Brecksville-Broadview Heights schools seek to implement strategic plan in 2022-23 school year

BRECKSVILLE, Ohio – Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School will work to improve math and English language learning specifically for students with disabilities this school year.

Meanwhile, Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School plans to emphasize an instructional approach called Universal Design for Learning, which aims to ensure all students achieve academic success by providing flexibility in how they approach learning material. Classes.

“We want to make sure that we meet the learning needs of all students, those who quickly accelerate their learning on one side, those who need extra help on the other side and all students in between. “said the district superintendent. Joelle Magyar Told clevelalnd.com Last week.

Finally, at the new Brecksville-Broadview Heights Elementary School, the administration met with officials from the Cuyahoga Valley Career Center in Brecksville about introducing vocational education to young students.

“Career planning can start at a very young age,” Magyar said. “Getting young students excited about possible careers is what many CVCC employees do well. A strong partnership between the CVCC and the elementary school can only lead to more rewarding opportunities for students.

All of these steps are part of the district’s five-year strategic plan, which ended in the spring of 2019. The district is reviewing this plan whose implementation was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

David Martin, district director of teaching, learning and collaboration, led a discussion on the strategic plan at the September 28 school board meeting.

Plan the schedule

The district hired Original equipment strategiesan independent growth and change management consulting firm, for $18,000 in fall 2018 to help create the 25-page strategic plan.

OE Strategies held meetings and focus groups with school board members, administrators, teachers, students, parents, residents and other community members to set goals and priorities. More than 100 people participated.

The company then collected the data, helped write the strategic plan, and presented the plan to the school board in 2019.

Planners suggested four areas to focus on: preparing students for careers; build partnerships and collaborate with families, businesses and organizations in the district; create effective and stimulating learning environments; and live the “Cultural booklet” throughout the neighborhood.

“The Culture Playbook is a summary of our overall culture as a district,” Magyar said. “It encapsulates what we believe, how we behave, and the experience our behavior produces for others.

“It is the foundation on which our educational community is built and shares our core beliefs and how we behave and interact with each other, our students and our community,” Magyar said.

Strategic planners have also identified a “Portrait of a Graduate”. To match this portrait, high school graduates must be future-ready, emotionally prepared, self-reliant and globally responsive, the strategic plan states.

“Upon leaving high school, students may be asked to produce something, such as an essay, music video, speech, performance, etc., that demonstrates their mastery of the Portrait of a Graduate skillset,” said Magyar.

Objectives and actions

Martin told the school board in September that the three schools had set strategic plan goals for the 2022-23 school year, but were still working on action steps to achieve those goals.

The college, for example, plans to develop a monitoring team to analyze special education practices designed to improve math and English learning for students with disabilities.

In addition, the middle school, like the high school, will develop the Universal Design for Living model and introduce “disciplinary literacy,” which Magyar says strives to bring all students, including those with special needs, to read, write, think, collaborate and discuss at high levels in every subject.

“For example, in math classes, students explicitly learn to think and solve problems like a mathematician,” Magyar said. “In history lessons, students explicitly learn to think critically like a historian. In art classes, students are explicitly taught to think like an artist.

Another college goal for 2022-23 is to increase “teacher collective effectiveness”, which implies that whole groups of teachers believe they can positively affect student learning. When this happens, student academic achievement increases, Magyar said.

In high school, one of the goals is to emphasize the principles of Portrait of a Graduate in daily education and programming. An action step towards this goal is to develop “hallway visuals” – posters, for example – to educate students and make them understand these principles.

Another high school goal involves the continued development of “social-emotional learning,” which Magyar says is important for students’ overall well-being.

“It is important for all students to instill and reinforce the five components of social-emotional learning: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making,” said declared Magyar.

Students engage in social-emotional learning during “colony times,” scheduled approximately every two weeks, where they can chat with a trusted teacher about personal topics that concern them, such as how to develop better sleep habits .

For elementary school, the goals are to continue to use data analytics to determine student learning growth and to engage families and community members through various programs such as small discussion groups or coffee meetings.

An action step in elementary school is to implement a quarterly reward of positive behavioral intervention and support for all students. PBIS aims to eliminate or reduce bad behavior by reinforcing positive behavior.