Goshen Community Schools

In the fall of 2015, at the request of the GCS School Board, the GCS superintendents assembled a group of administrators, teachers, and staff, and began to work on a strategic plan for Goshen Community Schools. The “2025 Plan”, as it has come to be known, has been developed to look ahead, determine the vision for Goshen Community Schools, and construct a working plan for how to achieve the stated goals for GCS students and the school corporation as a whole.

The work of strategic planning is overseen by a steering committee. The four areas of concentration in the 2025 plan include Communication, Academics, Facilities, and Resource Utilization, with a sub-committee for each of the four areas. The steering committee began its work by formulating and recommending new GCS Mission, Vision, and Values statements.

The Communications group was the first sub-committee to meet, and they teamed with Villing & Co. to promote GCS and develop a marketing campaign, which was launched in the summer of 2016.

The Academic sub-committee was the next group to assemble, and they focused on defining key student learning outcomes and developing learning pathways. As such, they have determined the desired attributes all GCS students should possess by the end of 5th grade, the end of 8th grade, and by the time a student graduates from high school. At each of these junctures, GCS students should be able to exhibit age-appropriate abilities for the following attributes: Strong academic knowledge; Personal and social skills, college and career exploration and academic life planning; Interaction and engagement with the community; and Effective communication and technology skills. The sub-committee also developed a model for the various elementary programs, such as Primary Years IB, New Tech, C.L.A.S.S., STEAM, and Expeditionary Learning (which are all project-based learning), to flow neatly into one of two middle school pathways, New Tech or IB. Following middle school, students would then choose to pursue one of several different high school pathways, including Career Readiness, IB, or Early College.

It is an exciting time for Goshen Community Schools, as we look ahead to 2025 and plan for future growth and changes. At Goshen, every adult is working to prepare students for their futures, and since we understand that parents know their students best, we want to partner with parents to determine the best pathway for each student. Our staff is committed to making a Goshen education a valuable tool that develops and prepares students to be successful upon high school graduation. In the coming months, we will give community members more opportunities to provide feedback regarding the long-range plans for the schools in all of the Goshen neighborhoods. We invite you to join us as we look toward a bright future, anticipating the community leaders our current students will become.

Email Questions or Comments –superintendent@goshenschools.org