Background

The District recognizes the importance of the opportunities afforded by Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) Courses to offer locally relevant courses to meet the needs and interests of students in the District. These Grades 10-12 BAA courses respond to the local needs of the schools and their communities while providing choice and flexibility for students. In addition, the Ministry of Education encourages boards of education to offer locally relevant courses to meet the needs and interests of students.

Procedures

The following steps are required for a BAA course:

1. A course title customized to reflect the content of the course.
2. In the course name, include the applicable grade level: Grade 10, 11 or 12 to reflect the appropriate level of instruction.
3. Indicate that the proposed BAA course is a 4-credit course.
4. Write a course synopsis as a statement of product.
5. Identify the goals and the rationale as statements of intention to give structure to the curriculum.
6. Identify Aboriginal worldviews and perspectives to outline ways to embed First People’s Principles of Learning and integrate Aboriginal content into the BAA course.
7. Include an organizational structure to reflect the provincial curriculum with a “Know-Do-Understand” model to support a concept-based, competency-driven approach to learning.
8. Within the instructional component required to expand on and clarify the intent of the learning standards, list activities, methods, and techniques to meet the diverse needs and to deliver the curriculum.
9. Within the recommended assessment component, identify a wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to identify student learning needs, measure competency acquisition, and evaluate students’ progress towards meeting learning standards.

Educators developing a Ministry-developed Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) course must:

1. Receive initial approval from the site’s Secondary School Principal.
2. Inform the Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) of the Secondary School Principal approval.
3. Complete the Ministry-developed BAA Course Framework Template or BAA ELL Language Acquisition/Culture Course Framework Template.
4. Submit to the Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC), one year prior to the proposed implementation, the completed Ministry-developed BAA Course Framework Template or BAA ELL Language Acquisition/Culture Course Framework Template.
5. All submissions will be adjudicated by the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) to confirm that all the steps were completed. Based on the results of the CCC Meeting, the Chair of the CCC determines whether submissions move to the next level of approval – the District Leadership Team (DLT).The Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) forms part of the process to provide educators with the opportunity to explore content beyond the boundaries of Ministry curriculum. However, it is also a process to ensure BAA courses are not:
   • Courses with significant overlap with provincial curriculum
   • Remedial courses or those preparatory in nature
   • A modified course
   • An adapted course
6. The Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) presents to the District Leadership Team (DLT), the feedback/results from the CCC Meeting of the Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) presentation.
7. Once approved by the District Leadership Team, the Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee presents the Board/Authority Authorized Course to the Board of Education at the public Board Meeting.
8. The Board of Education considers approval of the recommended Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) course.
9. Once the Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) course is approved by the Board of Education, the Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) or Board/Authorities submits both the completed BAA Course Framework and the BAA Course Form to the Superintendent for approval/signature.
10. The Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) selects the most appropriate course code from the BAA Core Categories posted at:
    https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/datacollections/course_registry_web_search/search-home.en.php
    It should be noted that schools report the course with the same four or five letter course code (i.e., YVPA), as indicated on the BAA Course Form.
11. The Superintendent/Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) submits the approved BAA Course Framework along with the BAA Course Form to the Board Chair/Board of Education for approval/signature.
12. The Board of Education retains a copy of the BAA Course Framework for the Ministry of Education upon request.
13. The Board/Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee (CCC) sends an electronic copy of the BAA Course Form to Ministry Student Certification to the following:
    EDUC.GradStandards@gov.caIt is to be noted that the completed form serves to notify the Ministry of newly developed/revised courses and confirms they satisfy Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) course requirements.
14. Boards/Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee reviews BAAs on a set cycle and/or as needed due to changes in provincial curriculum.

ERAC BAA Sharing Platform

15. In cooperation with the Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium (ERAC) a searchable Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) Sharing Platform is available for Boards/Authorities to voluntarily share their BAA frameworks.
16. Boards of Education/ Chair of the Choice Consultative Committee is responsible for uploading approved BAA course frameworks to the ERAC website, should they choose to share the course; sharing is not mandatory.

May 2020