Dillsboro Elementary School

Vision Statement: Grow.  Excel. Achieve

The vision statements of the South Dearborn Community School Corporation were developed to focus on these aspects at various levels of education.  At the elementary level, we prepare to grow.    

Dillsboro Elementary School will inspire, instruct, and support our students as they develop into responsible, productive citizens.  Simultaneously, we are a community focused school that is constantly looking for innovative ways to include and help our community to grow alongside the changes of a 21st Century, technologically driven world.  

While helping our students grow in their knowledge of STEM practices, our staff and community has grown alongside them.  This has transformed our school culture and allowed for a focus on authentic student learning.  

As we reflected upon the priorities established by the Indiana Department of Education for STEM Education in our state we were able to tie each of these back to our mission and vision.  

• Refine STEM pedagogy with research-based best practices.

• Develop STEM leaders and educators.

• Increase access to STEM courses, programs, and resources.

Over the course of the last three years, we have made a cognizant effort to integrate STEM and project based learning into every classroom and have had purposeful discussions and professional development for our teachers.  We recognized the need to offer opportunities for students to develop strong critical thinking, employability, and technology skills.  

Our Project Lead the Way curriculum allows for hands-on exploration of various topics throughout grades K-6. This along with our STEM curriculum is developing a higher level of interest in engineering, computer science, and other STEM content areas.  Students participate in authentic learning PBL experiences while working with community partners.       

At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, South Dearborn Community Schools went through a consolidation process with the outcome of closing one of our elementary buildings. The gym, art, and music teachers previously taught at three elementary buildings, but at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, our Superintendent assigned the task of coming up with an innovative class for them to teach one day a week since they were working at two buildings now, not three.  This was the start of STEM Class, a once a week class for all students.  South Dearborn’s eCoach, Cynthia Basham, led the teachers through the development of curriculum, which can be found on our Elementary STEM website.  

South Dearborn Community School Corporation is dedicated to the continued success of PLTW.  Four staff members are certified trainers for Project Lead the Way Launch. This allowed for new staff members at Dillsboro to be quickly trained to implement PLTW in their classroom.  Adding to the sustainability of our program, new staff members are able to be trained in PLTW through this model.  

Over the last three years, changes in the building have been made to ensure dedicated and organized spaces devoted to STEM learning are available to staff and students.  Our Makerspace room houses all STEM classes and various materials.  In addition, a dedicated space in the building houses all PLTW materials.  A system is in place for teachers to quickly reorder items and refill kits as needed ensuring the sustainability of our makerspace and that the teaching of units is not delayed due to issues with materials. 

We are proud of the advances we have made over the course of the past three years and are excited by the growth our students and staff have made through this process as we continue the pursuit of true STEM integration across all grade levels.  We will continue to grow.