Values and beliefs are the core of who we are, what we do, and how we think and feel. Values and beliefs reflect what is important to us; they describe what we think about work and how we think it should operate. Staff were asked to brainstorm independently before we produced our core beliefs about what instruction, curriculum, and assessment will increase our students’ learning.
The mission of Berea Middle School is to provide students with Success for Today – Preparation for Tomorrow – and Learning for a Lifetime.
Curriculum, instruction, and assessment should be aligned to meet the needs of all students and aligned with state and national standards.
Teachers must have high expectations of all students – all staff personnel must have high expectations of academic performance and social behavior (each student must be able to reach his/her full potential).
Assessment needs to be efficient, workable, regular, manageable, understandable to everyone, quick (fast), and inform and drive instruction (making students responsible for ongoing assessment of their own work, as appropriate).
Students should feel safe, emotionally and physically, both inside and outside of the classroom. Students and teachers respect and positively interact with each other.
Curriculum and instruction must be standards-driven, uniform within grade level, and articulated across grade levels.
Grade-level meetings need to be focused on curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and reflective of teachers’ needs.