Student Success

Father Ray Modeski's homily at mass rang true for me this past Saturday.  It hit me as a Catholic educator and as a Catholic Principal at Christ the King C.S.S.

He was recounting a mass he had presided over recently for teacher retirees of the Halton Catholic District School Board.  To wit, he reiterated the words of a long-retired Superintendent in our board.  This gentleman stated that "good students earn our reputation; average students earn our salary; and difficult students earn our salvation."
As you take a moment to re-read this statement,  it sums up what our exceptional teachers do on a daily basis; teachers that embrace, understand and appreciate the complexities of their role and of the students they welcome through their classroom doors everyday that class is in session.  We are very blessed to have a Catholic Learning Environment filled with such teachers.

The Catholic Principal's role is to provide the instructional leadership, resources and job-embedded professional learning opportunities for their teaching staff which in turn will benefit all of our students in terms of meeting their diverse needs in the way curriculum is delivered and assessed. 

It is the Catholic Principal's role to communicate a message and put into practice a vision of discipleship for the entire Catholic Learning Community which directly impacts how we engage and support those students that are vulnerable, poor and/or disenfranchised.  Specifically, each learning environment should layer student success, mental health and co-curricular supports over the academic pieces mentioned earlier.

The Ministry of Education launched phase one of the their student success strategy called "Student Success/Learning to 18" in three phases commencing in 2003.  The goals are:

1. Increase the graduation rate and decrease the drop-out rate;
2. Support a good outcome for all students;
3. Provide students with new and relevant learning opportunities;
4. Build on students' strengths and interests; and
5. Provide students with an effective elementary to secondary school transition.

As you can see in the graphic, graduation rates have been increasing.  We are close to the goal of 85% as a province.

It has been through this strategy that students now have more supports from an intervention standpoint, more cooperative education opportunities that would go toward their Ontario Secondary School Diploma, access to a growing list of Specialist High Skills Major Programs (CtK has three: Arts & Culture, Information & Communication Technology, & a Sports Performance Specialist High Skills Major)

In the end, it is the one-on-one bond that a teacher makes with his/her students.  It is their efforts in opening up their hearts and in looking for Christ in the faces of each student they teach.  This approach will only spirit cooperation, a commitment to excellence and in the end....student success.

Thanks for reading.  Looking forward to your comments.