Superintendent's Update
September 15, 2023
Last week, Oliver Middle School 6th graders attended outdoor school, from Sunday, Oct. 1-6, in one of four area camps: Camp Collins, Camp Angelos, Camp Kuratlu, and Camp Westwind. Students went on hikes, simulated weathering using rocks, checked particle size, learned about mushrooms, and identified pelts and animal tracks. They also enjoyed campfire cooking, archery, cracked open geodes, made friendship bracelets, and did jobs and chores around the camp. Students loved the rec time, spending time at the beach and river, and signing campfire songs. Centennial Middle 6th graders are scheduled to attend outdoor school in the Spring of 2024.
Friday, Oct. 13, all K-8 schools participated in Day 2 of Responsive Classroom training for the 2023-24 school year. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is a set of research- and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities for both students and teachers.
Responsive Classroom sessions are coordinated by Director of Student Services, Denise Wright, and led by trainers from the Responsive Classroom organization. They utilize a collaborative learning approach for our staff.
The Responsive Classroom approach focuses on creating optimal learning conditions for students to develop the academic, social, and emotional skills needed for success in and out of school, and building positive school and classroom communities where students learn, behave, hope, and set and achieve goals.
Practices staff are learning through Responsive Classrooms include Morning Meetings (K-5) or Advisory (6-8), Interactive Modeling, Structured Learning Activities, Classroom and School Expectations, and Student/Teacher talk. Responsive Classroom training is a great professional development tool new and seasoned teachers alike can greatly benefit from and apply to their classrooms.
Responsive Classroom gives educators an opportunity to collaborate with one another with their peers from across the District.
I’m excited to announce Centennial has established a new District Equity Leadership Team composed of representatives from each school, including community partners, students, parents, and a Board liaison. They will work together to:
Support professional learning at the District, school, and department level
Review and provide input to specific District policy and practices
Provide supporting input to Improvement Plans regarding instructional equity; and
Review Oregon Department of Education (ODE) Student Success Plans including African American Success Plan, LGBT2QIA+, and Ethnic Studies
The team met for the first time this week, engaging in community building, establishing clarity of purpose of the team, examining the District Equity Audit results, and providing input on upcoming Equity Professional Learning.
Next Tuesday, October 17, Centennial will hold its first Data Summit. This is a new routine, as part or Roadmap ‘27, will be conducted each trimester to monitor the impact of our learning and adjust and improve instructional practices and systems.
During the Data Summit, representative school leadership teams will engage in a structured reflective process that involves the review and analysis of student data and professional practices aligned to School Improvement Plans and Roadmap ‘27.
Teams will identify strengths and areas of need and develop an action plan with the intent to review the impact of that plan during the next Data Summit, which will be held in February, including the engagement of their respective staff in a similar process at school sites in the coming weeks.
This first data summit will consist of the school teams that participated in the School Improvement/Equity Audit School Leadership Team Work Session held in June. As this routine progresses over time, we will consider ways in which to broaden community involvement in this process.
