• A District on the Rise

     

    Under The Cleveland Plan, CMSD has become the next proof point for reinventing public education. We are showing what it takes to turn around an entire urban school district. In the last three years, graduation rates have risen by 12.1 percentage points, reaching their highest level ever. We are bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to our schools and creating an entire system where all kids—regardless of income, race, language, or disability—can grow to their fullest potential. At CMSD, you can be part of the district that is primed to lead the nation.

     

    Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools

    Our entire community has committed to improving Cleveland schools. In 2012, voters passed Issue 107, the District’s first new operating levy in 16 years. They asked for dramatic change, and they pledged their full financial and political support.

    Thanks to the voters’ support and The Cleveland Plan, a state-approved, customized blueprint for reform, CMSD has the resources and the vision to become a national model for excellence in urban education. We have launched a portfolio model for our schools so that all children have access to high quality educational options. We have created an Investment Schools plan for turning around low-performing schools. We are attracting the country’s top talent to drive excellence. Every single day, our teachers and leaders are taking big risks to do things that have never been done before, and they do so knowing that the entire CMSD and Cleveland community has their backs.

     

    Our Mission

    In our pursuit of a more fair, just and good system of education, we want each of our learners, each of our scholars and each of their educators, to be individually and collectively presented with academically/intellectually complex tasks that are worthy of their productive struggle and allow them authentic opportunities to demonstrate their work and their learning of academic content and transferable skills in a joyful and adventurous environment.

     

    Our Vision

    CMSD has embarked on a new Vision for Learning that is designed to be more personalized, engage students more deeply and give them more control of their learning. Examples of strategies include hands-on mini-projects that students research and present in demonstrations of learning critiqued by adult volunteers. Or Civics 2.0, in which students organize issues forums, blog and participate in other activities that allow them not to just learn civics but live civics.

    The Vision comprises four elements:

    • Competency-based Education, which focuses on mastery of standards
    • Schools without Walls, flexible use of time, place, technology and talent for anywhere, anytime learning
    • Whole Human Learning, incorporating student and educator social, emotional and cultural wellness
    • Personalized Learner Pathways, equitable, student-centered career development