If you have been a part of the Peace River School Division community for the last couple of years you may have read or heard us reference our culture of Collaborative Response. But, maybe you aren't really sure what we mean by that. 

As part of our 5-year Education Plan, our goals are to ensure every student is successful in literacy, numeracy, and through inclusionary practices. However, we acknowledge that this is nearly impossible a task for any one teacher alone. Enter Collaborative Response.

This method of organizing school staff utilizes the power of the collective team to identify and respond to student needs in a purposeful, solution-focused manner, while also ensuring the ongoing building of organizational capacity throughout our team. A culture of Collaborative Response involves three parts: collaborative structures and processes, data and evidence, and a school-wide continuum of supports.

Collaborative Structures and Processes

The PRSD has implemented collaborative structures and processes through our Central Operations Learning Services and Learning Supports teams. This team of primarily former classroom teachers includes a literacy program coordinator, a numeracy program coordinator, a K-6 curriculum implementation coordinator, an Indigenous Education Program coordinator, an early learning and inclusive education coordinator, and several mental health program coordinators. 

By having a team of people who are individually focused on a specific purpose, we have been successful in establishing support for not only our students but also our staff, especially in relation to our students with intensive needs.

Data and Evidence

We utilize various sets of data and evidence to inform our conversations around identifying strengths and challenges, areas of instruction to target, and to provide information regarding the effectiveness of the supports being put in place for our students. To view some of that data, please check out our most recent Annual Education Results Report. This report is a requirement of any school division within Alberta, however, the PRSD has chosen to go beyond what is required of us in our reporting. We have chosen to not only report our data, but to provide comment on that data, noting our successes and areas for continued improvement.

It is also important to note that when reading the report, you will notice we have separated our data to reflect our student results in two categories: Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. We have chosen to do this as a way of being transparent in our efforts to eliminate the achievement gap that has historically existed between these two sets of students. It is our goal that, through the careful analysis of our data and use of our collaborative processes and structures and continuum of supports, we will be able to eliminate this achievement gap.

Continuum of Supports

The phrase "Continuum of Supports" is another education phrase that our community may or may not be familiar with. When we talk about our continuum of supports, we are talking about the "menu" of strategies and resources we use for some, or all, of our students. 

A continuum of supports involves four key tiers of support, with each successive layer providing additional support that a student may need to be successful. It's important to note that the tiers always refer to the level of supports provided, and never the students. As our staff respond to their students' needs, our students may flow between tiers of support, or the "menu" of options available to our students. This menu includes everything from universal classroom instruction received by all students to individualized supports for complex student needs involving divisional personnel and/or external service providers.

For more information on how the Division implements Collaborative Response, contact your school to ask about the supports that may be available for your student, or explore our website. A great place to start is under the "Our Division" menu tab and then click on "Programs & Services."