Black Gold School Division will not be piloting Alberta Education’s new Draft Kindergarten – Grade 6 Curriculum.
The Board voted unanimously tonight to support the Administration’s recommendation to provide rich feedback to the ministry through an academic validation process rather than piloting in schools. The recommendation is based upon carefully considered feedback from teachers and administrators, as well as parents and community members, and weighed the significant ongoing burden of the pandemic on students and staff.
The Board’s decision, based on Administration’s recommendation, along with the detailed teacher’s Draft Curriculum review will be shared with Alberta Education.
“The Division will focus on student’s current learning needs and their mental health and wellbeing as our schools navigate the ongoing public health crisis,” said Board of Trustees Chair Devonna Klaassen. “This past year has been challenging, exhausting and very disruptive for our students, teachers, staff and their families.”
A total of 52 teachers and administrators participated in Review Teams to complete a detailed, line-by-line review. A summary report of this work was presented to the Administration and the Board for consideration. The summary report is available on our website: http://www.blackgold.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2021/04/Black-Gold-Draft-Curriculum-Review-Summary-Report.pdf
The report includes examples from each Draft Curriculum that represent strengths as well as challenges, ranging from minor refinements to bring clarity or to ensure content is developmentally appropriate to a complete rewrite, as identified for the Social Studies Curriculum.
“The Division believes that by providing the Alberta Government with this rich teacher feedback, we are upholding our professional commitment and responsibility to help provide the highest possible quality and standard of educational opportunities for students,” said Superintendent of School Bill Romanchuk.
The work required to plan, teach, and assess the Draft Curriculum during a global pandemic is enormous. The pandemic has already increased the workload and stress for teachers, students and parents and the Teacher Review Teams expressed their concern that taking on the task of insevicing in preparation for the new Draft Curriculum over the summer would not provide teachers with the respite they so urgently need. Additionally, their report notes that Alberta Education has not identified the gaps that exist between current Curriculum and Draft Curriculum. As a consequence, students will be unable to engage with Draft Curriculum unless, and until, these gaps are identified and a plan to close them has been developed.
“Our schools are currently administering screening tests to students and the preliminary results demonstrate that there is a greater gap in Literacy and Numeracy than before COVID,” said Romanchuk. “Our Board has already committed a substantial number of resources to help us implement our plans to support students and teachers in closing these gaps and making this our focus next year is best for students.”
“Our sincerest thanks to the parents and community members who reached out to us to share their thoughts and perspectives,” said Chair Klaassen. “The feedback gave us opportunities to understand their positions, and to clarify ours.”
Staff who participated in the Draft Curriculum Review appreciate that the Division did not make a decision regarding validation/piloting until they had gathered teachers’ voices.