Spring Edition 2013
ISD 273
Edina Public Schools News
All for All initiative focuses on individual needs of each learner Concerted effort to close gaps serves to increase achievement for every student As part of its implementation of the 2012-15 Strategic Plan, Edina Public Schools is looking at ways to ensure academic growth and high achievement for each and every student, regardless of their background, with its “All for All” plan. “This concept of All for All is not new. It has been the core of our district’s mission for over twenty years,” said Superintendent Ric Dressen. “However, we know that we have some students who are not achieving as well as others, and others who may be testing well but are not reaching their full potential. We must look at new strategies that will have the greatest impact not only on the students that are in our schools now, but also for those that will be part of the district’s future.”
Closing the Leadership Gap efforts focus on ways to ensure that strategies proven to positively impact student achievement, such as the district’s Response to Instruction (RtI) educational delivery method, are implemented with fidelity in grades preK-12. It also looks at strategic ways the district can continue to recruit, hire and retain high-quality, racially conscious teachers and administrators.
“The number one factor in closing the gap is the quality of our teachers. We have great teachers in our system and we want to build upon that,” said Director of Research and Evaluation Chad Schmidt. “We have to make The Educational Delivery Committee, sure our learners consisting of “By identifying and clarifying are engaged in their principals and learning, and we can representatives from beliefs about learning teach students those a variety of district skills by helping expectations for each and departments, began find the best every student, we can create teachers meeting monthly methods to encourage last fall to create a the pathways for students’ all students to be plan that allows all college and career readiness.” successful.” students to have the opportunity to thrive Strategies to close the and succeed. While short-term strategies were Belief Gap focus on training and educating implemented earlier this year, the long-term staff to support the academic achievement All for All plan will have a three-year, phased of all learners. Schmidt noted that all kids implementation starting in the fall and will respond differently to how they learn, but they PIP 8x2 ad 111212 to printer.pdf 1 will 11/13/12 1:08 PM focus on five key gappage areas. reach the highest level of achievement
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when the people around them believe in their ability to succeed. “We’re always going to be looking for learning and achievement gaps and how we can close them. By identifying and clarifying beliefs about learning expectations for each and every student, we can create pathways to success for students’ college and career readiness,” Schmidt said. To close the Preparation Gap, the district is focusing on early intervention strategies, recognizing that the earlier a student receives needed instructional support, the more prepared they will be for kindergarten and beyond. “We already have great early learning systems in place filled with rich, learning content. Continues on page 3
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