	n/a	80/80
Reading	83/78	83/83	93/88
Writing	83/81	87/81	92/91

 

Grade 10	2005 (M.S/other)	2006 (M.S./other)	2007 (M.S./other)
Math	93/93	97/92	96/93
Reading	95/91	99/94	98/94
Science	94/93	92/89	93/98
Writing	95/91	99/94	98/4

 

Grade 12	2005 (M.S/other)	2006 (M.S./other)	2007 (M.S./other)
Math	100/95	100/94	98/95
Reading	99/98	100/98	100/98
Soc.St.	100/97	100/96	100/97
Science	100/96	100/97	100/97
Writing	99/98	100/98	100/98

About the tests
Our grade 8 students only write district exams for math reading and writing
Our grade 10 and 12 data is based on a comparison between school results which are a combined exam mark and school mark vs. a combined Provincial mark. The science scores for grade 12 are based on our Chemistry results and our Social Studies mark is based on our History 12 marks.

 

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you believe is particularly significant.

Our grade 8 scores continue to be higher than the district scores. We believe that having our teacher meet in their collaborative teams on a weekly basis and discussing common assessments is making a difference. During these meetings  teachers are discussing interventions for those vulnerable learners and are making applications to our intervention teams to give students more support in the classroom. Our grade 10 and 12 results have really improved. If you look at just the exam results our students are performing well above provincial average in most areas. From this success we have increased our Advanced Placement enrollment from 15 students three years ago to 134 students in 2007-08

 

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

As a staff we came to consensus on investing our professional development money on providing opportunities to attend conferences that deal directly with feedback for learning (assessment), providing tools for our instructors to meet the needs of our vulnerable learners and provide weekly subject area team meetings and monthly team meetings for our Applied Skills and Fine Arts teachers. We have put some excellent structures in place for staff to indicate who the vulnerable learners are in their classroom. They provide our intervention teams with reports on specific needs of the student. For example, a teacher may report that a student needs help with organization of workbooks and notebooks. We will have a peer counselor work with that student during the lunch hour or after school to provide that support. Another example is having a peer tutor work side by side with a student in the classroom to provide extra support on a particular unit.

These types of interventions have increased transitions rates grade to grade and we are graduating 30 or more students than we did six years ago. Our retentions rates have increased as well. For example, we have 221 students in grade 10 and when these students were in grade 8 there were 225. We are hopeful that with the innovative programs and interventions we have in place we will be able to graduate 221 students and increase our graduation by 50 more students when these students are in grade 12.Six years ago we were graduating 130 out of a possible 220. This has been a huge improvement for us.

Finally, we as a staff needed to become proactive rather than reactive in our approach to meeting the needs of our vulnerable learners. In June we have team meetings and discuss plans for the following year of our most vulnerable learners. We bring in parents, outside agencies, youth care workers, counselors, vice principals and the student in to develop a plan for the coming year. In these plans we have goals for everyone and time frames to meet those goals. If the goals are not meet we readjust to continue to improve.  

 

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Giving teachers the opportunity to collaborate within the work day has given them the opportunity to learn new strategies in order for students to learn. By using the feedback for learning model teachers have a real sense of where the student is at and what are the next steps to be taken. We have given teachers at their disposal a wide variety of support for our vulnerable learners so teachers can be proactive as they monitor student learning.

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

PEER TUTORING PROGRAM: One teacher oversees this program and has approximately 40 students who can support the learning of our vulnerable learners. We have teachers fill out a form describing the performance of the particular student. This form is handed to the teacher who meets with the peer tutor who then is assigned to the student. This student may work side by side in the classroom a meeting during lunch or after school to support the learner.

PEER COUNSELLING PROGRAM: This program looks after the emotional and social needs of our students but specifically our most vulnerable students. Teachers will refer students from their class who see them to be disengaged from the learning. The student may totally be disorganized or needs study skills. The peer counselor will make contact with the student and make a solid relationship in order to support the needs of the student. All our peer counselors have taken extensive training during the summer months in order to provide this service.

SHORT TEAM LEARNING ASSISTANCE: This program looks at students who need intensive interventions from an instructor for a short period of time. The student maybe taken out of an elective course in order to receive the interventions needed to be successful in their academic class. This program is used for our French Immersion program and we really have seen success in the student.

COLLEGE TUTORS: We are able to bring in college tutors to work specifically with groups of students on study techniques and higher level questioning techniques. These college students have group discussions about a particular subject and really try and get the student to think deeply about the topic.

ACADEMICS AFTER SCHOOL: All our departments post schedules for students so at least one teacher is available after school for consultations with students. So even if it is not your specific teacher you as a student can go and get support from a teacher in the department.

 

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

We as a school are on a journey for the improvement of all our students and especially or most vulnerable. We have recognized that these students can not continue to fail and drop out of the system. This work has been going on for some time but over the past two or three years with the introduction of the Professional Learning Community and imbedding the Collaborative Team Model into the regular school day we are ready to make the jump to a point where every child with individual support will have the opportunity to be successful.

During our collaborative team meetings we discuss students and their success. We talk about new strategies and answer questions about school improvement. It is these times I believe that teachers need in order to make improvements in their practice. Teaching is very isolated and if administration does not give time for teachers to talk in the regular school day there may be little improvement. I attend many of the collaboration meetings but not all as I believe teachers need time to discuss strategies and structures with out me in the room. I do ask for minutes of each meeting and I will reflect on the minutes and have discussions with the group. The model is working and we are building outstanding relationships with each other.

 

List any awards and recognition garnered by your school

2007 – Ten Provincial Scholarship winners

2007 - Recognized two students as honor standing for Advanced Placement first time ever

2006 – Recognized as the Most Improved Academic School in the Province of British Columbia

2005 – Awarded a grant from the government to implement the AVID program one of only 21 schools in British Columbia to receive the grant

2005 – Several staff members speaking at academic conferences and one staff member speaking at an international conference on Restorative Justice