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// Note to Visiting Committee: //
Welcome to the collective wikispace for Category B. In this wiki you will find record of the focus groups who addressed the criteria questions for B1-B3. Focus groups reviewed helpful documents and the belief statement (listed below) when they first began meeting in 2010. On the left hand side navigation tab, you will find the artifacts from focus group meetings held between 2010-2012. For each criteria question, there are four affiliated pages:

__Brainstorm:__ The collected notes from all focus group meetings. __Narrative:__ The draft narratives that were developed by the core team and reviewed by the focus groups. Subsequent edits were proposed and incorporated into a working draft. __Evidence:__ A map to virtual and physical evidence that is referenced in the narrative. __Strengths/Growths:__ Strengths and growths that were developed into the Schoolwide Action Plan.

We think you will find the Evidence pages to be the best reference as you begin examining the evidence referenced in our narrative prior to your actual site visit on March 4-7 (we've provided quick links to these pages below). Hard copy evidence will also be available to you at the school site during the visit. The other web pages (Brainstorm, Narrative, and Strengths/Growths) offer a glimpse into the process and products of our focus group work which led to the final draft of our self study.

Some links in the evidence will take you to the school's MOODLE page: please use the following guest login information:

Username: wasc Password: hearts&minds

B1 Evidence B2 Evidence B3 Evidence

Focus Group Assignments (Cheryl Steeb Lead)
Focus Group #4: B1, B2 (Focus Group Chair - Diana DeFrance) Focus Group #5: B3 (Focus Group Chair - Amy Armstrong)

Helpful Documents:

BELIEF STATEMENT
While we celebrate our individual talents and interests in education, it is important that, consistent with our mission, philosophy, Vision 2000+, and the educational philosophy of Father Moreau, we celebrate the communal aspect of education -- the concept that education does not happen in isolation; a community of learners.

From an increasingly global perspective of community, we need to further our learning, understanding, and appreciation of the commonalities we all share. For example, there are perhaps eight fundamental characteristics that bind humankind together, and as students study these commonalities, they can begin to learn not only about their diversity but also about the diversity of the human ecological communities as well.

1. All people share in the universal experience of birth, growth and death.

2. All people use symbols to express feelings and ideas.

3. All people respond to the aesthetic.

4. All people have the capacity to recall the past and anticipate the future.

5. All people are members of groups and institutions that shape their lives.

6. All people are connected with the ecology of the planet Earth.

7. All people on the planet produce and consume.

8. All people regardless of their heritage search for larger purposes.

The Board of Trustees believes that the school's mission, philosophy, and Vision 2000+ empower and provide a framework for teachers to celebrate the diversity and community of the student body throughout the curriculum. Implementation of such a curriculum is facilitated by a commitment to excellence and high expectations, ongoing staff development, teacher preparation and accountability, and application of technology across all curricular areas.

We affirm the values of a college preparatory education through a curriculum which affords maximum opportunities and preparation for living in a global community, possession of life-long learning skills, and success in the pursuit of a higher education. To this extent, no one teacher or department provides resources and opportunities for student learning and achievement in isolation from other colleagues, departments, or programs. We contend that careful planning and creative curriculum design are without meaning unless coordinated and implemented with consistency across the curriculum.

We affirm the values of Father Moreau whose educational philosophy and practice rested on his belief that we "...always place education side by side with instruction; the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart. While we prepare useful citizens for society, we shall likewise do our utmost to prepare citizens for heaven.”

The mission, philosophy, Vision 2000+, and the school's expected schoolwide learning results require us to exemplify outstanding achievement and caring. Courses of study within departments will aspire to this ideal through strategic planning, creative curriculum design, and a sense of stewardship for the resources of the department to implement its philosophy, goals and objectives.

B1. What Students Learn
The school provides a challenging, coherent and relevant curriculum for each student that fulfills the school's purpose and results in student achievement of the expected schoolwide learning results through successful completion of any course of study offered.

B2. How Students Learn
The professional staff (a) uses research based knowledge about teaching and learning; and (b) designs and implements a variety of learning experiences that actively engage students at a high level of learning consistent with the school's purpose and expected schoolwide learning results.

B3. How Assessment Is Used
Teacher and student uses of assessment are frequent and integrated into the teaching/learning process. The assessment results are the basis for (a) measurement of each student's progress toward the expected schoolwide learning results, (b) regular evaluation and improvement of curriculum and instruction, and (c) allocation of resources.

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