Compass Connections
News & Updates from Compass Academy
Dates to Remember
- Tuesday, August 31: Chromebook exchange at Compass Academy- students with Dell Chromebooks will receive new ones during lunch/flex time
- Friday, September 3: School Improvement Day- no school
- Monday, September 6: Labor Day- no school
- Thursday, September 9th: Virtual Back to School (Curriculum) Night -link will be on the Compass Academy website
- Monday, September 13th: Compass Academy Picture Day- all students will get ID photos taken and will receive an ID; order forms for photos will be distributed next week
Academic Overview
- All Compass Academy teachers use Schoology to communicate with students, share assignments, and link instructional resources. Students may communicate with their teachers through this platform and families may view what students are working on as well.
- Compass Academy is a competency-based school, which means that students will work on skills aligned with Illinois Learning Standards, receiving opportunities to practice these skills until they demonstrate proficiency. Compass Academy has school-wide rubrics teachers will use to measure student progress and to help students track their growth in competency areas. In the next few weeks, students will begin receiving feedback on these rubrics as they start to develop their digital portfolios.
- More information about competency-based assessment and student portfolios will be shared during Back to School Night. Families will learn then how to monitor student progress throughout the year.
Inquiry-Based Learning
In the past week, students began conducting inquiry-related activities in several seminars while also starting to work on personalized coursework in math workshop, online classes, and independent study courses. I’m both impressed by and excited about the ideas students have shared for their independent inquiry (“Genius Hour”) projects, quarter-long (or longer) projects where student-selected topics include robotics, game design, drywall repair, mural creation, environmental problem-solving, music composition, and school community-building, among others. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to ask your student to show you their “pitch” for their project. Click this link to see a project overview.
Advisory & Post-Secondary Planning
- In advisory, we have been working on building community and finding commonalities. One of the students’ tasks last week was to share a valuable “life lesson” they have learned from a parent, teacher, coach, friend, or family member.
- This week, students will have the chance to complete a career interest survey and explore the results. This information, along with results from other career exploration activities, will be included in each Student Success Plan (SSP), an individual learning plan students create with their advisor and counselor which includes students’ interests, goals, and planned post-high school path, along with their competency attainment for progress monitoring.
- Once they are initially created, SSPs will be viewable by parents and guardians as well. SSPs will be “living documents,” so students will continually update and revise them as they attain competencies and explore post-secondary options.
Attendance Calls
PTO and Community Partners
Sharon Stanley, Director of Compass Academy
Email: sharon.stanley@d303.org
Website: compassacademy.d303.org/
Location: St. Charles, IL, USA
Phone: (331)228-3400
Twitter: @CompassD303