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Dr. Lawrence St Leger

What really works in promoting health in schools?

From recent commissions which sought answers to this question. Dr. St Leger shares how schools can use this evidence to add value to their initiatives.

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School Wide Powerful Learning PDF Print E-mail

Formative Assessment Strategies and Comprehensive School Health: School Wide Powerful Learning

Six Formative Assessment Strategies (promoted by Dr. Linda Kaser and Dr. Judy Halbert) and Comprehensive School Health are each frameworks for supporting improvement in overall student achievement in all realms of education, not just academic learning.  Both frameworks support the overall development of the child.

The Six Formative Assessment Strategies, used as Assessment For Learning in the classroom are:

  1. provide learners with clarity about and understanding of the learning intentions of the task - learners should be able to tell someone else in their own words the learning intentions and how they connect to life beyond school.
  2. provide to and co-develop with learners the criteria for success so that the learners understand what they are trying to get better at.
  3. provide regular, thoughtful feedback that moves learning forward for the individual learner - learners understand what to improve and how to improve it.
  4. use thoughtful classroom questions that lead to discussions that generate evidence of learning - both adult and student learners use questioning as a means of understanding.
  5. put learners to work as learning and teaching resources for each other so that productive learning can take place.
  6. ensure that learners are the owners of their own learning - learners are genuinely engaged in their learning and confident that they can learn and think about their own learning.

 

Comprehensive School Health addresses four distinct but inter-related pillars that provide a strong foundation for student achievement and together they provide a unique opportunity to ensure a positive learning experience for our students.

  • Pillar 1 Social and physical environment
  • Pillar 2 Teaching and learning
  • Pillar 3 Healthy school policy
  • Pillar 4 Partnerships and services in the school environment

Pillar 1

The social environment means the quality of relationships between staff and students in the school.  The emotional well-being of students in the learning community is primary as is the relationships with families and the community at large.  All six formative assessment strategies emphasize relationship, moral purpose and trust and are designed to maximize individuals' personal capacity.

The physical environment includes the building, grounds, play space and equipment in and surrounding the school, as well as basic amenities such as sanitation and air quality.  As owners of their learning students develop a sense of responsibility towards their environment and will seek relationships within their communities in their efforts to create a sense of belonging not only to the school, but the community at large.  Learners will seek ways to create a sense of community.  Learners will develop questions about how to contribute meaningfully to both their local and global environment as their sense of efficacy increases because they see they are making a difference through their community service.  Community members and other agencies will be accepted as valid contributors to the learning taking place and both adult and student learners will see their involvement.

Pillar 2

Teaching and learning includes the curricula prescribed by territory or provincial bodies, including a wide range of resources and activities where students gain age-appropriate knowledge and experiences, helping to build the skills to improve their health and well-being.  Learners will be provided with clearly stated learning intentions.  This enables students to access background knowledge and formulate questions to lead to deeper understandings.  Together with the criteria for success students will be engaged and be able to monitor their learning.  Learners will be able to create a new knowledge of their world by developing inquiries and problem solving strategies.  Through thoughtful feedback provided by peers and teachers, students will learn how to identify their strengths, improve their learning and be enabled to move forward as lifelong learners.

Pillar 3

Healthy School Policy is the management of practice and decision making process that develop the rules, procedures and policies at all levels that promote health and well being, and shape a respectful, welcoming and caring environment.  Learners are working as learning/teaching resources for each other as they explore and develop skills that help create acceptance of differences and similarities, respect and belonging in order to understand the world around them and develop the knowledge of how to be.  Learners will work together to create positive life styles.

Pillar 4

Partnerships and services includes the connections between the school and students' families.  It focuses on the supportive working relationships within the school, between schools, and between schools and other community organizations and representative groups that work together to advance school health and student and staff well-being.  The learning conversations that take place between these groups focus on the deep and thoughtful questions that provide the necessary stimulus for conversations and inquiries that will lead to changes of practice.

When undertaken together, the Six Formative Assessment Strategies within the Comprehensive School Health framework create a powerful influence on both student and teacher learning and will prove to be powerful tools to help students, educators and communtiy members affect overall student achievement.