If gaps in learning are not addressed early, they will grow during the elementary school years.
A three-year education project involving Saint John’s seven inner-city schools is seeing success in their goals surrounding numeracy and literacy.
It brings together the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Living Saint John, and the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI).
Seven schools are involved: Glen Falls, Hazen White-St. Francis, Prince Charles, Centennial, St. John the Baptist/King Edward, Seaside Park Elementary and Princess Elizabeth.
Anglophone South Superintendent Zoe Watson says they felt adding teachers would help lower the teacher-pupil ratio in those schools.
“We have about 60 teachers involved in the program and each year we have about 750 students who benefit from this initiative,” Watson said.
Smaller classes and additional supports are helping with behaviour incidents and chronic absenteeism.
The percentage of students who achieved the year-end reading benchmarks increased from 53 per cent last year to 63 per cent for kindergarten to grade two students in the Anglophone South School District in 2019.
A speech pathologist also supports the teachers working in kindergarten to grade two.
The program’s goals include reducing chronic absenteeism and behaviour incidents.
It also aims to boost the confidence of parents and teachers.
When the program finishes after three years, based on the results, it’s hoped all the teachers in the seven schools can be fully funded on an ongoing basis.
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