We Believe
WE BELIEVE
Our visual inspiration for this plan comes from the Crayola company. In the image above, you can see how Crayola's foundational colors never changed over the years, never went away, but were built upon with increasing detail and complement in a vibrant celebration of diversity. In the Lorain City Schools, we strive to capture that spirit by celebrating our school community as one of the most colorful places on Earth, with a kid-inspired culture focused on empowered learning at all ages, stimulating minds and bringing imaginations to life.
The We Believe Strategic Plan was painstakingly developed in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We dedicated ourselves, despite our circumstances and often through marathon Zoom sessions, to creating a guiding path for our district and community. We emerged with a Five-Year plan built on five cornerstones: Equity, Healthy Culture, Student Supports, Teaching and Learning, and our Titan Improvement Plan with one central goal: the future of all Titans under our care.
OUR GOAL
By spring 2025 and beyond, all Lorain City Schools students in grades Pk-12 will be on track for college and careers upon graduation from our district. This means that within six months of graduation, our graduates will be ready to either enroll in a post-secondary institution, secure employment, enroll in an apprenticeship, or enlist in the military. We will do this by challenging each child in our care through the process of discovery and learning, preparing for fulfilling post-high school paths, empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner and contributor to society.
Our Equity Non-Negotiables
A core element of our We Believe Strategic Plan was the development of Equity Non-Negotiables to guide our work.
- Eliminating inequities begins with ourselves.
- The system is responsible for student failure.
- All staff is aligned to Co-Plan to Co-Serve to Co-Learn Teams (C3) to support cohesive instruction.
- Students are proportionally represented in the core of teaching and learning.
- Co-Plan to Co-Serve to Co-Learn (C3) Teams intentionally develop each other’s capacity.
- Instruction is based on Identity Relevant Teaching and Learning (IRTL) and created for each learner the first time the concept/skill is taught through heterogeneous small group instruction.
- Policies and funding are aligned to these Equity Non-Negotiables.
HEALTHY CULTURE
We believe a successful healthy culture involves clear and consistent communication that encourages a sense of belonging.
EQUITY
Equity is at the heart of all we do to ensure that each individual member of the Titan community is successful within their unique social and cultural realities.We seek to eliminate the racial and social-economic predictors of achievement by removing barriers that limit opportunities.
STUDENT SUPPORTS
We believe all students can learn through continuous proactive and preventative supports that meet the individual needs of all students.
Teaching and learning
We believe curriculum is a combination of instructional and assessment practices with learning resources. Curriculum is not found exclusively in our textbooks, but becomes culturally relevant when influenced by the events within our local, national, and global communities.
IMPROVEMENT PLAN
The Titan Improvement Process is an organizational approach to problem solving requiring a high level of staff engagement and collaboration.