Innovation paying off for Okanagan high school

A few years ago, facing declining enrolment, Enderby’s high school needed to make a change. The small school transformed its structure to give students more control of their own learning and the innovation is now paying off.

This is the fourth school year A.L. Fortune Secondary has operated as a self-directed learning school.

There are still set class times for all courses but they don’t necessarily fill up the entire school day. Instead, kids have more flexible time they can use to achieve goals. That could mean seeking out help in a subject they are struggling with, fitting in extra classes or volunteering.

“The biggest difference is there is this expectation that kids are going to become owners of their learning. They are not simply going to be consumers that show up sort of as empty vessels to be filled,” explained principal Gene Doray.

“A frustration teachers have always had is that there seemed to be a learned helplessness among students [who were] waiting for the teacher to tell them the answer and we’ve really challenged that idea.”

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At first the change was a necessity, a way to stop students from transferring out of Enderby to other schools.

“We saw our projections for student enrollment were on the decline to the point that, my first year as a principal, if we had stayed in our traditional model, we would have had to take 17 courses from our course handbook,” said Doray.

The more flexible schedules mean students need to take more initiative.

“You have to really be on top of yourself or else you will start getting behind in your classes,” said student Graham Crozier-Campagnolo.

However, students are kept accountable by meetings with teacher advisors at the beginning and end of each day. The school says the changes have paid off with higher standardized test scores and a lower failure rate.

“It just allows you to be a really driven students too. You can work ahead and a lot of help is being offered as well from teachers,” said student Arusha Bruns.

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The innovative model is now attracting students from outside the area.