MISSION

The Rippowam Middle School Community is committed to promoting academic excellence within a safe, nurturing environment that is responsive to the social, emotional and intellectual needs of the adolescent child.

VISION

It is our goal to develop life-long learners who are knowledgeable and responsible citizens who think critically about the world.

OUR BELIEFS

We (The Administrators) believe that…

• Hiring and retaining the highest quality teachers is paramount to the success of our school.
• Psychological safety (the ability to share thoughts open and honestly without fear or judgment) is key to effective teams
• Prioritizing and nurturing collaborative environments around curriculum, instruction and assessment have the greatest impact on building wide instruction.
• Modeling prototyping and risk-taking (creating a culture of “yes”) are necessary for our teachers and students to be innovative.
• Providing leadership opportunities for teachers and students builds internal capacity and grows future leaders.
• Soliciting critical feedback from all constituencies, especially those that disagree, is necessary for school improvement.
• Creating a culturally responsive environment is the gateway to student achievement. 

We (The Teachers) believe that…

• All students are capable of excellence
• Caring and trusting relationships between the teacher and student are required for two-way learning to take place.
• Incorporating our students talents, aspirations and interests into our instruction activates and engages our students desire to learn.  
• Collaborative work around learning and internal accountability (sharing best practice, creative interdisciplinary curriculum development, creative common assessment formation) is how we improve our pedagogy.
• Our classrooms must be flexible, and provide options to support how our students learn best.
• Cross disciplinary curriculum that connects to the local or global community stimulates higher order thinking.
• Feedback that is actionable, specific and aligned to success criteria (standards) sparks reflection and builds students’ confidence towards tasks completion.
• Creating transparent partnerships with families supports our students.
• All students are life-long learners; therefore, as exemplars we must be open to life-long learning as well.