Equitable Futures

All students in British Columbia, whether rural or urban, are entitled to a full range of educational programs and services. They should also be able to attain equitable achievement outcomes and be prepared for their choice of post-secondary opportunities.

There is evidence to suggest that some 9,000 British Columbia children enter Kindergarten without the skills necessary to be successful in school, and that these children are overrepresented in Aboriginal, immigrant and rural populations. In response, government is introducing StrongStart centres in a number of public elementary schools around the province.

There has historically been a discrepancy in achievement and completion rates between rural and urban students in British Columbia. This performance gap, while troubling, is a national phenomenon, as documented in an article by Dr. Tracy Levin entitled “Lessons in Learning: The Rural-Urban Achievement Gap.”

The Task Force on Rural Education recommended in its Enhancing Rural Learning report that the narrowing of the performance gap between rural and urban students in British Columbia should become a priority.

The Task Force made recommendations that pointed clearly to the need to invest in instructional improvement and to explore the potential of technology as a tool to overcome distance and isolation.

The province has invested in instructional improvement by hosting annual Rural Education and Interactive Innovations conferences and a series of professional development webcasts. 


The 2006 Rural Renewal Conference webcast plenaries are available online.

The 2007 Rural Renewal Conference webcast keynote speeches and plenaries are now available online.


The creation of the Virtual School and the development of the LearnNow BC website have demonstrated the province’s commitment to using technology to support student learning and classroom instruction.

The Rural Education Network will continue to use technology to support the professional learning community that is already focused on improvement of curriculum instruction and assessment in BC’s rural schools.

 

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