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The Written Vision

An Education Compass:

Providing Direction for Public Education in South Carolina

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Purpose

In a spirit of deep responsibility to the children of South Carolina and a desire to contribute to our state’s well-being and the health of American democracy, we, a group of South Carolina superintendents, gathered in the fall and winter of 2010-2011 to have dialogue about the future of public education in our state. Although in our dialogue we wrestled with challenges and barriers, this document represents what we as educational leaders stand for and the direction we propose education take.
Our ideas as captured here reflect neither a strategic plan nor a detailed action plan. Rather, our ideas form an education compass to guide public education and, subsequently, to impact the lives of thousands of children who call South Carolina home. Ultimately, many more educators should be involved in building the specifics of the journey, the detailed itinerary for public education using the direction we set forth here.

Our Approach

As we set out to draft this document, we first sought common understanding among ourselves about our fundamental beliefs and common commitments as leaders for public education. We celebrated the documented improvements in South Carolina’s educational standing in several areas. We also explored the various ways the current system of public education must continue to change in order to robustly meet the needs of our children and our state’s future. We recognized the historical divisions that have too often impeded the education of our children-race, ethnicity, social-economic circumstances, and geography-and are determined to advocate that such divisions and resulting inequities no longer imperil our children’s future. Our children’s education will empower them to make informed, constructive, and beneficial choices about their own lives. In so doing, our children’s education will determine our state’s prosperity and our nation’s safety and well-being in a global society.
Second, we chose to reach out to professional organizations and business leaders, including the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, to build on their work and thereby strengthen our message. We celebrate the conclusions and strategies of the Chamber of Commerce and of New Carolina. We applaud the Riley Institute’s vital research and writing about education and promising practices. We appreciate the moral support of several business partners who, much to their credit, never attempted to shape or influence our thinking for their particular
ends. We are grateful for the ongoing support of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators.
Additionally, we write this document, a simple statement of commitment to our children and their future, in the hope that it will serve as the basis for statewide conversations in the weeks and months to come. We are united in our beliefs about what we, the people of South Carolina, might do together on behalf of our children. As superintendents, we accept our responsibility for leading public education into a hope-filled future. Our state and our nation will only realize the promise of a productive future when strong and vital partnerships are welded through dialogue and discussion.

We hold these values dear:

• Purpose of Education

  The purpose of public education is to ensure that each child learns to think, reason, exercise creativity and imagination, and use his or her mind well in order to make personally satisfying contributions to civic, social, and economic life.[Purpose: Comment]

• Equity

  Race, ethnicity, social-economic circumstance, and geography will not determine the quality of any child’s public education. [Equity: Comment]

• Relevant and Meaningful Learning Experiences

  Children and young people flourish as a result of personalized learning experiences that have relevance and meaning for them. [Personalized: Comment]

• Applied Skills and Processes

  Personalized learning experiences involving reading, writing, and mathematics as well as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity are required to prepare students to operate in a twenty-first century global society. [Processes: Comment]

• Role of Educators

  An educator’s primary job is to engage students in meaningful work that results in learning. [Educators: Comment]

• Shared Responsibility

  The community, the family, and the school share responsibility for promoting the education of children. [Community: Comment]

• Energy Through Alliances

  In the twenty-first century, strong alliances between and among public educators, families, the business community, and civic leaders create the energy and sustained momentum needed for a new, dynamic system of public education. [Alliance: Comment]

• Superintendent Leadership

  It is the obligation of superintendents to articulate a vision of the future for public education telling the story of what could be for our children, thereby leading others to action on behalf of the vision. [Superintendents: Comment]

Some pictures of our future:

Snapshots of Meaningful Learning Experiences

• Five-year-olds enter school eager and ready to learn. [Eager: Comment]
• Third graders apply a range of literacy skills to learn important and meaningful content in all subject areas: mathematics, social studies, science, and the arts. [Application: Comment]
• Students’ learning experiences require them to use a range of communication skills, including the application of digital technology, and to participate in problem-solving situations. [Communication: Comment]
• Beginning at a young age, students routinely learn at least one, and possibly two, other languages. [Beginning: Comment]
• Students value the reading, writing, science, and mathematics skills they learn because they regularly use these skills to solve real problems, to complete important projects, or to create products that have meaning and usefulness to themselves and others. [Meaningful: Comment]
• In any given week, a student has a variety of learning experiences designed by educators, technology-based learning, structured small-group activities, individual assignments and tasks, as well as tutorials led by older students and teachers. [Variety: Comment]
• One high school graduate may complete his or her graduation requirements in three years while another classmate may take five years to earn a diploma. [Time: Comment]
• All students discover their talents and interests, building on both for their future. [Discovery: Comment]
• Each student views school as interesting, challenging, and meaningful. [Perception: Comment]

Snapshots of Technology for a Global Society

• Students use technology every day in school to access information, to communicate with others about what they are learning, and to create new knowledge based on a curriculum the school and community deem vital. [Access: Comment]
• Students typically use technology to communicate with students on the other side of the world about some project being undertaken. [Connecting: Comment]
• Using classroom technology, students access content experts based at technical schools, colleges and universities, and industry. [Technology: Comment]
• Students explore career clusters using technology-enabled research. [Explore: Comment]
• Students capture examples of his or her best work, both individual and team products, in a digital portfolio available to families, other teachers, future employers, and institutions of higher education. [Portfolio: Comment]

Snapshots of Families and Schools Working Together

• Families of our youngest students partner with schools to determine ways that they might together strengthen and reinforce literacy. [Literacy: Comment]
• Parents access a range of family and adult learning experiences resulting from a coalition of public educators and business, industry, and civic leaders. These experiences might range from parenting classes to industry certification for job skills to healthy living practices. [Parents: Comment]
• Grandparents are welcome to spend time at school as a volunteer tutor, a mentor to a student, or a teacher whose life experiences are valued. [Grandparents: Comment]
• Families witness student growth in basic skills as well as growth in problem solving, teamwork, individual creativity, and joy in learning. [Growth: Comment]
• School buildings serve as a vital community learning center for children and adults. [Center: Comment]

Snapshots of Community Alliances

• Students benefit from the ongoing alliances between and among public education, business organizations (such as the Chamber of Commerce), institutions of higher education, and other social/civic enterprises as they work together to serve youth development. [Collaboration: Comment]
• Students access ongoing relevant learning opportunities in the school setting and out in the community to increase relevance of learning experiences and in preparation for highly skilled jobs and higher education. [Relevance: Comment]

Snapshots of Public Education’s Accomplishments

• Students demonstrate their learning through digital portfolios of their work and performance on teacher-based assessments of learning, as well as through performance on national and internationally-respected assessments of learning.[Digital: Comment]
• Each year in school, students grow in curiosity about a range of subject matter, in adaptability to novel situations, and in use of appropriate social skills. [Curiosity: Comment]
• Graduates of our schools exhibit schoolwork demonstrating a focused course of study and preparedness for immediate employment, advanced training, or college. [Focus: Comment]
• Graduates make informed choices about additional training and preparation, including two- or four-year higher education programs, designed to prepare them for a career. [Preparation: Comment]
• Proud families celebrate graduates who are confident and capable in what they know and are able to do. [Proud: Comment]
• Graduates have the range of skills and experiences that enable them to be learners for a lifetime. [Enabling: Comment]
• The quality of our children’s learning experiences appeal to prospective citizens of South Carolina and becomes a magnet for families, business, and industry. [Quality: Comment]
• Upon graduation, students exhibit the same level of excitement for learning as he or she demonstrated upon entering school. [Excitement: Comment]