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Our Committee
Meet our Strategic Plan Committee Members
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Our Timeline
Developing the Portrait
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Feedback Gathering
How We Solicited Feedback for the Portrait
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Our Tools
How We Collected Feedback
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The following competencies were the most common trends we heard while developing the Portrait of an ACS Graduate. Committee members, students, teachers, staff, parents, alumni and community members in Arlington said graduates need these skills before leaving Arlington Community Schools to make them well-rounded students and citizens beyond test scores alone. As a school community, we will work to ensure these competencies are addressed in all grades PreK-12.
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Align the POG competencies to every course PreK-12 through tailored professional development and lesson planning.
This is our commitment district-wide to keep the Portrait of an ACS Graduate competencies at the forefront of everything we do. District Office departments, administrative teams, classroom teachers, PLCs and other ACS teams should find ways to promote and highlight: Communicate Effectively, Collaborate Intentionally, Cultivate Creativity, Be Resilient, Lead with Empathy.
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Identify and develop a K-12 college and career platform that helps learners discover interests, strengths and post-ACS goals to create a long-term road map from the moment they enter the district.
The district has begun researching robust platforms that will track student interest data from the time they enter ACS. The goal of this platform will be to eventually track career interests, college programs matching those interests, nationwide scholarship opportunities, alumni directory information and more. This will also help give parents a road map to future colleges and careers for their students.
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Define and implement student-centered approaches to teaching and learning by emphasizing K-12 project-based learning and blended learning strategies to ensure students are actively engaged in and taking ownership of real-world learning.
Throughout this process, we heard from students, alumni and teachers that they wanted more of an emphasis on project-based learning opportunities to help further engage students. Many also felt there could be a more balanced use of technology. In many classrooms, this means shifting from lecturer to facilitator to create an environment where students are active rather than passive learners.
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Continue rigorous and inclusive professional development content by seeking administrator, educator and staff input.
In order to keep the Portrait of an ACS Graduate at the forefront, we must be intentional about how professional development ties back to the five competencies. We will also continue to seek administrator, educator and staff suggestions as to what type of professional development opportunities they would like to have available in ACS.
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Define and build essential student life skills in a PreK-8 progression: Organization & Planning; Initiating Tasks; Time Management; Emotion Management; Effective Oral, Written & Non-Verbal Communication Skills
"What skills do our students currently lack" was one of the primary questions asked of students, teachers, parents and community members during the Portrait of an ACS Graduate Strategic Plan. "Life skills" for students in Grades PreK-8 look very different from those of their older peers. This action step challenges and encourages us to embed the life skills stated above as frequently as possible to prepare students for high school.
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Define and build essential student life skills in a 9-12 progression: Money Management; Organization & Planning; Networking; Stress Management; Professional Communication; Building Healthy Physical & Mental Habits
"Kids need to learn how to do taxes." We heard that line continuously throughout the process, and while learning how to do taxes is important, we think there are other foundational money management skills and life skills that can help high school graduates succeed. This action step challenges Arlington High School to find ways to intentionally incorporate these life skills throughout our students' high school careers.
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Implement and encourage school and district-wide service-learning projects that positively impact the community at large and promote empathetic citizenry
We know that community service is a major component of college admissions, particularly when it comes to obtaining competitive scholarships. The more you give back to the community through service the greater ability you have to show your well-roundedness as a student. But through this strategic plan process, we've learned how much our stakeholders value community service and what it can do to create a resilient and empathetic citizen. This is our commitment to support and encourage more service-learning projects in our schools to develop empathetic leaders.
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District commitment to additional mental health resources through staffing, educator and staff training, social-emotional supports; and promote regular and intentional wellness solutions for students, teachers and staff.
Research now shows that nearly 1 in 5 children struggle with some form of mental health illness (anxiety, depression, ADHD, among other disorders), and even locally, we've seen how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this in some children. In line with Tennessee's Whole Child initiative, we want to ensure that students have the support they need to succeed not just through academics alone but through cognitive, physical, social and emotional development. But to have the healthiest student body, we must also keep our focus on supporting our teachers and staff by promoting regular and intentional wellness solutions.
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Host annual school-level student listening sessions to ensure student voice is being considered, heard and incorporated where appropriate.
Student listening sessions were held at all elementary, middle and high school levels during the strategic plan process, and truthfully, we loved it! Our school-level teams found great value in hearing unadulterated and honest feedback from our students about what they love and, frankly, hate about school and how we can more effectively educate and reach them on their levels. They were also honest about themselves by self-evaluating themselves and their peers.
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Nurture and ensure a responsive and inclusive culture for all learners to thrive through bi-annual student and social-emotional survey data; Identify and address areas of stress to maintain and improve a positive climate and culture.
School must first be a safe and comfortable place to learn. By hearing directly from students, we will be better equipped in maintaining a positive climate and culture for students and staff.
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Support the interests and involvement of students by identifying clubs and organizations that actively engage students in real-world learning.
We asked teachers, staff members, students and parents what they loved about schools in ACS. While academics was at the top of the list, another overwhelmingly popular answer was clubs, organizations and ways for students to get involved beyond the classroom. Engaged and involved students will not only fuel their love for school, it will also better help them master our five competencies: Communicate Effectively, Collaborate Intentionally, Cultivate Creativity, Be Resilient, Lead with Empathy.
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Develop and implement strategies to improve and expand parent education programs in areas such as: academics, social-emotional learning and child mental health, preparing for your child's next steps, etc.
2022-2027 will present new challenges yet also new opportunities in our students' educational journeys. ACS is ripe with talented educators, counselors, social & transition specialists, nurses and so many more experts who can help parents "parent" by offering their expertise through our already established ACS PEP Talks Program.
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Empower school administrative and leadership teams to incorporate building-specific solutions to model and attain the Portrait of an ACS Graduate competencies.
If it's one thing this strategic plan doesn't do, it's that we don't pretend to have all the answers. We know that these visionary goals will look much differently at each educational level, and that's okay and welcomed. The goal of this Portrait of an ACS Graduate is that WE ALL (students, teachers, staff, parents and community members) take ownership of the five competencies, and that will thrillingly take on many different shapes and sizes.
