Submitted by: P.E.I. Home and School Federation
WHEREAS the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) and English Language School Board (ELSB) in Prince Edward Island have been encouraging greater parent engagement in students’ education, and
WHEREAS studies show the level of parent engagement is directly linked to student achievement and outcomes, and
WHEREAS parents and students are frustrated and overwhelmed by the host of engagement tools used by teachers/schools such as teacher blogs, websites, social media sites, StudentsAchieve System (SAS), etc., and
WHEREAS the DEECD and ELSB systematically supports teachers’ timely use of SAS as the primary communication tool for student attendance and mark management at the intermediate and senior high school levels, and
WHEREAS the greatest level of overall parent engagement occurs at the elementary school level;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the PEI Home and School Federation requests the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and English Language School Board allow parents' access to the StudentsAchieve System at the elementary school level; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the PEIHSF requests the DEECD and ELSB to support elementary school teachers’ use of SAS beyond that of school attendance at the elementary school level and establish consistent and clear procedures for use by teachers that is communicated to parents.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
| Destination: | Department of Education and Early Childhood Development English Language School Board |
English Language School Board: The main use of SAS at the primary/elementary school level is for the preparation of report cards by teachers. In addition, attendance collection is completed for the purpose of the data being reported in the report cards. Therefore, data entry and printing by teachers are its two main functions. The third use is to enable schools to send mass emails – outbound only. This is done if the school is prepared to input all parents’ email addresses into its system. As well, it is important to recognize that some families do not have computers or email access, and therefore each school determines if this is an effective use for communicating to its parents and guardians. Because of the age of the children in their schools, primary/elementary teachers and administrators engage in a more effective process than a one-way e-mail communication to parents to deal with student absence. (October 15, 2015)
Education, Early Learning and Culture: As this resolution relates to the operations of the school board, I will defer this to the English Language School Board for their response. (October 20, 2015)