Long-Range Plan 2005-2008

The Long-Range Plan in Township HS District 113 will enter its third three-year renewal as the 2005-2006 school year unfolds. The renewal process allows the district to reexamine its commitment to its mission, beliefs and guiding principles, which outline the characteristics of a learner-centered system. The beliefs we hold about our system guide our decision-making to ensure an optimum learning environment and to provide the foundation upon which our guiding principles operate. Guiding Principle One supports our beliefs about diversity, the learning community and the way we treat one another. Guiding Principle Two supports our beliefs about the learner, teaching and learning, and our commitment to understanding and embracing individual differences in our learners. These beliefs and principles work in concert in order to develop the capacities named in our Learning for Life Abilities. A commitment to a learner-centered system is a commitment to collaboration among all learners in the system whether those learners are Board of Education members, students, faculty, support staff, or community members invested in the education of our students. As a result of our commitment to sustain a learner-centered system, we believe our work must be collaborative, inclusive, reflective, and based in a model of critical inquiry. We expect our actions as a system will be aligned with what we know about learning, learners, and learning communities.

A Learner-Centered System

Learning for
Life Abilities:

the Vision of
Our Learner

(Who we want our students to be when they leave high school)

The Characteristics of an Effective District 113 Educator
& Administrators

the Vision of
Our Educators

(The characteristics we value in our teachers and administrators)

Guiding
Principle 1:

the Vision of
Our Culture

(The environment we desire for students, staff, and parents)

Guiding
Principle 2:

the Vision of
Our Teaching & Learning

(The educational
practices we value
for all learners)

A Long-Range Plan that is inquiry-based is much different than an initiative-based plan. An inquiry-based organization raises questions about its practices, listens actively to multiple voices, and develops a plan, which includes both action and evaluation. It is a recursive process that moves critical inquiry forward with the goal of improving growth and learning in all levels of the system: district, building, and classroom.

The Long-Range Plan is being renewed with a critical inquiry process as its model. The tenets of this process were identified while developing an inquiry process for our tenured teachers. The areas of inquiry for this plan were defined through a data collection process that resulted in priorities in which to focus our inquiry (available at http://www.dist113.org/longrangeplan/Inquiry.asp#Data). The following questions will drive our planning and action over the course of the next three years.

Inquiry
Questions	Data