Thursday, April 7, 2011

Goddard Scholars (at Sullivan Middle)

Mulqueen points out that this is the only proposal in which the lead is a teacher rather than a principal
Goddard Scholars is a current academically accelerated program for grades 7 & 8 now
They're now proposing adding grade 6 in their second year (so, not this fall)
currently serve 96 students (evenly divided between grades 7 and 8)
"intention of innovation schools was to close the achievement gap; nearly all Goddard Scholars already achieve advanced or proficient: "we believe that all these students should be achieving in the advanced level"
concerned with digital literacy skills
underrepresented groups: Latino significantly lower--Asian significantly higher--than both the district and Sullivan: "active identification of qualified candidates" to address this

"public demonstration of their skills"
"equitable access to the Academy"
Renzulli Learning (for differentiation): online learning
multi-grade advisories (to create relationships between and among grades)
adding grade 6 in the second year (per Common Core for middle school)
"fun, but also rigorous and valuable"
Benchmark experience: "rites of passage" as they progress through the school
demonstrations of digital literacy
increase applicants from underrepresented groups to eventually reflect demographics of WPS
Autonomies:
required language and music
web-based learning
scheduling: flexible scheduling for planning (day and year the same)
hiring committee to hire new teachers
Technology gap for parents:handhelds for kids to bring home (and parents to use to contact schools)

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