There is a revolution occurring in Alpine School District! Not a rebellion, uprising, or insurrection, but rather transformation, innovation and change that we refer to as Education Renewal—a groundswell of passion for education that is changing the way we do business.
This passion comes from an education culture that has student learning as its focus. The principles underlying this Renewal are those of a Professional Learning Community (PLC)—not a program that will be here today and gone tomorrow, but rather a deeply embedded belief that all students can learn—supported by collaboration, continuous improvement, data analysis, collective questioning, and responsive action.
Innovation thrives as we learn to be data detectives answering the questions the data supplies:
- What do the test scores reveal about student learning, teacher instruction, curriculum planning, and assessment quality?
- What are the achievement trends by student, by grade, by instructor, and by school?
- How can we meet the needs of each student—those who struggle, those who get by, and those who excel?
ASD educators, from the teacher in the classroom to the professional at the District Office, are analyzing the data to help each student achieve. Collaboration improves teacher instruction, professional development, and enhances district programs and offerings that lead to graduation and life readiness.
I visit a school each week with the Superintendent and two other board members. We meet with a teacher team to hear their report on their work in the classroom. Week after week we hear passion, enthusiasm, energy and synergy about their work—how they are helping to improve test scores, student confidence and the learning process, how they are improving their instruction, sharing best practice with their peers, transforming their classrooms into learning environments for everyone that walks through their doors.
New teachers express their gratitude for the support and their personal love and commitment for their students, their team and their work. Veteran teachers express that the PLC principles have reinvigorated their teaching, their morale and the passion that made teaching their profession in the first place.
Those involved directly in ASD schools as educators and as patron volunteers can’t help but catch the enthusiasm and love for learning that is sweeping across the district. Classroom by classroom, school by school, we witness the powerful effect of the PLC principles on our students. Student growth indicators validate our celebration of the results of the Renewal occurring in this district.
We celebrate learning and continuous improvement on a daily basis as the PLC revolution becomes “the way we do things” in Alpine School District.
