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Heather Grieve

Candidate for School Trustee 73 - TEA1

There are a number of factors that can affect student achievement, and those can be different from student to student and school to school.

The increasing complexity in our classrooms is one factor. When students have needs that aren’t being met, whether that is around learning, behaviour, attendance, engagement or access to supports, it can affect their ability to be successful. That also has an impact on teachers and other staff who are supporting those students.

When we look at literacy and numeracy, I think it is important that we continue to look at the data and understand where students are doing well and where there are gaps. As a Board, our role is not to tell teachers how to teach. Our role is to ask questions, understand what the data is telling us, look at where supports and resources are needed, and provide good governance and oversight.

I will continue to ask how we are identifying and sharing what is working. If we try a pilot, activity or program in one school and we see that it is having a positive impact, how do we learn from that and look at whether it could be replicated in other schools? We don’t need every school to reinvent the wheel. There is value in sharing successful practices across the District while recognizing that schools and students have different needs.

Supporting our teachers and staff with the resources and capacity they need is an important part of that conversation. There are also challenges that are bigger than what a school district can address on its own, and I think continued advocacy with the Province is important when it comes to the resources needed to support increasingly complex classrooms.

I believe improving student achievement starts with understanding the individual needs of students, looking honestly at the data, supporting our staff, learning from what works and making responsible decisions about where resources can have the greatest impact.