Our Future Ready Journey

Our journey to becoming a Future Ready school district began in December of 2016 when the OFSD library team attended an ETA STL (Educational Technology Association of St. Louis) meeting with our District Technology Coach (Erin Lawson) where Future Ready was the topic of discussion.  The meeting focused on how libraries can be the central hub of the Future Ready endeavors.  As we sat and listened, we kept thinking how what they described sounded so much like the vision and mission of Orchard Farm!

In January of 2017, the librarians presented information on Future Ready Schools to the district administrators.  The district administrators agreed that the Future Ready commitment matched our district vision and supported adopting the initiative.  

At the February School Board Meeting, the librarians presented the same information to the School Board members.  They unanimously voted to adopt the initiative and supported Superintendent Dr. Tom Muzzey in taking the official Future Ready Pledge.

Dr. Muzzey took the Future Ready School (FRS) Pledge for the Orchard Farm School District in early March of 2017.  Soon after, an FRS Committee was made, which was comprised of our superintendent, assistant superintendent, two building principals, two building assistant principals, the librarians, the innovation teachers, the technology coach, two members of the technology department, a student, and two classroom teachers.  This committee was led by Project Manager, Melinda Botkin, high school librarian. 

The OFSD FRS Committee completed the FR Assessment in March of 2017, and our score on that assessment was an 8.8 out of 10.  The committee then signed up for one or more subcommittees.  Each subcommittee looked at the score for one of the cogs/gears of the FRS wheel (see the image from www.futureready.org below).  For the summer of 2017, each subcommittee was to consider what goals were needed for that cog in order to help us better prepare students.  In the fall of 2017, those subcommittees reconvened and determined three goals for each cog, and these goals will be submitted as our official FRS Plan.  We are in the process of finalizing our FRS plan.

As many know, our district has always had a strong commitment to prepare students for the future.  In addition, our school district has long recognized the role that technology plays in that preparation.  As some would say, we were Future Ready before Future Ready was cool!  Evidence for this can be seen in our score on the Future Ready Assessment, which was an 8.8 out of 10.  However, we felt is was important to take the pledge to show our community that we will continue to strive to do what is necessary to best prepare our students for the future and ensure that they are college and career ready.  

 

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