Constructivist Philosophy

In all of our work as professional educators, we must continually assess and evaluate our efforts to insure accountability as well as progress toward our overall goals. This is clearly the case, no matter what our positions are: at the center of what we do is the assurance that learning occurs. This "learning" occurs in many different areas and in many different forms. As classroom teachers on the front line, the learners are our children, our parents and ourselves. If we are administrators, the circle expands to also include any professional educator and staff member in our schools who have either direct or indirect contact with the children as well as an expanded community, which might include business partners, School Boards and even more! As a Graduate Program, we must look at all these constituencies as much as possible: that is truly our Mission - not always immediately achievable but nonetheless critical to keep at our forefront.

We believe that the best way this has been and will continue to be accomplished is through our constructivist program philosophy. Upon reflection, its definition is a relatively simple one and is not really a new concept. Constructivism is a theory about learning and knowledge or the "construction of learner generated solutions" (Catherine Fosnot, 1993). Even more simply put, it is about student directed learning. It is our responsibility as a program to provide "big ideas" or primary concepts; in our case, those best theories and practices are within the areas of leadership, curriculum, assessment and evaluation, learning, and instruction and technology. However, another part of constructivist philosophy is to insure relevance to the learner, modifying and adapting that content to meet what our students need and/or want to improve their own individual circumstance. That's where "student direction" applies. The subsequent application for "best practice" may then vary, dependent on the needs of specific personal and professional situations - from classroom to classroom in the same building or school to school in the same supervisory union! The learner is different, therefore the application varies. Hopefully, this translates on overall improvement and accountability on behalf of parents, kids, communities, no matter if the geographic location is in Cabot, Vermont or Monterrey, Mexico!

We will continue this effort, using our on-going positive program assessment results to build upon our successes and fill in any gaps that have been identified. Our commitment to school based improvement is the underpinning of this philosophy and our action in this regard.