Four Directions First Nations, Métis and Inuit Graduation Coach Approach Dryden High School March 2018 Researcher: Sean Lessard, PhD University of Alberta Nurturing Capacity Founding Sponsor Preface Nurturing Capacity: Building Community Success Indspire supports communities to improve educational outcomes through the documentation and evaluation of their innovative practices. This community-led process is supported by an Indspire-funded Indigenous scholar, who works with programs on the ground to provide training on data collection and evaluation methodology. For more info, please contact
[email protected] | 1.855.463.7747 x230 Abstract Four Directions First Nations, Métis and Inuit Graduation Coach Approach (“Four Directions Approach”) is a system that provides intensive support to Indigenous students and their families with the goal of seeing each student through to graduation and transition into their desired post-secondary programs. The core of the Four Directions Approach is to develop a network of committed leaders to support Indigenous learners and strive to facilitate their successful graduation. An integral part of the Four Directions approach is to provide students with a Four Directions Graduation Coach (FDGC) that has deeply rooted experiential ties to the Indigenous community(ies) and their culture(s). The FDGC acts as a mentor and an advisor to the students and plays an essential role as an advocate for each learner with teachers, other school staff and families. It is the overall goal of the Four Directions Approach to support students of First Nations, Métis and Inuit heritage through: 1) Strengthening the knowledge and skills of educators; 2) Establishing trusting relationships with students, their families and the community; 3) Identifying and removing barriers to student success; and 4) Identification of beneficial strategies, milestones and indicators to support graduation and successful transition into post-secondary pathways.