calgary board of education

CBE education plan raises concerns around growth and complex classrooms

The renewed Education Plan for 2024-27 focuses on three major priorities — learning excellence, student well-being and Truth and Reconciliation, including diversity and inclusion

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After surveying nearly 10,000 stakeholders on their priorities for K-12 learning, Calgary public schools are launching a new education plan this fall with updated strategies for academic success and student well-being.

But parents and school board trustees are raising concerns around whether the new plan will address classroom complexity, equity and access to technology as the system faces historic challenges around growth and limited resources.

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Earlier this year, the Calgary Board of Education surveyed a variety of stakeholders on how to better serve student learning, including parents, students and staff.

They also held a series of special meetings with a wide swath of additional stakeholders, from non-profit groups and immigrant settlement agencies to better address the system’s cultural diversity, as well as post-secondary institutes and the corporate sector, hoping to get more perspective on how to better prepare students for their careers.

The result was a renewed Education Plan for 2024-27, with a focus on three major priorities — learning excellence, student well-being and Truth and Reconciliation, including diversity and inclusion.

In addressing learning excellence, schools will focus on literacy, math, fair and equitable assessments, and providing more learning opportunities to prepare students for future success. That includes more career pathways in high school, better access to technology and stronger partnerships with post-secondary schools and the corporate sector.

To support student well-being, schools will create targeted programs to better support students “socio-emotionally,” or help develop social and emotional wellness with a particular emphasis on middle schools.

As well, teachers and school-based staff will get more professional development to build “skills, strategies and relationships that contribute to positive well-being” in schools.

To promote Truth and Reconciliation, diversity and inclusion within schools, the education plan promises a stronger focus on academic success for students who self-identify as Indigenous, as well as ensuring “all students experience inclusive teaching and learning that reflects and celebrates diverse cultures and identities.”

‘Growing complexity is the story of our times’

But as the CBE faces some of its biggest challenges in decades, with historic enrolment growth, record numbers of newcomers arriving in schools, and limited funding and resources to address increasing classroom complexities, trustees are asking whether the education plan is doing enough to address that.

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“We have record-breaking numbers of students presenting with behavioural challenges, learning disabilities, and mental health challenges. We have record-breaking levels of students learning English as an additional language,” trustee Susan Vukadinovic said when the education plan was presented by administrators this week.

“Growing complexity is the story of our times, but I don’t see this clearly pulled out as a focus level for 2024-27. I don’t see that pulled out as a goal.”

Of the estimated 138,000 students within the CBE’s system, 40,000 are learning English as an additional language. More than 25,000 are students with special needs, and 6,200 are students who self-identify as Indigenous.

But administrators insist complexity is being addressed in multiple ways across many educational outcomes within the plan.

“When we talk about complexity it refers to a broad range of system and student needs,” said Mike Nelson, CBE superintendent of school improvement.

“In our current context, complexity has taken on greater meaning, including students with social and emotional needs, language and other learning disabilities, mental health challenges, students learning English as an additional language, the growing cultural diversity in our schools.

“And the space and resource pressure due to increasing enrolment.”

CBE continues to face ‘unprecedented, rapid growth’

Nelson added that the solution is not one approach to a single problem, but that “complexity” is being addressed in multiple ways within CBE’s many unique programs.

But Vukadinovic also argued addressing system growth does not appear to be a strong focus of the plan, particularly at a time when the CBE is experiencing historic enrolment pressures, adding 15,600 new students in the past three years and another 9,000 expected next year.

“We’ve heard from our chief superintendent, there is a lack of space available in schools, and that is challenging.

“And I’ve heard from many parents and families that there are pressures associated with rapid growth. And I’m hearing from parents and guardians they want to see focused attention to manage those pressures in a way that is collaborative and in a way that supports equity.

“It’s a major story of our time, in which this education plan is being placed, when a story is this big, given that it is not a high-level focus area, how is our unprecedented, rapid growth being addressed in this plan?”

Province needs to be aware of ‘how full our schools are’: advocate

Medeana Moussa, spokeswoman with the Support Our Students parent advocacy group, said the plan is “putting the cart before the horse,” by focusing on learning excellence and diversity without specifically addressing complexity and unprecedented growth.

“How do we even achieve learning excellence when kids are learning in gymnasiums and staff rooms? We don’t even have the actual space and supportive environments to ensure goals are achievable,” Moussa said.

“What the CBE needs to be doing instead is communicating much more clearly and much more urgently to the provincial government and make them see how full our schools are.”

Moussa argued as Calgary schools receive record numbers of newcomers, many are arriving with complexities, such as learning English as an additional language.

“Before this growth, we already had a lot of complexities in classrooms. But now, there are complexities on top of complexities and we are not getting students the supports they need.”

Nelson argued that the CBE’s three-year education plan “works in concert with” the CBE’s three-year capital plan.

But that document has quadrupled the number of new schools and modernizations priorities, going from six projects listed last year to 21 this year.

And out of the UCP’s Budget 2024 announced this spring, the CBE was granted full construction funding for only one new school , a new K-4 school in Evanston.

Questions surround equity in public schools

Trustee Marilyn Dennis added she couldn’t see clearly how the education plan is ensuring equity across the system, particularly in ensuring equal opportunities for learning and equitable outcomes.

But chief superintendent Joanne Pitman said the concept of equity is addressed in multiple ways, like ensuring all students have access to learning, access to supports for well-being, and recognizing cultural diversity within the classroom.

“You won’t see equity tied to a single goal. But you should see it reflected in the access, and experience of students in the actual social emotional and relational experiences they have across our system.”

Dennis also asked whether the plan addresses how technology will impact student development, particularly at a time when cellphone use in classrooms is the topic of a provincewide survey just completed by Alberta Education.

Nelson said “we weren’t thinking about cellphones” when drawing up the plan, adding CBE wants to ensure students have equal access to technology, from laptops and iPads to other devices that support learning.

Moussa said there is no equity around technology in public schools, explaining that students are almost always expected to bring their own phones or laptops from home and those from wealthier families often have better equipment and connectivity while lower-income students have nothing.

“What does the CBE mean when they say there will be equity and access around technology?

“Does it mean one computer for each student? Or does it mean two students or four students sharing one computer? Because that’s happening in classrooms all the time.

“Students will only reach their potential with the right technological tools, and they are not getting that.”

After this week’s questioning of the Education Plan 2024-27, CBE trustees will debate it next week for final approval.

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