Assessment and Reporting in Northwest Territories SEL

Quick answer: Everything in the course grade is now yours. The new graduation requirements, phased in from Grade 10 in 2024-25, replaced subject-specific diploma exams with literacy and numeracy assessments that appear on the transcript but no longer count toward final course marks. For an SEL or ethics course, that makes your own recorded evidence the entire record.

What changed about grading when the diploma exams went?

Northwest Territories moved to new graduation requirements starting with Grade 10 in 2024-25, and the credit count for graduation is shifting from five credits to four. Diploma examinations in individual subjects are gone; literacy and numeracy assessments took their place, they show on a student's transcript, and they do not feed into the final grade for any course. Nothing external now moderates your marks.

That is freedom and exposure in equal measure. A parent, a principal or a receiving school asking why a student earned what they earned gets one answer: the tasks you set and the record you kept. Forgiveness & Reconciliation – Arendt · Luke 15 · Truth Commission | Ethics & Religious Studies (11-12) is the kind of single lesson that produces such a record cleanly, a philosophy-based session on forgiveness and reconciliation for grades eleven and twelve with a written outcome at the end.

Which curriculum vocabulary should I be writing in?

Both, for now. NWT is partway through a JK-12 renewal that moves from Alberta's programs of study to British Columbia's redesigned, competency-based curriculum, with full transition targeted for 2028. Grades convert on a schedule, so a teacher can genuinely be planning one class against outcomes and another against curricular competencies and content in the same week. Older references calling the territory Alberta-aligned are out of date.

Write your unit plans in competency language now, because that is where the system is going and because it suits SEL better anyway. A competency describes what a student can do across contexts, which is exactly how social and emotional learning behaves. Converting later is a rewrite; starting there is free. Keep the old outcome number in a bracket while the grade converts.

What counts as defensible evidence in an SEL course?

A dated artifact tied to one competency, produced in class, kept in a folder. Discussion is where the learning happens, but talk alone leaves you nothing to show, so every second or third lesson should end in something written, drawn or recorded. Mark that, and mark it against the competency rather than against how open a student was willing to be.

Happiness and a Good Life – Ethics Unit: Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 6–9) works well for this in grades six through nine, since a unit on happiness and a good life produces arguments students are willing to write down. Material sorted for this territory sits on Northwest Territories Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12), and the Canadian Curriculum Navigator: Resources by Province is useful for seeing how British Columbia words the same competencies, which is where the territory's own wording is heading.

How do I plan a year through a curriculum conversion?

Choose material that is not tied to a specific program of study, because anything welded to Alberta's documents will need rewriting before 2028. Units built around a question, a discussion structure and a written outcome survive the conversion untouched; only the label at the top of the plan changes. That is the practical test to apply before buying or building anything this year.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum: Build Connections, Foster Growth is built that way, a full SEL curriculum you can run across a year and relabel as your grades convert. Small schools where one teacher covers several grades get the most from a single coherent program rather than a folder of unrelated lessons. Buy it once and the conversion becomes a paperwork job, not a planning job.

Frequently asked questions

Are these connected to ECE or to the territorial assessments?

No. They are independent teaching resources, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the territorial literacy and numeracy assessments, or any examination authority. Deciding which competency or outcome a task evidences, and how it is reported, stays with you.

Can a purchased unit carry reconciliation content in a northern classroom?

Not on its own. A published lesson can supply the philosophical frame for talking about forgiveness, harm and repair, but the material that belongs in a Northwest Territories classroom comes from Indigenous governments, Elders and locally approved resources. Treat a bought file as the structure and the local partnership as the content.

Do these work for a small school with combined grades?

Yes, if you let the written response carry the difference rather than the task. Check the grade band and previews on each listing before buying, since everything is an instant download and nothing ships. See the store's refund policy for questions about an order.

Related reading

• Northwest Territories SEL: Planning a Unit to the Standards
• Teaching SEL When You Need Graded Evidence in Northwest Territories
• Northwest Territories Curriculum Teaching Resources (K–12)