Dr. David Hopson
Nearly a decade ago, the Gateway School Committee approved the district’s vision statement, “The Gateway Regional School District will provide an exemplary education that challenges all students in an instructional setting appropriate to their needs.” During the ensuing years, the district has completed numerous school and district improvement plans, gathered community input on where the district should be by 2015, seen numerous new and improved state/federal mandates, and seen the budget shrink significantly forcing major changes in the district’s structure.
Given the many changes over this time, and the significant impact that technology has had on both schools and society in general, it may be time to update district goals related to our vision. To that end, the Leadership Team has drafted an overarching generic goal as a point to begin discussion with various district stakeholders. This overarching goal is as follows:
- The Gateway Regional School District will focus on teaching and assessing those skills our students need to thrive as 21st century learners, workers and citizens. All GRSD students will be:
- Academically proficient;
- Effective communicators and collaborators;
- Globally aware, independent, responsible learners and citizens; and
- Critical and creative thinkers, innovators and problem solvers.
- In order to meet this focus, staff will engage every student in meaningful, authentic and rigorous work through the use of innovative instructional practices and technologies that will motivate students to be self-directed and inquisitive life-long learners.
While many would agree that this broad goal sounds good, most would agree that this doesn’t set a particular direction with a group of focus areas or specific measurable objectives. To that end, the leadership team has reported out to the school committee the following focus areas for the next five years:
- Implement the new frameworks into curriculum documents and classroom instruction with building principals acting as instructional leaders to insure fidelity and integration of 21st century skills.
- Develop a master framework for professional development focusing on the implementation of the new frameworks, i.e., programs that ensure or enhance student learning of the frameworks.
- Analyze data and work with grade level or individual teachers to develop action plans based on student needs which is driven by principal led, site based data teams and supported by the leadership team.
- Monitor the implementation of the new frameworks through informal observations, formal observations and review of lesson plans led by building administrators who will report progress to the leadership team.
- Utilize technology resources to support differentiation and modification of the instructional program led by building administrators and infused into the classroom by teachers.
- Create opportunities for parents and community members to fulfill their essential roles as actively engaged partners in supporting student achievement and outcomes for student success.
- Model and foster a positive and supportive working and learning environment for all community members.
- Create budgets that are predictable, reflect educational expectations, are supportive of student performance, and meet student needs.
To flesh out these focus areas and provide a measurable set of objectives to measure progress against, the school committee has agreed to the following goal for the upcoming year: “Working collaboratively with the School Committee, staff, students, and community, the superintendent will develop, by March 13, 2013, a set of objective measures, agreed to by a majority of the participants, that will be used to determine success in ensuring that students are: Academically proficient; Effective communicators and collaborators; Globally aware, independent, responsible learners and citizens; and Critical and creative thinkers, innovators and problem solvers.” Look for more on this subject as we move forward in gathering input and sharing results over the next several months.
