Learning Services Partner with School Staff to Administer Early Years Assessments
From September 6 - 19, nine members of the Peace River School Division (PRSD) Learning Services team, consisting of four Program Coordinators, three Inclusive Education Coordinators, the Director of Learning Services, and the Deputy Superintendent, spent more than 30 days covering classes in seven schools throughout the division.
This project was implemented to free up teachers in grades one to three to administer the Alberta Education Early Years Assessments (EYA) in literacy and numeracy.
The focus of this initiative was geared towards helping teachers to become comfortable with the implementation of the literacy and numeracy assessments, as well as to assist in building overall site-based capacity to better prepare schools for administering the assessments again in January and June, and 3 times per year on a go-forward basis.
In addition to division-level staff supports, school administrators scheduled themselves into classrooms and redeployed other staff within the school (including I-coaches and EAs). This provided support for classroom teachers to collect important data about their students’ current academic strengths and challenges in literacy and numeracy.
Assessments are now complete, and data will be available soon for teachers to analyze. This information will allow them to make informed decisions about their teaching approaches and strategies for each student within their classroom.
The EYA data will complement the Division’s assessment regime detailed in the 3-Year Education Plan and will allow teachers to make data informed, educational decisions to ensure differentiated instructional and assessment practices.
Overall, this initiative has supported PRSD educators in continuing to offer an inclusionary educational system where all students can be successful.