"An organization becomes what it believes." The profoundness of these words is unquestioned if we consider that the vision and culture of any group is rooted in a prevailing set of commonly held beliefs. Every member of the organization must understand and hold these beliefs. It is impossible for members to commit if they do not know what the organization requires of them. The statement "I don’t know what we believe" is a damaging indictment for any institution, but most particularly for schools.
At Niagara Wheatfield Central School District our mission is to "serve our diverse community to enable its learners to attain the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes within a supportive environment so that our students become responsible and productive individuals." Achieving the mission will provide a learning foundation to enable each of our students to become contributing members of society. To help our students meet the District’s Mission we will provide excellence in education and promote a learning environment which puts achievement within the reach of every student. The key here is "Excellence in Education." We will provide this through a rigorous curriculum and instruction, a positive school environment, effective communications, and by fostering a positive behavior, involving community, and eliminating at-risk behavior.
Our school staff is "on board" with our mission. As the first fifteen weeks of this school year comes to a close we have seen extensive curriculum work done with the creation of Student Learning Objectives (SLO) in the CORE areas of English language arts, math, social studies, and science. We have also seen the submission of our Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) as part of the Race to the Top (RTTT) mandated in forty-six states across the nation.
As we move forward in 2013 we will be concentrating on the following initiatives: improving our scores on State tests at the elementary and middle school levels, increasing our students’ commitment to improving our Regents scores, encouraging underclassman to consider to prepare for college or an occupation, continuing our commitment to the creation of a positive behavioral program from kindergarten through grade 12 as highlighted in our "Code of Conduct" manual for the District and continuing our commitment to teach to varying learning styles, readiness and student interest.
