Three Year Education Plan

Three Year Education Plan 2021-2024

Rocky

Christian

School

Live Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with God!!

2021-22 to 2023-24 Three-Year Education Plan

Submitted by:

Mr. Robert Duiker, Principal

May 2021

Our Vision and Mission Statements

Vision Statement

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the home, church, and school work together to equip students to live lives that honour and serve God and contribute to society in positive ways.

Mission Statement

Rocky Christian School is a non-denominational community of Christian believers dedicated to developing and pursuing excellence in Christ-centred education.

Profile

Rocky Christian School is the Wild Rose School Division option, in the southern half of the division, for families who desire a Christian Education for their families.   Rocky Christian School has no affiliation with any particular church.  The families which make up our school community attend many different churches in the area.  

Christ-centred education is emphasized.  We strive toward a goal to prepare students for Christian life. The school is a member of the Prairie Centre for Christian Education.  The ‘centre’ is a community of schools that provides one-another with support, Christian resources, and in-service teacher professional development. 

The school endeavours to instil in students the knowledge, skills, and devotion needed to live a responsible, joyful Christian life.  The school encourages its students to excel in all areas of learning.  Along with the core studies, the school provides instruction in art, home economics , information technology, band, and music.  Additionally, a fairly extensive extracurricular sports program is offered.

Rocky Christian School is situated in the town of Rocky Mountain House, a town of about 6,500 people serving an extensive surrounding rural area.  Rocky Mountain House is located on central Alberta’s western edge of agricultural activity and on its eastern edge of forestry activity.  The oil and gas industry is the major industry in the area.  

The school enrols about 130 students from kindergarten to grade 9. The majority of our students are rural residents who are transported on school buses. 

Goal

The staff of Rocky Christian School is committed to increasing our focus on personalized learning in the 2021-2022 school year and beyond.

Inquiry Question

In what ways can we take full advantage of each student's strengths, skills, interests, and unique gifting as we design learning experiences that honour the individual identity of each student created in God's image?

Background

Wild Rose School Division advocates for powerful learning environments.  It is committed to constant improvement of the knowledge and skills of our classroom teachers as a means to improve student success.  The Division has identified seven keys to establishing such a powerful learning environment in each of our schools.  Rocky Christian School has chosen to address personalized learning, one of these seven keys, as an area to focus on in our pursuit of a powerful learning environment.

Our inquiry begins with an assumption that each student is a unique creation of a loving God.  Each student is created with not only strengths and abilities, but also with a unique timetable for the fruition of these gifts.  Additionally, we presume that data generated by such instruments as the Fountas and Pinnell reading inventory, Math Intervention Programming Instrument, and Alberta Achievement Tests create only a partial picture of the learning of each student.  However, we anticipate that improved results in every data set are possible if personalization of learning is enhanced.

The inquiry question was arrived at through a collaboration of all teachers at Rocky Christian School through a sharing of experiences and learning needs throughout the building.  A survey was created where teachers and students were asked questions to gain a better understanding of each as unique learners.  Additionally, in a parent survey (still in progress) a number of parents identified academic achievement as an area we ought to address.  We have identified personalized learning as a desirable means to meeting academic goals.

Strategies and Implementation

Teachers will develop a brief personalized learning plan for each student identifying one or two goals for each based on the data accumulated.  Teachers will review the data collected at the end of each reporting period in order to assess success and to revise the plan as necessary.

Personalized learning will not only focus on the teaching of curricular outcomes through student strengths as identified, but also on expanding the skillsets of students such that they are enabled to learn in an increasing number of ways.

Teachers will be encouraged to engage in professional development focussing on such topics as multiple intelligences, learning preferences, and differentiation.  We will support hosting professional days where we will seek out experts in personalized learning to guide our inquiry.

Data Collection

One Professional Day during each school year will be focussed on data collection.  This day will include collaborative data review and discussion regarding improvements to data collection. Data considered will include:

• Provincial Achievement Tests
• Fountas and Pinnell reading inventories
• Math Intervention Programming Instrument (MIPI)
• Student portfolios
• Parent Surveys
• Locally developed personalized learning data

Teachers will routinely share and review data regularly during times set aside for collaborative response and discussions of appropriate interventions in support of personalized learning.

Stakeholder Involvement

Rocky Christian School sees itself as more than a community of students.  We are a community of families who work together for the purpose of providing a distinctly Christian education.  As such stakeholder engagement is ongoing.

This plan has been constructed through the collaboration of students, teachers, parents on our school council, and members of the Rocky Christian School Society Board.  These four stakeholder groups will also be engaged in the monitoring of this plan in order to maintain the life and energy needed to assure that progress is constant throughout the duration of this Education Plan.  This monitoring will include teacher/student communication, ongoing sharing of data among professional staff, reporting to the school council and the society board, and ongoing discussions with members of the Wild Rose School Division senior leadership team.

Professional Learning Plan

Teacher Growth Plan time will be given during school-based PL times instead of full days, throughout the year. This time will be equivalent to two full days. We have included in this school professional learning plan a full day opportunity for staff to learn about First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives and experiences, treaties, agreements, and the history and legacy of residential schools