Clear expectations and shared accountability at Bohach Elementary

Any educator will tell you that safety, stability and predictability are essential to student success. For children to grow and thrive in their classrooms, they need to know what is expected of them. Understanding expectations minimizes confusion and anxiety and frees up cognitive bandwidth to engage fully in learning. When a school community comes together around shared, high expectations for excellence and holds each other accountable, it creates a solid foundation for academic growth.

This spirit of shared accountability is alive and well at Bohach Elementary School. Principal Heidi Gavrilles and her team have integrated rituals and routines that build community into their school’s master schedule. At the beginning of the year, every class co-creates a set of community agreements to guide the ways they will learn and work together. Every school day, each class revisits its agreements and discusses two key questions:

• What did we do yesterday that did not align with our agreements?
  
  
• What did we do yesterday that did align with our agreements?

As a result, Bohach students know what their teachers and peers expect of them, so they can focus 100% of their energy on learning – and it shows in the intensity of student engagement in their work!

One of the many reasons that I am excited about our strategic plan is that it sets clear expectations not only for what our students will accomplish, but also what we, as Team WCSD, will do to help them get there. I invite you to join me next Tuesday, November 7 at our State of Education Address to learn more about our plan and progress to date. You can find details here: www.washoeschools.net/stateofed.

We are #TeamWCSD and we are a district on the rise!