Dr. David Hopson
Each day seems to bring new requirements to meet, new tasks to complete, and no extra time or resources to apply towards doing so. From the new ‘Common Core” for English language arts and mathematics, to the upcoming standards being developed for science; from the time requirements inherent in processing disciplinary issues to the work being done to ensure a positive school climate; and from the increased costs in operating a district to the shrinking amount of federal and state aid to education, there never seems to be enough time or resources to get ahead.
However, there seem to be some discrete areas that have the potential to be put together to improve the educational process while streamlining some of the requirements of running a school district. These include the new supervision and evaluation system set by the state, various aspects of student assessment, the decennial evaluation of the high school for accreditation, and the idea of educating the whole child for lifelong success. For years, these items never seemed to effectively support each other and often seemed to be at odds, i.e., the idea of taking a state standardized test (MCAS) while supporting 21st Century Skills such as collaboration, communication, and problem solving.
We now have the opportunity to develop, in collaboration with the teachers’ union, a system to help improve teaching while potentially using some measures of student growth in areas such as collaboration, communications, problem solving, and the use of technology. These same skills and abilities are also the new basis for NEASC accreditation, meaning that as we develop measures of success on student progress, we are also developing and implementing the rubrics that are now required for our high school accreditation.
The Gateway Leadership Team has been working on several matters that will help us pull these items together. As I’ve shared in past columns, Gateway has been able to maintain support for the education of the ‘whole child’ and has been moving towards integrating 21st Century skills into daily practice. This summer, we developed a set of goals and potential outcomes that were approved by the school committee. The next step in this process is to gather community and staff input into these areas to identify exactly what we’d like to have as specific outcomes or objectives. In order to prioritize these areas, we’ve developed a survey for students, parents, staff, and community members to help in this process.
A link to this online survey will be placed on the district’s website and will be distributed by email and through Breaking News. This survey is anonymous and does not collect email addresses or personal information. The district will only be reporting out compiled results related to the importance of the items in total and potentially by subgroups (i.e., student, parent, or staff as examples). I’ll thank everyone in advance for their participation in this process and hope it provides a chance to set the direction for student success as we align all of the mandates to ensure a complete and outstanding education for our students.
