Today, nearly 50 educators from as far away as Ashland and Morrow County traveled to McMinnville to learn what’s driving success in district schools.
Sparked by recent news coverage touting McMinnville’s graduation rates and other achievement measures, district representatives from around the state asked to come observe what McMinnville Schools are doing to reach those successes.
In the morning, educators had a choice of elementary or middle or high school visit tracks. The elementary visits began at Wascher with an overview of the factors that have led to improving outcomes for students, including standards-based instruction and high-impact teaching strategies.
The visitors observed a few classrooms and also visited classrooms at Grandhaven Elementary to see some of the teaching strategies in action.
The middle school cohort traveled to Duniway to hear about targeted support for long-term English learners, cross-curricular literacy strategies and preparing eighth graders for high school through a rigorous advisory program, among other topics.
The high school segment included, among other subjects, an overview of freshmen team graduation strategies, embedded staff development, and career pathway/dual credit programs to provide hands-on learning for students.
The afternoon session brought the groups together for an in-depth look at professional development practices that have created commonalities in teaching practices across the district.