Dear Staff, Parents and Community Members:
We have some wonderful news to share! Yesterday, November 12th, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan announced the selection of 13 Project ReImagine demonstration districts to be included in Michigan's Race to the Top application. This is very exciting as Comstock Public Schools was selected as one of the demonstration districts! For those of us who are involved in Comstock schools, we know we are providing wonderful educational opportunities for our students, and now others are aware of our district as well. Additional information about the grant and our proposal can be found at the bottom of this letter. What a wonderful time to be a Comstock Colt!
With Comstock Pride,
Dr. Sandy Standish
Superintendent |
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- The primary objective the ReImagining Michigan schools is
to improve student achievement for ALL kids and develop a culture of
achievement within school districts to sustain it.
- With
the current fiscal challenges, we can expect that schools will either
receive cost of living increases or no additional dollars in state
funding for the next 5-10 years.
- We need to focus on ways to produce higher achievement with equal or lower cost than the present system.
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We need to ReImagine and restructure how education is delivered, both
in terms of teaching and learning and how schools districts are
managed. We should be engaging in demonstration projects using
innovative strategies that go beyond the old, static ways public
education has operated over the past 60 years.
- We need to do a better job of taking what we know works, and implementing it in our schools and classrooms.
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- What could we be
doing better now? 1) in terms of achievement; and 2) in terms of
managing our resources (i.e. how can we become more efficient at
managing our financial resources?)
- In what ways can we re-structure and improve the delivery of instruction, in terms of where, when, and how?
- Are there ways we can make better use of technology to enhance teaching and learning while reducing costs?
- What "one-time" investments would help us to take student achievement to the next level?
- What
are successful schools doing that we can learn from? What practices
have been demonstrated as successful in schools that we can expand upon
and help bring to other districts?
- Where can we find other additional financial resources other than the state?
- Are we making proper use of school data to help improve achievement?
- What are our major obstacles to improving student achievement?
- What strategies can we implement to overcome them?
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- Extended day, extended year opportunity program for all students, focusing on those at risk of failure, using online and project-based learning in partnership with community organizations.
- Early post-secondary transition, including college credit attainment and associate degree completion through a partnership with Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
- Community partnerships to support all K-12 learners, with focus on individual educational development plans.
- Birth to Five program with services to at-risk children and their parents, including home visits and training programs that teach parents how to access community resources.
- Elementary/middle school Spanish language program.
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