What does academic success look like at SCVi, utilizing the iLEAD Schools educational model?
We believe in focusing on the whole child and promoting social and emotional growth, because education is about more than just high test scores. iLEAD is also committed to incorporating technology and real-world experiences that bring classroom learning to life.
The Core of iLEAD Education
Utilizing Project-Based Learning (PBL), iLEAD focuses on deeper learning practices that motivate and challenge our learners, allowing them to apply what they learn in one subject area to situations in another. This is just one more way classwork relates to life beyond the classroom.
An iLEAD education focuses on the following:
Where deeper learning is the focus, the learners are motivated and challenged. They develop a lifelong love of learning. They apply what they have learned in one subject area to newly encountered situations in another. Learners can see how their learning relates to real life and gain indispensable knowledge, skills and beliefs.When learners are developing knowledge, skills and academic mind-sets simultaneously, they learn more efficiently. They acquire and retain more academic knowledge when they are engaged, believe their studies are important and are able to apply what they are learning in complex and meaningful ways. (Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 2006, R. Keith Sawyer, ed.)Mastery of academic content is critical to a learner’s future success in college, career and life, so it is the foundation of—and never overlooked in—deeper learning experiences.In addition, advocates of deeper learning are aware of the academic and social-emotional advantages connected to project-based learning (PBL). Specifically, PBL educators have experienced major success in content areas that fall under S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). Deeper Learning can be defined as not only mastery of content, but also the ability to make sense of that content through metacognitive practices, applied problem solving and skill development.
Learners lay their academic foundation in subjects such as reading, writing, arts, math, and science, understanding essential principles and procedures, recalling facts and drawing on their knowledge to complete tasks.
Our learners understand how to construct effective arguments utilizing their critical, analytical, and creative skills. They know how to come up with solutions to complex problems.
Learners embrace teamwork, communicating, and understanding multiple viewpoints to cooperate and achieve shared goals.
Learners communicate effectively in writing and oral presentations. They structure information in meaningful ways, listen to and give feedback, and construct messages for particular audiences.
Learners develop an ability to set goals, monitor their own progress, and reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement. They learn to see setbacks as opportunities for growth, and to be more adaptive.
Learners with a growth mind-set believe in themselves. They trust their abilities and believe their hard work will pay off; they persist to overcome obstacles. In the process, they also learn from and support each other, and see the relevance of their schoolwork to the real world and their own future success.
There are five key pillars to the iLEAD approach:
Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) personalize goals and instruction for each child. We believe that learning should be interest-driven, peer-supported, and focused on powerful outcomes.
We offer a dynamic hands-on classroom approach in which learners actively explore real-world challenges to acquire deeper knowledge. Research shows that learners’ retention of content and their attitude toward and interest in learning increase with project-based learning.
Academic achievement is only one component of a learner’s education at iLEAD. We also support the learner’s development of emotional intelligence, life skills, and community engagement.
At the end of the year, both facilitators and learners give their own Showcases of Learning, based on their achievements and growth toward those particular goals they set at the start of the school year.
In multiage environments, learners are able to work on skills and concepts that are appropriate based on where they fall in the learning continuum, regardless of their age. Additionally, multiage social interaction promotes leadership and positive social-emotional behaviors. Older learners may model problem-solving and communication skills for their younger peers and vice versa.Multiage education also allows each learner to spend at least two consecutive years with the same facilitator. This process results in seamless transitions from one year to the next.
