District Adopts New School Improvement Plan

The Rochester School Committee approved the school district’s latest two-year school improvement plan on October 11, focusing on goals very much aligned with the newest, recently approved Tri-Town wide Old Rochester Strategic Plan.

The three areas focus on 21stCentury learning, global awareness and citizenship, and social-emotional learning.

The plan came as a result of intense team effort, said Rochester Memorial School Principal Derek Medeiros, and the adoption of the three goal areas by all schools will bring about more consistency as students advance to the junior high and high school.

In 21stCentury learning, the main objective is to integrate more project-based learning and technology into the classroom and providing teachers with the skills to prepare students for contemporary learning.

During the first year of the plan, teachers and staff will focus on assessing aspects of this area that have already been implemented and devise a plan to further incorporate other methods of teaching. The second year, teachers will implement at least one of those methods and, said Medeiros, “Engaging in learning purposely designed.”

Medeiros also spoke of the “four Cs”: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.

Right away, teachers will observe the areas where the school is already working with the four Cs and in year two, again, implement an additional action.

Technology will also be assessed in year one, and in year two, bolster technology use with further training and support to strengthen research skills.

Focusing on the media center at RMS and in all the schools, Medeiros said, “How are they bringing those practices outside the media centers and into the classrooms?”

Teachers will make their assessments and decide how technology use could be improved in year two of the plan, while also integrating the goals into the core subjects.

In the area of global citizenship, during year one, teachers will focus on making those needed assessments in the areas in which the school is already practicing global awareness, whether it be in foreign language or international projects that foster communication with students of other countries and cultures. Year two will see the school implements at least one more action to further students’ development and awareness of a global community.

One additional area inserted into global awareness was civic literacy and citizenship, which resulted in School Committee Sharon Hartley’s suggestion that civic literacy and citizenship would be more suited in this goal rather than where it was originally included in the next goal, social-emotional learning.

In learning about civics, students will actively explore local and regional government, elections, and ways of understanding their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

Empathy and anti-defamation will also be assessed and implemented by year two, while another action area of safety and security will remain in focus, primarily through A.L.I.C.E. emergency training for staff and students.

“At the elementary level, it’s all about educating to really focus on the adults and really listen to those instructions,” said Medeiros.

Medeiros specified that, although these three areas are common across all three elementary schools, some individual initiatives amongst the three goal areas might vary from school to school.

The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for November 15 at 6:30 pm, which is usually held at the Rochester Memorial School, but the location has yet to be determined.

Rochester School Committee

By Jean Perry

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