District 50 Learner-centered Standards-based Educational Model
Shared Vision
 Prepare students for the 21st Century
Celebrate and respect the diversity
Nurture the love of learning and inquiry
Serve as a lighthouse for other districts
Leadership
Students
Student leadership is being cultivated through their ownership in their learning.
Students are actively involved in creating the shared vision and the code of conduct in the classroom and school. Classroom room goals on academics and behavior are monitored by the class, progress charted and they have a voice in whether the goal is continued or goal completion is celebrated.
Students are partnering with their teachers to evaluate the results of their academic pre-assessments, create their goals on the learning targets that are not yet proficient or advanced. They then begin planning with their teacher to create the capacity matrix that will lead them to proficient performance. Students self-assess their progress through their performance on formative assessments and work with the teacher to determine when they are ready to complete the summative assessment.
Students will be the conduit to helping their parents understand the new system they will undertaking in the fall of 2009. Students are writing and illustrating, with pictures or digital photos, a children’s book to explain the difference between a grade level system and a performance-based non-grade level system. Students have designed the metaphor of a video game to explain that certain skills and knowledge must be mastered before moving to the next level and their performance is not based on a set amount of time or the other students “playing the video game”.
Parents and Community
We began building leadership capacity in our parents last November when we invited key communicators to a meeting to explain how we were thinking of transforming the district and whether or not they thought this was a match for our community. We continued building capacity by having parent information nights (Parent Awareness) throughout the 2007-08 school year and into the fall of 2008. We are currently building understanding in the standards-based design component of the model through newsletter and powerpoints called “SBS Parent Understanding”.
We have developed an outside facilitated advisory group of parent representatives from each of our elementary and middle schools to advise the superintendent on issues pertaining to SBS. We have tackled issues such as grading, communication, and the transition from a grade level system to a performance level system.
Teachers
Teachers have been taking the lead in creating learner-centered, standards-based classrooms. Sixty-five “beacon” teachers were trained in learner-centered strategies in July 2008 and are now shining the way for their colleagues during this school year. This group has now grown to 225 and will include all of our PK-8 teachers by the completion of our April 2009 professional development days. The Beacon teachers are beginning to facilitate these professional development opportunities for their colleagues. The Beacon teachers have opened their classrooms up for visitors from inside and outside to see their practices.
Teachers are serving in many leadership and advisory capacities to further our thinking. Teachers have worked with Dr. Robert Marzano, as the content experts, to identify our guaranteed, viable curriculum that will be measured and reported to parents. They are currently working to create performance assessments to align with these measurement topics. Teachers are represented on a standards-based advisory task force to give feedback to the superintendent for our implementation.
Administrators and School Board
The School Board, Superintendent, Dr. Roberta Selleck, principals, and central office administrators are leading this effort, with the other stakeholder groups, by creating continuous improvement plans to accomplish our district’s shared vision. It has started with a moral purpose that “all children can be proficient and ready for the 21st Century”. Principals have aligned their school’s shared vision with the district’s and have worked with their beacon teachers to share learner-centered practices throughout their school to accomplish these goals. We are guiding the district’s and schools’ developmental efforts through the use of the Organizational Self Assessment Tool from the ReInventing Schools Coalition. The district is in the process of creating the loose/tight procedures that will help guide our systemic and systematic reform.
We have had to align our systems to the standards-based tracking of our measurement topics. We are in the process of revising our assessments, our instructional strategies and our electronic recording and reporting procedures over the course of a student’s academic career with us. We are working with higher ed. to ensure our high school system communicates and translates for our students, who will be proficient or better in all their 10 levels of learning, to be admitted and receive scholarships.
Classified staff
We have developed leadership in our classified staff by providing them with the understanding of the new system and guiding them to align their job family’s contribution to the district’s shared vision. This makes for a cohesive staff and creates a group of key communicators out in the community who can explain our new system to anyone who asks. This is a critical group who primarily live in our district and access the rest of community more that any other staff stakeholder group.
Continuous Improvement
District improvement and strategic plans
Alignment of policies
School improvement plans
Management action plans
Identify and monitor key performance indicators
Standards-based Education
Measurement topics and learning targets
Balanced instructional model
Pre-assessment, performance, summative assessments
Standards-based reporting and recording
Level 5 Math Sample Breakdown
E-ducate Reporting System - Student Snapshot Level 5 Math
Learner-centered Classrooms
Classroom shared vision and code of conduct
Students are partners in teaching-learning cycle
Students and teachers are collaborative
Students own their learning
Students monitor and assess their own learning
Students provide feedback through tools and processes
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