Microschool and Multiage Regional Workshop

16555 Weber Road,Crest Hill IL 60403

21 June, 2022

Description

Catholic microschools & multiage classrooms have been effective throughout the country. Let's together share those best practices. Thank you Diocese of Joliet and Superintendent Dr. Boyle for hosting this event! Description: The term Catholic microschool refers to a sustainable Catholic school that is rooted in the tenets of Catholic faith and that has employed excellence in faith formation, academic programs, and operational vitality while maintaining a student population that is smaller than its neighboring schools. Overall, 25% of the Catholic schools in the United States serve a population with less than 150 students. Among NCEA colleagues who lead strong Catholic microschools, we will examine effective practices that Catholic microschools use, as aligned to the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS). One component of effective Catholic microschools is the openness to multiage instructional models. Intentional multiage instruction is different from split/combined classrooms. Instead, in multiage classrooms, students work alongside classmates who are each reaching individualized learning goals yet are also engaged in group projects and learning experiences that span multiple grades of curriculum standards. Though motivated by personalized instruction techniques, students in multiage classrooms work in partnership with their peers. The concepts of microschool and multiage are discussed in NCEA publication, Greatness in Smallness: A Vision for Catholic Microschools by Jill Annable and Kevin Baxter, Ed.D. (2021) and Greatness in Smallness: Effective Multiage Instruction in Catholic Microschools by Jill Annable (forthcoming, 2022). We invite all of those Catholic school educators with the will and need to join the conversation and the work. Catholic microschools are among us with successes to share, and we welcome the ongoing conversations that this text may spark. We are here together to answer the call to action. Objectives: Assess school effectiveness using the NSBECS.Determine existing and potential steps toward school sustainability (NSBECS domain IV).Examine student learning in multiage classrooms that promotes the development of students who are moral evaluators, problem-solvers, and reflective decision-makers and that addresses the diverse needs of each learner (NSBECS 7.3. 7.6).Discuss horizontal and vertical curriculum alignment in multiage instruction. (NSBECS 7.1).Reflect upon microschool leadership’s role in the curriculum and instruction in microschools (NSBECS 6.5).Assess communication of initiatives in Catholic microschools (NSBECS 6.7).Dates/Times: June 21 1:00 to 5:00 PM June 22 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (lunch provided) Price: $175 per attendee for NCEA members / $250 per attendee for non-members Cost does not include travel or hotel expense. NCEA, in the interest of protecting public health and safety, will continue to be advised by the CDC and state and local government monitoring procedures and guidelines for a safe gathering. CDC guidelines can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/ and the State of Illinois executive orders can be found here: https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/resources/executive-orders.html