public education. |

Thornhill and three schools in

_ Hazelton. will be trying out three
of the, recommended. major »~
. changes. contained in the Royal

Commission ‘report on B, C.

At the June 13 meeting of. the
School District 88 board of trus-

tees, Paul Axelson notified the

board. that Thornhill. Primary
School is prepared to institute a
system of-ungraded primary.

. classes in four of its classrooms.

Axelson, the primary school

'. principal who was designated by -
the board to find out which .
schools were interested in trying
pilot projects for the 1989-90

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mane io = -apen reve Th concn capers: sestagae tell Peoee
Wat ren IR mad OE NAL CBIR Ecker a ni tee: AER apa re

school: year, asked for and re-

ceived board ratification to £0
ahead with 1 them, mo

st v.

mary School next’ year’ will be

a placed in what are called “multi-
age groupings”, small, variable

groups of students at different

ages and achievement levels who ~

study. together. In his.report to

the board, . Axelson. indicated m

that ‘4nteraction among pupils
of different developmentallevels

capitalizes on cooperative learn-

ing’. 7
. we

The philosophy behind the

That means that some. of the’.
kids returning to ‘Thornhill Pri-'

~ 5

ungraded system is “continuous
progress”. Axelson quoted the

. B.C. Primary Teachers’ Associ-

ation -as ‘saying, “Continuous

her:academic, social, emotional,
physical ‘and aesthetic develop-
ment, tegardless of age or num-
ber of: years in school. This
progress is not determined by
the pace of a peer group or the

month of the school year, but by.

the individual in a- supportive
environment,”? - :

Axelson also noted in the
_ report that removal of grade
level. barriers will also eliminate

* the “‘pass-fail’’ system that cur-

rently stigmatizes students who

re peranense tnt CA ey parce pret Ana 6: AE

progress. occurs when a learner
PrOgresses : according to his or

The sound of Bach's keyboard music echoed through the Skeena Mall on a recent weekend
from a registration display set up by the Northwest Academy of the Performing Arts. The
virtuosity of piano teacher Syilvana Sealey (shown here with an appreciative audience —
Frank Donahue) undoubtedly helped in signing up nearly a full: register of students.”

Local teacher training to start

TERRACE — A consortium of
Northwest school districts has
been successful in efforts to

‘establish a program’ that will

train teachers in the region.
School District 88 superinten-

dent Frank Hamilton told the -

local board at a meeting June 13
that a survey begun several

_ weeks ago turned up 80 poten-
. tial candidates for training in the

region, far in excess of the
number required to make the
program work.

The candidates are people
holding four-year degrees who
are interested in taking the addi-
tional year of university ‘re-
quired for a teaching certificate.
‘The program is intended to
provide the districts involved
with ‘a supply of locally-trained
teachers whom the organizers

| ‘hope will remain in their home

districts for longer periods 1 than
teachers who move in from
other areas. If it works as in-

_.tended, the high rate of staff

turnover in northwest schools
will be reduced.
_ The training will be delivered

by Simon Fraser University

through Northwest Community.
College. The northwest consor-
tium is currently. seeking ; a facul-
ty advisor to organize the pro-
gram, with the position starting
August 15.

The first class of 20 is sched-

uled to start Jan. 1, 1990, and
another 20 spaces are-slotted for
the following year. Candidates
will be eligible for the provincial
government’s new loan forgive-
ness program.
Students can borrow up to
$12,000 to take teacher training

and the government will write

off 10 percent of the loan for

each year the. graduate teacher

works in qualifying school dis-
tricts, The districts in the con-
sortium — Terrace; Kitimat,

Prince Rupert and Bulkley Val.

ley — all qualify. .
Hamilton also told the board

-that,a full-five-year teacher pro-
gram delivered through North--
“west Community College may

become a reality in the. near
future. Discussions are currently
underway between NWCC and
SFU.

~The one-year program will be

paid for entirely by the Ministry
of Education, Hamilton said.

Terrase Rest w— Wednesday, June 2, 1989" 47 -

hornhill school to test ungraded p primary. system.

TERRACE — One school in |

don’t keep up with their fellows

‘or the calendar. ‘Students ex-

perience success at all levels of
learning — one cannot ‘fail’

continuous progress,’’ he said...

In keeping with that change,
Axelson says there will be a

_ declining emphasis on tests and

examinations. Instead, the
teachers will use assessment —
described by Axelson as ‘‘a sys-

_ tematic process of gathering evi-

dence of what a child can do”? —
and evaluation, “an. ongoing

process of: making . judgments.

and decisions based on evidence
gathered’ through : assessment...

to make informed instructional’

decisions which will provide a

basis for reporting progress’’.
The reporting system will con-

sist of ‘‘formal and informal

communication between home -

and school about a child’s pro-
gress”

Axelson advised the board
that he is expecting to get
materials for preparing parents

to adjust to the new system from ~

the Ministry of Education soon.
In addition to the Thornhill

program, John Field Elementary 7 7
School in Hazelton. will start:

full-time and dual entry Kinder-
garten, South Hazelton Elemen-,
tary will undertake dual entry
Kindérgarten and ungraded.
primary classes, and New
Hazelton Elementary will begin
dual entry Kindergarten next
year;

Implementation of the Royal

Commission recommendations ©

will see all. these programs

placed in all B.C. schools by the

1990-91 school year. The pilot
projects in School District 88 are.
expected to provide valuable in-

_formation about problems. and

unexpected situations that may:

_arise when the programs go dis-

trict-wide.

Axelson concluded his report.
by observing, ‘*...what worked
when we went to school 20-30
years ago is not necessarily the
best way for today’s children...

The changes planned for the |

primary program are designed
to help educate our children for.
a future which we can only begin
to envision.”

Toll-free line. opens
for education questions

One of the most significant

changes in the B.C. public:

school system set to take place
over the next two years is the
introduction of ungraded. pri-
mary classes. Parents who have
questions and concerns about
the -effect.it: will have on. their
children now have a toll-free
number to call for the answers.

‘Last week the Ministry of
Education announced the estab-
lishment of the B.C. Education
Information Service. The service

tank yout Have a pap

can be reached between 4 p.m.
and & p.m. on Mondays and
Wednesdays by dialing 1-800-
663-7614 until June 28.
The service will close for the
summer, reopen Aug. 14 and
continue until Sept. 13.

' The ungraded system will al-
low students from Kindergarten
through Grade 3 to progress at
their own pace rather than going
through defined annual grade
stages.

i

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