Mission Statement for Stevenson High School:

Curriculum In order to ensure "Success for Every Student," Stevenson High School dedicates itself to a comprehensive and clearly articulated curriculum comprised of what should be learned, how it will be taught, and how learning will be assessed. From the classroom to the athletic field and in all activities, students prepare to thrive in a global community and learn to accept the challenge and responsibility of participating and leading in a democracy. To attain this vision: A. Students learn important academic content, analyze and think critically, attain physical well being, and develop social and emotional competencies. B. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment are dynamic, intellectually challenging, and attentive to the diverse learning needs of students. C. Formative and summative assessment monitor student learning and track progress toward explicit learning targets, inform instruction, and support programmatic decisions. D. Curricular teams collaborate to meet educational goals through the use of technology, interdisciplinary learning, and innovative teaching techniques. E. Students actively engage in their learning and the assessment of such learning. Feedback provides focus for learning and growth and promotes individual improvement. F. Students learn leadership skills in all curricular and co-curricular pursuits. Equity and Access for All Students In order to ensure "Success for Every Student," Stevenson High School establishes high expectations for all students and provides the support required to help them meet those expectations. Every student is recognized and valued as an individual, and the creation of support systems allows each student to attain the high standards the community holds for them. Staff members understand the importance of pursuing equity; therefore, they provide each individual student with appropriate levels of support to meet or exceed expectations. To attain this vision: A. Faculty and staff provide students with access to opportunities and resources that allow students to meet high expectations for learning in academic, social, and emotional contexts. B. Faculty and staff provide students with necessary support and interventions to ensure achievement of curricular expectations and appropriate social and emotional development. C. Faculty and staff provide students with the information and support to develop educational and career goals for transitioning to, through, and beyond high school. D. Faculty and staff teach and guide students to accept increasing responsibility for their learning, decisions, and actions. E. Faculty and staff provide students access and encouragement that allows students to explore and take advantage of the variety of opportunities for participation in curricular and co-curricular programs. F. Faculty and staff encourage students to persevere and excel intellectually and ethically as they actively engage in academic and co-curricular pursuits. Building a Professional Learning Community In order to ensure "Success for Every Student," the Board of Education, administration, staff, students, parents, and community commit to collaborative practices that ensure continuous improvement and

progress toward the vision. The collective expertise and passionate commitment to learning drives individuals to excellence in their fields. To attain this vision: A. All members of the school community actively promote and uphold the Districts mission, vision, values, and goals. B. The District commits to recruiting, developing, and retaining individuals who embrace the schools mission, vision, values, and goals. C. All adults commit to developing and contributing to high-performing collaborative teams to better serve and support all students. D. All members of the learning community understand that personal and professional development depends on goal-setting resulting from thoughtful and critical reflection, which leads to continued learning and growth. E. Everyone commits to innovation, collective inquiry, evidence-based decision-making, and reflects on the results of teaching and learning. A Culture for Learning In order to ensure "Success for Every Student," Stevenson High School establishes a safe, caring environment and fosters a culture that is highly collaborative, enables everyone to engage in ongoing learning. Stevenson dedicates itself to meaningful teaching and learning experiences. Such a culture maximizes learning, builds mutual respect between all members of the Stevenson community, and supports high levels of collaboration. To attain this vision: A. All members recognize and appreciate the diversity in the greater school community, encourage mutual respect, and promote social awareness among all school stakeholders. B. Learning is dynamic and socially constructed, requires student engagement and collaboration, and supports relationships with peers and teachers. C. Students learn to balance the curricular and co-curricular aspects of school life to promote personal growth and life-long learning. D. All members value social-emotional learning and work diligently to serve as models for all members of the school community. E. The community promotes and models healthy life choices and responsible decision-making as we continue to work to eliminate alcohol, drugs, violence, and bullying. F. The community promotes, recognizes, and celebrates individual and collective effort and achievement. G. The district maintains an environmentally responsible physical facility that meets the needs of all members of the Stevenson community and meets the learning needs of the 21st century. Community Engagement In order to ensure "Success for Every Student," Stevenson High School values the importance of strong collaborative relationships with its extended community families, residents, businesses, government agencies, and other educational systems. Stevenson recognizes its position as a leading professional learning community and actively participates in state, national and global educational initiatives. To attain this vision: A. The school provides shared-learning opportunities for the extended community to foster partnerships promoting the Districts vision and values.

B. The extended community provides the various resources that enable the school to offer exemplary academic and co-curricular programs and, in turn, expects effective stewardship in the use of those resources. C. The extended community utilizes school resources and facilities. D. Parents play an active role in the education of their children, monitor their childrens academic performance, and work collaboratively and positively with staff to maximize their childrens educational experience. E. The school, business community, and other organizations collaborate to provide authentic learning experiences for students and staff, thereby reinforcing the relevance of the academic and co-curricular programs. F. The school continually seeks effective partnerships with consortium districts and postsecondary institutions to maintain articulation and provide seamless transitions. G. The school promotes community participation through volunteer efforts, service learning, and leadership opportunities. H. The school reaches out to use expertise in the community in order to develop authentic career experiences and opportunities for growth that ignite a passion for learning and exploration beyond the classroom.

I think that that mission statement is a pretty good and detailed statement. The school talks about ensuring Success for Every Student and how they are going to accomplish that. They talk about five broad topics: curriculum, equity and access for all students, building a professional learning community, a culture for learning, and community engagement. I think that all of these things are definitely vital for the success of every student. The statement also goes in to some detail about how they are going to attain each of these visions with about five to eight goals for each vision. I think that it is a good statement and I agree with pretty much all that it says. I think if all of this could really be attained, then it probably would mean success for every student. I think that the first principle, curriculum, is very important, as it is what the students will be learning. I think the goals to achieve this are all good, but Im not sure if the school really reflected all of these goals. My high school was very big (about 4200 students) and I know that not all students were given some of the opportunities discussed in this statement, such as personal feedback or leadership skills. Some classes were pretty large and the teachers werent able to give every student all of these opportunities. I do think, however, that most students were challenged academically and did learn a lot during their four years at this high school. Most teachers I had did attend to diverse learning needs of the students and did try to challenge us intellectually. The next principle, equity and access for all students, is extremely important in my opinion. I think that every teacher should have high expectations for every single one of their students and also provide the support and resources necessary for them to accomplish this.

Similarly to the first principle, Im not sure that my high school really achieved this because of the large amount of students. I dont think that a lot of my teachers really showed that they had these high expectations of all of us, and if students were struggling, they didnt really make the effort to help. I didnt always feel like I had the support of my teachers and I know a lot of other people who felt the same way. There are of course exceptions to this, as I did have some extraordinary teachers who did let us all know that they had high expectations of us and also did all that they could to help us achieve these. Building a professional learning community is the next principle, and I do think that it is important for all of the community to try to work towards improving the vision for the students and to work together to improve learning and achieving excellence in their fields. To be honest, I actually dont know how well my school reflected this part of the mission statement. I know that the teachers for each of the subjects would be put in to teams and would often have meetings together. I think that this is a really good way for all of the teachers to collaborate and help each other work to their maximum potential. I think that the teachers could also take this time to reflect on themselves and their classes, which would all hopefully lead to the continued learning and growth talked about in this statement. The next principle, culture for learning, talks about establishing a safe and caring environment so that everyone can engage in ongoing learning, which I think is extremely important. I think this goal was accomplished somewhat well for my high school. I think some teachers did try to create a meaningful teaching and learning experience. I think there was a good amount of student engagement and collaboration in a lot of my classes and I think that some teachers had relationships with some students. I also think the school did try to encourage co curricular involvement as there were so many different clubs, teams, activities, etc that students had the opportunity to join. The final principle, community engagement, talks about the importance of collaboration between all of the extended community. I do think this is important, but Im not sure how well my high school achieved it. I dont really know much about the communication between my high school and other parts of the community. I do know that the school would communicate pretty well with parents, sending out letters and other sorts of things so that they could know what was going on at school. I think its extremely important to have parents involvement in their childrens learning, but I also think that this is a hard thing for a school to monitor, especially with so many students.