Marieze Tarr
Students and parents in British Columbia can be very proud of the outstanding results of B.C. students in the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2015 Assessment.
Of the 72 countries and jurisdictions in the world participating, students in B.C. were the highest performing in reading, second highest in science and sixth in math.
This is remarkable as over 500,000 15-year-old students participated around the world, including, 20,000 in Canada.
While this is an indication of the strength of our educators and system, it does not change the need or urgency to adapt how we organize for learning to better prepare students for living and working in the 21st century.
Even more important than the high scores is the fact that Canada is a leading country in closing the quality-equity gap – which is the difference between the highest and lowest scores).
In our district, and across the province, we still have a ways to go to improve the learning outcomes for our Aboriginal learners, to support students in finding relevance in a personalized and social learning environment and to improve our school completion rates so that students leave the system with dignity and options.
If you would like to see the full PISA result see here: http://www.cmec.ca/508/Programs-and-Initiatives/Assessment/Programme-for-International-Student-Assessment-(PISA)/PISA-2015/index.html
We would like to remind parents and interested community members to participate in the Rural Education Engagement Process and to see the details of the engagement process and an online discussion forum at http://engage.gov.bc.ca/ruraleducation/. Please be sure to give your input.
In our district, we are well on our way in implementing the revised curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 9.
Due to extensive feedback from teachers, principals, trustees and district staff from across the province, the Minister of Education has recently announced more time for teachers and districts to work hands-on with the redesigned draft curriculum for Grades 10 to 12.
This means that secondary schools in our district will have more time to try out the draft curriculum, including teaching to the competencies, and provide thoughtful feedback before it is fully implemented in the 2018/19 school year.
It is my privilege to be in our schools with the Roots of Empathy program and so I got to see firsthand the wonderful fun Christmas holiday opportunities our teachers gave our students.
I would like to thank them on behalf of the Board of Education for all the fun and educational holiday projects they have provided for students.
I saw beautiful gingerbread houses, grinches, elves on the shelves, Christmas trees and decorations and then of course all the Christmas concerts.
I am so happy that many of our students who do not have these opportunities at home get to do these fun things at school.
Thank you also to all of our staff who organized food drives for our food banks so that our students also learn that this is not just a season for receiving but also for giving.
Our Board would like to thank our teachers and support staff for working so tirelessly to provide such diverse learning opportunities for our students.
I would also like to thank Osoyoos resident Connie Osachoff for her tireless efforts to collect 108 pairs of brand new pyjamas. These pyjamas were distributed to elementary schools across the school district just before Christmas and we can just imagine the happy smiles this brought to many of our students.
Should you have any questions, please contact me at 250-498-1333.
This column was submitted by Marieze Tarr, Chairperson with School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen)
MARIEZE TARR
Special to the Times
