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Pathway Information

At ShadowGlen, students are solvers and creators. They learn to collaborate and communicate. Through challenging, authentic projects, they learn to adapt and engage in the world around them.

New Tech Network (NTN) is a leading design partner for comprehensive school change. NTN works closely with districts and schools to create innovative learning environments. Through a proven school model, a project-based learning platform, and powerful professional development we coach schools toward lasting change and ongoing improvement.

ShadowGlen implements Balanced Literacy, Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS), Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Project Based Learning (PBL) as part of their instruction and discipline practices.

Professional Learning Communities (PLC): A PLC is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry, and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.

Project Based Learning (PBL): PBL is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, problem, or challenge.

Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS): PBIS is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success.

Balanced Literacy: Balanced literacy is a comprehensive program of language arts acquisition that is part of our reading instruction. It contains all of the components necessary for students to master written and oral communication.

Balanced Literacy is used as part of ShadowGlen's reading instruction. It is a comprehensive program of language arts acquisition. It contains all of the components necessary for students to master written and oral communication.  
 
Areas of emphasis include:
  • Reading 
  • Writing
  • Speaking
  • Listening
  • Viewing
Balanced literacy begins with creating a genuine appreciation for good literature. It includes teaching phonics, grammar skills, reading and comprehension strategies, and writing forms and skills. Direct and indirect reading instruction, shared reading, and independent reading must be provided.  Balanced literacy is a balance between reading and writing, and between teacher directed and student directed. In addition, it has many components that work together to create strong readers and writers while challenging all students to their fullest.  
One of the foremost advances in school-wide discipline is the emphasis on school-wide systems of support that include proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create positive school environments. Instead of using a piecemeal approach of individual behavioral management plans, a continuum of positive behavior support for all students within a school is implemented in areas including the classroom and non-classroom settings (such as hallways, buses, and restrooms).
 
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all youth by making targeted misbehavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional.
ShadowGlen will operate as a professional learning community (PLC). A PLC is an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry, and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.  A PLC is composed of collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals for which members are mutually accountable.  Members of a PLC are action oriented: they move quickly to turn aspirations into action and vision into reality. PLCs have a need to constantly search for a better way to achieve goals and accomplish the purpose of the organization. The PLC members realize that all of their efforts must be assessed on the basis of results rather than intentions. 
 
PLCs function with a belief of shared responsibility for all students. We believe that all students can learn at a high level.  There is a focus on the four questions:  
  • What do we want our students to learn? 
  • How do we know if they have learned it? 
  • What will we do if they do not learn it? 
  • What do we do if they already know it?  
Each team will meet as needed.  Additional time has been purposefully put into our schedules to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of all students.  There is an expectation that all team members participate in the PLC.  We will work together to learn and grow from one another and to assure academic, social and emotional success for all students.  This is not an easy process, but it is a best practice for ensuring that Tier I instruction happens with a sound understanding of the academic roadmap and a clear idea of what the unit outcomes must be in order for students to continue and a sound foundation.

ShadowGlen Elementary Community,

Since the campus was built in 2015, we have valued our partnership with New Tech Network as we implemented the Teams Approach to PBL. New Tech Network’s decades of experience guiding schools through comprehensive transformation led to the Four Design Pillars. NTN developed these four categories to bucket the work of whole school transformation and help school communities understand the overarching goals that impact the work through all phases of the school development process.

Outcomes that Matter
Every NTN partner school adopts the five New Tech Network Learning Outcomes. The outcomes are: Collaboration, Knowledge and Thinking, Written and Oral Communication, and the development of student responsibility for their own learning, or Agency. Along with these outcomes, we are committed to providing Teaching that Engages, a Culture that Empowers, and Technology that Enables.

We are proud of our partnership with NTN and the work our teachers have done over the past five years. Through this partnership, we are EXCITED to announce that this year ShadowGlen will become a full implementation PBL campus and be viewed as an NTN partner school.