School Corner

Show students that the things they are learning in their classrooms are going to be relevant to real life and help them build character, a strong sense of ethics and teamwork skills those major themes that the E3 Alliance heard from the Westlake community when seeking input in April as to how the Eanes school district could successfully prepare students for the future.
“Many of the skills participants cited as key to [student] success were things like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, communication teamwork and responsibility,” said Diane Miller in a report for E3. “There was a desire to emphasize these aspects more and to make them more integral to the coursework itself.”
In April, E3 facilitated a series of four meetings held at Westlake High School to provide community leaders, especially those in the Eanes school district, with a set of educational priorities from teachers, parents, business leaders and church leaders. The Central Texas education collaborative wanted to identify what the community felt to be priorities in successfully preparing local public school students for the challenging world ahead.
Eanes school district Superintendent Nola Wellman said that the points of interest uncovered by the E3 report aligned with the district’s strategic plan.
“The dialogues were a great way for our community to come together and talk about the vision of an Eanes education,” Eanes school district Superintendent Nola Wellman said. “We have taken the direction from the dialogues to incorporate into our goals for the year as well as for future planning. We will also continue to use this model of community engagement for future initiatives. “
In a recently released 98-page report, E3 said that the community wants an emphasis on building foundation skills, rigorous yet balanced education and a curriculum that provides opportunities for all students despite their achievements or learning styles. The educational alliance also said that participants stressed that they want the local school district to involve the entire community in education.
“Parents and students expressed significant concern over the amount of pressure that students are under to perform academically and be in the top 10 percent of their class,” Miller said. “Concerns included students burning out from stress, being unable to fully explore their interests or passions and not learning to learn, but rather memorizing information so they can pass tests instead of gaining the essential skills needed to succeed in the workplace.”
Other ideas that arose from the community during the dialogue sessions included the district setting a priority to ensure that schools were working for all students, not just the top 10 or 20 percent, and they would like the district to more thoroughly assess student interest in the early years and throughout their education. Dialogue participants also prioritized making sure that learning experiences in the district match a wide range of learning styles and were relevant, engaging and diverse.
“It became clear that people felt there were many resources that could be tapped within the community – parents, businesses, universities, community members and groups, even the students themselves, to make progress,” Miller said.
E3 recommended the Eanes school board appoint a subcommittee to study the findings and cross reference them with the district’s strategic plan and to hold follow-up meetings to look at ideas and issues community members considered priority.