Dr. David Hopson
As we look ahead to New Year’s Eve and the beginning of a new year, it’s helpful to look back as well as ahead. Reflecting on the past year for the Gateway District, I see a mix of successes and challenges that present a wide range of opportunities in the upcoming year.
The one constant is the effort put forth by all of our staff to make school a safe, caring, and challenging place for our students. As happens throughout the world, some students rise to the challenge, voraciously devouring knowledge, and becoming academic stars. As it goes in studies, it also goes in sports and student activities with some individuals pushing their own boundaries, engaging in what the district offers and giving so much back that they stand out in people’s minds as extraordinary athletes, musicians, artists, actors, leaders or highly involved students. These are the students who push staff to be creative in order to meet the advanced needs and challenges for our top students (whether in athletics, activities, academics, or a combination of all) in order to keep them engaged, on task, and moving forward. For these students, the world is full of possibilities.
We also have students who face tremendous obstacles outside of school, which color their perception of the world, and other students who face physical, social, emotional, and other challenges that make the tasks of learning difficult. For some of these students, engaging in the typical educational process is very difficult for many reasons and the manifestation of this lack of engagement may be seen as misbehavior, lack of interest, failure to stay on task, more interest in social activities, and a lack of concern regarding grades, success, or even coming to school. While some of these students may receive services under the auspices of special education, many more do not qualify for these mandated services.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by many that students at both ends of the performance spectrum will either receive services or make their own successes. The problem lies with those students in the middle and those students who, due to non-school circumstances outside of their control, do not do as well as they might if they had additional supports. These are the students who may need additional direction, a chance for individual encouragement by a staff member, a minor tweak to their daily schedule, or some particular intervention that will make the difference, assist them in being engaged in education, and provide them with the opportunity to see how doing well in school can make a difference in setting and meeting long-term goals. As one might imagine, the problem is finding appropriate resources, providing time to implement interventions, and making learning relevant to them at this time in their lives.
In looking ahead, I see a convergence of several trends that may help schools provide these additional supports. Locally, I am pleased with the vision of many staff regarding offering a project- based, more relevant way of providing the common core curriculum to students to better engage them and to build proficiency in areas such as collaboration, creativity, problem solving, appropriate use of technology, and other items often known collectively as ‘21st Century Skills’. The use of essential questions to focus learning, and looking at new ways to assess that learning outside of the ‘required’ standardized testing, is a much needed step towards providing a means to measure student progress using a set of objectives that is more closely related to the education of the ‘whole child’, i.e., those skills and that knowledge that citizens use daily to be successful in life.
I am hopeful that, as the district looks ahead in planning for the New Year, we can share this vision with everyone and show the necessity of supporting these initiatives. As each of you reflects on the past year, and perhaps makes resolutions for the New Year, I wish all of you the best as we move forward into a year I hope is filled with peace and prosperity for all.
