The
Essence of Whole School Change
At the
heart of Focus On Children is the student.
Every aspect of the plan exists to help
students learn better. The plan sets high
standards for student achievement and holds
schools accountable for meeting these
standards by giving schools the support and
flexibility to make organizational and
instructional changes to best serve the
student.
The
strategy known as Whole School Change:creates
the most effective school organizations and
makes the most of existing resources involves
assessing progress on an ongoing basis and
making changes whenever necessary
For Whole
School Change to be effective, everyone must
participate
city government, the School
Committee, community leaders, parents, the
school administration and, at the heart of it
all, the student and the teacher.
The
plan includes six essential activities
designed to build students'
knowledge:
- identifying
an instructional focus
- looking
at student work and data in relation to
the BPS Citywide Learning
Standards
- creating
a targeted professional development plan
for teachers and principals
- learning
and using best teaching practices
- aligning
resources with the instructional focus,
and
- involving
parents and the community in ways that
support the instructional
focus