Established Educational Journal Recognizes
Ramsey for Innovative Teaching 

A well-respected magazine saluted Ramsey School District for integrating a leading-edge approach toward teaching and learning. The October 31 issue of EL (Educational Leadership), singled out Ramsey as a school district that encourages its students to become self-directed learners.

EL published an article titled “Developing Self-Directed Learners by Design,” in which authors Jay McTighe and Catlin Tucker stated that “Today’s schools need to prepare a generation of learners for a world that is constantly changing.” To thrive in a dynamic world with an unpredictable future, students must be able to direct their own learning, they assert. The authors further identify four steps necessary for schools to produce truly independent learners:

Schools must:

• Prioritize self-directed learning as a fundamental goal of schooling.
• Identify the key skills associated with self-directed learning and map them out across grade levels.
• Explicitly teach and reinforce these skills.
• Provide students with regular opportunities to self-direct their learning.
  

McTighe and Tucker wrote, “The Ramsey School District in New Jersey directed staff and community members to formulate a profile of a graduate that articulated desired competencies students should exhibit as a result of their preK–12 school experiences. Self-direction was one of these key competencies. To signal their importance, the district designed posters highlighting each of the competencies and displayed them prominently throughout schools.”

“All members of the Ramsey School District community can feel pride at being recognized as an example of a district that is actively preparing its students to become self-directed learners,” said Dr. Andrew Matteo, current Director of Curriculum and Instruction, as well as the incoming superintendent. “The respect we are enjoying now can be directly attributed to the intense, collaborative and creative work around our Profile of a Ramsey Graduate. As we continue to incorporate these concepts into our teaching practices, our students will benefit from our commitment to innovative approaches to teaching.”

EL is the journal of ASCD, an organization that has supported educators and school systems in all 50 states and more than 200 countries for nearly 80 years. ASCD originally stood for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, but it has grown to include an extensive approach to educational support through professional development. The organization kept the acronym because it is so well known.Read the EL article here.