On 3/31/2014 I was able to have the awesome opportunity to visit a brand new school called Del Lago Academy. This was such an innovative school! The first huge piece that is different from many schools in our community is the elimination of tracking. All students are heterogeneously grouped into classrooms and all students follow the same pathway through school. Students complete math 1, math 2, and so on no matter what their abilities are. The principal informed us that he had free reign to design this school, he just had to make sure that the school community had to mirror the community that the school is located in.
The school is partnered with the Palomar Medical Health Center and students are able to interact with the medical center and the staff to participate in innovative projects involving biotechnology and the medical sciences. This is a project based school and students are graded from competencies. This school was great to see and it was so refreshing to hear that students are given multiple and endless opportunities to succeed. My favorite part of this school is that students are never graded at an F. Is a student is not able to perform well on a competency, they are graded with an NM. This simply means that they are not ready yet, and when they are ready they can take the competency again to be the best possible student that they can be. Students at this school are known as scholars, and this was so awesome because students are immediately presented with a title that means something. Giving students this title allows them to see all the potential that they have. Students concentrate huge on building a positive community, as collaboration is a huge role in this campus. The principal informed us that the first couple weeks of school concentrate on building the foundations for a healthy and happy community environment involving collaboration with all of the students in class. When students were presenting their own experiences to us, they all discussed the importance of feeling that they belong to the school and everyone cares about their success. This school was awesome to see and hopefully this school is only a start to the future of education. From this visit I truly see the importance of collaboration and showing students that you truly care. Teachers concentrate so much on teaching content that they don't realize that building personal connections with students is also highly necessary. This is a powerful concept that can motivate all students and allow them to be the best that they can be. It is awesome to see that education has begun to transform and innovate! |
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May 2015
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