Students who are on the land when continued learning resumes will be given the option to apply for credit based on their experience and time on the land. Special projects credits may be available based on learning experience.

Schools will make every effort to contact the students/families to update them on options provided for graduation, awarding of credits and credit recovery.

Supports and temporary processes are being put in place to help students complete their high school courses and receive credit and final marks when appropriate. 

Being that the current second semester high school courses had just begun before classes were suspended, courses will not have progressed enough for teachers to be able to offer a final mark and award credits at the time of course suspension.

Where and when possible, schools should continue offering as many courses as they can. Communication between schools and families is essential during this time, so that students and parents are aware of the courses that have been completed, and of the expectations for the ones that are continuing until the end of the current school year.

As in previous years, formal diplomas are mailed out to each successful graduate.

How and when celebrations may occur will be left to individual schools to determine, as is the normal process. Some ideas for celebration include:

• Grad parades where the grads dress in their formal wear and create a parade of floats - 1 per grad - and tour their community
• Grads dress in their formal wear and decorate the front of their home. They stand in the front of their yard and the community tours around in their vehicles going past grad homes celebrating their successes.
• A collection of decorated boxes, with each grad’s name on it, is placed in a secure public area in the community (e.g. post office) a few weeks before graduation and the community has the opportunity to place cards and notes into the graduate’s box.
• Some communities are making lawn signs with pictures and names of each grad on them and posting them around the community or at each grad’s home.
• Grads can create a video montage of them each receiving their diplomas in their homes.

Yes, students may still enroll in courses that have been waived during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students may choose this because they need the credits to meet the minimum 100 credits required for graduation or because they need the course to enter a post-secondary program of their choice.

Chaque employeur doit déterminer ses propres services essentiels et la façon de les fournir en toute sécurité pendant la pandémie. Les services jugés essentiels déterminent le personnel jugé essentiel.

Actuellement, les services et les postes essentiels de la maternelle à la 12e année sont ceux qui offrent des services essentiels comme le soutien à l’apprentissage continu, les programmes alimentaires et les services de counseling. Les services non essentiels sont tout de même importants, mais ils ne peuvent pas être offerts en ce moment.

At the end of each academic year, teachers are tasked with determining whether or not their students will be ‘promoted’ or ‘placed’ into the next grade or ‘retained’ in their current grade. 

When a student is ‘promoted’ into the next grade they have been deemed to have successfully met all of the learning outcomes for the previous grade and are ready to work on new learning outcomes for the next grade. 

When a student is ‘placed’ in a classroom with their age-peers this indicates that some or all of the previous grade’s learning outcomes have not been successfully completed.  The expectation is that those students who have been ‘placed’ will be on a Modified Education Plan (MEP) and continue to work on the learning outcomes appropriate to their abilities and capacity as identified in their Student Support Plan (SSP).  

When a student is ‘retained’ in their current grade, this indicates that they were not successful in completing the identified learning outcomes of the grade and it is agreed by the child’s parent(s), teacher and school administration that for the best interest of the student, they should remain in the grade for an additional year.  The expectation is that these students will be placed on a MEP and continue to work on the learning outcomes appropriate for the grade they are in with any needed supports and interventions documented within a SSP.

Parents will be contacted by their local schools with specific instructions on how and when they will be able to retrieve their child’s personal items from the school.

Learning will definitely look different during this time, but learning does not have to be in a classroom to be valuable. Learning at home can be both meaningful and fun. That said, ECE recognizes that NWT students and their parents will need support.

Each Education Body and community school will develop a plan that best responds to the needs of their local community. This could include measures such as online learning tools and/or resource packages or assignments e-mailed from teachers to parents. In some communities it could also mean paper based learning packages delivered directly to families in their homes.

ECE is working with Education Bodies to support them in their local planning efforts, and will consider additional support options as necessary.

Education Bodies have been asked to put their continued learning plans in place for students as soon as practically possible, as soon after the Easter weekend as possible. They will be taking the time over the coming weeks to develop plans for how ongoing learning opportunities can be provided to students during this period of time.

Each Education Body and/or school will communicate with parents as soon as possible, using the most efficient means available (phone and/or email and/or newsletter etc.), about the learning opportunities that will be made available to students and when parents can expect to receive more information.

Education Bodies and schools will include in their plans options for how they can deliver learning opportunities using alternative methods (i.e. not in-person), which could include online learning. The approaches put in place by individual schools and classes may look slightly different depending on the students and families that these schools serve, which is why the planning is being completed at the local level.

For homes that do not have internet, paper-based assignments and supporting resources may be made available. Telephones can be used to check in with students and parents in order to provide support throughout the week. Completed assignments can be dropped off at agreed upon locations.

It is important to understand that technology in the North is limited, especially in small communities, and therefore the expectations for learning online must reflect these limitations. 

Teachers and families should consider that a significant draw on internet and technology resources will cause delays and concerns across the territory for families, businesses and essential services like health care. Care should be taken to ensure continued learning does not rely entirely on online access.

Education Bodies and schools are in the process of gathering information from their families to inform their local planning process. This includes asking parents about access to technology within their homes.

The time commitment required from parents will depend on a number of factors, including the grade level of the student and the approach taken by the school and individual teacher.

Some support from parents will likely be required, especially for younger children who may need explanations and guidance on how to approach home learning activities.

Teachers will recommend ideas for learning and material for their students. Approximate time commitments will average:

• Three hours per week for students in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3
• Five hours per week for students in Grades 4 to 6
• Seven hours per week for students in Grades 7 to 9
• Three hours per course per week for high school students Grades 10-12

For more information about how continued education will look at different grade levels and helpful advice on supporting learning at home, please refer to the webpage for JK-12 school information. The website will be updated as more information becomes available about ECE’s continuing education efforts.

Every NWT student will receive final grades and a report card for this 2019-2020 school year. 

Teachers will be responsible for assessing a student’s progress to-date, leaving opportunities for including assessment of their continued learning where possible, and assigning a final grade for the end of the current school year. 

Report cards are expected to be mailed to parents no later than June 30, 2020. 

All students will be placed in or promoted to the next grade, or retained in the same grade, as per the usual process of assessment by the classroom/grade/subject teacher(s). 

If it is in the best interest of the child, teachers will contact parents to discuss the option of students remaining in the same grade for another year.

Teachers will work with Grade 10, 11 and 12 students to complete their current core subject (language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science) high school courses, providing a final mark and awarding credits.

If students are unable to fully complete their current courses, schools can provide students with alternate assignments or projects so that they can finish the course in order to receive credit.

Every attempt will be made to ensure that students who were expected to graduate this June 2020 will still be able to do so. Grade 12 students on track to meet graduation requirements will still be eligible to graduate and receive a NWT High School Diploma in June 2020. 

If a student is unable to meet specific graduation requirements, such as completion of non-core subject courses like Career and Technology Studies (CTS) courses, Physical Education 10 or completion of Community Service hours, schools will be able to request a course waiver for those courses.

For grade 12 diploma courses (Language Arts, Sciences, Mathematics, Social Studies) the school-awarded mark will make up 100% of a student’s mark.

ECE staff will be in contact with post-secondary institutions popular with NWT students to ensure that admission requirements can still be met and to assist with smooth transitions from high school to post-secondary.

AATs will be cancelled for this current school year; the impact to students is considered minimal as the AATs do not make up a portion of a student’s grade in Grades 6 or 9.  

Diploma Exams will also be cancelled for this school year; as such, the school-awarded mark will make up 100% of a student’s score in any course with a scheduled Diploma Exam.