ASCD's Whole Child Initiative Launches Map of Outstanding Whole Child Examples
Alexandria, VA (08/15/11)—ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative is pleased to announce a new map tool that enables the public to locate examples of schools from across the United States and Canada that are implementing the whole child approach to education. ASCD is the global leader in providing programs, products, and services that empower educators to support the success of each learner.
The map recognizes schools and communities that move beyond a narrow focus on academic achievement to take action for the whole child, developing learners who are knowledgeable, emotionally and physically healthy, civically active, artistically engaged, prepared for economic self-sufficiency, and ready for the world beyond formal schooling.
“We are so pleased to be featured on the whole child examples map,” said Kim Klepcyk, principal of Quest Early College High School of Humble Independent School District in Houston, Texas. At Quest, winner of the 2011 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award, “we work hard every day to develop all aspects of our students: the academic, the social, the emotional, and the civic. In order to be successful in college, with careers, as citizens and all other aspects of adult life, our students need for us to provide the whole child approach."
The schools and communities featured on the map were identified by ASCD or Whole Child Partner organizations for their work to ensure that each child in every classroom is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
“When we consider what makes a great school great, we look for schools that have a comprehensive approach to learning and teaching,” said Molly McCloskey, managing director of Whole Child Programs for ASCD. “We believe every child deserves a 21st century education that fully prepares him or her for college, work, and citizenship, and the schools pinpointed on the map do just that.”
Schools highlighted on the map reflect a commitment to a whole child approach put into practice. Their strategies include those described in ASCD’s indicators of a whole child approach. These indicators may serve as a needs assessment, a set of strategic goals and outcomes, a framework for decision making, or the definition of what a whole child approach to education truly requires—and, in the case of the schools and communities profiled on the map, they serve as a way of identifying excellence.
ASCD offers a variety of additional free resources to schools globally supporting the whole child approach to education, including podcasts, blogs and more. Visit the homepage of ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative at www.wholechildeducation.org to learn more.
For more information about ASCD or ASCD membership, please visit www.ascd.org.
