2016 update on #TheirFuture

After several months of work on the #TheirFuture initiative, District administrators updated Board of Education members during a September 2016 board meeting. The information from that presentation follows:

#TheirFuture Process

More than 2,250 faculty, staff, parents, students and community members responded about the future direction of Warwick Valley Central School District with three main areas of focus:

Summary of Key Findings

1. How learning takes place
2. A district-wide culture of learning, growth and enjoyment
3. Tuning “what we learn” to the real world

How Learning Takes Place

• Hands-on
• Experiential
• Project work revolving around big themes and group collaboration
• Fewer tests
• Real-world conditions
• In and with the greater community

A District-wide Culture of Learning, Growth and Enjoyment

• Build mutual trust amongst teachers, site administrators, and the district office
• Develop more opportunities for collaboration amongst educators
• Educate parents and students about the need to take deeper responsibility for the importance of school, and coming prepared each day to learn
• Support teachers who are passionate in their work and engaging in their relationships with students and welcoming of student participation
• Create an expectation that teachers will constantly continue to grow
• Strive for school to be engaging, enjoyable and exciting for students

Tuning “What We Learn” to the Real World

• Academic achievement is important – but not the only important job of schools
• Government-mandated academic standards should not dominate the guidelines of learning
• Expand the range of learning opportunities and a greater choice in what students study
• School should also focus on learning skills in five areas relevant to lifelong success and happiness after high school:
  1. Interpersonal skills
  2. Intrinsic motivation to learn
  3. Life skills
  4. Critical thinking and problem-solving
  5. Safety and wellness

Next Steps: North Star

• Input received from our students, parents, teachers and community members will be used to construct an all-District “North Star” vision statement to guide the District over the foreseeable future in terms of designing and implementing changes to the practice of education.

Next Steps: Focus on the Three Core Elements

• Curriculum – teachers will work toward mapping and implementing a rich curriculum for every course
• Instruction – emphasis on consistently delivering highly-effective instruction so all children are intellectually engaged
• Literacy – committed to elementary literacy effort through writing and reading workshops

Piloting/Design Teams

• Relatively small number of innovative practices:
  1. Curriculum Team Leaders (Curriculum)
  2. Learning Walks (Instructional)
  3. Writing Workshops & Fountas and Pinnell Training (Literacy)

Professional Development Plan

• Focused – Curriculum, Instruction, Literacy
• Ongoing – not a snapshot
• Internal Capacity – Distributed Leadership, Teacher Leaders
• Outside Consultants – e.g., Patty Vitale-Reilly, Greg Duncan, Jan Lutterbein

Professional Development

• Coherent Curriculum
  • Mapping
  • Learning targets
  • Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF)
  • Performance tasks
  • Technology infusion
• Effective Instruction
  • Learning walks
  • Special Education – Consultant Model
  • Social Studies work
• Authentic Literacy
  • Writer’s Workshop – Major
  • Fountas and Pinnell Training – Major
  • Switch to A-F levels in Foreign Language – Minor
  • Exposure to Readers Workshop, Leveled Libraries – Minor