Recently PLS has signed a contract with the Ministry of Education in Manitoba. The province has been experiencing declining math scores across the province in both international tests such as PISA and in their provincial standardized tests. Manitoba is deeply committed to improving students mathematical achievement and as a result has hired PLS to develop an evidence based professional learning model that will help deepen teachers understanding of math and pedagogy, and to measure the impact of this professional learning on student achievement.

This proposed research investigates the use of ThUMP by classroom educators to foster high order thinking through authentic and meaningful practice activities. Research suggests that practice is require to obtain expertise in complex subject areas such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). ThUMP allows educators to author practice activities that students can access using mobile devices. This proposed research adopts a design based approach in order to provide feedback / feed forward to the Mathtoon’s developers.

Teaching through the arts has often been heralded as an effective way to engage marginalized students. As such, it would seem that an arts-infused approach to learning may promote equity and inclusion in schools. This research project endeavours to engage students as co-researchers to investigate how exactly the arts and creativity allow moments of equity to arise in the classroom.

The proposed research will include an analysis of video content to determine its implicit learning content based on the social and emotional domains. Once the videos are analyzed, a parent profile will be used to determine what videos are most applicable to each individual child, based on their developmental profile. Further activities will be recommended to parents in addition to the video content. This project will aid the organization in becoming more individualized in terms of content and domain development, according to what the profile indicates for the child.

The proposed research will consist of an evaluation of both the implementation and effectiveness of the YouIT program for youth and young adults with mental health and addiction problems. An implementation evaluation will be conducted to document whether the program has been implemented as intended (based on best practices) and how the program is actually implemented. The outcome evaluation will examine the outcomes of clients over the course of their participation in the YouIT program.

The Teaching Pyramid Model (TPM) was designed as a promotion, prevention, and intervention framework to support the social, emotional, and behavioral development of young children. Successful implementation of the TPM in ELC programs requires staff capacity (e.g., professional development, refresher courses for staff, performance feedback, staff support and family engagement (e.g., providing families with training to teach their children SE skills at home, enhancing parent-staff relationships).

Educational reform will require changing the way we assess for student success. Personalized learning will only become a reality as we transform the way we make meaning of teaching and learning through assessment. This industry partner FreshGrade.com is an educational assessment application for elementary education (Kindergarten - Grade 6) addressing the need for a simple, cloud-based solution to help teachers, students, and parents make sense of learning.

Across the province, students are channeled into academic and applied programs at the start of high school. Students in applied courses are less likely to enjoy school or pass the provincial standards for achievement in both elementary and secondary school (EQAO, 2012). We know little about “who” takes applied courses in Ontario and what opportunities exist for them to transfer into academic streams.