Dodd Students Getting a Lesson in 'Performance'

Administrators and teachers from Dodd Middle School showed off its new Performance Standards last week for the Board of Education and explained how the standards are being integrated into student's daily lives.

This year is the first year the school is focusing on the standards as something that students are aware of and striving for, though they are something that has been a part of the curriculum all along, according to Dodd principal Michael Woods, who started the job earlier this month.

There are five skills being emphasised at Dodd, he said. They are focusing on making students:

• a Complex Thinker
• a Skilled Information Processor
• a Collaborative and Cooperative Worker
• a Self-Directed Learner
• an Effective Communicator

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Two other goals are also included in the district-wide initiative:

• a Knowledgeable Person
• a Community Contributor

"Our goal is to hit on each one in each of the core classes," Woods said, and at least two in all other classes.

Students will be assessed on each goal and parents will get quarterly reports on how they child is doing, Woods said. The first quarterly report has already gone out to parents, he said.

"Our next step is to collaborate with Cheshire High School for coming up with classes that infuse these performance standards to social and personal domains," he said.

The program is still in its infancy, he said.

"We are in Genesis mode and there are still things that are being developed," he said.

The teachers will use a Performance Based Scoring Guide to assess students which can be found here.

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