Visiting Committee to Review Critical Thinking Initiative

On May 1-3, the Bronxville School will host a visiting team of 18 educators from New York and Connecticut to observe classes, interview teachers and students, and review various documents related to the District's critical thinking initiative. On Friday morning, the visiting team will engage in dialogue with the staff and give informal feedback to the entire faculty. For this reason,  

SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, MAY 3 WILL BE A DELAYED OPENING, WITH ALL CLASSES STARTING AT 10 AM.

The Tri-State Consortium, a regional association dedicated to supporting high performing schools, is sponsoring the visit. Previous visits focused on science (2009) and mathematics (2005). The District's critical thinking goal is:

Bronxville students will produce high quality, original work that demonstrates the capacity for analysis, reasoning, problem-solving, and effective communication about complex, global issues.

The School is asking the visiting team to give us feedback on how effectively our curriculum design, assessment, and professional development contribute to that goal. Over the course of the school year the Elementary faculty has supported the development of critical thinking by using instructional practices that model and teach high level questioning /discussion skills, specific inquiry skills, and by creating opportunities for student choice and self-assessment. In grades 6-12, teachers have worked in department groups to develop assured experiences at each grade level and methods of assessing student progress.The next step in the process is to gather examples of student work and determine how well we are meeting our goal.

As in the past, the Consortium's final report will be made public.