Corner Lake Middle School is a student-centered professional learning community which utilizes a digital curriculum to foster college and career readiness. In alignment with the Orange County public school district's vision to become the top producer of successful students in the nation, Corner Lake Middle School has implemented innovative teaching practices that utilize digital resources and, by doing so, has established goals and objectives that focus on becoming the top producer of digital learners in the nation. Similar to the model of organizations proposed by Mintzberg (1979), the school board and superintendent of schools serve at the strategic apex of the school system. The school principal serves as the supervisor and instructional leader of an organization comprised of assistant principals, deans, instructional coaches, support staff and teachers. Teachers function as the operating core. The effectiveness of their performance is primarily tied to student outcomes and the overall performance goals of the school.
In order to address the diverse needs of its students, the Corner Lake Middle School faculty has been structured into interdisciplinary teams. Each one of these interdisciplinary teams, comprised of English language arts, social studies, science and mathematics teachers, is assigned to teach the same group of students and utilizes common planning time to collaboratively create interdisciplinary lessons and activities. According to Bolman and Deal (2008), one structural assumption is that "organizations increase efficiency and enhance performance through specialization and appropriate division of labor" (p.47). Therefore, Corner Lake's interdisciplinary teams were created with the intention of matching the expertise and specialization of its teachers with the unique talents and needs of its students. Some of the variables that were considered when making the team assignments were years of teaching experience, previous teaching assignments, teacher preference, content areas of specialization and certification and teacher performance data in relation to specific student subgroups.
We will have the chance to visit a Catholic school and see Peruvian children engage themselves in woodworking, sewing, secretary classes as well as computer classes. ... CARE work in Peru has evolved into development programs that focus on food, agriculture, community development, support for small business, education and health, as well as response to emergencies when needed. ...
