Guiding
Principles
for Student
Success
CREC magnet schools have adopted a set of guiding principles to inspire high
intellectual performance and to ensure each student’s success. These principles set forth
the following goals: inspiring high intellectual performance; graduating students college
and career ready; enlisting parents as co-educators; and engaging the mind, body, and
heart of every student. Each student’s emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being is
taken into account when they enter a CREC magnet school. To that end, the appropriate
steps are taken to ensure their achievement.
Inspire High
Intellectual
Performance
Enlist
Parents as
Co-Educators
Communication
& Collaboration
Mobilize
a Culture
Committed to
Excellence
Self-Direction &
Resourcefulness
Student
Success
Critical
Thinking &
Problem
Solving
Graduate
100% of
Students
College Ready
Creativity &
Innovation
Engage the
Mind, Body
& Heart
Defining Student Success
CREC educators adhere to guiding principles to ensure student
success. In order for students to be successful and deemed
college ready, they must demonstrate proficiency with essential
knowledge and skills in core content areas and develop the
thinking and learning skills to be academically, socially and
emotionally prepared for lifelong learning and global citizenship.
Essential Content Knowledge
Self-Direction &
Resourcefulness
Communication
& Collaboration
Students will meet performance standards in the
following core content areas:
•English Language Arts
•Mathematics
•World Languages
•Arts
•Health and Fitness
•Science and Engineering
•Social Studies
•Technology Literacy
Student
Success
Creativity &
Innovation
Critical
Thinking &
Problem
Solving
Students will demonstrate awareness of the following interdisciplinary themes as these are
woven into the core content areas:
•Global Awareness
•Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy
•Civic Literacy
•Environmental Literacy
•Theme Specific Knowledge
•Appropriate Use of Technology
Students will demonstrate proficiency in research and information fluency* in core content
areas by:
•Applying digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
•Planning strategies to guide inquiry.
•Locating, organizing, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and ethically using information from a variety of sources
and media.
•Evaluating and selecting information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
•Processing data and reporting results.
* ISTE Standard, 2014
Essential Skills
Students must be challenged to engage in opportunities to develop and demonstrate
proficiency in the following essential skills:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
All students will demonstrate proficiency in critical thinking and problem solving and meet
rigorous content standards by:
•Collecting, assessing, and analyzing relevant information.
•Reasoning effectively.
•Using systems thinking.
•Making sound judgments and decisions.
•Identifying, defining and solving authentic problems and essential questions.
•Reflecting critically on learning experiences, processes and solutions.
•Conducting research and managing projects using appropriate digital tools and technology.
•Understanding and using appropriate technology systems effectively and productively.
•Practicing safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
Communication and Collaboration
All students will demonstrate proficiency in communication and collaboration and meet
rigorous content standards by:
•Using effective interpersonal skills during conversations and discussions to build positive relationships with
others and promote collaborative learning.
•Communicating interactively and effectively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of
others using a range of contemporary tools, and digital media.
•Listening effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions. Communicating
ideas through the creation of authentic products using a combination of words, data, and visual representations
to inform, persuade and entertain others.
•Communicating effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual), using a variety of media and
formats.
•Demonstrating cultural understanding and global awareness when engaging with learners of other cultures.
•Delivering effective oral presentations to communicate the results of inquiry. Fielding questions to demonstrate
conceptual understanding and knowledge, along with details about the inquiry process.
•Collaborating with others.
•Demonstrating the ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams.
•Exercising flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal.
•Assuming shared responsibility for collaborative work, and valuing the individual contributions made by each
team member.
•Working productively in teams for sustained periods of time to develop high-quality products.
Creativity and Innovation
All students will demonstrate proficiency in creativity and innovation and meet rigorous content
standards by:
Thinking Creatively
•Using a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming).
•Creating new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts).
•Elaborating, refining, analyzing and evaluating their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts.
Working Creatively with Others
•Developing, implementing and communicating new ideas to others effectively.
•Being open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporating group input and feedback into the work.
•Demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work and understanding the real world limits to adopting new ideas.
Demonstrating Courage to Explore
•Viewing failure as an opportunity to learn: Understanding that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical
process of small successes and frequent mistakes.
Implementing innovations
•Acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the field in which the innovation will occur.
•Developing innovative products and processes using technology.
Self-Direction and Resourcefulness
All students will demonstrate proficiency in self-direction and resourcefulness and meet
rigorous content standards by:
Managing Goals and Time
•Setting goals with tangible and intangible success criteria.
•Balancing tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) goals.
•Utilizing time and managing workload efficiently.
•Multi-tasking when appropriate, e.g. performing work on more than one project or activity simultaneously.
Work Independently
•Monitoring, defining, prioritizing and completing tasks without direct oversight.
Being Self-directed Learners
•Going beyond basic mastery of skills and/or curriculum to explore and expand one’s own learning and
opportunities to gain expertise.
•Demonstrating initiative to advance skill levels.
•Demonstrating commitment to learning as a lifelong process.
•Reflecting critically on past experiences in order to inform future progress.
•Taking chances and/or risks in an effort to expand knowledge or practice skills in new and unfamiliar contexts.
Demonstrating a Positive Attitude
•Cooperating with coworkers and supervisors.
•Taking direction willingly.
•Exhibiting eagerness to learn.
•Acting in a pleasant and polite manner.
Essential Habits, Beliefs and Character Strengths
Students will demonstrate the following to pursue goals and achieve success despite obstacles
or discomfort:
•Grit
•Respect
•Diversity
•Fairness
•Honesty
•Risk-taking
•Persistence
•Flexibility
•Emotional/Social Intelligence
•Reliability
•Stress management
•Decision making
Inspire High
Intellectual
Performance
Guiding Principles for CREC Educators
In CREC’s Magnet Schools it is a belief that all students
can learn at high levels and that they will graduate from
CREC Schools college ready and able to meet the demands
of a global society. Supporting this mission requires
educators to be committed to the following guiding
principles and continually focus on student success.
Graduate
100% of
Students
College Ready
Enlist
Parents as
Co-Educators
Inspire High Intellectual Performance
CREC educators will:
Student
Success
•Ensure content is cognitively complex, thoughtprovoking, challenging and conceptual.
•Cultivate skills that foster independent, self-directed
and productive learners who are creative and critical
Mobilize
Engage the
thinkers, problem-solvers, and innovators.
a Culture
Mind, Body
•Enhance student engagement through effective
Committed to
curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment
& Heart
Excellence
strategies.
•Create learning experiences that incorporate digital
tools and resources to engage students in exploring
real-world issues and solving authentic problems.
•Provide supports and extensions so all students have equal opportunity for success.
•Encourage students to make connections between their academic success and their plans after graduation.
•Monitor student progress towards meeting and exceeding defined standards and goals.
Graduate 100% of Students College Ready
CREC educators will:
•Create an environment that points to a four year college for all students.
•Develop partnerships with industry and community to provide students with meaningful experiences related to
potential career interests.
•Provide students with support and assistance in establishing goals for academic, career, social, emotional, and
physical development that meet rigorous high school and postsecondary expectations.
•Provide individualized opportunities for students with disabilities to become as independent as possible and to
become self-advocates.
•Set lofty goals for each graduation class and track the results over time.
Engage the Mind, Body, and Heart
CREC educators will:
•Demonstrate and foster respect for student and staff diversity in informal interactions, formal lessons, and
curriculum content.
•Strive to build personal relationships with students acknowledging their unique strengths, talents, and interests.
•Ensure that all schools have time and opportunity for all students to engage in meaningful conversations with
adults about their feelings, aspirations, fears, etc.
•Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and
information.
•Provide opportunities for students to find their voice in an activity which takes place beyond the classroom, giving
them the opportunity to feel good about their abilities and potential.
•Provide opportunities for students to engage with their peers in meaningful activities beyond academics that
provide them with leadership skills and foster independence.
•Implement school themes with high quality to engage learners in meaningful ways and help them to become
lifelong learners.
•Provide learning experiences that develop culturally capable students who make a difference as socially and
ethically responsible citizens.
•Cultivate a safe and healthy community that promotes positive, lifelong wellness practices, including adequate
exercise, proper nutrition, and abstaining from harmful habits.
Mobilize a Culture Committed to Excellence
CREC educators will:
•Define and measure what excellence means for the school in terms that extend beyond test score results.
•Develop a climate of trust in the school that allows staff to give and receive constructive feedback.
•Seek feedback from students, peers and supervisors and engage in a cycle of continuous improvement by
identifying strengths and weaknesses and responding accordingly.
•Identify areas of expertise that can be the signature of a school.
•Improve practice through self-directed professional learning and critical reflection informed by a range of
evaluation approaches.
•Empower staff and students to create programs and opportunities that allow CREC students to effectively
compete with those in other schools and districts.
Enlist Parents as Co-Educators
CREC educators will:
•Provide opportunities for parents to be integrally involved in their child’s education in a manner that is respectful
of family style, culture, and need.
•Create an environment where parents feel welcome and a part of the school community.
•Communicate student performance to families on a regular basis, through a means that they can understand.
•Facilitate and encourage frequent, meaningful two-way communication
•Understand the diversity of student backgrounds and respect that diversity by ensuring that it is reflected in the
curriculum.
•Seek to understand and counter the power relationships that exist or are perceived to exist around race, class,
gender, etc.
•Embrace parents as co-educators.
CREC develops and runs some of the most innovative and successful public magnet schools in the state. Through
these guiding principles and adherence to these definitions for student success, we will move towards closing the
achievement gap and preparing our students from diverse backgrounds for college and for the challenges of global
citizenship.