ConnectEd
324 Eckhardt Avenue E.
Penticton, BC V2A 1Z2
Principal: Todd Manuel SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (2014 ‐15) ConnectEd is a teacher-led Kindergarten to Adult school that is an umbrella school for a number of
unique education programs, including Continuing Education, Home Learners, Junior and Senior
Alternate, and Distributed Learning. All of these programs provide options for students and families.
Students are enrolled at ConnectEd, which is a public school, and the student program is the
responsibility of ConnectEd.
Each student’s learning is supervised by a teacher certified in British Columbia (parents are not teachers,
but may help facilitate their child’s learning).
Each student must be assessed on a regular basis, and receive provincial letter grades, report cards and
a permanent student record – just the same as they would in any B.C. neighbourhood school.
Upon meeting requirements for graduation, students will receive a British Columbia Dogwood certificate.
We offer families:
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resources, support, and instructional assistance needed to plan and deliver a quality
educational program reflective of individual needs, values and philosophies
ongoing communication between families and our staff, using a variety of modes
teacher-led ongoing assessment and evaluation, linked directly to provincial learning outcomes
options in methods of course delivery, such as paper-based or online, determined after
consultation with teachers
unique opportunities for students to work with peers on an ongoing basis through a variety of
activities
ConnectEd
Mission Statement
ConnectEd strives to create a rich learning environment that meets the
individual needs of students. We believe that students need to be
supported and encouraged by a community involving their families,
educators and others within their network.
Our school is supported by an active PAC. This support provides a meaningful connection to the
surrounding environment and offers students the chance for involvement with and service to others.
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OBJECTIVE To increase efficiencies and effectiveness of DL delivery by: 
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Providing scheduled staff collaboration sessions that align with other district schools. Piloting a blended model of D.L. course deliver and teacher support within the high schools. Automating the progress tracking – look to move to BCLN SMS to support. Build a scheduled interview process to facilitate HLP communication and assessment.
Partner with our PAC to provide social opportunities, particularly for our K‐7 learners.
Partner with our district high schools to create ConnectEd “satellite” campuses to facilitate more face to face learning opportunities for our students working in blended programs.
Review overall completion rates for our DL courses – look at best practice models to support an increased percentage of students getting through their DL classes. RATIONALE: 
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ConnectEd teachers tend to have a vast and diverse student case load which makes tracking and monitoring progress very difficult. ConnectEd teachers have long realized that the most difficult part of distributed learning is making connections with students who are not in a school setting on a daily basis. Our hope is that by increasing the availability of D.L. teachers within schools in a blended model of learning that student completion rates will increase. Distributed learning policy requires teachers to communicate with students on a regular basis. Our blended learning pilot will emphasis face to face teacher contact to augment on‐line communication within the parameters of D.L. rules and Ministry of Education guidelines. The standard three report cards and three interim report cards do not equate to effective understanding of students’ needs and progress. ConnectEd teachers will continue to develop their capacity with a new progress system – the BCLN Student Management System has been adopted by the school this year. It will allow greater communication around student progress between teachers, students and parents on an ongoing basis.
ACTION PLAN OBJECTIVES: Specific Steps to answer our question OR More specific questions? 1. How do we ensure that students in a Distributed Learning environment are successful in our program? 2. How do we go beyond simply communicating to students about academic progress to:  making meaningful connections with students  planning for the future (future schooling, graduation and beyond)  creating meaningful, relevant educational programs STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES: For all students and our most vulnerable learners.  ConnectEd teachers / administrator communicate with students 12 months of the year.  Regular communication with students and parents by: email, phone, face‐to‐face meetings and classes, Moodle (online course); interim reports; PAC meetings. School District No. 67 (Okanagan-Skaha)
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Ensuring better understanding of the Distributed Learning Stakeholders’ Agreement (regarding roles and responsibilities of parents, students, and educators). School Based Team meetings; involvement of appropriate outside agencies; collaboration between ConnectEd teachers; administrators and other district schools regarding students in blended programs (for example, regular communication with counsellors and the middle and high school level regarding students requiring extra support while taking blended programs or transitioning back into the bricks and mortar school). ConnectEd administration supports and encourages professional development activities (provincial DL conferences, targeted team meetings, course revisions, etc.). Setting schedules for student attendance and communication. ConnectEd teachers have made extra efforts this year to make daily contact with our most vulnerable learners and their families. HLP students were provided with ConnectEd sponsored laptops. ASSESSMENT PROCESS & TOOLS: What will we use to measure our success?  Daily attendance kept at ConnectEd Alternate Schools.  ConnectEd teachers are keeping records of communication with students / parents.  ConnectEd continues to be diligent with ensuring that the Stakeholders’ Agreement is being upheld and that students are adhering to their student learning plan and timelines agreed upon.  As senior (DL grades 8‐12) students are given 12 months to complete courses, with flexibility for open ended completion dates based on ongoing communication between teachers, students and guardians. Our timelines for measurement are continuous and based upon individual students’ course completion.  As we have a significant number of at‐risk students, setting realistic goals for achievement and course completion is always individual to the student. Success for these vulnerable learners is unique.  Measuring connectedness is an ongoing process for ConnectEd teachers and administrators, the school district, and outside agencies, in relation to individual student needs. As we move to our Blended program pilot, we will look to collect feedback from students and parents through surveys and anecdotal data collection. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING: How will we increase our capacity and collaboration?  Collaborative planning (school and district based).  Collaboration between ConnectEd teachers / administrators and outside agencies.  Our alternate school has started a monthly collaborative meeting with members of CYMH, MCFD, RCMP, and Interior Health to discuss larger community issues, share resources, and plan supports for our most at‐risk students. RESOURCES: What do we currently have and what do we need? What do we have?  Technology to support learners in a Distributed Learning environment  A set schedule  A school building for students to attend  Individual student learning plans  Curriculum resources School District No. 67 (Okanagan-Skaha)
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What do we need?  Time to develop quality, relevant, online courses.  Time to collaborate with other educators on student needs in a Distributed Learning / Alternate school setting.  Continued communication /teamwork with all facets of education in SD67 (special education; BIS, PAS, HLP, school‐based counselors; elementary programs). PARENT INVOLVEMENT: How parents will become partners in our efforts? 
ConnectEd teachers / administrator invite regular communication with and involvement from parents in their child’s learning at ConnectEd.
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Parents are considered to be facilitators of their child’s learning in Distributed Learning. ConnectEd teachers are respectful of the fact that parents face challenges in this role, and make efforts to support parents in providing this form of education.
 Regular communication between ConnectEd, parents, and district schools when ConnectEd students are a blended program. EVIDENCE KEY FINDINGS: What did we find out?  We began piloting the BCLN SMS in February. This Student Management Program allows teachers and counselors to be communicating student progress and achievement more effectively with students and parents. It also created clarity and efficiency during report card timelines, as we are now able to run more user friendly reports. We also piloted a blended learning model at Penticton Secondary School, where one of our D.L. teachers made time available during the week to connect with students. While we do not have all of our updated completion data available for this school year at this time, our anecdotal evidence would suggest that student achievement and completion rates will increase as a direct result of our D.L. teacher making office support hours available at the school. We will be able to report out on this once our SADE data is available for the 2014‐15 school year. This pilot has led us to begin plans to run a more robust blended model of D.L. support in all three high schools beginning September 2015. NARRATIVE: What successes and/or challenges are not reflected in the data?  As a small school, we are unable to offer as many elective area choices to our students through D.L. as we would like. We are also limited in the number of core courses that we can offer. Our alternate school has increased its student FTE significantly, and while that has been very positive for the students who have been referred to alternate, we have to work to find creative ways to support this larger number of students, both with academic course and recreational opportunities. There have been regular “school visioning” meetings throughout the year to address these issues, and to help support the teachers, support staff and students who are involved in our district alternate programs. School District No. 67 (Okanagan-Skaha)
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REFLECTION AND SUMMARY REFLECTIONS: What did we learn? How did it make a difference? ConnectEd has gone through some significant changes during the 2014‐15 school year. Our alternate programs have increased in FTE from 22 students to 47. We have added a teacher to support this growth, as well as a part time youth worker. Our alternate team began meeting around creating a vision for the school, which included creating more opportunities to collaborate with outside agencies. This spring, we have begun monthly meetings with representation from MCFD, CYMH, RCMP, PDCRS, and I.H. These collaborative meetings have been very effective in looking for ways to support our students more effectively in a “wrap around” model of service delivery. Our Distributed Learning school piloted a blended model of student support. D.L. teachers began making office hours in each of our three high schools in an effort to increase the amount of face to face contact with students. So far, the anecdotal evidence is quite promising, and we believe student achievement and completion rates will increase. This has lead us to expanding this pilot into the 2015‐16 school year. We also piloted a computer programming course called “Code 67”, which embedded open source learning resources from post‐secondary institutions around North America, including Stanford, M.I.T., and the University of Toronto. The student response to this learning opportunity was overwhelming, and we had to turn some students away. We are hoping to build on the success of this course next year. FUTURE PLANNING: Where do we go from here? The ConnectEd programs will continue to provide unique learning opportunities for the students of SD67. We are looking to expand our elective opportunities in the next school year, and hope to offer Digital Media in September 2015. We will continue to explore blended learning opportunities, and have plans to expand our blended learning pilot in our high schools. We are hopeful that this pilot will result in increased completion rates in all of our D.L. courses. School Planning Council: Name (Principal): Name (Parent): Name (Parent): Name (Parent): School District No. 67 (Okanagan-Skaha)