Board Policy

Policy 101 — Assurance Framework

Grasslands Public Schools

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR ASSURANCE

The guiding principles below describe the ideals that all education partners must embrace to ensure sound and consistent decision-making in all areas assurance is provided. Public assurance providers:

• Recognize that all education partners, each with unique contributions, share responsibility for student growth and achievement;

• Build professional capacity and a commitment to continuous improvement;

• Facilitate communication and the ongoing engagement of all education partners in respectful collaborative action;

• Engage regularly with education partners, across the spectrum of public engagement strategies (informing, consulting, involving, collaborating, and empowering);

• Acknowledge that communication must be a constant throughout the engagement process;

• Consistently use evidence from a variety of sources to ensure responsive and transparent decision-making;

• Reflect local and societal contexts, enabling innovative and flexible responses in classrooms, schools, school authorities, and the government;

• Recognize the unique learning needs of students and foster equitable and inclusive learning environments;

• Commit to demonstrating fiscal responsibility and effective stewardship of resources in supporting system/student outcomes; and,

• Provide a structure to ensure that what is measured and reported is consistent with the best interests of student growth and achievement, and the goals of education in the province of Alberta.

ASSURANCE DOMAINS

Assurance in the education system happens when community members, system stakeholders, and education partners engage across five domains:

Student Growth and Achievement

Student Growth and Achievement refers to the ongoing progress students make in their learning, relative to identified provincial learning outcomes and consistent with their needs, interests, and aspirations.

Teaching and Leading

Teaching and Leading refers to teachers and leaders analyzing the learning context; attending to local and societal considerations; and applying the appropriate knowledge and abilities to make decisions resulting in quality teaching, leading, and optimum learning for all.

Learning Supports

Learning Supports refers to the mobilization of resources (including expertise, facilities, human and community services) required to demonstrate shared, system-wide responsibility for all children and students, and the application of these resources to ensure quality teaching and leading and optimum learning for all.

Governance

Governance refers to the processes by which policy leaders attend to local and societal context; determine strategic direction; evaluate policy implementation; and manage fiscal resources to ensure learning supports, quality teaching and leading, and optimum learning for all.

Local and Societal Context

Local and Societal Context refers to the engagement practices of schools and communities, with support from the broader system, in identifying and responding to the learning needs, interests, aspirations, and diverse cultural, social, and economic circumstances of all students.

PROCEDURES

The Board shall:

• Review and approve the Division's Three Year Plan with accompanying budget in accordance with provincial deadlines;

• Review Divisional Data;

• Review and approve the Annual Education Results Report including the audited Financial Statement in accordance with provincial deadlines;

• Review Board key areas of action in consideration of the AERR;

• Report the Annual Education Results Report, Three Year Plan, annual budget, and audited financial statement to all stakeholders.

• Require each school principal to develop, maintain, and annually revise a School Education Plan and Annual Result Report as outlined in Administrative Procedure 300.