Introduction

An Instructional Model with Students in the Center

On October 5 in 2015, Governor Terry McAuliffe visited Agnor-Hurt Elementary School to hear ideas from students at various grade levels on how they would design their curriculum to increase their interest and excitement around learning. Unsurprisingly, students were vocal and passionate in expressing their desire for a model that had real-world application, one that would invite their suggestions and allow them to express their creativity. The thread that ran through all of the student suggestions was more emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge yes, but not also without the application of knowledge through learned skills of lifetime relevance and value. 

By any of a series of measures, Albemarle County Public Schools had an exceptionally strong year in 2015-16. The ultimate standard of how well a school division prepares its students for lifelong success is its on-time graduation rate. In 2015 our rate was 94.3 percent, higher than the statewide rate for every one of the 50 states. Our drop-out rate of 2.2 percent was well below state and national averages.

A national survey ranked our school division as being within the top two percent of all public school divisions in the nation. A separate survey placed all three of our comprehensive high schools in the 95th percentile, awarding grades of A plus for academics, educational outcomes and teaching staff. We credit much of this success to the superior work of our administrators and teachers and to an instructional model that is anything but traditional. It is centered around students with an emphasis on learning through doing. The strengths of this project-based approach were demonstrated at the 35th annual Piedmont Regional Science Fair, where our students earned 82 awards, including 13 of 17 first-place and both Best-in-Show awards. The 2015-16 school year marked another significant step in our alignment of curriculum and resources to more fully support student-centered learning. For example, we completed work on nine more school libraries, transforming them from a room filled with books into a room filled with students. Similar to the impact that our national award-winning media center at Monticello High School has had, we expanded spaces where students could collaborate on projects, we broadened learning resources to include high value-added technology and increased the variety of creative activities to engage more students. Our one-purpose libraries became multi-purpose media centers.

When this transformation occurred at Monticello, annual student visits went from 400 to the traditional library to more than 70,000 to the media center. We have achieved, across the county, proven results in elevating student engagement in learning activities that require them to use and develop their own creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communications skills around a particular project. From the maker and multi-age classrooms in our elementary schools to the engineering labs and entrepreneurial classes in our middle schools to our high school pathways of studies and academies of excellence, students are developing skills and competencies that position them for success in our present and future highly competitive society. This investment in our students aligns with a new state initiative, Profile of a Virginia Graduate, that adds a “fifth C” to the creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communications toolbox—that of citizenship. Beginning with the class of 2022, the high school experience of students throughout Virginia will look to integrate content knowledge, career exploration, workplace skills and community engagement and civic responsibility to each student’s education. Beginning in the fall of 2016, we will be conducting a series of community meetings that will lead to our plan for implementing these objectives, which are a strong fit with our current strategic direction.

We are moving, now though, to begin implementing several of these objectives through a new program for all students in grades 6 through 12. The program enables students to identify personal strengths and interests from the time they first enter middle school. Students will be able to align their personal qualities with course selections, internships and field research throughout their academic career s and to open up desired career and college opportunities once they graduate.

Our one student-centered strategic goal is for all students to graduate having actively mastered the lifelong learning skills they need to succeed as 21st century learners, workers and citizens. The School Board has identified four specific objectives with a direct tie to student learning.

These objectives include engaging every student; implementing balanced assessments; improving opportunity and achievement and creating and expanding partnerships.

This past year showed gains towards these objectives across the division. Anonymous student surveys revealed that 67 percent of elementary school students report their school work makes them more curious about learning; for middle and high school students, that percentage increased to 74.

While Standards-of-Learning tests are the required assessment measure used by the state, we are expanding how best to measure the growth in student learning over the course of an entire year. To match our project-based curriculum, we are using more task-based, performance assessments that accurately represent student progress over time. We are continuing to see increases in students participating in extracurricular activities. More than half of our middle and high school students engaged in such activities this past year, a level that is above the national average. A concomitant benefit has been a corresponding increase in school attendance rates. Research shows that students who attend school more regularly also are more likely to be successful in their academic achievements.

This past year also saw an increase in student internships and in our application of 12 lifelong learning competencies that are designed to ensure that students are equipped with the skills they need to succeed in businesses, college and university study, civic, service and community organizations. These competencies include the ability to:

• Plan and conduct research;
• Gather, organize and analyze data; evaluate processes and products; and draw conclusions;
• Think analytically, critically and creatively to pursue new ideas, acquire new knowledge, and make decisions;
• Understand and apply principles of logic and reasoning; develop, evaluate and defend arguments;
• Seek, recognize and understand systems, patterns, themes and interactions;
• Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve new and increasingly complex problems;
• Acquire and use precise language to clearly communicate ideas, knowledge and processes;
• Explore and express ideas and opinions using multiple media, the arts, and technology;
• Demonstrate ethical behavior and respect for diversity through daily actions and decision making;
• Participate fully in civic life and act on democratic ideals within the context of community and global interdependence;
• Understand and follow a physically active lifestyle that promotes good health and wellness; and,
• Apply habits of mind and metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor and evaluate one’s own work.

We measure how well these competencies are being taught through classroom visits or Learning Walks. In the 2015-16 school year, these results confirmed that if you visited a high school classroom on any given day, you would see students working on one or more of these competencies 73 percent of the time; in our middle schools, that percentage was 67 and in elementary schools, it was 85.

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