Our Focus:

Over the past several months, we have surveyed students, parents and staff about what makes Tomsett a great school and what we can do to enhance the educational experiences of our students.  From that data we discovered a number of different things, some that we already knew about and others that made us pause and reflect on our practice.

First we re-affirmed what a kind, caring, hard-working staff we have and in turn what a kind, caring and hard working group of students we have.  We also discovered that our parent group appreciates our efforts and believes in our ability to providing a safe, orderly and caring school for their children.

We also discovered that our students are not as well connected to their learning as we would like them to be.  They seem to know what they are good at or what challenges them, but do not always know how they know.  Many students have also indicated that although they are somewhat familiar with where they have been in their learning, they do not have a strong sense for where they are going.

As a result, our staff has chosen to focus on Assessment for Learning as our school goal and more specifically, focus on the strand of Student Self-Assessment to help students better connect to their learning experience and overall improved performance.

Our Learning & Actions for 2017/18:

Our FESL Committee has met on a few occasions and with the support of the entire staff has developed a 4 step approach to enhancing student learning through self-assessment.

Start with a base-line survey of teachers to ask the questions, “Are we providing opportunities for our students to engage in self-assessment?” and “Can you imagine what self-assessment might look like in your classroom?”.

Staff will teach the concept of self-assessment, including using common language so that students will improve their ability to self-assess.

Break down the process of reflection and criteria for improvement

Establish common language

Create child friendly rubrics

We will measure whether or not self-assessment is helping to improve student learning.

Evidence will include the following:

Report Card Data

Staff/Student/Parent Surveys

Assessment of improved discussions at school and at home

Teachers will take part in professional development to improve own ability to teach self- assessment.

Invite assessment experts to come and present to staff

Staff discussion, collaboration and practice creating language and rubrics

Ongoing reflection and assessment of effectiveness 

Dedicate at least 3 prod sessions for next year towards our school focus

Our Evidence:

            After collection of baseline data in the fall of 2017, we will begin to compare further data collected in the form of student work, testimonies, surveys, report cards and artifacts of student self-assessments collected throughout the year.  Our hope is that all forms of evidence will show signs of improved knowledge and skills and overall connectedness to their learning.  At the same time, we hope that the same may be said for our own ability to teach and support the concept of self-assessment and that our overall ability to effectively assess student progress will also improve.