 |
|
|
|
|
  
|
Students 'capable in their environment' Laura Busch Northern News Services Published Wednesday, December 14, 2011
"The initial intent of the program was to look at how we can provide more opportunity for, in particular, aboriginal students," said Dianne Lafferty, aboriginal education co-ordinator for Yellowknife Catholic Schools. "In particular, to provide leadership opportunities. Often, we have students who have the potential to be leaders but may not have the supports or may not have the economic resources to pursue leadership." The Do Edaezhe program was rolled out between the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010. In the Tlicho language, Do Edaezhe means a person who is skillful on the land - or a person who is capable in their environment. "When I was first developing this program, I consulted with elders from Dettah and we didn't have a title," said Lafferty. "We thought it was very apt for what we were talking about." A parent satisfaction survey done at the end of the school year last year found an "overwhelming majority" of parents were very happy with their children participating in Do Edaezhe and felt more comfortable going into the school and participating in the school community, Lafferty said. Between 53 per cent and 67 per cent of students have improved attendance since entering the program, she said. Participants in the hands-on portion of the program showed the most improvement in attendance. "As a result of that, we've shown between 75 and 80 per cent improvement in terms of office referrals - so, in terms of behaviour at the school," said Lafferty. "And even better than all of that, we're showing academic improvement." The Crime Prevention Action Fund gave the program $7.2 million over five years in federal money, starting in 2009, to get Do Edaezhe up and running. This affects which students are selected to be in the program. Interested students can request to join Do Edaezhe, though many are referred because they're looking to gain leadership skills or because they have attendance issues. "Eighty per cent of the students in the program are aboriginal, because the program was set up to have an aboriginal theme to it," said Lafferty. The program has three parts. Typically, students participate in only one part, though there is some overlap. The first part is the community liaison portion, where students who are struggling with attendance or need other assistance to balance their home and school life work with a support worker, said Lafferty. Any student who consistently has less than 80 per cent attendance is referred to community liaison support. The second part of Do Edaezhe is the mentorship program. Students partner with a mentor who is usually a staff member at their school but can also be a community member. The third part of the program is the Leadership Resiliency Program (LRP). This is the hands-on part of Do Edaezhe for grades 9 to 12. Once a month, students participate in an adventure activity out on the land. This month, students have been trapping on ice up Dettah Road. Recently, they have experienced rabbit camp, fishing camp, and jigging. The hands-on program for the grades 1 to 8 students is not called LRP, but is very similar. Students participating in the LRP program also volunteer in the community once a month for education and experience. Since the program began, 724 students have gone through it. As of the end of October there were 478 students in the district who were part of Do Edaezhe. Two hundred and fifty-seven of them are in the LRP program, 44 are in mentorship, 119 are in community liaison support and 58 students are on the attendance watch list. "We can't force anybody to be a part of this program," said Lafferty. "They need to agree to participate or volunteer to participate ... and they want to stay in the program. "
|
