The Goals of the Basic School Project
The Basic School is committed to the improvement of elementary education. The aim is to comprehensively implement and assimilate the essential elements that contribute to best school practice. The Basic School proposes a strategy for change that includes staff development and consistent time for teachers to plan, a university-school partnership, and the support of mentors. The goals for Basic Schools are to:
- affirm the vision: all students can succeed
- create a community of learning that is purposeful, communicative, just, disciplined, caring, celebrative, and reflective
- pursue the priorities that constitute an effective school
- empower teachers to take leadership roles with the principal as lead teacher, and to continue their professional development
- establish partnerships with parents that support teaching and learning
- achieve literacy for all students in its fullest sense -- verbal, mathematical, and artistic
- advance the general knowledge of all students through an integrated, thematic curriculum based on the Human Commonalities
- promote active learning through flexible grouping patterns, teaching teams, and community resources
- acquire technologies to enrich learning -- from literature and art supplies to computers and network access
- serve the basic needs of children with health, counseling, services, and after school enrichment programs
- promote personal and civic virtues through the school climate, the curriculum, role modeling, and student service
- develop connections between Schools of Education and local schools for mutual improvement
- evaluate the results of student and school performance related to the priorities for renewal
"The Basic School is about helping each child build a life as if it were a work of art. "
~ Ernest L. Boyer