Career, College and Life Ready

Industry and community partners provided input and feedback to help us identify the life skills students need to be successful. At every age, student learning experiences focus on academic content as well as these skills and mindsets. 

• Self-direction
• Collaboration
• Digital Literacy
• Civic and Cultural Awareness
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Creativity and Innovation

Student work focuses on the academic content for each subject – like Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math – while providing opportunities to develop and practice these life skills. Life skills are consistent at each age and stage but the learning is deeper and more complex as students grow. 

Students learn at a deeper level when they find their schoolwork relevant to their lives and valuable to their future. This is true at every grade level.

Teaching and learning across all levels focuses on developing students’ knowledge and skills so they can apply their learning to real situations. We’re not just teaching or learning for a test. Teachers’ knowledge of their students’ interests, strengths and motives helps shape the work they provide. 

How much time is spent in the classroom on a topic is much less important than a student learning to be able to show what they know. When it’s time to demonstrate what they’ve learned, students have choices so they can show their learning in ways that are meaningful to them. 

Along the way, teachers know what skills students have mastered and where more work is needed. Ongoing feedback helps students and families understand progress and next steps. 

We use Advancement in Individual Determination (AVID) programming in grades 5-12. AVID curriculum focuses on specific college and career readiness skills – writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading, often referred to as WICOR.

There are two layers of AVID programming:

• Schoolwide, AVID curriculum is focused on the WICOR strategies and is embedded in grades 5-12. 
• An elective course also is offered in grades 7-12. The elective is ideal for students in the academic middle who are college bound. The course works on WICOR strategies, applying the strategies to current course work and exploring colleges and careers.