The Personal Program Plan (PPP) Reviewed: A Saskatchewan Perspective

Abstract

Every country and corresponding educational systems have unique ways of administering and delivering services for students deemed to have special educational needs. Unlike our American neighbors, Canada relies on individual provinces and territories to assume their own legislative authority and develop appropriate laws, policies and programs to educate all of its students. Anchored in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms each jurisdiction develops educational systems that are inclusive in nature and consistent with the right of all of its citizens to access publically funded schools. This paper outlines one school division’s attempt to pilot an innovative new Personal Program Plan (PPP) design in a province with a rich history of addressing the special needs of its students. A Masters of Education student in the Educational Psychology and Special Education Department of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Education decided to focus on her home school division’s pilot project. Heather Hayes utilized a semi structured questionnaire to determine how six Educational Support Teachers (ESTs) responded to this new PPP template during the 2010-2011 school year. The template employed an Understanding by Design (UbD) format and utilized Performance Tasks (PTs) to demonstrate students’ understandings. Recommendations for refinement and revision emerged from the study.