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Mission Statement & Beliefs
The mission of Beverly Hills Unified School District is to inspire and empower each student to achieve academic excellence, embrace social and individual responsibility, and lead with integrity. To these ends, Beverly Hills Unified School District provides dynamic and enriching educational opportunities, collaborative community partnerships, and challenging and supportive learning environments.

 

Beliefs

We believe that:
  • A person's right to thoughts and ideas is inviolate.
  • Self-respect is essential to individual and community well-being.
  • Every person has immeasurable intrinsic value.
  • Society requires standards of right and wrong.
  • Every person is entitled to personal safety.
  • Every person needs love.
  • Every person has a right to the basic necessities of life.
  • Every person deserves the opportunity to achieve his or her potential.
  • Family is the primary influence on each person's development.
  • Literacy is vital to individual empowerment.
  • Human dignity is sacrosanct.
  • Every person has the right to education.
  • Diversity of all kinds enriches the individual and society.
  • Family is basic to the preservation and creation of societal values.
  • There can be no progress without change.
  • Every person is accountable for his or her behavior and actions.
  • Honesty is the basis for successful human relationships.

Objectives

  • All students will be prepared for higher education and/or employment within this rapidly changing global society.
  • 100% of our students will have the skills and character to deal effectively with problems.
  • 100% of our graduates will feel satisfied with their preparation for post-graduate pursuit.

Policies

  • Nothing will take precedence over the elementary through secondary instructional program.
  • We will not tolerate prejudicial discrimination by anyone.
  • We will practice participative management throughout the organization.

Strategies

  1. We will develop and implement a dynamic, interdisciplinary and standards based curriculum, including character education and life skills, to ensure that the success of each student.
  2. We will maintain a comprehensive adult education as an enhancement of the K-12 program.
  3. We will secure the support of our community in the realization of our mission and objectives.
  4. We will promote and support staff effectiveness and accountability.
  5. We will create a climate of mutual understanding and respect.
  6. We will use the California Standards for the Teaching Profession to develop student-centered instructional practices that motivate individual student learning.
  7. We will involve all segments of the school community in decision making.
  8. We will secure the funding and resources necessary to fulfill our mission and objectives.
  9. We will continue to increase the District's efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of the District's instructional programs through the use of technology.
  10. We will continuously plan for facilities that optimize the learning environment.
Our educational community (teachers, parents, community and administrators) came together through the Superintendent’s Advisory Council to create a common vision, understanding and language to guide and label our work in continuous improvement of teaching and learning.  The following indicators of student learning and teacher organizational and instructional strategies are the result:

Indicators of Student Learning

Learners:
  • Ask Questions of themselves and others
  • Self-correct
  • Display an 'Aha' moment
  • Are able to explain their learning to someone else
  • Connect their understanding to previous understanding
  • Can perform the skill or learning automatically
  • Apply their learning to new situations
  • Show growth toward mastery
  • Perform the designated learning task
  • Support/defend the position/idea (accurately)
  • Express understanding in multiple ways
  • Have a desire to be challenged further
  • Use the language of the discipline

Indicators of Teacher Organization and Practices

Teachers Organize Classroom Experiences Using a Variety of Group Strategies
Groups:
  • Large groups
  • Small groups (more than 3)
  • Pairs
  • Triads
  • Achievement
  • Skill
  • Ability
  • Gender
  • Student Choice
  • Student Topical Interests
Teachers Organize the Physical Environment to  Contain Models, Exemplars and Learning Agenda
Teachers Create Classroom Layouts That are Flexible
  • Desks grouped
  • Circles
  • Rows
  • Clear line of View
  • Student seating assignment is purposeful
  • Teachers provide students access to effective tools to enhance learning
Teachers Consistently Select a Variety of Teaching Strategies
Teachers:
  • Act as facilitators
  • Promote active learning for each student
  • Show students the bigger picture of why it’s important to know what they are being taught
  • Use a variety of methods to encourage their students to demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways
  • Ask questions rather than lecture/prompt students rather than answering for students
  • Direct students to listen and respond to each other’s thinking
  • Utilize strategies/questions that help students make connections at increasingly complex levels
  •  Utilize wait time
  • Help students to rephrase learning or other students’ thinking
  • Ask students to explain, judge their own thinking/strategies
  • Integrate technology into lesson
Teachers Apply Consistent Expectations (Academic/behavior, routines)
Teachers Use Their Passion/Expertise of Subject to Engage Students
Teachers Have Knowledge of Student Performance/Instructional Needs
  • Use informal/formal assessment data (frequently) to adjust teaching strategies
© Beverly Hills Unified School District 255 South Lasky Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, Phone: (310) 551-5100