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Sunday, April 2, 2017

A Growth Perspective



Our school district has embraced the Ci3T program (Comprehensive Integrated Three-Tiered Model of Prevention) as a means of nurturing the growth of learners in academic, social, and behavioral domains. This strategy reflects the system’s commitment to grow learners beyond a singular focus of academics. More important than the particular program, is the fact that adopting a broad-based system reinforces our perspective that the social and behavioral components of each individual have an impact on their cognitive development. Such an encompassing goal is significant in that it has evolved despite the nation-wide use of high stakes tests of accountability, during which too many schools have seemingly compromised, or at the least reduced, their allocation of resources of time, materials, and energy to instead invest everything in manufacturing higher achievement levels.

Our district’s willingness to maintain a direction that does not allow the pursuit of academic outcomes to dwarf the need to respond to, and accommodate, the child’s social and behavioral status. It is a plan that acknowledges the research of Abraham Maslow who asserted that the individual’s need for security and acceptance precede their need for achievement. By simultaneously addressing social and behavioral needs, along with an attention to academic progress, we expect that our learners will prosper in the long run and success in learning outcomes will be supported by our comprehensive strategy.

This structure of priorities is a feature of our school system that is aligned with my personal beliefs and values, and represents an attraction that ensures my commitment in contributing to the district. I am convinced that our school’s performance on the recently administered state assessments will yield a return on our investment in the form of increased rates of proficiency. I will re-visit this Blog post when we receive the results of these tests from our state education department. Until then, we will continue to follow our path and trust our orientation.