INSTRUCTIONAL VISION
Many aspects are important when creating successful school environments. Academic success starts with the planning process for teachers and guidance from administrators. Collier (2005) explains the importance of teacher efficacy when creating student expectations, taking responsibility for student outcomes, revisions of student failures, creating teaching goals for themselves and students and most importantly viewing students and teachers as partners in learning. These goals will be student focused, culturally and socially aware, and will be the foundation to effectively measure student success. Academic success will be a school wide, cross curricular event involving students, teachers and administrative voice.
Formulate
A description of a successful school environment will be stated in the following paragraphs. This will include descriptions of academic success, academic rigor and overall school culture of achievement.
Academic Success
A school-wide focus on academic achievement concentrated on successful outcomes, are the guiding factors for academic success to prepare students for their post-secondary experience. Student voice will help to guide instructional activities to be culturally aware with a clear link from cultural norms both in and outside of school. A performance indicator for this aspect will be a student interest survey administered at the start of the school year. A culture of achievement will be established by creating school-wide instructional competencies, based on social, emotional and culturally aware learning techniques. These competencies are embedded in unit planning throughout all academic areas. Multiple platforms and learning strategies will be utilized throughout all courses to create strong learning environments.
Rigor
Academic rigor as described by Draeger, Prado Hill and Mahler (2015) finds that getting student feedback in the form of surveys, interviews and focus groups helps students understand and develop their future goals. Understanding students and their academic concerns can help to drive teacher planning and instruction. Data from the student survey will be collected and distributed to all teachers to use when planning instructional activities. Using the Depth of Knowledge technique teachers ask questions for a deeper sense of understanding from students. Students look beyond memorization to apply life skills and experiences to solve the problem.
School Environment
Staff members are involved in the creation of the vision, mission and values statements at City High School. Positive results will be yielded from this vision statement because of the collaborative efforts of staff, administration and community members. The statement is an excellent reflection of the school. Sheras and Bradshaw (2016) discuss the important impact a school environment has in a student’s growth behaviorally and emotionally. Students at City High School regulate from the adults in their lives and the positive relationships they make with teachers.
Conclusion
A clear and concise vision statement involving the collaboration of students, teachers and community members sets the tone for a positive learning environment. Cross-curricular collaboration helps to assure student success. Teachers work with students as partners in learning to build strong bonds to help students through challenging aspects in their lives. Goals are set to continually measure positive student outcomes. A school environment is a safe haven for students to build social skills, emotional maturity, and intellectual growth to help them succeed in life.