Weekly Update
October 17, 2018
INSPIRING EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS
REDEFINING READY
Districts across the country are embracing the concept that to really measure whether a student is "ready" we need multiple indicators and pathways for them to exhibit the skills, dispositions and knowledge needed to be successful. Districts have begun to implement the practice of promoting and embracing their own indicators for college, career and life readiness.
At C-A I propose we take this work started by our colleagues and establish our C-A set of indicators for future academic, career and life readiness. By leveraging our digital badge system I believe we can provide our students ways to exhibit these indicators that will provide evidence of their readiness to admissions, employers and our community.
On Friday I will be sharing the work completed so far with H.S. and M.S. faculty. I will follow up with elementary faculty at a later date. Feedback and ideas are welcome as we prepare to finalize this approach to monitor success for our students and ourselves. I will also show that this work means no new "stuff" for us to do in our classrooms. See bottom of this update for more thoughts on Redefining Ready.
BEING PURPOSEFUL WITH PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS
Our mission, our purpose, is to develop self-directed learners prepared to succeed. Finding the best way for students to learn so they may achieve extraordinary success is our vision; the direction we head in every day for every kid.
Education as an industry and tradition sometimes get in the way of achieving our mission and vision. Courses that exist in silos both vertically and horizontally leave students wondering, why? Why am I taking this course? Why do we have to learn this? Because we live in a heavily compliance state, we also have mandated courses and curriculum that must be covered and supposedly learned. Placed together, mandates and silos can cause students to find little purpose in their coursework.
When one looks at the C-A "Pentagon" they see engage, empower and enable in the center. Together these mean inspire. A part of the pentagon represents the anchor strategy Pathways to Success. Pathways to Success does not end at H.S. graduation. Therefore, we must communicate to our students and their families the value and interrelationships our courses and curriculum have with future success.
In the near future each of you will be asked to determine how the courses and curriculum you help students learn fits into a pathway for success. We will organize our work around the sixteen nationally recognized career clusters. Within those clusters we will organize what we already offer and showcase the career pathways options our students may embark on while at C-A and after graduation. Because again, Pathways to Success does not stop at graduation.
This work is not high school work alone. In my opinion, we really need to do a better job of having our students explore careers sooner and to plan out their high school four-year plan for coursework prior to entering high school, or sooner for our accelerated students. Part of that planning will be determining a career cluster to engage in. We must be ready to accept that choices can change and we need to be more flexible in our offerings to allow as many on and off ramps a student may need as they progress through school.
SERVICE LEARNING
Students can also choose to earn four trail badges to earn their Service PRIDE badge. Students who mentor, volunteer, provide service to a cause, and be a positive role model will be able to submit evidence for consideration in earning these digital badges. Students can access the challenges and badges in the OYOClass platform.
January we will be spotlighting Financial Literacy.
Student Meals
Some data from the first month compared to the same time last year:
Breakfast:
- H.S. up 104%
- M.S. up 95%
- CE up 26%
- EJA up 61%
- H.S. up 19%
- M.S. up 19%
- C.E. up 41%
- EJA up 95%
MAKE A MOMENT
- Week One: I challenged you to to bring together three things that bring joy to you or your family.(Look back at last week's update if you need more details) This week it is about recognition.
- Week Two: I asked that you praise someone for a talent they have or for work they have done.
- Week Three: I suggested you commit yourself to a “stretch”—that is, a commitment to do something you want to do that exposes you to the risk of failure.
- Week Four: You were challenged to deepen a tie by moving deeper past small talk and allowing others to get to know you better.
- Week Five: I challenged you to break the script. Alter your routine, do tasks in a different order, have your kids determine what comes next in the day.
- Last Week: You were to share a gratitude letter with someone who is important to you.
This Week:
Go Back and make a moment you may have not done, or make another moment with one of the six challenges. See which moments you can integrate into your lessons.
Illinois High School Affirms C-A's work towards Redefining Ready
Last spring teacher leaders here at C-A began to look at indicators of success for college, career and life ready. We also are looking at indicators that demonstrate readiness for middle and high school. This is important work and connecting these with our digital badge program will be a turning point in our students ability to demonstrate with evidence they are ready for college, career and life.
You may recall last school year in several of my weekly updates I shared the evidence and research supporting the indicators for academic and career readiness.
Community Forums
Upcoming Forums:
- November 5 at the high school:
- November 26 at EJA
These forums are a chance for me to have, as Abraham Lincoln called them, "my public opinion bath." A chance to share your accolades, questions, concerns and ideas for improvement about that night's host school, the district in general, and education as a whole. Think of it as open mic night about our schools. Reminders will be sent as we arrive closer to those dates. All are welcome.
CAFE GALA: TICKETS ON SALE NOW
The Annual Wall of Honor Gala will be held on Saturday November 3rd at Birch Hill . This year's inductees are:
- Rosemary Martin
- Carl Meyer
- Henry Rausch.
- David Riley
Tickets are on sale now in the district office and EJA office. Please plan to attend and celebrate our inductees, as well as our STAR Awards for active employees, and support innovative programs in our schools. Reception(open bar) at 5pm, Awards at 6pm, followed by dinner, auctions, dancing.
Social Media
#CACproud
Dates
- 10/18: BOE meeting at EJA
- 10/19: Staff Learning Day, No Classes
- 11/3: CAFE Gala
- 11/5: Superintendent Community Forum: focus H.S.
- 11/6: VOTE
- 11/12: Veterans Day
- 11/15: BOE meeting HS library
- 11/21-11/23: No Classes Thanksgiving Recess
Community Open House
TED Launches TED-Ed
Last week, as part of World Teacher Day, Google and TED-Ed announced a new TED-Ed Educator Talks YouTube Channel, that “will be dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the ideas of teachers around the world.”
Here’s their introductory video.
To learn more go to: https://masterclass.ted.com/educator
Redefining Ready
In the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District, we are committed to providing a wide variety of supports and services to help students aspire to and make progress towards our mission of developing self-directed college and career ready students who are prepared to succeed in our global society. This involves the developoment of a broad range of knowledge, skills and dispositions that will allow students to be informed consumers and creators of their post-secondary education and training and also effectively navigate the world's of higher education and employment at a time that is right for them. To be LIFE READY.
To that end the C-A school district will be using a number of research and or best practice indicators that have been proven to lead to higher levels of post-secondary success to track student progress, as well as the performance of the District as a whole. It is our shared objective to help students explore a wide variety of opportunities that support their personal, academic, social and career goals. This requires that we measure their progress in a manner that is as unique as they are. All students should graduate confident that their knowledge, skills, and dispositions are sufficient to pursue the personal, academic, social and career goals that they set for themselves. We all learn in a variety of ways. Students should be able to demonstrate readiness in a variety of ways.
Reminder, you can catch up on past weekly updates located on my blog page.
Randy Squier
Email: squierr@cacsd.org
Website: www.cacsd.org/domain/30
Location: 24 Sunset Boulevard, Coxsackie, NY, United States
Phone: 518-731-1710
Twitter: @randysquier