School Vision
Imagine...
...a
school that is fundamentally different
...a perfect fit for each growing student
...a small learning community
...a blueprint for 21st Century Learning
Our vision of the
best possible secondary education is exemplified by that developed by the
Minnesota New Country School, founded as a charter school in Henderson,
Minnesota in 1994.
This school has been named one of the best schools in
the U.S., and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds the non-profit
organization EdVisions, Inc. to replicate its success in other schools from
coast-to-coast.
There are currently over 40 schools using the EdVisions
Model,
and Blue Hill Harbor School is the first in New England.
The Edvisions Model may be best understood as a pyramid.
From the bottom...
Relationships:
The foundation is the solid, honest, respectful, and trusting relationships consciously established between all members of the school community. Students and adults perform their best while working in a safe, low-stress, friendly environment.
Relevance:
The center of the pyramid represents the personal relevance of a student-centered program. Each student, with adults as advisors and facilitators, is empowered to design a personal learning plan that reflects their own interests and aspirations, their own strengths and weaknesses, their own styles of learning, thinking, working, and communicating.
Rigor:
When people work in a highly supportive environment based on trusting relationships, and when their work is highly relevant, since they are empowered to make the important decisions, then they are highly motivated to perform to their best ability.
At Blue Hill Harbor School...
Advisories
Students work in small learning communities of twelve to eighteen called "Advisories", each with a faculty advisor. Advisories meet twice each day, first in the morning to "check in" and share whatever is currently relevant to their individual and group. In the afternoon they debrief their day together and look ahead to what's coming up - the next day and beyond. Advisories also discuss, experience, and learn many things together in planned (or serendipitous) group activities.
Personal Learning Plans
"A Personal Learning Plan is the student's mission statement to the world: a declaration of the things that matter, the aspirations that are looking for expression, the dreams that want fulfillment.
On admission, students meet regularly with their Advisor to 1) establish their current academic situation based on work at other schools or at home using academic records and benchmark diagnostic testing; 2) inventory their personal learning, thinking, working, and communicating styles, strengths, and weaknesses; 3) share their general and specific interests and abilities; and 4) explore their current goals for secondary school; and 5) discuss their post-secondary aspirations regarding further education, training, service, lifestyle, and careers. Students will use information gathered during these initial meetings to design their personal learning plan, molding their education around their own needs, interests, and plans.
A student's personal learning plan may include short-term plans, long term plans, and special plans such as a reading plan or writing plan. Though student-developed, input from parents and advisors is often needed when students first develop their plans. The PLP can include not only educational goals, but also personal goals, career goals, and lifestyle goals.
"The PLP is a means to help the student not only see what their mission is, but to map out how they can achieve it."
A personal learning plan should be seen as a helpful guide for a young person as they transition to accepting an adult role in the world. A student should evaluate their plan regularly, as should their advisors and parents, since interests change with time and growth and plans need to be flexible in reflecting such changes.
With time, through their personal learning plan, students will demonstrate an understanding of their capabilities and become a truly independent, self-directed learner who takes responsibility for their education.
"The PLP focuses and frames a student's effort... to shift from the expansive exploration of new learning to the narrowing of what is essential and meaningful. The threads that build the first PLP often carry forward new realizations and aspirations in the student's journey."*
- Our students can see the purpose in learning, as they apply academic concepts to projects of interest to them, and to their community.
- We link rigorous college preparatory academics, personal learning plans, student projects, and real-world experiences to provide a solid foundation for 21st century learners.
- We combine knowledge, research skills, collaborative capacity, and problem-solving strategies to foster inquiry, develop agile minds, and provide students with a sense of confidence and determination, so they may challenge and expand their thinking and explore their world, as they prepare for their lives after high school.
- We are committed to student and faculty academic excellence, help students develop the qualities they will need - integrity, mindfulness, accountability, honesty - to make responsible choices when faced with the challenges of times.
- Students express their creative potential in unique ways. With the support of our staff and community partners, our students take an idea and turn it into a real-world, real-life project that can make a difference to them and to others.
Project-Based Learning
This is where "the rubber meets the road", and our students rigorously make tracks!