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Reframing Our Focus

As the Steves community came back together after the seismic upgrade, we intentionally wanted to rebuild our community with the goal of ensuring everyone feels that they can belong. This led us to realize that on our journey to building community, we needed to focus on the individual to ensure that all voices were included, especially those who may be at the margins.

We expanded our focus to include all student voices in various ways, including Identity Maps and surveys. On this journey, we realized that our school focus Core Competency shifted from the sub-competency of Social Awareness and Responsibility to the sub-competency of Positive Personal and Cultural Identity.

We refocused to the following:

  • Understanding relationships and cultural contexts - "Students understand that their relationships and cultural contexts help to shape who they are. This includes culture in its broadest sense, including how one identifies in terms of ethnicity, nationality, language(s), abilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, geographic region, and religious or spiritual beliefs. Students explore who they are in terms of their relationship to others and their relationship to the world (people and place) around them."
  • Recognizing personal values and choices - "Students define who they are by what they value. They understand how what they value has been influenced by their life experiences. They identify how their values help to shape their choices, in all contexts of their lives."
  • Identifying personal strengths and abilities - "Students acknowledge their strengths and abilities, and they intentionally consider these as assets, helping them in all aspects of their lives. Students understand that they are unique and are a part of larger, and often multiple, communities. They explain how they are using their strengths and abilities in their families, their relationships, and their communities."
Updated: Monday, April 11, 2022