RE-1 Schools Data/Information

District Mission Statement

SCHOOL DISTRICT MISSION

The Cañon City School District is guided by a Vision, Core Beliefs, a Mission Statement, and graduation outcomes in the form of a Graduate Profile.

Our Vision

Learning for Life!

Our Core Beliefs

-We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs* before Bloom’s Taxonomy.**
-We believe learning growth matters most, requires risk-taking, and the work we do in our schools has the greatest impact on this.

-We’re future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers.
-We emphasize what is good for kids over the needs and comfort of the school staff.

Our Mission

The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities in a safe learning environment to successfully prepare all students to meet any challenges they may face.

Our Graduate Profile

We believe the development of these traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers.

Traits: Innovation, Civility, Agility, Agency, Tenacity, Integrity, and Knowledge. Skills: Collaboration, Reflection, Communication, Contribution, Leadership, Solution-Seeking, Empowerment.

*Based on the research of Abraham Maslow and Benjamin Bloom, we believe that a student’s physical, emotional, and social needs (Maslow) must be met before they can focus on the complex processes of successful academic learning (Bloom).

*Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology that explains the five different levels of human needs. This theory created by Abraham Maslow is based on how humans are inspired to satisfy their needs in a hierarchical order. Starting from the bottom going upwards, the five needs are physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.”

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-maslow-hierarchy-of-needs

“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization.

Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to higher needs.”

https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

**Bloom’s Taxonomy

“Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical ordering of cognitive skills (brain-based skills needed in acquisition of knowledge, manipulation of information & reasoning) that can, among countless other uses, help teachers teach, and students learn.”

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-blooms-taxonomy/

“Bloom’s taxonomy was developed to provide a common language for teachers to discuss and exchange learning and assessment methods. Specific learning outcomes can be derived from the taxonomy, though it is most commonly used to assess learning on a variety of cognitive levels.”

https://fctl.ucf.edu/teaching-resources/course-design/blooms-taxonomy/

2023 Instruction Program Reviews for Schools

"Each year the Cañon City School District takes a careful look at each of its schools through the lens of what it will achieve as a system. We support each school by identifying opportunities for improvement.

Instructional Program Reviews take place each school year from the middle of February through the middle of March. Results are reported back to staff and community by the end of the school year

To prepare for a review, each school staff reflects on the rubric. The Compass Committee, composed of students, staff, parents, administrators, board members, and community leaders, appoints a review team to visit each school. These are called site reviews. They take a full school day and include opportunities for staff and students to present information and evidence as well as opportunities to observe classroom instruction."

Click on the title to access the Program Reviews published on the Canon City Schools website. 

Cañon City School District

STATISTICAL DATA, EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES and MISSION STATEMENT

My personal observations

• 2022 data for Cañon City High School highlights low proficiency in Reading / Writing (56%) and Math (29%) among high school students. (2023 results have not yet been given.)

• 2023 CMAS test results: Of 3rd-8th grade students, 38.7% met or exceeded expectations in Language Arts (reading/writing)  and 22.4% met or exceeded expectations in math. 

• I am concerned about the 2021 Colorado law that removed the SAT, ACT score requirements for students to enroll in our state colleges and universities. Students may now submit their Capstone projects in lieu of SAT or ACT scores to help determine admissions. While it will allow more students access to college - could it also set them up to fail and give them a false sense of security? SAT scores are used to predict the probability that students can successfully complete the college-level coursework they encounter at a particular school. If their scores are below the recommended level that predicts a student will have 75% chance of being successful, are they going to be able to make it or is it more probable they will fail? With the rising cost of college, is this a risk many of our lower income families can afford to take? 

• Is this the reason CCHS requires all students to successfully complete a Capstone project in order to graduate? How does this requirement affect our students? What if they have no plans to attend college, but instead, want to take advantage of the Career & Technical Education pathway rather than college - is a Capstone project necessary? Is this why many students choose to attend GOAL Academy - so they can graduate with a diploma without having to do a Capstone project?

• I believe that our schools need to shift the focus back to educating our students. Students must be able to read and do basic math in order to function in today's society.

• The first core belief of the District's Mission Statement clearly states the willingness of the board to move their focus from educational priorities (Bloom's Taxonomy) to the social-emotional needs of students (Maslow's Hierarchy).

• Bloom's Taxonomy gives teachers an idea of how to approach children's learning with instruction that is appropriate for their age, so I believe it should not be moved to a position of secondary importance. (For more information on Maslow and Bloom read the articles above)

• Nowhere in the Mission Statement does it address a focus on academic excellence.

• For decades teachers and schools have recognized that children's basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and safety (Maslow) must be addressed in order for those children to have the freedom to concentrate on their education. Many programs and safety nets have been put in place to help with that such as school meals, clothing closets, school counselors, connections to social services, etc. 

• Although social-emotional needs are important, parents should be the ones who primarily guide their children's upbringing and care. Education should remain the primary focus of schools.

•  It is important to work with children on developing positive behavior and social skills while in the school setting, but how are we doing this – is it effective? It seems our schools have begun to rely on “canned” programs and mental health surveys developed by outside corporations or organizations with yearly costs rather than developing our own systems that meet the specific needs of Cañon City students.

• Social emotional learning (SEL) is not a new concept, but currently it is being expanded to include many other programs, including some controversial character education programs that promote social activism and identity politics, and it is replacing academic instruction rather than "serving as an important enabling condition for academic achievement."*            *   https://www.educationnext.org/what-social-emotional-learning-needs-succeed-survive/  

• If you take the time to study the data from the 2023 Instructional Program Reviews of Canon City schools you will see that there is more emphasis and higher ratings on the social-emotional components rather than the educational components.