You’d be hard-pressed to find a school board more driven by innovation than UCDSB. And it’s not the kind of trendy, fleeting change that drives parents and educators nuts.

Interested in a good news story during these troubling times? Check out what’s happening right here in Eastern Ontario, at the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB).

One of Ontario’s largest geographical school boards, it extends around the City of Ottawa in a giant horseshoe to encompass such far-flung towns as Pakenham, Smiths Falls, Gananoque, Brockville, Cornwall and Rockland. It includes 79 schools and has 27,000 students and a budget of $418 million.

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a school board more driven by innovation than UCDSB. And it’s not the kind of trendy, fleeting change that drives parents and educators nuts. It’s a deeply committed, common-sense approach to pedagogy inspired by what works best for kids.

The program is based on executive superintendent Eric Hardie’s book, The Relevant Classroom: Six Steps to Foster Real-World Learning. Hardie argues that successful teaching and learning start with projects that connect........

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