The Waterloo Catholic District School Board said that it plans to address the issue of interrupted learning over the past two years, with a priority on math and literacy.
“The goal is to improve numeracy and literacy achievement, improve graduation rates, and increase student engagement,” said Jennifer Ritsma, superintendent for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board at a virtual meeting Monday.
A Summer Boost Program for Kindergarten to Grade 8 is intended to give extra math help during the summer months.
The school board has also incorporated additional support of a speech and language pathologist in the classroom.
“We recognize that not just our students, but staff too, have work to do in recovery as we move forward in this new world,” Ritsma said.
“As we adjust to being in school, sometimes out, we will take some of the practices we use virtually to meet the needs of our learners. Our goal is to move students along the continuum of learning.”
The school board will continue working to recover some of the implicit learning opportunities that students have missed.
“While there are inherent challenges to moving forward in the current landscape, the school board is applying a lens of resilience and creativity in how we bring some fidelity to our stated goals," Ritsma said.
“We continue to creatively approach our students learning with vigour and from any possible angle of support to aid in them finding a high level of confidence in their ability to learn despite the setbacks that have occurred."
The school board says the ongoing commitment is to serve students in both flexible and meaningful ways.
