Ruté Ojigbo: I just saw you somewhere
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: here. We are there we go. Hi! My name's Maureen Morrison. My friends are she her and I'm. Here with James Costa trek, and we're here from ported to the Prairie, which is treaty. One territory we're about an hour west from Winnipeg.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: We're here to talk about the roving campus project today, which has been going on here now for 3 years we're gonna start with a short video, and then we will transition into a presentation and hopefully leave a few minutes at the end for a short Q. A.
Welcome to a reason to attend high school education that matters before I get started. I would like to thank the Tamarack Institute and Communities building youth futures
whose support and encouragement for the roving campus made our success possible.
I also want to acknowledge our city's commitment to the calls to action. This year we will be creating a walking path to honor the first peoples who permitted the first settlement of Portugal Prairie.
My name is James Kostich Don't hesitate to contact me. If you want to talk about creating better schools
prior to my experience with the roving campus. I never considered the power of challenge as a catalyst for change.
Unfortunately, the roving campus started just as Covid rolled into Canada We faced hardships, uncertainty, and challenges. We didn't plan for we had to address physical, distancing lockdowns and sickness.
Yet it was the best teaching. But my career. like the Sasquatch in this picture, pondering my student, I have been pondering how that was possible. How could working harder in trying circumstances, be so rewarding
this 2,017 Toyota Sienna Van might be part of the answer. You see, students in the roving campus make a deal with the teachers. If they come to school, we help remove any barrier to attendance.
We make this pact in their homes with their families. It is really important to us. and we discovered something. We already suspected that getting to school is a major barrier to attendance.
Although driving young people to school sounds relatively simple. There were a lot of challenges. Administrators rightly had a lot of questions who was going to pay for the van?
Who is going to ensure it? Who is going to clean it? Who's going to change the oil? What if it needs repairs. What about winter tires? What about Covid? Protocols? Do parents know about this? Who is paying for the driver's abstract? Where will you Park?
It was clear that having a teacher shuttle driver would irritate the Bus Drivers Union and asking teachers to drive outside their work. Day would also irritate the Teachers Union, and there was no way the school division was going to pay to have a teacher be a cab driver.
I also didn't expect it would irritate the Rcmp. Who would later yell at me and threaten me with a ticket.
But we had to make this work after all. We had made a promise to our students.
So we partnered with communities, building youth futures, and hit the road
in a single school year. I drove 8,000 kilometers, transporting students outside my work day as an extracurricular activity. This is the equivalent of driving from Cape Spear in Newfoundland
to the Alaskan border
student attendance improved by nearly 40%. Here is one of our Star attendees volunteering at the homeless shelter he went from never going to school to never missing a ride to school.
Of course there is more to our success than driving a van. As I was preparing this presentation, I became aware of the work of Nassene Nicholas Talib. I adapted his thinking to explain the roving campus.
Talib argues that there are 3 system responses to challenges. Fragile systems break under pressure and are less effective. Robust systems are resilient and bounce back to normal quickly.
But the trouble with normal is, it always gets worse resiliency isn't the answer. When systems are failing people.
talib argues for anti-fragile systems. Anti-fragile systems are like bodybuilders in the gym they get stronger with challenges. No pain.
No gain.
How do you know if your school system is fragile. I think it's easy to know. Walk into a school and ask a few students what they are learning or ask a teacher. I remember once asking a teacher why he was teaching the novel. The outsiders, he responded, because it is November, and that is when I do it.
Systemic change is messy and challenging. That is why it is generational which is too slow for many of us. The roving campus is often described as a pilot Project
pilot project is a safe term to explain why we do high school differently.
One of the best moves. The roving campus made in supporting students is that we created our own essential curriculum for the courses we teach. We also teach in an interdisciplinary manner.
Students get the right amount of content to match their aspirations students are prepared for wherever they might want to go, and that includes college and university
as teachers. We found that top-down cookie cutter, professional development wasn't helping us very much. so we all decided to go back to school to earn master's degrees.
Now I am going to try to explain what worked for us because some of this may work for you. You need to know. I chose the people I worked with. I am the figure in the middle. I knew Shannon and Brett as teachers I respected and admired.
I knew that whatever challenges I faced, they were the people I wanted to work with. We designed the roving campus together. And then a student drew this picture of us that is frighteningly accurate.
We do things differently where school systems typically constrain and dictate to teachers. We have an undefined job description. We are administrators, counselors, resource teachers, support staff and bus drivers.
We also teach a multi-grade class with around 15 credits on offer. So we present something of a bargain for cash, strapped school divisions.
where school systems seek to encourage teacher uniformity, and compliance in teaching the roving campus prefers teaching targeted to the learner's. Needs.
Each student must have a viable post-graduation plan for employment. Further education or a manageable wellness. Plan we also use the community as a classroom. We spend around 40 days a year outside the school
where schools attempt to limit community interactions. Roving campus teachers seek independent partnerships with community groups and businesses.
Dilya Niezova, Region of Peel: As an example, during the Covid lockdown
we use the local movie theater because we were able to deem it a classroom. This involved coordinating with the health inspector. our local Mla and the theater owner.
where school systems attempt to control scheduling work hours and professional development to benefit the system. Roving campus teachers control time management, and professional development to benefit their students.
Where schools attempt to dictate spending and discourage grant writing. roving camp's, Teachers are out hustling to help their students.
I want to close where the roving campus begins. Here we are meeting a family on a blisteringly hot day in June we visit families when and where they want to meet.
not just during school hours.
If I leave you with a single image, I would like it to be this photo. because this is how students develop a reason to attend.
Welcome to a reason to attend high school education.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: You almost got to watch that twice.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: So now we've got a short presentation. If you have questions at any point, feel free to put them in the chat, and we can get to them at the end.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: But, like I was in the video. This was piloted a few years ago, the 2021 school year. And now we have also had the opportunity to scale it down to a great 10 living classroom as well. So we currently have 2 Robin campus classrooms.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: The original program is specifically for students who are supposed to be entering grade 12 by age, but weren't there by credit accumulation, because of poor attendance records previously.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and had 3 goals, one to increase attendance.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: to to educate students for demographic citizenship, which means to support students with skills and the ability to survive and thrive outside of the school classroom, and then 3 to raise graduation rates.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: We've had some really incredible results from Irving, Katherine. So in terms of the attendance school year, one had a 36.5% average improvement in attendance and year 2 saw a 44% increase
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: for some students. This meant from going from attending about half of their classes to attending maybe 75. But then we also had some students who had attended literally 0 classes for years and had a 0% attendance record going all the way up to 80% and coming the majority of days
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: in terms of democratic citizenship. something that was really important and actually kind of came out of necessity from Covid lockdowns is that
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: there was a lot of focus on getting different credentials, like, say, food handling, or first aid into the classroom experience, and this resulted in the first year, and having 80% of students secure summer employment before the school year was up.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and then the third goal which really follows from the first 2 being successful is the graduation rate, and we found that both years that's been completed. Every student has finished the year has either graduated or has been on track to graduate as a mature student on their nineteenth birthday without doing any more work.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: We've learned a lot of lessons over the last few years, so we've tried to sum it up into some 3 themes. Here. One is to remove barriers. You know. The students who are engaged in this program are selected because of non engagement in school, and it's usually not from a lack of interest or desire. It's often because they have very profound barriers. And so, by having a ban and offering rides by having lunch provided at the school every day, and by really working one on one with each student to identify what's stopping them from.
I'm coming.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: It's been really successful to say, okay, Well, that we can deal with, You know that's sorted. You know. What else is stopping you from coming. Let's deal with that, too, and the teachers do a really incredible job of making sure that they're working with each student to make that happen.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Another key one is the novelty increases engagement. So if you're pictured, we've got the students putting up a TV, probably third or fourth they put up that year. They're often experts in the year at that.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and it it just goes to show they're always out in the community and doing really hands on learning. And that's something that we, when we do end of your interviews, or when we do post-graduation follow up
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: a lot of students. Talk about how meaningful it was that their learning experiences were hands on and new and different from what they've been doing in school previously.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: And last, but definitely not least, prioritize physical and emotional needs. And for this, you know, on top of the the typical very removal for everyone of providing rides and food. A lot of students, through connecting with the roving campus often end up getting connected to health services, mental health services.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: you know, support that they might need to make sure that they can be in a place that they're ready to show up and succeed in school. and the teachers do a really good job of taking a very holistic view of of what it means to support a student.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: There' been a number of takeaways as well, and these are really based on, like, I said, the connections that we've had with students post graduation, and what they've said has been most impactful
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: down the road. We've had a really unique opportunity to to be connecting with students who are now 2 years post graduation and finding out what are some of the longer term impacts of being part of the roving campus.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Something that comes up a lot is the certifications and job search skills
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: like I said that was kind of born out of Covid; that wasn't originally part of the roving campus plan, or at least in the in the extent that it ended up being. But because a lot of lockdowns happened in the first year the teachers started seeking it. Well, what can we bring into the classroom and certifications ended up being part of it, and it was something that a lot of students mentioned at the end of the year as being something that should keep going. And so it has.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Another piece is there's a need for Id so a lot of students we found didn't have things like a social assurance number, or their status card.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: or just any sort of photo Id but we in the first year found a lot of that out near the end of the school year when the students were trying to get jobs and we realized books, they actually legally can't until this piece gets sorted. And so that's something that
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: now we integrate into the very beginning part of each school year.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and stemming from that each year will have its own challenges. So we're now in cohort 3, and each group has been quite different, and in what the students need, what's happening in the world around us, and it? It really has
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: shown that the teachers need to be approaching it with some of the same foundational understandings, but very much the adaptability and the willingness to adjust as needed, based on who's in the classroom?
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Another piece around that is, student interest should guide learning. So in that last slide of the video, James spoke about meeting with the students and their families at the end of the year, and that's something where I I've gotten to be part of those interviews as well, and students are asked about what they want to learn about what they want to help teach about. You know what their interests are, and that really does guide what lessons happen through the year.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: And again students talk about that years down the road, about how cool it was to learn about something, and how that's really impacted their life. Since then.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: in terms of student to teacher ratios. We have a class of about 20 students and 2 teachers, and James did touch on this in terms of how many credits they carry. But this is something again that students have brought up is so important to them that they've had the opportunity to have those one on one relationships with the teachers
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and in terms of post school advocacy. This was something that was brought up a lot at the end of the first year, because we didn't have that really lined up, and because students brought that up, we were able to then secure an external grant
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: to hire a full time Person who is, are. You support navigator, and her whole job is to support current and graduated students. And so that's how we stay connected to these students and find out. You know what they're navigating now, how we can support them, and how the roving campus has set them up for success.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and I like I mentioned the beginning. We've had the opportunity this year to scale to create a second classroom, so we have 2 classrooms going right now, and our big question, and and the reason we wanted to do that was to find out whether or not we just had this fluke group of, you know, like the perfect trio of teachers, to make this happen for the first 2 years.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Or if this is something that you could really take the the foundation and the framework, and scale it to other grade levels or other communities through knowledge transfer.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: And we also have another community building these features. Community dig the Nova Scotia, who's doing a very similar project based on rubbing campus right now, too, which is really cool to see and and to be able to kind of find out what they're learning at the same time, and see what lines up and what's maybe different in their community.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: Then, from what we're experiencing.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: So I think I've left a few minutes here for questions. If anyone has
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: you, you might wanna correct me if I' to move on right away. But
Ruté Ojigbo: I think we have like a minute or so. So if anyone has any questions. okay.
Ruté Ojigbo: surely.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and you can put them in the chat, or you can unmute and raise your hand either, or
Ruté Ojigbo: it looks like we have a question from Richard.
Richard DS: Yes.
Richard DS: had a got a question. There is a is a
Richard DS: the point that you made there by
Richard DS: people going from? No.
Richard DS: no, no.
Richard DS: like a 0% attendance rate to at 80% or 90%.
Richard DS: How did you deal with people that we're just starting to learn the curriculum? And how did you weave them in, together with people that are already advanced in the curriculum. That that seems to be a big
Richard DS: pitches is people just just beginning getting mixed in, together with people that are already advanced.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: The you know, from every program that schools adapt, we took something from response to intervention or Rti.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and with Rti the ideas that you have essential outcomes for a guaranteed viable curriculum. And so what we did is it in meeting with administrators and other school professionals? We determined what a past looked like for all the credits that we would offer.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and we guarantee that every student would get those essential outcomes. The problem that we often have in schools is that
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: because you may have hundreds of outcomes in a single course that people get bogged down and trying to figure out, you know. Do we do Half
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: we're not worried about that. We're worried about what's important on getting you to go to your goal. And the other thing we did is for students who needed a challenge is that we were able to access a lot of free university courses
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: that are now available. And so, you know, if a student was interested in studying University level history, we would put them in a history course once they were done the essential outcomes for our
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: classroom.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and just to quickly add to that oftentimes. So I don't work in the classroom. I I do more back. End evaluation and stuff like that. But whenever I go visit oftentimes students are really working at their own pace kind of on their own project, even if it's the same outcome that they're working on.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: and they do take a very individualized approach to get to know what each students needs and wants, and and
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: what they want to be doing after high school, and making sure that that student is getting set up to succeed in their particular plan incorrectly, if i'm wrong. But Shannon Moby, who's one of the other teachers, is very much the person for that, because she has a background in being a resource teacher. I think it's cool.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: So her job is to know, like every single credit that you could possibly get, and how to get it, and so she's very excellent at at creating those. I know we're short of time, but I just wanted to mention to that. There's a false notion that somehow there's a body of knowledge that high School prepares you with that. You have to have to be successful. That's not true. We take into one student exceptionally, has gone to become an airplane mechanic
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: from not being in school for 2 years.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: So all that was needed was, you know. Obviously, would it have been easier for the student if they had their high school top level map? Certainly.
CBYF Portage la Prairie- Morag and James: however. all that really is missing. Is that motivation? And we have to think about that