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.
