Blytheville School District

Mark Morrison, director of District and School Development from the New Tech Network, recently met with district and school leaders from Blytheville High School New Tech as part of a visit to multiple New Tech districts around the United States. Morrison was the founding Napa New Tech High principal and, more recently, Napa Valley Unified School District executive director for Secondary Education in Napa, CA, and is traveling on behalf of the network studying successful New Tech schools. 
Since BHS New Tech opened as a conversion charter in 2013, the district has been scaling many of the Deeper Learning Outcomes throughout the entire district as they build a foundation for students to become collaborative critical thinkers at BHS. These outcomes, often referred to as 21st Century Skills, are deemed vital to the success of students who are college and career ready, which is a focus at BHS. Alan Veach from New Tech Network, nominated the BHS NT school and district team to be interviewed by Morrison because he felt our New Tech journey could help shape the future of the network.
After the visit the team received the following email from Morrison regarding the meeting: 
“Thank you again for sharing your New Tech implementation learning last week. Blytheville Schools is clearly an innovative school community, and I appreciate participating in your continued focus on learning models that ensure students graduate career and college ready. Your team's passion and focus on school designs and classroom practices that ensure student engagement and achievement are compelling.
Great teams trust each other to speak the truth and think critically about the dilemmas challenging progress towards their vision for learning. They problem solve, monitor and seek clarity on commonly owned plans for success. They challenge the status quo and help others understand new solutions through effective communication structures. It was an honor to watch you four exhibit the characteristics of a high functioning team."
District director of Curriculum Sally Cooke noted, "We are always proud but never surprised to hear that BHS New Tech teachers and students are being recognized in the network.  It is evident every day in the work that we see our students do around real world projects that they are learning to be successful and engaged in their future whether that takes them to college or a career. Our goal is that every child in Blytheville has the opportunity to learn to dream, set goals, and reach his or her full potential through their experience at BHS."