Northern Lights School Board wins $10,000 Premier’s Award for School Board Excellence
Release date: November 20, 2001
A literacy project which saw student reading levels jump dramatically has earned the Northern Lights Board of Education the 2001 Premier’s Award for School Board Innovation and Excellence. Sponsored by The Document Company Xerox, this $10,000 award recognizes the unique contribution school boards make to public education. It was presented at the Alberta School Boards Association’s Fall General Meeting on November 20.
Citing learning to read as the cornerstone for all other learning -- and with
goals of having all Kindergarten children reading before they entered Grade
1 and all Grade 1 to 12 students reading at grade level -- the Northern Lights
Board of Education Literacy Project met its goals and then some.
The numbers tell the tale. By the end of the year, over 98 per cent of Kindergarten
students were reading picture books with comprehension and some Kindergarten
children were reading Grade 2 books. Of all the students in the program, 75
to 82 per cent now read at or above grade level. Moreover, the unique Northern
Lights approach to enhancing literacy showed that gender, socio-economic status
and special needs coding did not predict student success.
The Northern Lights Literacy Project included:
- Literacy Enhanced Four-Day Kindergarten: serving the jurisdiction’s
youngest students in seven elementary schools, this multi-level teaching approach
led to 98 per cent of Kindergarten students reading picture books with comprehension
by the end of the year.
- Early Literacy Intervention: offering intensive assistance to students in
Grades 2 and 3 who were having difficulty reading, this project proved effective
with 75 to 82 percent of the 500 students involved, including some students
who had severe handicaps.
- “Just Read”: a division-wide home reading program now entering
its third year, saw 6,400 students read over one million books outside school
hours. Superheroes Captain Just Read and Just Read Woman spurred student involvement.
- The “Read to Succeed” program: aimed at overage beginning readers,
students in Grades 4 to 12 could take part in this project, which provided
90 minutes of literacy instruction each day. Some students entered the program
reading at a Grade 2 level. Seventy-five per cent of all the students in this
program now read at or above grade level.
- Alberta Initiative for School Improvement: Grade 1 and 2 projects featured smaller class sizes combined with intensive professional development for teachers. In some classes, more than 90 per cent of the students read at or above grade level by year-end.
In launching this project, the Northern Lights School Board, which serves the
Bonnyville/Cold Lake region, wanted to create a sustainable initiative. Working
with leading literacy experts, the jurisdiction focused on staff development
to create its own in-house team of crack literacy specialists. The Northern
Lights Literacy Cadre is a group of teachers who learned how to teach literacy
skills with the goal of teaching them to other staff members. By the end of
this school year, members of the Literacy Cadre will take over training for
the Northern Lights Literacy Project.
Fifteen boards were in the running for the 2001 Premier’s Award. The judges
chose the Northern Lights literacy project because it was grounded in research,
easily replicated by other school boards and very successful.
“Students win when a school board wins an award like this,” said
Heather Welwood, Chair Northern Lights Board of Education.
“Xerox Canada is proud to sponsor the Premier’s Award Program and
to be an active partner in education,” said Linda Lucas, Education Specialist
with Xerox Canada. “This awards program provides an opportunity to recognize
the leadership of school boards and celebrates innovation and excellence in
public education. We would like to thank all of the participants and to congratulate
Northern Lights School Division and the other award finalists for their work
on behalf of the children of Alberta."
For more information contact: Heather Welwood, Chair, Northern Lights Board of Education at 1.780.826.3145 (Attn. Ellen) or Suzanne Lundrigan, ASBA Manager of Communications at 1.780.451.7122.
The Alberta School Boards Association serves and represents all Alberta’s public, separate and francophone school boards.
