2020-2021 Goals

The Creighton Academy opened its doors during the 2020-2021 school year. Prior to that our staff attended a workshop to learn about multiage education from Dr. Sandra and Brian Stone who work out of NAU.

Right now some of us are attending a cohort of educators learning about The Next Education Workforce through ASU. This program is a partnership of innovative schools around the Valley who are providing students with deeper, personalized, learner-centered instruction and developing distributed expertise among educator teams.

We developed teams to ensure that all of the systems would be ready so that our students and families could co-construct this learning environment with us.

Our families have made the choice to go on this adventure with us.

This year has definitely had some forks in the road, some rocky bumps and even some rocks in our shoes but our leader has kept families posted through a variety of ways so that we get focused right back on trail.

Facebook Live, Principal Chats, emails and texts have kept everyone in the know, sharing ideas and getting questions answered. Like any leader, she adapts to the challenges and adjusts to the trail as needed. We do have parents on the trail already getting our PTO off the ground.

Our teachers and staff are our trail guides connecting with parents every step of the way, we are keeping daily attendance logs and contacting families weekly to see how we can help or if they need more “gear” along the way. Each month, at our student recognition assemblies, we celebrate with students and families, the success we have made along the trail so far.

Our teachers use diagnostic assessments and real-time authentic assessments to place students in groups to meet their exact needs, regardless of their grade level, in the core academic areas of reading, writing, and math.

In science, social studies, art, and STEM, teachers and students work together on projects that are based on student and teacher’s interests. Students set goals for what they would like to learn and how they plan to achieve those goals, which results in student ownership of their learning.

Each week students meet 1-1 with their teacher to discuss their goals, reflect on their progress, and make adjustments as needed.

Everyone can agree that a person will not stay long, at any job, if they do not feel safe and supported. At The Creighton Academy and this district, no matter if you are an administrator, a teacher, a staff member, a volunteer, a student, or a parent, this is a place where your opinion and voice matters.

It does not matter what the need is because there is always someone perfectly suited to help you in taking the next steps in the direction you seek to go.

Pedro Noguera said, “That’s at the core of equity: understanding who your kids are and how to meet their needs. You are still focused on the outcomes but the path to get there may not be the same for each one.”

At The Creighton Academy, we see the environment as our 3rd teacher. We have an open concept that invites learners and trail guides to interact naturally. For example, our Special Education teacher uses a push in model in order to meet the needs of the students on her caseload as well as any other students who have similar needs. In addition to our actual building, we purposefully plan for Equity and Inclusion.

As a dual language school, we ensure that we have daily read alouds in both English and Spanish and that the main characters in our stories come from a variety of backgrounds. Our multiage classrooms serve to allow grouping based on a number of things like interests, families, academic needs and social needs rather than an arbitrary age. We often say that all of our students have an individualized learning plan, because they are all on their unique path to meeting their goals and achieving success.