Guthrie CSD’s Graduate Profile (Part 3)

By Nelson Coulter

The BUSINESS of school is LEARNING!  At Guthrie CSD we have chosen to be proactive and intentional about the kind of education we deliver to our students and the kind of powerful learning they experience. 

This is the third of a five part series of articles that will provide some clarity about the Guthrie Graduate Profile, which has emerged from community- and school-based conversations that have been ongoing in Guthrie for the last year.  Below are the five pillars (dimensions) of the Guthrie Graduate Profile:

 v Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers

 v Effective Communicators

 v Persons of Strong Character

 v Productive and Valuable Team Members

 v Compassionate and Responsible Citizens

Part 3 of this series we will focus on the Graduate Profile dimension of:

Persons of Strong Character

We intend that our students are/can/have:

•       Healthy habits and lifestyles

•       Persevering toward achieving personal goals

•       Honest and trustworthy

•       Assertive and competitive

We have determined that in order for our students to achieve their/our highest aspirations for them, they must understand how to live healthily.  This means that they must understand that personal nutrition and fitness has several dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  We intend to guide our students to an understanding that their personal health and happiness are their own responsibility (not that of others, or their government) and that each of us makes informed (or uninformed) decisions on a daily basis that contribute in some way to that health and well-being.

At Guthrie CSD we also plan to design learning tasks that teach our students how to persevere, how to be resilient, and how to be relentless in their own learning and growth.  This means that we must teach them how to take risks, yet not to fear failure.  Powerful learning often comes from trying very hard, yet failing, then trying again, until you get it right.  The world’s greatest musicians, athletes, and business people know this reality by heart (and hard experience).

Guthrie CSD is also committing our resources and professional efforts toward facilitating within our students a deep respect for honesty and trustworthiness.  We intend for our students to learn that with those two character traits comes a personal responsibility to “own” one’s decisions and behavior, to say what you mean and mean what you say, to make promises frugally and honor them unerringly.  In short, our intention is to create within our students an understanding that a person is only as good as their word, but those that are as good as their word are worth their weight in gold.

Finally, we intend for Guthrie CSD students to learn how to “play hard” at whatever task/endeavor they deem worthy of their time, effort, and energy.  We intend for them to learn how to win with modesty, to lose with dignity, and to understand that all people experience both winning and losing in life.   Competing honorably and fairly make for a substantive life experience (and ill-gotten gains are, in fact, cause for disdain rather than celebration).  As well, we plan to teach our students how to understand at a deep level what they believe in and value, and to be willing and able to articulate those values assertively (yet without offensiveness or disrespect).

Some would say that we are dreamers to believe that there is enough time in the school day or years in a child’s life to make these kinds of learnings a reality.  At Guthrie CSD, we have chosen to emphasize these kinds of learnings as it is our intention to graduate students fully armed and prepared to compete in the world marketplace of work and school and life in a way that will make them the gold standard in any setting in which they choose to live and serve.

At Guthrie CSD have chosen MORE for our students (not less), without apology.  Does this educational approach require heightened effort and investment on the part of the adults?  You bet.  However, we deem it worth every ounce of that extra effort and investment. 

Embedded Professional Development: Team Learning at Guthrie CSD

By Nelson Coulter

For the last three years, Guthrie CSD has embarked on an interesting model of professional development.  On three days during each school year, both the instructional staff and the students come together for collaborative learning, during the school day.  The underlying driver in this model is that each person on the campus, regardless of age, is a LEARNER.  As well, an assumption in this model is that the learning of the adults in the organization is just as important to the health and well-being of the school as is the learning of the students.

On October 4, 2012, Guthrie CSD instructional staff and all students (Pre-K through grade 12), gathered to learn about the Guthrie Graduate Profile (GGP).  The GGP is a model of the intended skills, abilities, and knowledge for which the Guthrie community aspires for each of its graduates.

The key dimensions of the Guthrie Graduate Profile are:

• Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers
• Effective Communicators
• Persons of Strong Character
• Productive and Valuable Team Members
• Compassionate and Responsible Citizens

The agenda for the school-wide learning on October 4, 2012, consisted of the following:

1)  JagFirmations - members of the group share affirmations for individuals or groups among the GCSD family who are doing extraordinary things on behalf of the school 

2)  Acceptable Use Policy Overview - presented by student Ashton Gilbert

3)  Guthrie Graduate Profile (GGP) Overview - presented by superintendent Nelson Coulter

4)  GGP dimension of Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers - presented by secondary teacher Danny Sloan

5)  GGP dimension of Effective Communicators - presented by secondary teacher Janie Canales

6)  GGP dimension of Persons of Strong Character - presented by elementary teacher Aleshia Withers

7)  GGP dimension of Productive and Valuable Team Members - presented by principal Kevin Chisum

8)  GGP dimension of Compassionate and Responsible Citizens - presented by counselor Lynn Hill

9)  GGP– Rubric Overview - presented by elementary teacher Buffy Wilson

Making a collective commitment to producing graduates that possess the skills, the behaviors, and the ways of thinking expressed in the GGP alludes to an important mindset of the stakeholders of the Guthrie CSD.  That mindset is one of choosing more for Guthrie students than solely academic instruction; rather, it is a commitment to the development of the students as whole persons, each possessing the qualities and skills that will make them successful in future school settings, in the world of work, and in life.

TASB/TASA Convention News

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to make two presentations at the TASB/TASA Convention in Austin, Texas this weekend.

For those that attended the Sunday morning session, here's the number you need:  #3935

Both sessions provided me the opportunity to share how we think, how we do business, and for what we aspire for our students at Guthrie CSD, from the perspective of optimal learning (and especially in relation to online learning).

Thanks to all those folks who attended, asked good questions, and provided positive feedback.

Providing World Class education to students is within the reach of any school district that wants to pursue that goal these days.  Good luck to those that make that choice.

Guthrie CSD Selected as Participant in the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium

By Nelson Coulter

Guthrie CSD submitted application to be a participant school in the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium in June, 2012.  The Texas Legislature in the summer of 2011 authorized a pilot project assembling 20 exceptional Texas school districts, each of which having an established record of excellence and progressive thinking, to form a consortium.  The charge of the consortium is to collaborate in best practice research and experimentation, which will influence public school policy in the years to come.

On September 19, 2012, Texas Commissioner of Education Michael L. Williams invited Guthrie and 22 other school districts to participate in the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.  The Consortium will help develop innovative, next-generation learning standards, assessments and accountability systems.   “The school districts selected to participate in the consortium are already known for their innovative work and are looked to by many as educational leaders. This exciting project will help the Governor, legislative leaders and the Texas Education Agency craft a sound, well-thought out plan to move all Texas schools to the next performance level,” Williams said.

The Consortium will make recommendations to state educational policy makers in four key areas:
1. Digital learning--Engagement of students in digital learning, including the use of electronic textbooks and instructional materials and courses offered through the Texas Virtual School Network;
2. Learning standards--Standards that a student must master to be successful in a competitive postsecondary environment;
3. Multiple assessments--Various methods of measuring student progress to keep students, parents and schools informed, and the actions consortium participants are taking to improve learning; and
4. Local control--Ways in which reliance on local input and decision-making enable communities and parents to be involved in the important decisions regarding the education of their children.

Districts from all over the state submitted applications and went through a rigorous selection process to become part of the Consortium.

Following is an alphabetic list of those selected to participate in the Consortium.
Anderson-Shiro Consolidated ISD     Clear Creek ISD  

College Station ISD                         Coppell ISD    

Duncanville ISD                               Eanes ISD    

Glen Rose ISD                                Guthrie CSD    

Harlingen CISD                               Highland Park ISD (Dallas County) 

Irving ISD                                       Klein ISD    

Lake Travis ISD                              Lancaster ISD    

Lewisville ISD                                McAllen ISD     

McKinney ISD                                Northwest ISD     

Prosper ISD                                   Richardson ISD
Roscoe ISD                                   Round Rock ISD    

White Oak ISD

Guthrie CSD is by far the smallest invitee district.

Selection as a participant in the Consortium will provide Guthrie’s staff and students with a learning opportunity that is extremely rare.  Moreover, it will provide a unique opportunity for them to serve other districts and students from all over the state of Texas. 

The Guthrie CSD Board of Trustees, staff, and students have made conscious and deliberate decisions about choosing MORE for themselves educationally, and for their futures.  The pursuit of excellence usually entails pushing boundaries and moving outside one’s comfort zones. Guthrie CSD’s commitment to excellence is now being recognized (and affirmed) by the broader educational community of Texas.

Guthrie CSD’s Graduate Profile (Part 2): Effective Communicators

By Nelson Coulter

The BUSINESS of school is LEARNING!  At Guthrie CSD we have chosen a pathway of MORE for the learning of our students; more than the minimum requirements, more than the state’s curriculum, more than the tested standards.  Another of the five dimensions of the Guthrie Graduate Profile, which has emerged over the last several months as a commonly held aspiration for our students, is that we intend for our graduates to be:

Effective Communicators

They are/can/have:

•       Confident and self-secure

•       Communicate in an articulate, effective, and efficient manner

•       Critical listeners

•       Communicate by use of advancing technologies

In his book titled A Whole New Mind Daniel Pink makes a rather compelling case that the folks who have the best chance of achieving their life goals in the 21^st century are those that can effectively engage, collaborate, and communicate with other individuals and groups.  The fundamental vehicle for successful interpersonal engagement is effective communication skills.

Faculty members at Guthrie CSD have determined to embed a purposeful curriculum of communication skills enhancement into our day-to-day business in order to help our students leverage the vast and rich opportunities that exist in our “connected” world.  We are convinced that our students must become skillful in expressing their own thinking through multiple media and skillful in listening to (and actually “hearing”) the messages of others.  In the words of the late Stephen Covey in his book titled The 8^th Habit, we want our students to be successful in “finding their own voice and helping others find theirs.”  Through these deliberate instructional processes educators at Guthrie believe our students will develop more confidence and be more self-secure in the way they present (and think of) themselves.  When you think about it, what activity is any more cognitively challenging than carefully formulating and expressing one’s own thoughts, positions, opinions, and knowledge in a way that is crystal clear to others?

Our full intention at Guthrie CSD is to graduate students fully armed and prepared to compete in the world marketplace of work and school and life in a way that will make them the “crème of the crop” in any setting in which they choose to live and compete.

Guthrie CSD’s Graduate Profile (Part 1)

By Nelson Coulter

The business of school is LEARNING!  Guthrie CSD opened for business on August 27, 2012.  After a summer filled with painting, waxing, fixing, professional development, camps, leagues, and vacations, students and staff of the Guthrie School re-assembled to take care of business for the 2012-13 school year.

In the two weeks prior to the start of school the Guthrie CSD faculty and staff engaged in deliberate and intentional adult learning toward that very end of staying focused on our primary mission – LEARNING.

This is the first of a five part series of articles that will provide some clarity about the Guthrie Graduate Profile that has emerged from community- and school-based conversations that have been ongoing in Guthrie for the last year.  Below are the five pillars (dimensions) of the Guthrie Graduate Profile:

v Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers

v Effective Communicators

v Persons of Strong Character

v Productive and Valuable Team Members

v Compassionate and Responsible Citizens

For Part 1 of this series we will focus on the Graduate Profile dimension of:

Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers

In this dimension we have articulated specific knowledge and skills to which we aspire for Guthrie students.  Those elements prescribe that Guthrie students:

•       (will be) creative and entrepreneurial in crafting innovative solutions

•       (will have the skills to) investigate, analyze, organize information and discern truth

•       (will be) open-minded, curious, and risk-taking

•       (will be) academically capable

•       (will be) effective, self-directed, and adaptable

The Learners/Problem Solvers/Critical Thinkers dimension is the one most easily connectable to the academic components of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) of the Pre-K through Grade 12 subjects and curricula.  However, as can been seen in the specific elements of this dimension, there are numerous indicators that go well beyond what is prescribed by Texas for the academic learning of students.  Words and phrases such as “entrepreneurial,” “Innovative,” “discern truth,” “risk-taking,” and “adaptable” suggest that the learning tasks created for Guthrie students will go well beyond the sit-and-git , “canned,” or work-sheet-driven curricula that has become such a staple in the public schools of Texas. 

Clearly, the work of the professional educators in Guthrie now takes on a new and very engaging status.  The learning of the professionals should (must) be the precursor of the learning of our students.  Crafting engaging, meaningful, and relevant learning tasks that not only address the academic standards but also align with the dimensions of the Graduate Profile is work neither for minimalists nor the faint of heart.  In fact, engaging in professional work of this nature requires us to play at the very top of our intelligence and professional skills.  However, what interesting and energizing work it is!  And, what work could be more important?

At Guthrie CSD we have determined to make the Graduate Profile a reality (not a document, not a dream, not a slogan) for students by engaging very deliberately and intentionally in a day-to-day process of LEARNING toward that end.   There may have been a time when students in small and isolated communities like Guthrie would have been at a learning disadvantage to other students on the planet.  Because of 21^st century tools and connectivity that disadvantage has now evaporated.  There is now no reason for our students NOT to receive a WORLD CLASS education. 

Our intention at Guthrie CSD is to graduate our students fully armed and prepared to compete in the world marketplace of work and school and life in a way that will make them the “crème of the crop” in any setting in which they choose to live and work.

In effect, at Guthrie we have chosen MORE for our students (not less).  Why wouldn’t we?