How Ontario Spread Successful Practices across 5,000 Schools: By Building and Supporting Networks of Educators throughout the Province, Ontario Was Able to Develop a System Now Highly Regarded for Both Equity and Excellence

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There is such a range of rich professional learning opportunities that fuel a culture of collaboration among us. This investment by the Ontario Ministry of Education has nurtured meaningful dialogue about student achievement in our schools. It has fostered a contagious desire that helps us delve into deep conversations about teaching and learning. The networks that have been created challenge and stretch the boundaries of current pedagogical knowledge. We reflect on best practices and examine school-based data meticulously. We uncover the innovative practices that become the springboard to move student thinking forward. As this cycle continues, we become increasingly vested in unraveling further questions, hypotheses, and challenges while seeking out our colleagues to enrich their understandings as well ... It is through these empowering networks that we continue to share promising practices across schools and districts. --Susan Wright, elementary school teacher, Windsor, Ontario Before 2003, many would have said that the Ontario school system was in crisis. Today, the province has been recognized as one of the fastest-improving jurisdictions in the world. Ontario is lauded for achieving both excellence and equity, goals that many believe are mutually exclusive. One of the many lessons that Ontario learned is the importance of building capacity among teachers and principals to sustain strategies that work. When this happens, teachers are motivated, and they strive to do what they do best--educate all children, regardless of background or personal circumstances, to the maximum of their capabilities. During the years of its most intensive improvement work, Ontario educators could rely on support from the highest political levels of the province. Teachers' unions, and superintendents' and principals' associations also played a key role supporting the strategy by developing their members. I am convinced that systems do better when they take time nurturing trusting professional relationships with the individuals who are expected to do the daily work of implementation. Without the deep commitment of the adults, Ontario would never have been a success story. Ontario improvement strategy Although the success of the Ontario approach was driven by decisions initially made at the provincial level, the Ontario strategy included opportunities for negotiable variations and local adaptations. Providing for local adjustments based on achievement levels on literacy and numeracy, for example, demonstrated respect for the professional expertise of educators that is characteristic of the Ontario improvement strategy. Systems often waste time on too many priorities instead of targeting a few key areas for focused attention. In Ontario, we identified three main goals and provided professional learning to help districts identify a small number of SMART (Strategic and specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, and Time-bound) goals to address larger provincial goals. That is where local decision making came into play, allowing professionals in each community to identify what would work best in their settings. Too often, when districts and schools engage in developing an improvement plan, they try to do too much, and the reality is that not much actually gets done (Glaze, Mattingley, & Andrews, 2013. p 29). Simply stated, the ministry's three main goals were to: * Improve student achievement; * Reduce gaps in student achievement; and * Improve public confidence in the public education system. The system redoubled its effort to achieve the specific goal to ensure that 75% of 12-year-olds reach the provincial standard of B or 70% within the specified time. At the secondary level, the intention was to raise graduation rates so that 85% of students would graduate from high school--up from 68%. …

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