Addressing Educational Debt in Adolescent Literacy (DIAL), Year 1 Report
September 2021
The TDSB is committed to addressing intermediate learners in our schools who are not yet reading at or close to grade level. This negatively impacts student’s educational outcomes and their development of a positive reading identity. The report provides a high-level overview of how the DIAL initiative was experienced by practitioners thus far, with some emerging information about impacts of this work on educators, students, and classrooms.
Anti-Racism Directorate Partnership: Black Student Success and Excellence Initiative and the Pre-Kindergarten Summer Learning Program
April 2021
The TDSB has partnered with the Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) to extend ongoing efforts to support Black students in classrooms and schools. This initiative, tied to student voice, teacher practice and leadership competencies, provides opportunities to change school culture by building the critical consciousness of educators and students alike. Research of, and with, the Black Student Success and Excellence (BSSE; TDSB, 2019) initiative aims to identify scalable conditions for fostering Black student success system wide.
Beyond 3:30 Multi-Year Evaluation for Model Schools for Inner Cities (MSIC) Program
Beyond 3:30 (B3:30) is an after-school program which provides multifaceted programming on school premises to Grades 6-8 students, and more recently, also to Grades 3-5 students. A formative evaluation (Phase I), conducted in the 2020-21 school year, extended the learnings from previous B3:30 evaluations within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and with a particular focus on the program expansion to Grades 3-5. The Phase II formative evaluation of B3:30 examined program delivery, challenges, and preliminary outcomes in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery as the program pivoted back to in-person delivery amidst the pandemic.
The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement Research Studies
The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement is the first of its kind in public education in Canada. The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement is dedicated to improving the experiences and outcomes for Black students and aims to be responsive to the voices of Black communities who continue to advocate for systemic change within educational institutions and for dismantling anti-Black racism at the TDSB.
The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement has nine mandates which reflect an ongoing commitment to foster authentic, reciprocal engagement between Black families, communities, and service providers. Some of the recommendations from education partners identified the need for Black students to have access to programs through The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement and more importantly, connecting with organizations and post-secondary schools to execute this vision. Their recommendations are as follows:
- Clarity, building trust and formal partnership processes
- Intentional connections with African, Afro-Caribbean, and Black (ACB) organizations
- Accountability, deliverables and transparency
- Developing and enhancing Black students’ networking
Adhering to the calls for establishing a transparency mechanism, research findings related to programs offered at The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement can be found here.
Trends in Toronto District School Board Special Education Data: 2016-2022
December 2022
This report provides information on trends in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB)’s special education data from the 2016-17 school year through to preliminary data from the 2022-23 school year.