The Christa McAuliffe Mission Statement 

Our Mission Statement Guides Student Outcomes

Our Plan for Visionary Thinkers

By the end of eighth grade, students will become information-fluent learners, using varied and accelerated resources. They will experience, experiment, and use a design process to discover creative solutions to authentic problems, form personal understandings, and propose original ideas. 

By the end of eighth grade, students would engage in challenging interdisciplinary projects with multifaceted educational processes. We would see examples of these in core disciplines, electives, and in extracurricular activities. 

Our Plan to Promote Empathetic Leaders

By the end of eighth grade, students will recognize the importance of accurate information to a democratic society and actively seek, evaluate, learn from, and use credible information from diverse community and global perspectives.  Students will demonstrate effective collaboration in the exchange of information, in both the face-to-face and digital environment. Students will demonstrate digital citizenship by maintaining ethical decision making and behavior and avoiding the spread of misinformation in the exchange and use of information.  

By the end of the eighth grade, students will use information and ideas presented in any format to reflect on and pursue personal interests, develop strengths and engage in personalized and independent learning. Students will develop agency (personal identity and confidence) to express their ideas, raise awareness, advocate for change, and/or take social action. Academy-based. 

Our Plan for a Rigorous Education

By the end of eighth grade, students will experience acceleration and compact learning in core disciplines to allow for extended projects related to creative and design thinking. Acceleration occurs when students move through traditional curriculum at rates faster than typical. This involves developing homegrown curricula that fits the needs of the District 20 screened student.

Our plan to Foster Social and Emotional Development

By the end of eighth grade, students will be well-versed in the social-emotional competencies. Students will prevent toxic overachievement by developing a newfound joy in the process of learning. We will develop lessons and curricula based upon student interests, real life relevance, as well as thinking beyond themselves. Students will receive time and space for prompted reflection and contemplation. We will create multidimensional and growth based assessments for defining student achievement in the school. Students will receive social, emotional, and academic support to assist with learning differences. Students will identify and reflect on reasons to celebrate learning, for optimistic thinking, and process negative feelings regarding failure.

Our plan to Develop Passionate Readers

By the end of eighth grade, students will gain exposure to a multitude of reading materials and multimedia literacy skills. Students will gain knowledge to deconstruct complex texts in multiple formats through comprehension, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation.

Our Plan to Develop Passionate Writers

By the end of eighth grade, students will present their learning and ideas by constructing messages using multiple, authentic formats appropriate for the purpose and audience.

Our Plan to Develop Passionate Orators

By the end of the eighth grade we will develop passionate speakers that in turn will increase academic success, character and well-being, generate ideas, and enhance problem solving.

We continue to develop a series of pedagogies and approaches that give students the chance to find their voice, develop deep knowledge and understanding, and create work that has real value beyond the classroom.

Our Plan to Develop Future Problem-Solvers: Motivating Exploration, Investigation, Innovation, Construction, Evaluation, and Inspiration 

By the end of eighth grade, students will use an inquiry process to connect to prior experience and background knowledge, wonder and ask questions, investigate, construct new understanding, express learning, and reflect on the process and product of learning. They will use this process to help guide them through design thinking and other extended activities.