On Tuesday, April 9, Fairfax County Supervisors observed Jefferson classes on an academic survey visit.
“This year, Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) district leadership decided to adopt a project called Instructional Rounds to help keep district leaders connected to schools and classrooms,” Jefferson principal Ann Bonitatibus said. “They reached out to schools at the beginning of the year and said, ‘would you be willing to host a team at any point of visitors to your school?’”
Presented with the opportunity, she responded with enthusiasm.
“[Jefferson] always is hosting visitors and it’s no big deal for us, so I offered up [our school].”
The team that came to visit Jefferson consisted of the Chief of Schools, Dr. Geovanny Ponce, the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Marty Smith, the Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Sloan Presidio, and other Fairfax district leaders.
Through the instructional rounds, the District Leadership team surveyed specific qualities in the classroom.
“First, the kinds of things that they looked for were a learner-centered environment, meaning that students are the focus, not a teacher just lecturing without being responsive to students,” Bonitatibus said. “Besides that, the three other big qualities that they observed were ‘explicit learning targets, rigorous and relevant instruction, and assessment for learning.’”
From 8 a.m. to around 10:30 a.m, the assistant principals and Director of Student Services each led a team of visitors around the school, observing a total of about 12 different classes. Bonitatibus also joined a few of the groups throughout the tour, dropping in and out of classes along with the visitors.
After the visit, the District Leadership team had much positive feedback for what they observed at Jefferson.
“They said that they saw a lot of patterns throughout their visit, including really strong formative assessment, meaning constant checking for learning. They also saw a lot of group work and students working collaboratively,” Bonitatibus said.
Specifically, the team was impressed with the debate that they observed in Dr. Denise Castaldo’s English 11 class.
“They were super impressed with the level of preparedness that not only the teachers had for engaging activities, but also the level of preparedness for students. They were impressed with how students were able to discuss controversial literature and make compelling arguments for them in a thoughtful and respectful manner,” Bonitatibus said.
Overall, they were excited to see many positive trends in classrooms.
“They saw a lot of positive relationships among students and teachers, they saw a lot of creativity and they felt that lots of things were student centered.
Many people admittedly had preconceptions about the culture at Jefferson, but were completely blown away by the transformation they witnessed.
“They had previous experience with [Jefferson]T10 or more years ago when they might have last visited, and they said that they noticed a very palpable change in the culture of [Jefferson]. I think for those who experienced [Jefferson] many, many years ago, they could feel the level of competitiveness and the unhealthy nature of it,” Bonitatibus said.
But now, they saw a completely different environment for students as well as teachers.
“They used the phrase that ‘students at [Jefferson] are really humanized,’ that they feel the teacher sees students as teenagers, and that just because this is [Jefferson], that doesn’t mean you can’t have the same kind of life experiences and feelings as any other students. They saw really strong evidence of that shift in culture and the overall positive vibe, and were extremely pleased by it. They could not say enough about it.”
Overall, the visit was successful in many ways, demonstrating Jefferson’s academic strengths as well as its community.
“I’m just really proud of all of our teachers and students, because we have a real learner focused climate that is also kind and caring. I think that speaks to who we are as a community, and that makes me really proud,” Bonitatibus said.