Longer school year?

Currently the Minneapolis student school year is 172 days. There is a fair amount of national talk - the President for example - about a longer student school year. How many days should be added?

Learning to Learn

An important quality in this age is the ability to learn. I believe high school needs to establish a foundation of skills and information but the most important being the ability to know what one does not know and then have the skills to figure out how to acquire the new skills and information.

Now how that gets reduced to a few words into a mission statement is be a different problem.

Most Important

If we could reduce all the concepts to 3-5 words - what would those be? What captures the most important qualities of a solid, significant and successful high school education?

draft words

Southwest recognizes the importance of cultural diversity and global interdependence. Southwest is committed to providing the educational foundation for students to be successful, responsible and responsive.

The above is not exactly all that original but may be a starting point. Others comments? ideas?

Repeat of current Southwest Mission Statement

"Southwest High School is committed to promoting academic excellence, creativity, critical thinking, lifetime learning skills, and physical well being for all students in a safe learning environment. Southwest recognizes cultural diversity and global interdependence and nurtures a respect of the environment. Southwest functions in a collaborative relationship of staff, students, parents, administrators, and community members."

The language needs to concise and clear. It should represent a challenge and be meaningful.

One comment is economic diversity - cultural and ethnic diversity. Should those be words or implied words in the mission statement? How can it say something people can use as a guide and yet not be so long?

Should the first statement be a statement of the obvious and the second is the commitment? Rather than recognizes -- is the school's mission leading to actions in these matter? What would that sound like?

Meeting the Challenge

Just some thoughts and questions ---- We need every student to be successful. The definition of success becomes an interesting problem. Does that mean monetarily wealthy? Does that mean famous? How do we know when a person sees him/herself as successful? How can a school support a student's search for success? How can the standard be the same (high) and yet different? Should not our purpose be the same for everyone? How do you support 14 year olds as they explore options and opportunities in their own unique manners?

Strenghts to build on

What are the strengths the school should build on? How can we word our commitment to preparing our students for living and working in a global society successfully?

Promise and Challenge

All of this is somewhere in the ranges of promise and challenge. A mission should be the guide to the work. At the same time it should challenge the institution and its community. It is not a goal but should clearly state the best of what we can be. But if it is merely a statement of what we already think we are doing, then it is probably not a statement of the best we can be. Education by its nature is forward thinking. It is a thinking and doing about the future. What we do today will not be fully realize for many years. We are preparing our young people for jobs and lives that we do not fully understand and definitely at not the same as today.

Southwest is a unique community. It definitely has strengths and opportunities. It has a tremendously supportive community. It has a demanding community that values education. We are working through the concepts of support and responsibility. What is a support adult and what is an enabling adult. Who is responsible for what? But interesting issues. It is a community that wants to be inclusive. How do we ensure that all means all?

Following the business world

Public education has a vital role in maintaining a democracy. Its value to its citizens should be obvious and valued. At the same time, the institution has an obligation to provide educational opportunities for its community that enable citizens to work and live in a free society. Part of that education is also an awareness of the responsibilities the individual has for him/herself, the community in which she/he lives and the environment surrounding and protecting the community. In order to work, there must be an awareness of one's own skills and interests as well as the competitiveness of our global economy. These also represent huge challenges for the education system. A foundational concept within the U.S. education system is that ALL citizens must and should be afforded an appropriate education. That has to be a hallmark concept that distinguishes the U.S. educational philosophy from those around the world.

Another link regarding the development of a mission statement is listed below. It comes from the business world. However, education is an important business in our community.

"The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise's purpose for existence. It should incorporate socially meaningful and measurable criteria addressing concepts such as the moral/ethical position of the enterprise, public image, the target market, products/services, the geographic domain and expectations of growth and profitability.The intent of the Mission Statement should be the first consideration for any employee who is evaluating a strategic decision. The statement can range from a very simple to a very complex set of ideas."

according to: http://www.businessplans.org/mission.html

Reference Reading

I am not endorsing any particular website or university. The link is to some reading about mission statements, what they should do, and how to go about writing one.


http://www.boardsource.org/Knowledge.asp?ID=1.262&gclid=CJz1ls3BspsCFRAhDQodgGb6Ow

Review and Revision of Mission Statement

We are requesting your assistance and support in reviewing and possible revision of the Southwest High School Mission Statement. The purpose of this blog is to encourage the engagement of the entire Southwest educational community. Please review the current mission statement and post your comments, suggestions or ideas. From time to time, we will attempt to capture the various ideas and revise the working in DRAFT forms.

The second purpose is to introduce the concept of community "talks" through posting on a blog. Meetings have to be on a certain day, in a certain location and at a certain time. Blogs are time and place free. If you have other ideas, thoughts or suggestions, please email me.

Minneapolis Southwest High School Mission Statement

"Southwest High School is committed to promoting academic excellence, creativity, critical thinking, lifetime learning skills, and physical well being for all students in a safe learning environment. Southwest recognizes cultural diversity and global interdependence and nurtures a respect of the environment. Southwest functions in a collaborative relationship of staff, students, parents, administrators, and community members."