I Purpose and Promise of School Planning Councils
As described by the Ministry of Education, “the purpose of School Planning Councils is to formally acknowledge the importance of parental involvement in improving student achievement.” It is important to view the implementation of School Planning Councils as integral to the broader focus of Directions as an extensive, long-term and wide ranging plan for the District. School Planning Councils are structures that support the key directions of “continuous improvement” and “performance assessment,” among others.
It is also key to view SPCs as structures linked to the District’s core purposes, beliefs, relationships and competencies. SPCs should serve the school district in a way that complements its existing structures and continues to promote collaborative involvement of the school community.
With this in mind, the Board of School Trustees has affirmed their commitment to implement School Planning Councils in a way that “honours the history of parent involvement in Richmond schools, our understanding of effective practice in this regard, and district goals with respect to collaborative engagement of all partner groups.”
The potential for SPCs to strengthen the collaborative culture of the Richmond School District can be realized in the following ways:
• By looking thoughtfully at how students are performing, the SPC helps schools to focus on their core educational purpose.
• By initiating and sustaining ongoing conversations about student learning with parents, students, administrators, teachers, and support staff, the Council can help maintain a rich and meaningful dialogue about learning in the school community.
• By creating and implementing a plan for continuous improvement, the SPC ensures that the school is constantly engaged in a cycle of analysis, decision making, reflection and review of student performance.
School Planning Councils have great promise as a way to enhance the tradition of strong collaborative relationships in the Richmond School District while serving the core purposes of education. We are committed to establishing SPCs in a thoughtful and deliberate way that is based on developing a common sense of their purposes, composition and possibilities over time. In this way School Planning Councils will reach their full potential as a way of supporting the collaborative culture of the Richmond School District.
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