Schools

Rio Seco Receives Honorable Mention from the Classroom of the Future Foundation

The Santee school will be honored at the Innovation in Education Awards this Thursday.

A Santee school will be among those honored at the Classroom of the Future Foundation Innovation in Education Awards this Thursday at the University of San Diego.

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This is the first time Rio Seco has received honorable mention from the Classroom of the Future Foundation, said Principal Lisa McColl.

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“It’s a nice honor that we’re innovative in what we’re doing,” McColl said. “Classroom of the Future Foundation does a lot of work supporting different schools with technology and bringing in 21st century skills.”

Since 2004, the Classroom of the Future Foundation has recognized innovative, local districts, schools and programs with four awards and a number of honorable mentions.

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The “Inspire,” “Innovate” and “Achieve” Award recipients receive $5,000. The “Impact” Award recipient receives $10,000.

“One of the main missions of the Classroom of the Future Foundation is to bring private sector resources, ideas and expertise in partnership with public schools so that they can create innovation that helps make a difference in improving student success,” said Bruce Braciszewski, the executive director of the Classroom of the Future Foundation.

This year, the foundation is recognizing Rio Seco for using data obtained from assessments to improve classroom instruction and student achievement levels.

“We’re having the students analyze their own mistakes and helping them figure out what they did wrong, or why they got the answers wrong on the exams, and what they need to do differently the next time to improve their own achievement levels,” McColl said. “All the research shows that when you get students involved in their own learning, the achievement levels increase.”

Braciszewski said McColl, who co-authored a book about assessment, Test Less, Assess More: A K-8 Guide to Formative Assessment, has been instrumental in the school’s assessment program.

“She really does have a good handle on how to improve teachers' capabilities to get students to be more engaged in their learning and assessment of learning,” Braciszewski said. “It’s a pretty impressive program.”

Through the program, he explained, teachers work with students to develop learning goals. Students have more responsibility in creating the goals, he added, as they progress through school.

“The Innovate Award focuses on the uniqueness of the program’s actions that increase student interest and drive achievement—that is what Rio Seco is being recognized for,” Braciszewski said. 

The Classroom of the Future Foundation has recognized Santee schools before.

In fact, PRIDE Academy earned the Inspire Award last year for the school’s commitment to project-based learning and technology integration. 

“We are honored to be acknowledged for our dedication to students and meeting their needs in the 21st century,” said PRIDE Academy Principal Stephanie Southcott. “This recognition is especially important because we strive to inspire our students to be critical thinkers and purposeful learners every day.”

Other districts and schools often replicate programs that are recognized by the foundation, Braciszewski said.

Last year, the Escondido Union Elementary School District received an award for using iPod touches to help English language learners better learn language skills. Several districts have since incorporated mobile learning devices in classroom instruction, Braciszewski said.

“That’s one of the real benefits of all of this,” Braciszewski said. “Not only are you rewarding those people who are innovating successfully, but it is also inspiring others to innovate as well. That’s one of our main missions—to help schools become more innovative in the way they approach teaching and learning.”

For more information about the Classroom of the Future Foundation Innovation in Education Awards, visit www.classroomofthefuture.org.


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