Education Program
Background
Ernest Boyer's central question, "What is an educated person?" guided Strategic Plan 2000 committee's deliberations concerning the academic program at Campbell Hall. The committee noted particularly Boyer's view that "to be truly educated means.discovering the connectedness of things," and went on to write:
Historically, the commitment has been to master a body of knowledge in separate disciplines. In the future, it will be vital to place greater emphasis on the interdependence of learning, which will result in the ability to access knowledge to solve problems and to seek meaning and understanding.
The Strategic Plan 2008 committee reaffirms the school's commitment to an interconnected curriculum, finding the wellspring of interdisciplinary connection in the notion of the school as a community of inquiry. As an Episcopal school, Campbell Hall's academic program will always address the twin goals of helping each student prepare for college and also live a meaningful life dedicated to something larger than solely individual success.
The members of the school's leadership team have spent considerable time planning the next phase of development of Campbell Hall's academic program. Rather than looking first at student learning, our planning has followed Boyer's question with the more specific question, "What should Campbell Hall teachers know in order to implement the school's particular vision of what it means to be an educated person?" The answers to that question are guiding the development of a leading edge program in professional growth for the school's teachers and leaders. Teachers who are trained and supported in the specific "art of teaching" at Campbell Hall will then be best prepared to educate students according to the school's distinctive and holistic vision and philosophy.
GOAL ONE:
Refine the "art of learning" at Campbell Hall by establishing comprehensive expectations and training programs regarding the "art of teaching" in order to more fully engage and inspire students at Campbell Hall.
Suggestions for Implementation: Click on each implementation step for a current progress report
- Explore the formation of a customized professional development program with special attention to the Episcopal tradition at Campbell Hall, multicultural literacy, technological proficiency, and differentiated instruction and assessment that addresses a broad range of learning styles and differences.
- Link faculty professional development to a process for curriculum development that ensures continuity and integration across grade levels, divisions, and disciplines.
- Heighten awareness of educational research, innovative approaches, and effective programs at other schools, and use these factors to refine "Campbell Hall's best practices."
- Develop further Campbell Hall's unique appreciation and positioning of the arts as a link between the spiritual and the academic, between faith and reason.
- Deepen the engagement of students, their families, faculty, staff, Board, alumni, grandparents, and friends of the school in community service and service learning.
- Strengthen support for the school's extra-curricular program options to promote connection to the school community, a spirit of giving, and the development of the whole person.
- Research the potential advantages and drawbacks of moving from the junior high model to a middle school model
- Increase the awareness and understanding of parents regarding the school's educational program-and the mission and ethos upon which it is based.