Policies Table of Contents

 

BOARD POLICY 20: CHARTER SCHOOL RESEARCH PROJECTS

Preamble

Charter schools are expected to be actively engaged in educational research with the intent that strong educational practices in charter schools should be shared with other schools for the benefit of all Alberta’s students.

Educational research refers to a systematic attempt to gain a better understanding of the educational process, generally with a view to improving its efficiency. It is an application of scientific method to the study of educational problems like discovering the relationship between students’ social skills and their learning behaviors.

The Board of the Valhalla Community School encourages relationships with Alberta Education, colleges, universities, agencies and individuals engaged in research that improves teaching and learning. Of particular interest is research that focuses on the achievement of the charter goals.

The Board will consider the participation of Valhalla Community School in various research endeavours that follow these guidelines:

  1. Research projects should focus on educational practice.
  2. Research projects should be embedded in the ongoing work of meeting the VCS Charter goals.
  3. Research projects should include the staff in order to build capacity to improve teaching and learning.
  4. External researcher(s) must be guided by the VCS Charter, Board policy and the administrative procedures of the School.
  5. Prospective use of the findings must be of benefit to VCS and potentially to all students in Alberta.
  6. Proposed projects must include a cost analysis.
  7. All research and scholarship undertaken in VCS must have the Superintendent’s recommendation for approval by the Board.
  8. The possible benefits or potentially negative impacts to school must be identified.
  9. Priority will be given to research projects that focus on the Valhalla Community School’s Charter Goals, especially the intention to develop students’ leadership skills.
  10. Research projects are expected to build capacity for staff to participate in research that improves the learning achievement outcomes for students at VCS.
  11. All external researchers must be affiliated with a recognized university that is accredited to offer graduate degrees.
  12. Ethics approval from any affiliated university or partner research institution must be provided to the Superintendent prior to final recommendation for Board approval.

 

Duties of the Superintendent

  1. Promote research, and the value of participating in research, at Valhalla Community School
  2. Ensure research ethics and values are acceptable as stated in the policy of the sponsoring agency (ies).
  3. Seek input from school administration on research projects; collaborate with school
    administration and researchers regarding implementation protocols.
  4. Bring forward research projects that have satisfied all criteria to the Board  for consideration.
  5. Foster VCS-driven research projects that build staff capacity to approach their work as  “researchers” in order to develop greater awareness of the impact of instructional decisions on the learning and achievement of students.
  6. Where appropriate, share research developments with stakeholders, communicate successes, and publish findings.

 

 

 

 

Adopted: January 2023

Reviewed:

References: Education Act s. 25.1-28.1, Charter Schools Regulation Alberta Regulation 85/2019 s. 13