Press Release 21st Century Innovation Project The 21st Century Innovation Team is comprised of one administrator and two teachers, Jan Murphy, Kate O’Donnell and Patty Pursell, respectively Each was selected by the 21 st Century Innovation Review Board, some of whom are local business owners whose financial contribution have made this innovative project possible Business members include Anthem/BlueCross, Gale Development Corp, White Way Cleaners, Component Engineers, Quest Diagnostics, and MidState Medical Center The team has spent the last few months interviewing and surveying parents, students, teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators and central office staff, BOE members, local business owners, school leaders from model programs and college admissions officers, researching educational topics, collecting and analyzing national, state, and local educational data, taking classes at Quinnipiac, attending conferences, reading books and peer-reviewed journal articles, and visiting schools of excellence They have logged their journey on their blog found at http://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=13430 and in the Prezi presentation http://prezi.com/b7kyr5d9mogh/innovationteampresentation-2012/ They have researched and developed a comprehensive plan for innovative practices that promotes educational transformation throughout our school district The focus of the research is on innovative practices that produce systemic and sustainable change that begins at birth and extends beyond high school The creation of community-shared core values will begin the process of building a belief system that incorporates a growth mindset to support student, teacher and parent empowerment in the educational process The end goal will be high achievement for all students Imagine what can happen when 100% of the community supports multiple pathways for student learning? Our vision is to produce students who are 100% college and career ready The team will be inviting every member of the community to be a stakeholder in redesigning education that produces students who are ready to tackle the complex problems of the 21st century Research has shown that when students drop out of high school, they are more likely to be unemployed, receive public assistance, commit crimes and become incarcerated They are less likely to receive health insurance and to vote By focusing our community on college and career readiness, we will save the town money because it expands tax revenues, boosts employment, reduces crime and improves citizenship The first step in the project is to establish a growth mindset throughout the Wallingford community This is an important component to moving our educational system into the 21st century In order to this, the team is collaborating to design a community reading project of the book, Mindset, by Carol Dweck The community is invited to participate in March Mindset Madness on March Carol Dweck, the author and a professor from Stanford University, will Skype in for the event The team’s goal is to have as many members of the community as possible read Mindset, including all staff of the Wallingford Public Schools, community organizations, local government employees, local businesses, and families There will be several community events to celebrate our changing Mindset Carol Dweck will visit Wallingford for the culmination in late August to speak to a variety of invited community groups The team plans on meeting with administrators, teachers and management teams over the next few months to implement some of the ideas they have discovered through their research One significant contribution the team has already made is to connect educational professionals across the district, the state and the nation Connecting innovative people in and out of our district will help us address the needs we have found and ultimately lead to Wallingford 100!