Teaching & Learning Standard #1
Core Values, Beliefs, & Learning Expectations
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Executive Summary
Bristol Central High School has engaged in a dynamic and inclusive process guided by research and best practices to identify and commit to its core values and beliefs about learning. The entire school community, including faculty, students, parents, and administrators, was involved in the process to develop Bristol Central's mission statement, motto and learning expectations. This process was heavily influenced by current research and best practices and adopted unanimously by the staff and the Board of Education. The core values and beliefs about learning that were identified will help to prepare all students at Bristol Central to succeed in college and careers.
Bristol Central has identified challenging and measurable 21st century learning expectations for all students which address academic, social, and civic competencies. These competencies can be measured by school-wide analytic rubrics that identify targeted levels of achievement. The expectations are clear and specific enough to be easily used within content areas to demonstrate student achievement. However, the expectations are also broad enough that they can be applied across disciplines and encompass the breadth of the school's curriculum and activities. The staff of Bristol Central High School clearly identified a rigorous target level of achievement for each school-wide rubric.
The school's core values, beliefs, and 21st century learning expectations are heavily reflected in the culture of the school and are beginning to drive instruction and assessment in every classroom. These core values and beliefs are beginning to influence policy decisions, procedures, and the allocation of school resources. While the core values have influenced some new programs, policies, and procedures, the school needs to develop a plan to evaluate all school systems and services. This evaluation should be conducted while keeping the school's core values, beliefs, and 21st century learning expectations at the forefront.
The Core Values Creation Committee established a plan and a process for reviewing the school's core values, beliefs, and learning expectations. The plan involves a review of recent research, assessments data, surveys, and other district and community initiatives. This plan has not yet been put into action. The plan does, however, provide a solid framework for ongoing evaluation, review, and revision of the core values, beliefs, and learning expectations.
Based on the Rating Guide for Standard 1, Bristol Central High School judges their adherence to the Standard as ACCEPTABLE.
STRENGTHS:
- The inclusive process used to develop the school's core values, mission statement, motto, and beliefs about learning
- The open discussion with district leadership and the Board of Education throughout the process
- The clear understanding that the core values will be represented in all school endeavors
- The identification of measurable expectations for student learning that address the skills required of the 21st century learner
- The determination of the high level of minimum acceptable student performance as measured by the school-wide analytic rubrics
- The creation of analytic rubrics for the learning expectations which are broad enough to be used across disciplines.
- The design of a process for regularly scheduled reviews of the school's Core Values, Beliefs and Learning Expectations
- The development of a plan to use a broad range of data sources as part of the review of the school's core values, beliefs and learning expectations
NEEDS:
- Develop a formal, comprehensive plan to identify school components, such as instruction, assessment, policies, procedures, and the allocation of resources to ensure that they align with the school's core values and beliefs about learning.
- Implement the plan that has been developed to review and revise the school