Superintendent Dr. William Skilling announced during Monday’s board of education meeting that Oxford Community Schools has applied for the ReImagine Grant from the Michigan Department of Education.
‘They are looking for innovative ideas and plans…I think that when you look through this grant, you will see that everything that we are doing is innovative in meetings today’s needs for our kids,? said Skilling.
If Oxford receives the grant, the district would be getting a little more than $9.6 million in funding. Monday, Sept. 14 is the date the district will learn whether or not it won the grant money.
The ReImagine Grant is an initiative from the Michigan Department of Education that challenges the educational community to boldly and dramatically reimagine their systems to ensure all students learn and achieve at high levels.
According to Skilling, the grant is the state’s attempt to find districts that are reinventing themselves, so all their students can be better prepared to work and compete effectively in both local and global markets.
Not only does the district have to prove that it is reimagining itself, it has to show that it’s able to financially sustain itself.
The grant application stated there are three core challenges that Oxford Schools intends to resolve as part of ReImagining education ? 1) designing and directing curriculum and instruction that ensures the global fluency of all students; 2) the hiring of bilingual teachers who are 21st century master teachers in their respective fields; and 3) meeting the goals listed in the district’s Strategic Plan while simultaneously practicing strategic intent.
‘The opportunities are going to grow exponentially for our kids to be interactive with other kids on a global basis,? said Skilling.
According to the grant, teachers will not only need to be bilingual, they will also need to attain ?21st Century Master Teacher status,? which is someone who is both globally fluent and internet fluent to bring about innovation and 21st century, international learning opportunities to students in classrooms or on-line.
‘We still would hire teachers that are not bilingual, but we are becoming intentional about actively recruiting teachers who are both bilingual and bicultural whenever possible,? said Skilling.
Not only will the bilingual teachers be cross-curriculum, but also in the elective areas in order to help support and reinforce what they are learning in the world language classrooms.
One of the benefits of the grant would be professional development, which would train teachers to teach the Quadrant D lesson and learn how to use Moodle, an online teaching software program.
‘This way we will be able to offer all of our high school classes as another way for kids to take high school credits,? said Skilling.
Two reasons that Skilling wants to use Moodle as another option for the classroom is if a student wants to take an additional class after hours or in the summer time if it doesn’t fit in their regular schedule. Students could also get support at home through the use of Moodle.
The grant also allows training for teachers to use Discovery Channel programs in the classrooms and teaching distance courses.
Another addition that the grant touches on is the addition of a voluntary 12-week long summer course that students can take in order to make up lost credits, give kids opportunities additional classes they couldn’t fit in their schedule, and accelerate getting their high school diploma so they can start college sooner.
‘By the K-12 schools taking on this initiative, which is being fostered at the national and state level, it allows kids to still be high school kids and stay with their peer group. But at the same time complete college course classes,? said Skilling.
The grant funding would help the district create an Oxford Virtual School, which would provide 24-7 education on-line as well as distance-learning.
‘We are going to be able to expand our school of choice nationwide and globally,? said Skilling.
Students within the district would be able to take classes on-line in addition to taking classes in a traditional manner. Plus, kids who are taking traditional classes could get 24-7 education outside of the classroom.
Part of the grant funding would be used to further technology in the classroom.
‘We don’t have enough money in our bond issue to cover all the technology that we would like to put in, so this will help us bring every classroom up to a level . . . that will allow for teachers to be more effective and efficient in their instruction (and) help students in their productivity,? Skilling said.
Examples of instructional technology tools mentioned in the grant application include videoconferencing software, student-friendly and secure blogging, podcasting, wikis, and video/photosharing and document-sharing tools.
iPods and MP3 players would be used to increase literacy by having students in grades K-2 listen to books and record themselves reading. Physical education students and athletes could use them to record information about their heart rates and body fat, then pass them onto math students for detailed analysis.
To help become more globally fluent, eventually, one of the graduation requirements for all students will be to take part in a ‘global, project-based learning experience.?
Projects could include ePals, where students participate in a global community of classrooms for exchange and collaboration; Creative Connections, which sets up class-to-class exchanges on cultural and social themes between American schools and their counterparts around the world; and Global SchoolNet, which engages teachers and students in meaningful project learning exchanges with people around the world.
‘They learn to work with other cultures and work through different language barrier,? Skilling said.
According to the grant application, ‘Oxford is creating a model global learning environment in which every student (beginning with the incoming kindergarten class in 2009) will be fluent in another world language and its culture/customs (Spanish or Chinese) by eighth grade.?
In 2010, the district plans to expand its Chinese immersion program to preschools housed in two elementary schools. As preschool immersion students move forward into the elementary schools, the district will add one grade per year to the program.
The district plans to research a third world language at OHS to augment fluency, such as Arabic or Indian, for which demand and job opportunities are growing.
The creation of these programs would go along with the initiatives of creating International Baccalaureate 2.0, which is Oxford’s way of updating the 1960s program that created international standards for kids whose parents were diplomats.
In I.B. 2.0, the students are being taught at a level that is relevant to them, using best practices that weren’t available in the 1960s, according to Skilling.
Overall, the superintendent indicated winning this grant would help the district get a jump on implementing all of the above programs.
‘What the grant does is provide funding to be able to launch all these initiatives much sooner,? he said.