Fall 2022 - Future Ready Spotlight

As a district, we want to prepare all of our students to have the knowledge and skills to follow whatever goals and dreams they want to pursue. This doesn't happen by accident, which is why we have refocused our district vision to include our Portrait of a Graduate, which encompasses skills and competencies that go beyond content knowledge, all to give each of our students a competitive edge in whatever career or educational path they choose.

Along with these skills, we want to create real world learning experiences for our students to help them become Future Ready. This means creating authentic, engaging classroom experiences that allow students to explore their interests and get them connected to potential career paths they may want to pursue. This happens at all levels of Piper USD 203, where we seek to inspire, ignite, and immerse our learners in Future Ready learning opportunities to help them experience personalized, meaningful learning.

One of our district goals is to ensure Future Ready learning for ALL. Our commitment is to ensure equitable access to authentic, real world learning experiences for all of our learners, knowing that each student brings a unique set of needs, strengths, interests, and passions. We want to nurture each student's learning so we can live up to our district vision of building the future, one child at a time.

For our early childhood and elementary students, we want to INSPIRE them to learn about different careers and broaden their awareness of different paths that are available to them. Simultaneously, we want to give them opportunities to engage in project-based learning and design thinking to help them to develop the flexible thinking needed to solve problems, access creativity, and adapt to tasks that require an innovative mindset. This helps to introduce them to the Portrait of a Graduate competencies that we want all of our students to master.

For our middle school students, we want to IGNITE their curiosity by deepening their knowledge through career exploration opportunities, connecting their strengths with their interests. This happens through continued opportunities to engage in project-based learning, deeper work with Portrait of a Graduate competencies, and preparation for academy opportunities they will encounter at Piper High School.

For our high school students, we want to IMMERSE them in authentic learning experiences to help prepare them have a successful high school experience and also a smooth transition into post-secondary opportunities. Whether it's relevant classroom learning or engaging work-based experiences, we want our high schoolers to be able to connect with what matters to them.

In order to make this goal a reality, we developed the only wall-to-wall high school academy model in the state of Kansas. This means that every single high school student will have the opportunity to select from six different academies and twenty-four different sectors and pursue a path of study uniquely tailored to their strengths and interests.

Through our wall-to-wall academy model, our goal is to have every PHS student graduate with at least one Market Value Asset (MVA), which are:

• Nine or more college credit hours
• An industry-recognized credential
• An internship experience
• An entrepreneurial experience
• A client-connected project

When each of our graduates walks across the stage to receive their diploma, we want them to also be walking into a world of opportunities they can pursue with confidence!

In order to spotlight the innovative opportunities and amazing student work in Piper, we'll be sending out a quarterly newsletter to help keep you in the loop. We are thrilled to be able to share the incredible things happening in our district.

In the meantime, please follow us on social media!

• Instagram: @Piper_RWL_CTE
• Twitter: @Piper_RWL_CTE