By Rose Sanchez
For the Commentator/Courier
Prairie Rose School Division (PRSD) students are excited about learning thanks to the work being
done through the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) program.
Trustees learned more about the importance of the program at the Jan. 10 regular board meeting.
They watched a video which highlighted some of the projects under the program taking place in seven schools.
This is the last year for Cycle 4 of the program. Plans are underway for Cycle 5, but it is unknown how much funding may be available from Alberta Education.
AISI saw a 50 per cent reduction in funding when the provincial budget was released last spring. Some of that funding was returned in the fall, but projects did lose some momentum, said Brian Andjelic, deputy superintendent.
In the video, students and teachers spoke about the importance of their AISI projects and talked about how much they were learning. Teachers mentioned improvements in reading levels and students talked about how learning is more fun.
“I think from the video you can get a sense of the energy levels in our schools around our projects,” said Andjelic. “AISI allows you to take some guided risks and try new things.”
Linda Matsumoto and Dave Blemings oversee AISI at a division-wide level.
Matsumoto said there is growing excitement about Cycle 5. Teachers are coming up with project ideas based upon data collected from their own school surveys and results and finding ways to try to fill the gaps.
Andjelic pointed out staff participation is essential.
“If there isn’t a broad base of buy-in from the staff, the project really isn’t successful,” he added.
Blemings pointed out when students are surveyed about their school experience in a general way, between 30 to 40 per cent will comment positively about the effects of the AISI projects.
He said the key to continuing these projects in the future is professional development.
“People are the key to insure it carries on.”
One of the AISI projects done recently was partnering with other school divisions to create Social Studies and Math lessons for Smartboards. This was so successful those lessons are now available online for teachers to make use of and Alberta Education has set up separate funding which divisions can apply for to be used to create lessons.