I would like to welcome all new and returning students and staff to Mountain View School Division for the 2019-2020 school year.
One great aspect of being a student, educator or support staff member in the K-12 education system is that every fall, you get to start again. You can set new goals and seek fresh opportunities. It’s also a time you can choose to set high expectations for yourself as a learner, and pursue goals that will engage and challenge.
Setting high expectations sounds like a natural process, especially within a school system. However, we often struggle to get past the initial expectations we form of ourselves, and each other. This is a great time of year to reflect on whether we have set our expectations high enough and what barriers might be impeding our goals and how they can be overcome1.
As we enter year four of a five-year division plan (with focus areas in literacy, numeracy, safe and caring schools, career education and mental health), it is a good time to re-examine our goals, our successes and setbacks. It is also an opportune time to determine whether to change course with our strategies or to recommit to them, depending on our outcomes over the past three years. In the coming weeks, we will have an opportunity to examine and share with our school communities our end-of-year data from 2018-2019 and chart a course forward.
Of course, the number one factor within the school system that influences student success is the quality of classroom instruction in our schools2. I am continually impressed by our staff’s commitment to our students and the high quality of work that occurs in our classrooms, schools and division. I look forward to spending time with staff and students and receiving feedback on how we as a division can support each other in achieving our mission of providing an inspiring, respectful and safe learning environment where every student is valued, nurtured and enabled to realize her or his full potential.
I wish everyone the best for this upcoming school year.
Regards,
Dan Ward
1 Marzano, R. (2010) Art and Science of Teaching/High Expectations for All, Educational Leadership
2 Morgan, H. (2014) Maximizing Student Success with Differentiated Learning, The Clearing House - A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas