Missisquoi Valley Union Middle and High School

Why Missisquoi Valley Union Middle and High School was nominated

The leadership team at Missisquoi Valley Union (MVU) Middle and High School was able to hold two preliminary meetings and a train-the-trainer workshop focused on equity literacy with Paul Gorski. All members of the MVU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEI) Committee have a solid understanding of the principles and practices of equity literacy in education. Educators from Swanton and Sheldon were intensively introduced to these principles and practices. At MVU, several members of the DEI Committee feel fully prepared to plan and offer equity literacy professional learning to the staff. Additionally, an equity student survey was created, and feedback provided by the Equity Literacy Institute. Educators secured funding to get the results of the survey professionally analyzed through an equity lens. MVU has met the expectation of Proficiency-Based Learning with a thoughtful transition. Early work was done 7 years ago to prioritize standards and create clear learning expectations, learning scales for common summative assessments, and school-wide habits of work. Over the past 4 years, educators have implemented a more refined version of proficiency-based learning which includes a transition to proficiency-based grades, personalized course offerings, and robust and flexible �keeping up and catching up� interventions. As a highlight, the English Language Arts department has wholeheartedly embraced independent reading. Students now meet their reading proficiencies by providing evidence from books that they choose. Over the past 5 years, MVU has intentionally designed programming and interventions that prioritize students who struggle academically so that all students achieve at high levels. Most recently, educators have invested in learning about the Equity Literacy model in order to ensure that they address the needs of historically marginalized students. This work began with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which started as a group of committed and passionate teachers and has grown to impact and influence the broader school community and district. The committee pursued grant funding to acquire training to become Equity Literacy trainers and bring the Equity Literacy model to the entire faculty. In the process, the high school committee formed partnerships with two local elementary schools and the Abenaki community. Though COVID has delayed training the rest of faculty in Equity Literacy, the DEI Committee has been busy at work to bring their Equity Literacy lens to the culture and operations of the school. Recent Work: � Facilitate and support a student DEI group. � Collaborate with the Pride Alliance and National Arts Honor Society to have students paint a rainbow crosswalk at the school entrance. � Provide resource guides to teachers to help students process racial unrest in April and the election in November. Current Work: � Reviewing the Social Awareness portion of the MVSD SEL Competency Guide to recommend strategies that are equity minded and promote equity. � Collaborating with students to have a Land Acknowledgement as part of the schoolwide routine. � Supporting students in their efforts to fly the Black Lives Matter flag at school. Work that is being planning: � Administering an Equity survey to students and then analyzing the data. � Begin Equity student focus groups. � Begin an Equity Competency framework. As a result of the transition away from traditional grades to proficiency-based grades, educators are thinking about how we recognize and acknowledge students. They are working to expand measures of success. � MVSD has developed and is implementing PK-adult SEL competencies. Teachers are exploring and trying strategies now. They are beginning to plan for how to communicate student progress on these skills to students and families. � In grades 9 and 10, MVU offers an Honors Credential instead of tracking students in homogenous groups. Students are heterogeneously grouped but can opt into an Honors supplement, which runs as an addition to the core class. The Honors Credential focuses on the content and work habits that students will need to be successful in college. � The ELA department also created two Senior level English courses to help prepare students for a variety of future choices. One class was a College Writing class, where students are taught how to be successful in their college courses. The other is Technical Reading and Writing, which is a course that focuses on reading and writing skills that are used in the workforce and at trade schools. MVU has several course offerings that use a project-based learning approach. Humanities in Action is an option that students can take to demonstrate proficiency in ELA or Social Studies. Students conduct a sustained inquiry, engage in problem solving, and share their findings with their peers and sometimes the greater community. In the Agriculture program, students in the Animal Science strand identify an animal that they are interested in learning more about. Faculty then acquire that animal, usually on loan, to house in the barn at MVY so that the student can learn firsthand about the animal through observation and caring for it. Additionally, students at all grade levels participate in a robust STEM Fair. Students conduct sustained, independent research projects that focus on the Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSS. MVSD has developed the first set of Social and Emotional Learning competencies in the state of Vermont. In a collaboration with CASEL, the SEL team developed a framework of skills, goals, and sub-goals, benchmarks, and strategies for PK through adults. Teachers use these competencies to plan lessons that incorporate CASEL�s 3 signature practices of Welcome Activities, Engaging Strategies, and Optimistic Closings. MVU is in its 4th year of working with Think: Kids and using the Collaborative Problem-Solving approach with students. Three staff are training to become certified Think: Kids trainers in order to grow the capacity to use Collaborative Problem Solving schoolwide.