The Eagle Way isn’t just a piece of paper with platitudes about what educators want for kids. Eastwood Local Schools in Wood County, Ohio is serious about students attaining the academic skills and the durable life skills they need to be successful both in school and life after school.
They call their approach the Eagle Way. And while many schools have developed similar frameworks, this district is making an effort to connect this commitment not only to what students experience, but also to the decisions adults make.
Eastwood has embarked on an Educational Master Facilities Plan with our partners, Fanning Howey, Architecture, Interiors, and Engineering. Eastwood’s deep dive into facilities planning leads them to continue to define their desired student experience, connect the experiences to spaces that will foster the Eagle Way, and support adults in making instructional shifts that are more likely to produce the Eagle Way outcomes, in addition to the academic outcomes. Zac Sprunger, Director of Marketing at Fanning Howey, agrees. He shares that while they are architects,
“The building isn’t the point. Smarter, happier places for learning with smarter, happier kids is the point.”
In preparation for a recent visioning session led by Partnerships and Fanning Howey, Superintendent Brent Welker said,“We should be doing the work of defining the desired student experience whether or not we are looking at facilities changes.” And while we couldn’t agree more, a facilities discussion is a tangible way to involve stakeholders in the deeper discussion of instructional delivery and how we can shift to more authentic learning experiences.
The district has spent considerable energy building the Eagle Way into their culture and expectations. Now is a fantastic time to align it to instructional delivery in a more robust fashion. As such, teachers and administrators spent time considering the skills and character dispositions they believe are required from an Eastwood Graduate. They have taken the initial steps to investigate how that might lead to shifts in how instruction is delivered. Likewise, the secondary teachers are considering the conditions that create a Best Day of learning when students not only learn the content but are also deeply engaged in doing so. Elementary teachers will engage in this discussion a little later in the school year and they, with the rest of the district, will continue to push toward a more student-centered learning experience.
With commitment from the leadership team and a foundation of a positive culture, we are excited to see the continued growth at Eastwood Local Schools.
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