We started our planning in the Superintendent’s Task Force for Middle Level Education with the missive to DREAM BIG! Part of that dreaming (with the 140 member community engagement task force) led to the revolutionary changes to this years middle school exploratory programming! We are constructing STEM and Communication Media Arts labs in learning spaces previously used for computer applications and family/consumer sciences. We are changing what we do for our students. We are changing how we do what we do for our students. We lead each of these changes with professional development/training, and cost/appropriations in concert with current and former planning from the school district.

DPS109 is under new management and leadership and we continue to aim to stir the collective souls of all stakeholders. Thanks to our visionary and courageous Board of Education we are able to engage, inspire, and empower our internal and external stakeholders!

Throughout the summer we have been involved in numerous projects designed to improve the learning conditions, safety, atmosphere, and security of our seven facilities (District Center and the six schools). In this post, I am sharing some photos of work in progress across the district, some inside, some outside, some finished, some under construction! These photos complement our overall mission and my message that we are supporting these massive changes with strategies, tactics, budget, and plans to support and equip our teachers so that they can better engage and inspire learning so that we all – as a learning community – GROW.

Each and every project this summer, from restrooms to roofs to air quality enhancement to parking lots to state-of-the art learning labs have one thing in common: SUPPORT of our mission: Engage, Inspire, Empower. Our aims 24/7, 100% of the time, are to support learning and teaching and growth for all in our learning community. A comparison I will draw to all of this labor and construction is one that we consider in the selection and development of staff. Part of the work we do around staff selection involves a heavy reliance on research, training, practice, support, and fidelity to the structures of the selection process. Our principals, assistant principals, and other administrative leaders place a premium in terms of value of time and effort in the processes surrounding selection of staff.

All of this labor around the district is also part of a system of research, training, practice, support, and fidelity to the structures of the construction process. Our Buildings & Grounds department, contractors, workers, and everyone involved in the projects place a premium in terms of value of time and effort in the processes surrounding the construction of learning environments reflective of our mission, vision, values, and goals. I’ve written a number of articles about leadership and change. Much of the construction work depicted here and in other posts also relates to our leadership and changes.

With the new labs and facilities, we are taking the opportunity to support and equip our teachers and staff with the latest, greatest, and learning-focused teaching and learning spaces. This year with the 1:1 Transformative Learning Environment and planned deployment of thousands of devices in the works, our infrastructure has been equipped since last year and continuing this summer so that we can support the implementation and integration of technology in to the regular instructional programming. With the release of numerous research studies around the globe about what works, we are supporting and equipping our educators with the knowledge and training in support of their experimentation and exploration of what works in learning.

With a reliance on data and assessment, we have more explicit awareness of our students’ learning needs, learning successes, and learning challenges. We believe all children can learn and we believe that all teachers can create learning environments that best support HIGH expectations and personalized learning. With our construction, professional development, and curriculum resource support, we are literally putting our money where our mouth is in terms of allocating resources and materials in support of our teachers and students and community.

We live and work in a community where the average, typical student arrives at school in the 60-7th percentile as reported by national comparisons to other students around the USA who take the MAP – Measures of Academic Progress assessments in reading and math.

With our unique challenges, we face a dream scenario many would say around the world. Our average class size is below 24, our low income percentages are below 2, we have no excuses based upon the current world of comparisons of public school student achievement and public school success. We have dream schools with dream students and dream teachers and a dream community.

My dream is that we actualize this greatness in terms of updated instructional practices that lead to higher achievement and social -emotional metrics for each and every one of our students. We have an integrated and extensive professional development model, thanks to the shared leadership of our teams and of our assistant superintendent for teaching & learning Jeff Zoul. We have opportunities that support each and every initiative and plan under our sun.

As we come closer to the opening of school, as we prepare for our second year with our Big 5, with massive construction, maintenance, security, and change, I have to pinch myself as this is truly a DREAM scenario! We have acquired digital resources for all students and teachers grades K-8 in support of the Common Core State Standards. We have put into place supplemental curricular resources in social studies and science. We have been training our staff on differentiated instruction, literacy support and development, and digital implementation strategies.

What are you doing this summer to prepare for the start of school?

How do you feel about the opportunities we have in store for this upcoming school year?