Mission Statement
Specific student outcomes related to Mission: Students will:
- Effectively apply their learning in authentic situations where purpose, setting, and audience matter
- Assess how their work measures up to rubrics, FCAs, examples and other defined criteria
- Develop into thinkers who are both disciplined and imaginative when tackling a challenge
- Recognize that effort contributes a great deal to their academic success.
- Gradually take more responsibility for their learning
- Become increasingly aware of their academic strengths and weaknesses.
- Approach all problems with an open mind, a rich repertoire of problem-solving strategies, and persistence
- Effectively communicate their thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and feelings through speaking and writing
- Students will respond respectfully and react appropriately towards the opinions, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings of others
Learning Beliefs: We believe that students learn best when they are:
- Asked to transfer their knowledge into worthy tasks and unique, creative situations across the curriculum
- Provided with regular, timely, and specific feedback
- Given opportunities to self-assess and set challenging goals for themselves
- Expected to produce quality work that meets high standards
- Given clear purpose and defined learning targets and examples of quality work
- Motivated and influenced by their emotional state, beliefs, interests and goals as well as self-selected meaningful assignments
- Engaged in individual, group, and class interactions
- Asked to use their prior knowledge to help construct new knowledge
- Made to understand that best effort is comprised of hard work and persistence
Commitments: To accomplish our mission, we will as educators:
- Use best practices to enable learners to develop to 21st century skills
- Establish clear expectations through the use of exemplars, models, and rubrics
- Balance direct instruction, meaning-making opportunities, and transfer activities into our instructional program
- Develop units and lesson plans aligned to the standards and eligible content
- Differentiate instruction as needed for all students
- Use pre, formative and summative assessments to assess students and inform instruction
- Provide feedback that is specific, timely, constructive and transferable
- Gradually release responsibility so students take greater ownership of their learning
- Employ all available technology resources to enrich learning
- Support character development through Response to Intervention
- Regularly communicate with families
- Apply the idea that effective learning requires a balanced approach of student understanding and application of knowledge along with drill and practice