Our core values are beliefs our staff and students strive to meet daily. Last week’s blog was focused on the core value of Caring and Belonging. This week we are going to look at what Educational Excellence looks like at Benton Community Schools and how this ties to our district goal.
Our district goal is for 100% of students to make one year’s growth based on state and district assessments in reading comprehension. In order to attain this goal, Benton has identified an instructional framework, utilizes a data team process, and makes collaborative learning a priority. Benton has adopted the Characteristics of Effective Instruction (START model) as our instructional framework. We see this framework as a model for what great teaching should look like in all classrooms in our district. We strive to center our instruction, data teams, and collaboration around this model in order to keep students as our primary focus. The START model consists of 5 characteristics: Student Centered Classrooms Teaching for Understanding Assessment for Learning Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum Teaching for Learner Differences Last year, our coaches and administrators had the opportunity to attend the Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) Training at Grant Wood AEA focused around providing meaningful feedback. This training led our administration and coaches to have goal-based conversations with all full-time teaching staff. Triad meetings may have looked different in each building, but they focused around the teachers choosing a goal. These triad conversations also allowed us to narrow our goals in order to create personalized Individual Professional Development Plans to fit the needs of each teacher. Another way Benton strives for Educational Excellence is through our data team cycles and collaborative learning time. Benton has made collaboration and teamwork a priority, and it has been a movement that has changed the way we do business! We all believe that collaboration is critical to the way we serve our students. Through the data team process, teams are using common formative assessments, charting data, analyzing student work, and monitoring student and teacher behaviors to offer the best learning experiences for all students. We continue to build knowledge in the data team process and refine this process in order to grow as educators and teammates. Through professional development, we have taken time to learn how to be more efficient, use research-based strategies, and think through the lens of OUR students. We continue to strengthen the data team process, while building the capacity of collective efficacy within teams. Of course, all of this intentionality is so we can provide the best possible educational experience for our students at BC.
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Blog Posts Written By:Larry Carlson Archives
August 2022
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