On September 16th, Victoria ISD’s Innovation Office hosted an Innovation Celebration, officially kicking off community education for the district’s CHOICE campus.
Choices at VISD came out of district strategic plans developed by the community. VISD is committed to inspiring education and empowering learning.
Before we get into it, we need to know a little bit about what we mean by VISD’s CHOICE campus.
VISD currently has nine options: Smith STEM Academy, STEM Middle School, Individualized Learning Campus Shields Elementary and Patti Welder Middle School, Individualized Study and Mathematics Innovation Zone Campus Hopkins Elementary, Individualized Study and Bilingual Campus Crain Elementary, O’Connor ACE Elementary, Victoria East West High School P-TECH.
The STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics – Campus offers an educational teaching model that promotes design-based thinking while supporting fluid, flexible, creative, and innovative problem-solving.
A personalized learning campus exists to prepare all students who pursue college and/or career programs in high school with the academic and social knowledge and skills to succeed.Enhanced by technology Teaching strategies enable students to choose how, at what pace, when and how they receive instruction.
P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) is an experience that provides students with a free pathway leading to post-secondary qualifications and encourages students to continue their post-secondary education.
Now let’s talk about the Innovation Celebration.
Last Friday, several locally elected officials and community partners attended a P-TECH panel and toured the STEM campus.
We started the day at the VISD Connections Center. This newly opened (repurposed) facility is already becoming a premier jewel to our community as a place of deep connection between our family and school.
Attendees heard about P-TECH Healthcare from our P-TECH Administrator, Dionne Hughes. Four of her P-TECH programs are currently available: Healthcare, Education and Training, Computer Science, and Engineering. P-TECH Healthcare was the first launch channel at VISD. Students from the 2024 Healthcare Cohort shared their experiences and future goals. Our P-TECH program currently serves a total of 120 students.
Shields Elementary Principal Kelly Gabrysch shared “The Case for Change” and what individualized learning looks like on the Shields campus. Gavrish, whose academic growth is a central focus on the campus, says she has seen success in both academic and social-emotional intelligence since implementing her personalized learning model. .
Data-driven instruction is key to meeting and developing students who are at their current level of academic performance. “It’s about being intentional and celebrating both the small and the big achievements along the way,” Gavrish said. She explained the importance of educating the whole child and how Shields students begin each morning with a Strong Start routine.
At Smith STEM, participants were able to observe and participate in “design time” throughout the campus. During that time, teachers and students took everyday fairy tales and turned them into project-based learning units, complete with cross-curricular learning skills and challenges. .
Smith STEM Academy principal Absher applied engineering design processes and 21st-century career skills in planning and designing a home where students could withstand “huffs and puffs” from “the big bad wolf.” emphasized that Students tested their designs and identified ways to improve them. Smith STEM students not only thought like professional engineers, they played them too.
The Victoria ISD Definition of Leadership has three components: 1) leading to genius, 2) developing into genius, and 3) reaching genius. Under Reaching the Genius Strand, we create pathways for everyone, analyze situations, ignite innovation, and define what is important to achieve results. Our innovation celebration was a celebration of genius happening within VISD.
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