Operation Transformation at CISD
Tracy Fisher, CISD Board of Trustees and CGA founder:
It is my sincere privilege to work with a team of seven others on a regular basis to support all learners in Coppell ISD. Thank you for the opportunity. I am a lifelong learner and care tremendously about the future of education.
Coppell ISD is on the cutting edge of the transformation of education as we know it. We will stop preparing students for our past and instead, ready them for a future we can only imagine.
Learners are not blank slates, so we shouldn’t assume everyone needs the same curriculum nor should it always be delivered traditionally by a teacher standing at the front of the classroom.
Emphasizing performance on a state test at the end of the school year has forced educators in Texas to teach to a test for far too long. State-mandated testing assumes that students are all the same and should progress at the same rate, that feels like a factory model to me.
We have lived in a digital world for more than fifteen years. Our children use computers, smart phones and technology as a natural part of their lives. These digital-native children in our schools today need something different to successfully navigate their futures – a future, where skills like problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration are vital, where information is available at the click of a button.
- Believe every learner is an educator. Learners question, reflect and use the language of thinking innately. Every educator is a learner. They facilitate and model learning for all.
- Understand that for learning to occur, the environment must be safe – environmentally, psychologically, sociologically and emotionally.
- Pre-access abilities so that each student can learn appropriately throughout the year for true growth instead of just testing everyone at the end of the year to ensure minimum standards are achieved by all.
- Involve learners in developing their own learning plan based on the educatorsʼ leadership and designs. Each campus may have different “models” that they follow, but every campus should focus on inquiry-based instruction.
- Realize the benefits of inquiry-based instruction: teaches problem-solving, critical thinking and disciplinary content; promotes the transfer of concepts to new problem questions; teaches learners how to learn and builds self-directed learning skills; develops learner ownership of their inquiry and enhances learner interest in the subject matter.
Coppell Gifted Association 