Council to hire 12 more teachers for kindergarten and Grade 1 students
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Feb 16/01) - It's never too early to start teaching children.
That is why the Beaufort-Delta Education District Council (BDEC) is making more resources available for for kindergarten and Grade 1 students in the district.
BDEC director James Anderson presented the proposal for the three-year pilot initiative to those assembled at the council's regular council meeting last Friday and Saturday in Inuvik.
Anderson said the program guarantees a maximum pupil-teacher ratio of 15-1 for kindergarten and Grade 1. An extra half day of activities will be added onto kindergarten.
According to law, Anderson said the district can't offer full-day kindergarten, but this new half-day will consist of remedial and enrichment activities.
Twelve more teachers will be assigned to those levels throughout the district, and only certified teachers will be able to teach kindergarten and Grade 1.
"We know the prognosis for students is not good if they can not read by the end of Grade 1. No matter how much extra assistance we give those students in the years to come, no matter how much money, the prognosis is not good."
The proposal also calls for additional training each year for kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers, which the BDEC will pay for. Teachers will undergo more training in the teaching of reading, as well as the arts (music, art and drama).
The plan will begin this fall.
Anderson said that the average cost (salaries and other expenses) of a teacher annually is about $80,000, so the cost for the 12 positions will be $960,000. He said training costs have yet to be determined.
Anderson said the initiative will be possible due to an increase in education funding by the GNWT. But the council will have to use some of its own resources to cover the additional costs.
Results released
The approval of the council's initiative came on the heels of debate on recently released results from standardized tests taken by about 1,500 BDEC students last fall.
Elementary consultant Cathy Canavan-McGrath said the results, like those from ones in the past, suggest that many students in this district are functioning significantly below their expected grade levels.
Canavan-McGrath said when the results of those who did not complete the tests are added in, the results indicate that 74 per cent of BDEC students are in the 1-25 national percentiles range.
(A score of 40 percentiles, for example, means 40 per cent of those who took the test at that grade level scored lower.)
Canavan-McGrath said typically those in the 1-25 range need special programming.
"If we had 40 people around the room here, that would suggest that 30 in this room would not be able to read the material you have in front of you," she said.
Sharp reaction
The test results drew much discussion, including strong words from Gerri Sharpe-Staples, a member of the Inuvik District Education Authority.
"I see these results and I want to cry. Our students need our help yesterday," Sharpe-Staples said. "This is not new. We can not accept this any more."
Anderson said the new program will be a good chance improve test results. He added that an improvement at those levels should translate into an improvement in higher grades.
Samuel Hearne principal Carson Atkinson and Sir Alexander Mackenzie principal Bernie MacLean also expressed support for the new plan.
