school vision essay

79 Examples of School Vision and Mission Statements

School vision statements outline a school’s values and objectives. They provide parents and the community a brief but clear overview of the overall ethos of the school. On the other hand, school mission statements explain what the school is currently doing to achieve its vision. Schools need both vision and mission statements to show their community what their values and beliefs are.

Importance of Vision and Mission Statements in Schools

Statements of a school’s vision and mission are important for keeping a school focused on its core purpose. The statements can act as a guiding north star for school administrators who aim to make decisions that live up to the statements. They are also important because they are documents that parents use to see whether the school meets their family’s values.

Common Words in Vision Statements

The most common words in school vision and mission statements are:

Read below for our full list of the best school statements from around the web.

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Best Preschool Mission & Vision Statements

We foster our students’ love for learning, encourage them to try new and exciting things, and give them a solid foundation to build on.
Our vision is to develop well rounded, confident and responsible individuals who aspire to achieve their full potential. We will do this by providing a welcoming, happy, safe, and supportive learning environment in which everyone is equal and all achievements are celebrated.
We believe that a happy child is a successful one. We are committed to providing a positive, safe and stimulating environment for children to learn, where all are valued. We intend that all children should enjoy their learning, achieve their potential and become independent life-long learners.
Our early learning center exists to provide a safe, developmentally, inclusive environment for toddlers, preschool, kindergarten and school age children.

Our focus is to provide a stimulating early learning and child care experience which promotes each child’s social/emotional, physical and cognitive development.

Our goal is to support and nurture the children’s and our own natural desire to be life-long learners. We are committed to the families we serve, providing support and encouragement.
Our Vision is a community where all children feel loved, respected and encouraged to develop to their fullest potential.
Our Mission is to provide high quality education and childcare in a safe, respectful and inclusive environment that builds a foundation for life-long learning.
We aim to provide a safe learning environment with a welcoming atmosphere which creates a sense of belonging amongst the families. We maintain an inclusive environment which acknowledges and respects children from diverse family and cultural backgrounds.

Our Kindergarten provides a safe, developmentally appropriate, nurturing environment that promotes social, emotional, cognitive and physical growth, as well as a positive self-image and a love of learning. T

Our goal is to build skills that set children up for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Our vision is for each child to develop a curiosity of learning, discover their interests and grow in their love of learning. We also desire to have strong families through parent support/fellowship and skills training.
We aim to offer a safe, happy place where everyone is known and valued, and where differing needs are acknowledged, accepted and met
We aim to encourage each child to be independent and develop a sense of responsibility for themselves and respect for others in the environment

Our mission is to lead and support the early learning community in building the best foundation for children birth to five.

Our Kindergarten aims to provide a meaningful child centered, play based curriculum that builds life skills, independence, confidence and resilience to support each child in achieving their potential and to make a smooth transition to school and society itself.
Our mission is to work together to build a safe, respectful and nurturing environment focused on maximizing each child’s sense of wellbeing and acquisition of skills for life and learning.
Our mission is to provide exceptional care to children while fostering each child’s intellectual, social, physical and moral development in an academic-rich environment.

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Best Primary and Elementary School Vision & Mission Statements

Our goal as a school is to equip our young people with the skills and mindset to thrive and then take on the world.
We foster an enthusiastic, creative community of learners prepared to continue their intellectual, emotional, and physical development.
To educate all students to the highest levels of academic achievement , to enable them to reach and expand their potential, and to prepare them to become productive, responsible, ethical, creative and compassionate members of society.

Our vision is to prepare young women to pursue their aspirations and contribute to the world.

We strive to consciously create an environment of respect and inclusion and to support ethnic, racial, religious and socio-economic diversity among all the constituencies of the school.
We strive to support this environment by building a more inclusive curriculum, addressing a range of learning styles, offering a wide array of diversity efforts and programs, and by participating in the wider community.
Our school empowers all students to embrace learning, achieve their personal best and build their emotional, social and physical well-being.

Our vision is to empower students to acquire, demonstrate, articulate and value knowledge and skills that will support them, as life-long learners, to participate in and contribute to the global world and practise the core values of the school : respect, tolerance & inclusion, and excellence.

We believe that education should take place in a fully inclusive environment with equal opportunities for all and that all children should learn to value religious and cultural differences. Our school strives to be at the centre of the local community with positive and effective links to the wider and global communities.
Our statement “DREAM, BELIEVE, ACHIEVE” reflects our understanding and beliefs. We aim to ensure that the children at our school are provided with high-quality learning experiences based on a broad and balanced curriculum.

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Best High School Mission & Vision Statements

Our vision is to forge strong, positive connections with students so they can achieve independence, build confidence, and gain academic knowledge.
We aim to develop well-rounded and thoughtful students prepared to cope with a changing post-modern and globalized world.

We strive to provide our graduates with an academic foundation that will enable them to gain admission to the colleges or universities of their choice as well as to succeed in those institutions.

We are committed to recognizing the importance of communication and to encouraging dialogue among all constituencies; to promoting intellectual and social growth and development within the school community; to providing a safe, supportive setting so that students have the opportunity to explore and to clarify their own beliefs and values, to take risks, and to think and speak for themselves; and to recognizing and responding to individual and institutional prejudices, both overt and subtle, based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, and physical and mental ability.
Our vision is to prepare and motivate our students for a rapidly changing world by instilling in them critical thinking skills , a global perspective, and a respect for core values of honesty, loyalty, perseverance, and compassion. Students will have success for today and be prepared for tomorrow.
Our mission is to provide a safe haven where everyone is valued and respected. All staff members, in partnership with parents and families are fully committed to students’ college and career readiness. Students are empowered to meet current and future challenges to develop social awareness, civic responsibility, and personal growth.

We are dedicated to a continuing tradition of excellence in an ever-changing world. Within a safe and supportive environment, we provide a relevant, high-quality education and prepare our diverse student body for future endeavors. We honor achievement and promote pride in ourselves, in our school, and in our community.

We strive to prepare all students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens ready to meet the challenges of the future. In partnership with families and community, our goal is to create relevant learning opportunities for students — both inside and outside the classroom — that help them develop the knowledge, critical thinking skills, and character necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced world.
Our High School is a student-centered organization delivering excellence in education. Our team is committed to our students, our communities, and each other. We believe that our cohesion and morale help us to achieve excellence in our school. Our commitment to our students and our dedication to impacting their education through innovative methods makes us unique.
Graduates will be motivated life-long learners and productive global citizens.

Cultivating excellence in every student.

Our school’s vision is to provide student-centered educational programs that challenge all students to perform at their highest potential.
Our school prepares students for success in the 21st century by engaging them in rigorous and relevant learning opportunities that promote academic, physical, and emotional growth.
Our school creates a pathway to assist students in achieving their educational and personal goals leading to a fulfilling future within the greater community.

Our school will continue to create a safe, effective learning environment that enables each individual to reach his or her greatest potential through ample opportunities to excel.

Our school will foster an environment to nurture individuals academically, socially, and emotionally so that they are equipped to tackle academic challenges and become productive members of society.

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Best Christian School Vision & Mission Statements

Our Christian School believes that each child is a treasure, bearing God’s image. We seek to partner with Christian families who are committed to our vision and mission.
Vision is the insight God provides to instruct and direct the path of an organization. Our Vision Statement is as follows: Our school will be known as a diverse Christian community which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, provides families with Christ-centred education through dynamic programming, dedicated professional staff, in facilities most conducive to learning, in order to develop responsible servants in God’s world.
Our Mission is as follows: To provide a Christ-centered, high quality education and to work in unison with the home and local church to nurture our students’ intellectual, spiritual, social, emotional, and physical growth to prepare them for responsible service in the kingdom of God.

It is the vision of Our Christian Academy to engage students in a quality Christ-centered education that equips and challenges them to reach their unique potential spiritually, academically, socially, and physically.

We endeavor to foster a nurturing, mutually supportive school community of students who enthusiastically pursue learning and Christian character, parents who wholeheartedly support the school’s mission, Bible believing churches who actively reinforce a biblical worldview, and qualified, caring Christian faculty and staff who sacrificially invest in the lives of students.
To engage and educate young people to know Christ and be equipped to impact the world for God’s Kingdom.
To capture and equip the hearts, minds and energies of young people for the sake of knowing Christ, and unleash them to engage the world they live in and make an impact in it according to God’s principles and power.

The mission of our Christian School is to transform this generation through sound academic education with a distinct Christian worldview. We are committed to transferring our passion for serving Christ to our students for their benefit and for the glory of God.

The vision of our Christian School is to provide a comprehensive educational facility that will accommodate a life-developing curriculum and graduate students who express a passionate faith, a biblical world view philosophy and are practitioners of true Christianity.
Our Christian School seeks to provide an excellent educational experience from a biblical worldview in order to produce the next generation of well-rounded servant leaders.
Our Christian School will be a compassionate community where knowledge is pursued with excellence, where faith is rooted in Christ, and where character is exemplified through service. We are dedicated to creating a caring and nurturing environment, producing life-long learners, creating disciples of Christ, and enriching students’ lives.

Our Christian School is a loving community that spiritually and academically equips, challenges, and inspires students to impact their world for Christ.

Our Christian School will be grounded in God’s Word and challenged to achieve academic excellence as they prepare to use their gifts and abilities effectively to follow God’s plan for their lives.
Our Christian Academy works together with parents and their local church to provide a Christ-centered spiritual, academic, and physical foundation. Our goal is a nurturing environment that produces godly citizens who will be a transforming influence in the world.
To form a partnership with believing parents in order to establish their children with a total biblical worldview.

To help train up a generation of godly leaders who love learning and are sought after for their wisdom.

To prepare students spiritually, academically, and in accordance with their God-given potential, enabling them to handle the rigors of life with courage.
Our mission is to build a Christ-centered school to equip students to be Christ-honoring critical thinkers, clear communicators, and compassionate leaders, through the pursuit of academic excellence, in the tradition of classical Christian education.
Our vision is be recognized as the leading Christian School in the Kansas City area, preparing students for a love of learning and service, to the glory of God.

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Best College and University Vision & Mission Statements

Our university aspires to be a national leader in developing educated contributors, career-ready learners, and global citizens, and in generating meaningful, high-impact scholarship.
Pursuing enlightenment and creativity.
To create a transformative educational experience for students focused on deep disciplinary knowledge; problem solving; leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills; and personal health and well-being.

Learning. Discovery. Engagement.

The university aspires to be known for its excellence in teaching, intensive research, effective public service and community engagement. The university prepares diverse and competitive graduates for success in a global, interdependent society.
We aspire to be the exemplary comprehensive research university for the 21st century.
To impact society in a transformative way — regionally, nationally, and globally — by engaging with partners outside the traditional borders of the university campus.

To contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

To educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society. We do this through our commitment to the transformative power of a liberal arts and sciences education.
We will have a transformative impact on society through continual innovation in education, research, creativity, and entrepreneurship
Educating students to the benefit of all.
To recruit and develop the world’s most promising students and most outstanding staff and be a truly global university benefiting society as a whole.

The University will become a national leader in collaborative career-focused liberal arts education and will equip its graduates to visualize and achieve excellence in a dynamic global community.

To be dedicated to the advancement of learning and ennoblement of life.
To promote learning by engaging with students in advancing scholarly inquiry, cultivating critical and creative thought, and generating knowledge. Our active partnerships with local and global communities contribute to a sustainable common good .
We will continue to frame and solve the greatest challenges of the future.

Read More University Mission Statement Examples Here.

Vision and mission statements tend to explore themes that are important to a school’s community. They also focus on the age of students. Preschool vision statements tend to explore themes of safety, development and love. High School vision statements are about preparing students for the world. Universities tend to focus on inspiring future leaders.

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Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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3 thoughts on “79 Examples of School Vision and Mission Statements”

Wow, Very interesting and achievable visions and missions.

I am highlighting a few statements and citing your website in my book, The Technology-ready School Administrator, for publication in January, 2024. Thanks for wonderful information.

Thank you for your insightful words.

How to Write School Mission and Vision Statements

A teacher working with their student in a 3D printing lab

Cultivating a sense of shared educational values, goals, and ideals for a school is one of the primary ways that leaders can inspire positive outcomes in their institutions. In fact, research shows that a positive school culture—defined as the collective values and beliefs of a school’s staff—can:

Increase attendance rates and academic achievement
Elevate school morale significantly
Improve staff wellbeing
Reduce aggressive behavior in students
Lessen teacher turnover

One way that educational leaders can establish and encourage a positive culture that benefits everyone on campus is by creating well-written school mission and vision statements. Such statements set the tone for staff and students alike, making the purpose of the school clear and inspiring everyone to join together in realizing it. Learning how to write school mission and vision statements is an important step for educators who want to lead their institutions to succeed.

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Why School Mission and Vision Statements Matter

Mission and vision statements help to set the course for a school. These statements communicate core educational values, speak to the culture of the institution, and provide faculty, staff, students, and community members with ideals to reach for in participation with the school.

In addition to communicating what is important to a school, mission and vision statements can also be useful for creating unity on campus. A clear mission and vision statement communicate to everyone involved at the school what they are collectively aspiring to attain. When individuals share a purpose, they may be more likely to trust one another, engage in collaboration, and have a positive experience in the school setting.

When it comes to teachers, in particular, mission and vision statements can be effective in a few ways. First, being aligned on a mission and vision can help prospective candidates and hirers determine if a teacher is a good fit for the school. Additionally, teachers—who are often overwhelmed and overworked—can look to their school’s mission or vision statement for guidance in prioritizing their tasks and setting their focus when many things call for their attention at once. Finally, teachers can benefit from strong school mission and vision statements when it comes to their relationships with fellow teachers as well as with students, as the common language and purpose of the statements provide common ground for those relationships.

Students may experience several key benefits of school mission and vision statements, too. The Values Education Good Practice Schools Project found that well-written vision statements can improve student-teacher relationships. The project also discovered that students in schools with good vision statements that truly impacted the day-to-day culture of the school enjoyed more calm and focused class activities. Lastly, students were more empowered to develop self-regulation and self-management skills in schools with strong vision statements.

What Are the Differences between Mission and Vision?

While school mission and vision statements have some overlap, there are a few key distinctions between the two.

The primary difference between a mission statement and a vision statement is that a mission statement describes the school’s current and/or founding identity and the key values that characterize the school as it is in the present. A vision statement, on the other hand, looks forward to the future. Oftentimes, a mission statement will begin with a phrase like “[School name] is…” while a vision statement might begin with “[School name] will be known for…”

In other words, a mission statement is largely a definition of the school, answering questions like:

What is important to this school?
How does this school seek to reach its objectives?
What are the fundamental traits, cultural influences, or beliefs of this school?

A vision statement, on the other hand, answers questions such ask:

What does this school aspire to accomplish in the years to come?
What does the school want to become known for doing?
How would this school define future success?

While school mission and vision statements will likely arise from the same core values, they serve two different purposes. The mission statement speaks to the school’s operations in the present. The vision statement speaks to the school’s hopes and intentions for the future.

Who Should Be Involved in Writing and Approving School Mission and Vision Statements? What Is the Process Like?

Experts agree that gathering insight from a diverse population can help create the best school mission and vision statements. By including various groups of people connected to the school—including teachers, students, administration, parents, and community members—education leaders can ensure that they are gathering as comprehensive of a perspective as possible. While it’s important to hear from a variety of people, education leaders should take care not to grow the group too large, as it could become difficult to find consensus or be productive.

Once a group has been established, discussion can begin. Educational values are a good place to start. Through data, anecdotes, and personal perspectives, group members can share their perceptions of the school’s current values or the values that should be prioritized. Identifying strengths and opportunities for growth can be insightful as well.

From there, the group members can discuss what their hopes are for the future of the school. What outcomes might the school’s educational values help produce? What does the school want to be known for in 5, 10, or 20 years? What are the school’s current priorities, and how might they be reordered for greater success?

Once a group has gathered, identified the school’s values, and discussed hopes for the future, then it is time to write the first draft.

How to Write a Mission Statement

At this point in the process, it is likely that there could be several pages of notes filled with ideas, values, and hopes for the future that the group has produced. This is exactly what is needed in order to write a mission statement, but condensing the content into a succinct sentence or paragraph may feel daunting.

Reading the mission statements of other schools and organizations may be helpful at this stage. Consider, for example, the Marymount University mission statement:

Marymount is a comprehensive Catholic university, guided by the traditions of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, that emphasizes intellectual curiosity, service to others, and a global perspective. A Marymount education is grounded in the liberal arts, promotes career preparation, and provides opportunities for personal and professional growth. A student‐centered learning community that values diversity and focuses on the education of the whole person, Marymount guides the intellectual, ethical, and spiritual development of each individual.

Notice that this mission statement fulfills several key objectives:

Communicates a value system (Catholic)
Sets priorities (intellectual curiosity, service, global perspective)
Establishes an educational framework (liberal arts)
Describes the community (student-centered, diverse, holistic)

At the elementary school level, a mission statement may read something like:

Our school fosters a love of lifelong learning by guiding each student to build foundational academic skills that will contribute to their ongoing success and by encouraging creative collaboration in an inclusive environment.

This statement makes clear that the school values the love of learning, basic skill development, and cultivating a positive community.

How to Write a Vision Statement

School vision statements should align with the values communicated in school mission statements, but they need to communicate forward thinking as well. The Marymount University vision statement reads:

Marymount, a leading Catholic university, will be nationally recognized for innovation and commitment to student success, alumni achievement, and faculty and staff excellence.

This statement:

Succinctly describes the school (a leading Catholic university)
Sets the scope for success (national)
Establishes goals to attain (recognition in student success, alumni achievement, faculty and staff excellence)

A high school vision statement may read something like:

Our school will develop critical thinkers who model an inclusive spirit and graduate prepared for success in a profession or higher education.

This statement communicates that critical thinking and inclusivity are prioritized educational values at the school and that employability and admission to college are the standards for success.

Lead in Education with Vision and Values

Do you want to develop a school mission statement that clearly communicates the educational values of the institution you lead? Are you interested in setting academic standards, establishing a campus culture, and doing the work to produce positive future outcomes as an education leader? If so, the Marymount University Online Doctorate in Education program can help you reach your professional goals.

Created for working professionals, Marymount’s flexible online Ed.D. allows students to personalize their coursework according to their vocational goals. Students in the program cite many personal benefits , including building relationships with fellow students and faculty members, honing their project completion skills, and improving their research abilities.

Student Alexander Gagnet says, “What I love best about the program is the care and attention the faculty put into the success of all the students. You really feel wanted and appreciated for your hard work and effort.”

Students also appreciate the way that the program allows them to meet their personal and professional obligations while in school.

“Not to be ignored is the fact that the online program allows you to be who you are AND be a student,” explains Marie Gemelli-Carroll . “It is a key benefit to be able to do classwork on your own time as long as you meet the assigned deadlines.”

Are you ready to further your career by earning a doctorate in education? Marymount University’s online Ed.D. features a practical curriculum and is a top program choice that will prepare you to lead positive change in education. Click here to connect with an enrollment advisor .

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Creating a School Vision Statement

by Gordana S | Aug 2, 2020 | Starting a School | 0 comments

Table of Contents

A Detailed Guide to Creating a School Vision Statement

Credit: JB Hi-Fi

A school vision statement is a mirror image of the school’s purpose. If you tried to recall your high school vision statement right now, you likely wouldn’t be able to quite put your finger on it. Yes, it probably had something to do with those slogans and posters hung all over the school’s walls, talking about “global citizens,” “inspiring leadership,” “reshaping education,” or similar concepts, but that’s about it, right?

If you were like most high school students, you either never knew or forgot entirely what your school’s vision statement was. And the chances are that many of your teachers and other members of the school’s administration weren’t able to recite it word for word, either.

Now that you are starting your own school, you want to hit that nail on the head and devise the perfect vision statement that will inspire your staff, students, and the whole community. You need to put a lot of work in crafting your school’s vision — that way, you will achieve that every stakeholder in your school can recall it any time of day or night, and you’ll prevent it from becoming obsolete and a cliche.

Creating a school vision statement is a serious task. We’ll explain what it is, why it matters, how to go about writing it, and we will provide you with some examples to get your creative juices flowing.

The Importance of a School Vision Statement

A vision statement is an essential public declaration that informs the community about the school’s purpose and its goals for the future. It usually explains what the founders and the staff envision the school to be and how they see it impacting the students, both throughout their school years and well into their adulthood.

The school’s vision embodies all the values that it strives to instill in its pupils and inspire in the community on the whole. It is an impactful declaration that should also serve as a powerful motivator for the school’s staff, unifying them in their approach to teaching and guiding the school’s decision-making.

Here’s an overview of the importance of having a strong vision statement that:

Informs the community on the school’s core educational values
Drives the staff toward a common goal
Sets forth the expectations of the teachers, students, and administrators
Establishes the teaching methods and the approaches to learning
Influences the syllabus and curriculum
Informs decisions , especially in situations when it is difficult to reach a consensus — the choice can be made with what aligns best with the school’s goals
Is essential for school accreditation or reform

The School’s Vision and Mission

The school’s mission and vision statements are deeply intertwined, so much so that it often happens that they are confused one for another, used interchangeably, or they become a single concept.

A vision is a goal that the school aims to fulfill in the future. It is a short declaration that exemplifies the shared beliefs and values of its founders and staff. A mission is an explanatory declaration of the actions the school is taking to reach its long-term goals, i.e., its vision.

In essence, a school first needs a clear vision to embark on a mission. All stakeholders — from the school’s personnel to the community members — should be involved in drafting these essential statements, joining together their values and aspirations. If all stakeholders at your school share the same vision, they will be on a common mission.

How to Write a Vision Statement for a School

Credit: depositphotos

Keeping in mind the relevance of the school’s goals is the first step toward creating a school vision statement. Only then can the people involved in crafting it set out to compose the school vision declaration that will reflect the institution’s long-term goals in the best way.

To that end, the school vision statement has to be:

Accurate. Your school’s vision needs to be in line with the idea behind your school, closely linked to why you started it in the first place and the change you see it making in your local community, as well as the educational system on the whole. Avoid bland, ambiguous catchphrases that have been done to the point of meaninglessness and that can be applied to any school or business, and make your vision true to you.
Concise. While the mission is the more detail-oriented statement, the vision is a short and to-the-point declaration that is, nonetheless, worded in a way that makes a lasting impression.
Memorable. Your school vision statement needs to paint a picture in people’s minds and etch it there. That will raise awareness of what the school is trying to achieve and how everyone can contribute.
Inspirational. Craft a vision statement that shows how passionate you are about your goals. If it evokes similar emotions in your community, they will be more interested in participating in the school’s programs.

The importance of creating a school vision that resonates throughout the community is undisputed, but writing it is not as easy as it sounds. The process involves several essential steps, which we list below.

Get the Right People Involved

To make sure you get ideas from all stakeholders in the school, you need to cover all levels of its organization — its IT and HR departments, administrative personnel, instructors, the office manager, the principal — and the community, including the students and their families. You will need to select representatives from each group for the actual vision statement drafting stage, but you will also want to include a wider audience later on for feedback.

Brainstorm

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To get a better picture of what everyone envisions the school achieving, ask some general but essential questions, and build from there in whichever direction the conversation goes. Some of the matters you can bring up include:

What is your vision of the school in this district in five, ten, or 20 years?
How do you see the staff, students, and the community benefiting from our school? Why does it make a difference for everyone involved?
What is your ideal school like?
What is different about our school in comparison to others in the area? Do we want to improve on that?
What do we all have in common?
Is there a specific niche that we can tend to? For instance, do we have specific conditions for students with disabilities, are we 100% eco-friendly, or do we have special mental health programs that we can offer to students and the community on the whole?

Draft the First Version

Now is the time to get the creative juices flowing and ideas going. Encourage conversation and debate to come up with a successful first draft that is an amalgamation of everyone’s vision and efforts. You may uncover the missing ingredient of the U.S. educational system and find a way to implement it in your school.

Make the Statement Pop

Everyone must be able to grasp the meaning of your school vision statement. To that end, avoid vague jargon-speak that everyone feels in awe hearing but that no one can understand or explain fully.

Keep your community in mind — what you need to strive for is a statement that they can relate to and that will get them involved instead of one that will cause their eyes to widen blankly and their heads to nod without determination. Such statements seem impressive initially but fail to inspire in the long run as no one is quite sure what they are all about.

Focus on these tips instead:

Be specific. Avoid vague lingo that can safely cover all your bases. You should cut straight to the chase and say it as it is, e.g., we will create a welcoming atmosphere for students of all races and skin colors and provide them with equal opportunities in education .
Be future-oriented. Your school’s vision is all about tomorrow. It is where you will do your utmost to get, which is why it should be written in a future tense. It is also a good idea to revisit your vision at the end of every school year and check how much closer you got to your goal. That provides for an opportunity to tweak your mission and the steps toward seeing your vision become a reality.
Emphasize your strengths. Mention any specific programs that you have to offer, such as the mental health support mentioned above or anything else that makes your school stand out.

Get Feedback From the Community

Now the time has come to present the fruit of your hard work. Keep in mind that the drafting process can be a lengthy one, and even when you’re ready to show the results to your community, your school vision statement will still be far from finished. Depending on the kind of feedback you receive, you may need to recast the statement and reiterate your message if the stakeholders feel it’s incomplete.

Bear in mind that going through the feedback and revision processes is time-consuming, but it is just as vital as drafting the first version. If you include a broader community in creating the school’s vision statement, they will be more invested in seeing something they helped produce become a reality and will be involved in what’s going on in the school on the regular. That kind of sense of belonging and unity is surely worth some additional rewording, wouldn’t you agree?

School Vision Statement Templates and Examples

In case you need additional help, we can get you off on the right foot by showing you some examples of school vision statements that you can look up to.

Grand Rapids Public Museum

“To inspire passionate curiosity and a deeper understanding of the world around us.”

Grand Rapids Public Museum is the role model for what reinvented high school education should look like. This school breaks down the barriers of the traditional classrooms by co-locating itself to the Grand Rapids Public Museum and its invaluable archives.

It also partners with various local businesses and organizations to provide students with a community-wide classroom, inspiring them to learn from experience as much as from books and become problem-solvers and creative thinkers in the process. The vision statement above doesn’t go into detail, but it succinctly sums up the school’s primary goals.

Furr High School — An Institute for Innovative Thinking

“Furr High School envisions a world in which all young people prioritize academic excellence and environmental sustainability, becoming advocates for themselves and their communities.”

Furr High School is an educational setting that welcomes student-driven revitalization of the community. It fosters an environmentally friendly approach and a social justice standpoint, inspiring students to meet their academic goals and their area’s needs. Its vision statement focuses on those instrumental ideas that drive the school on the whole.

Da Vinci RISE High

“All disconnected youth in Los Angeles will secure quality education, training, and employment opportunities.”

Da Vinci RISE High ‘s vision statement exemplifies what we mean by accuracy to the T. This high school endeavors to bring equal educational opportunities and beyond to students who are disconnected and displaced and live in the Los Angeles area. It is an ideal place for those looking for a non-traditional learning setting or a flexible schedule. It strives to break down the barriers set by bureaucracy and marginalization and to boost its students’ confidence to go to college and achieve their career goals.

Elizabethton High School

“To create a 21st-century learning environment where everyone is held accountable, reaches for excellence, embraces community, displays resilience, and values integrity.”

Elizabethton High School was made for students by students. This exceptional, student-centered establishment caters to the needs that the pupils themselves identified as unfulfilled by traditional schooling . It focuses on community improvement and dealing with local problems, provides funding for student entrepreneurship, sculpting the youth into 21st-century businesspeople. We believe that this school’s vision statement hones in on that to perfection.

Compass Academy

“ Compass Academy will educate youth to be well prepared for post-secondary education, workforce training, and civic participation. Compass Academy will provide multiple pathways for students to achieve adult success. Students at Compass Academy will develop as lifelong learners who think critically to solve problems, as well as foster a lifelong commitment to serve the global community.”

Compass Academy is a high school that is an established educational innovator. It strives to help students develop their personalities and tune them for an unknown future. It promotes cooperation, problem-solving, and hands-on learning in order to teach students how to tackle problems and come up with innovative solutions. Its vision statement pinpoints the school’s main ideas perfectly.

The Debate on the Need for a Vision Statement

Going back to the point brought up at the beginning of the article, it is essential to acknowledge that many schools tend to “forget” their mission and vision declarations altogether. As important as they are to devise, with the passage of time and the staff turnover, the mission and vision of a school often fall into oblivion.

That is why many people argue that spending a lot of time and effort crafting a school’s vision statement is futile. The skepticism arises from the fact that many schools end up developing in a way contrary to their visions, implementing different teaching methods and encouraging different learning strategies than those originally proposed in their founding documents and declarations. Such contradictions happen because the vision and mission of the founders change over time, but the statements do not, making their existence questionable at best.

For a proper reform of the American educational system, a stronger emphasis has to be put on the school’s vision, as well as its mission. The school’s administration, its teachers, students, parents, and all other stakeholders in the school’s community have to be aware of where the school is going and what their roles on that journey are. The school’s vision statement is much more than a vague string of powerful-sounding words — it embodies the school’s core values and is the foundation of all the actions it will take to guarantee a better quality of education for its students.

Break Out of the Status Quo and Initiate the Change!

There are schools that function from one day to another and from one academic year to the next. Then, there are schools, such as the ones mentioned above, that achieve greater things and help shape the future of education.

If you want to be one of the schools that trigger change, start with drafting an impactful vision statement. We strongly believe that it is the secret ingredient in the recipe for the innovation of the high school system in the United States.

Words are undoubtedly powerful, but if they don’t set people in motion, they remain just empty words . If your public vision declaration turns into actions successfully, your school could become a cornerstone of the educational system of the nation.

Share your founding story , your drive, school culture , mission, and vision with us, and give us an account of what you’ve achieved so far. Even a small change is the much welcome shift in the right direction, and we want to support you on your way toward your end goal.

Your vision will become a part of our own as we share your story on our blog. Join our cause and let’s rethink high schools together!

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Assessing Your School’s Mission and Vision

When a school’s mission and vision statements are not aligned with daily instructional practices, figuring out why should be a priority.

It’s no secret that when a principal takes a long look at the myriad of things and tasks to check off daily, weekly, and monthly, there are competing priorities that vie for their attention. In my experience as a school leader and mentor, one task that often gets overlooked is thoroughly examining the school’s mission and vision statements. In my mentoring, I often listen to what frustrates leaders, and one of the first questions I ask is about the school’s mission and vision. How many words on this document truly reflect the students’ lived experiences, and how many practices are the actual products that educators deliver to students?

Many administrators don’t put a lot of stock or thought into the mission; in some cases, they inherited these documents and never sought to review them.

Missions and visions should not be a collection of the most relevant educational terms of the day; if those words are not actualized through the pointed and intentional actions of the staff and monitored for impact by the school leader, then the words on those documents are no more valuable than “smart graffiti” on the walls of your school. Nice to look at, but ultimately insignificant to the operations and culture of the school.

Smart graffiti embodies what usually serves as a land mine for school leaders. The term reflects a lack of clarity for staff. Someone said that you should do these things and have them, so you do without knowing the “why” behind them.

When new school leaders start work, often what is already “in place” does not seem as urgent as what needs to be done. I once was in the chair responsible for changing around a place where “teaching and learning” was the edict, but in actuality, it was not the priority.

When my year-one principal coach suggested I work on mission and vision first, I was thinking about the behavior, the instruction, and the parents. However, my coach was exactly right; the mission is what should be upheld in a productive learning organization. That is where I, as a mentor, begin all of my work with new principals. Without a coherent and understood direction via the mission, there will be misdirection at best and at worst, chaos.

5 Steps to Improve Smart Graffiti Mission Statements

1. Conduct a thorough audit of the action words: The creators often have well-meaning lofty goals in crafting a mission and pack on the most ambitious educational jargon. In the reality of day-to-day instruction, there may not be any evidence that these goals or practices are happening.

A leader and their team of teachers and students can sift through each line and identify the highest-leverage practices and objectives in their documents. From this, a list of “look-fors” should allow a team to examine the school’s practices to determine what transpires daily for teachers and students.

2. Set up a diverse team of stakeholders: Have the team conduct a no-nonsense analysis of whether what the mission said it would do for students is true. This approach is needed because often, as educators, we rely upon context to blanket and shield our ego and passion from the stark reality that things are not what we said they were. In my practice, I often lead with a yes-or-no approach to what I see. The data collected from a walk-through will provide an honest look at the experiences of students and teachers formed via instruction and practices in the building.

3. Destroy and rebuild: As your team sits down to sift through the data collected, if the words in the document do not match the experiences, decide which areas are worth strengthening, adjusting, or removing as a team. Examining and adjusting is another important step because honesty will strengthen the relationship between the leadership, staff, and students if they are included in this process. The results should be shared with the entire school community.

4. Get everyone involved in finding solutions: This share-out time is a major opportunity for collective action and shared responsibility where honesty about what transpires can galvanize or fracture relations with your staff.

Galvanization can transpire if the school community reflects honestly on your operations and how they adhere to the words in the mission and vision. Conversely, fracture can occur if blame is levied solely on the teaching staff as to “why” the words do not match the lived experience. It will need skill and a leader to be the person who takes responsibility for not helping to adequately set the conditions for learning.

5. Set the conditions for change: By this stage, you have shared, pinpointed, and strategized. Now, you have to support the creation of a new doctrine for how students learn best under your leadership through being laser-focused on clarity, expectations, and, most important, how the capacity of every stakeholder will be built to bring these new expectations to life. Nothing amazing happens in a school by accident; leaders must develop and support these expectations. Simply placing some smart graffiti on the walls that tells teachers what they should be doing in service of children and walking away is not leadership; it’s a recipe for confusion.

I ask principals all the time, who is your ideal student? If students go through their full life cycle in your ideal learning environment, who would they be as learners and citizens? What would they be able to produce? What would they be prepared to do upon graduation and afterward? That is your vision; the mission is how they will arrive there. For you as a newer principal, it’s imperative that before you start to “fix” what you believe is holding your school back, you ensure that what the school says is its mission is, in fact, what it produces.

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The Mission of a School

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Published: Mar 1, 2019

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Do You Know Your School’s Vision? Tips on Making a Meaningful Mission Statement

Here’s a challenge for you: Without looking, write down the vision of your school or district. You may not be able to write it down verbatim, but can you at least identify and articulate the main points in your own words?

My principal and I gave this challenge to a group of educators at a conference last summer in a session we taught on how to make meaningful change in your own school. Of the approximately 200 educators from across the country who attended our session, less than 10 percent could confidently meet this challenge.

But what we found to be even more alarming was the general agreement that many of the official vision statements were relatively meaningless. They were full of broad and ambiguous statements that were great for hanging on the wall, but pretty ineffective in terms of motivating people to strive for a common goal of excellence. Here’s one such example: “To create 21st-century learners through the development and delivery of a diverse set of strategic teaching and learning strategies in a way that is targeted to enhance the individual growth pathway for each learner so that learning outcomes are maximized for the long-term benefit of the communities we serve.” While this type of vision statement might win an eduspeak award, it certainly doesn’t elicit inspiration and a common purpose.

If you spend time researching the fundamental ingredients of any successful organization, whether it’s a business, a nonprofit, or a school, one thing that immediately becomes apparent is a deeply ingrained shared vision. A few examples:

• Habitat for Humanity: “A world where everyone has a decent place to live.” • Disney: “To make people happy.” • Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” • Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District (Ohio): “Preparing All Students for Success in A Global Economy (P.A.S.S.A.G.E.)”

Not only do each of these examples contain details about the future state the organization can have on the world, but each is also clear and concise enough that everyone in these organizations can use the statement to help focus their work on achieving that envisioned future state. Simply put, words have power. And a powerful vision statement is one that gives everyone in the organization a vivid sense of purpose in the work they do. This is why, in my view, any school or district that is really serious about changing the status quo for its students has to start with a thorough evaluation of its core beliefs and how those may be articulated in a clear mission and vision statement.

But as powerful as words may be, they will remain only words unless they embody the actions of every stakeholder who belongs to the learning community, especially the students. So my second challenge is for you to ask yourself the following question: Does your vision pass the red face test? In other words, if you gave your vision to an outside observer and asked her to tour your school for a day, could she identify examples that match the words in the statement to the actions of members of your learning community? Or would she come up blank, leaving you embarrassed with a red face?

If you pass this test, then you are indeed on the way to creating a culture of shared purpose—a culture where common goals and common language can be the catalyst that closes the gap between the current reality for the school and the future state all stakeholders desire.

If you spend time researching the fundamental ingredients of any successful organization, one thing that immediately becomes apparent is a deeply ingrained shared vision."

I believe organizations that fail to recognize the essential nature of a shared vision are doomed to remain stuck in the status quo. Leaders of such organizations may try to demand excellence through policy, procedures, or mandates, but unless there is an inherent buy-in throughout all aspects of the organization, such excellence will be fleeting. Think of an example of a top-down mandate that, while well intentioned, was ultimately ineffective. Whether originating from the government, district leadership, or a school administrator, imposing one-size-fits-all conditions on an organization often ignores the true capacity of that organization: its people.

Simply put, excellence comes not from silver bullets, but from sharing a passion for a common goal and taking advantage of the ideas and input of the people doing the work to achieve that common goal. Schools that have successfully embarked on journeys toward educational excellence are the ones that have smartly aligned all stakeholders —parents, teachers, administrators, community members, and students—to a shared purpose and then relentlessly enabled conditions for open, candid collaboration to drive innovation.

In the book Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation , the authors state that purpose is often misunderstood. They write, “It’s not what a group does, but why it does what it does … the question every group should ask itself: If we disappeared today, how would the world be different tomorrow?” If we enable educators to truly find their purpose in the work they do—i.e. their True North —with structures that help them connect that purpose with a larger organization-wide goal, then we have created a potent tool for driving innovative change that our students and communities deserve.

While it may be a naive oversimplification, I honestly believe that a shared vision is the primary ingredient in the secret sauce to drive innovation in our schools. If what you do is clearly aligned with your inner purpose, then you will be passionate about the work you do. You will eagerly collaborate with others, you will find ways to share ideas and resources to help yourself and others reach your common goals, and you will have a relentless focus on continuous improvement and innovation.

What if this common purpose, articulated in a genuine shared vision, was the ethos of every school? I believe it can be. Who’s up for the challenge?

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How to Make Mission Matter at Your School

Posted September 8, 2022
By Danny Mucinskas and Shelby Clark
Global Education
K-12 School Leadership
K-12 System Leadership
Organizational Change

School mission statements today are pervasive. Effective school missions can communicate a vision and unify people around common goals, especially when systematically implemented. However, some missions may not even be known or observed by school stakeholders and become mere slogans. Therefore, while most schools have a mission statement, only some schools may be categorized as “mission-driven” institutions that specifically endorse and intentionally organize pedagogy to focus on specific philanthropic, civic, and/or community-based values and involvement.

Over the past several years, our team at The Good Project investigated the educational practices and outcomes of a set of mission-driven, diverse, and globally located international schools. Our primary partners in this research were the United World Colleges (UWC), a network of 18 schools that foreground student diversity and social impact. UWC’s mission is “to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.” We set out to learn whether these schools and 13 others (which remain anonymous) around the world were actually achieving their aims.

We collected thousands of student and alumni surveys, conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews, and carried out observations at more than a dozen UWC schools. When we analyzed our data, summarized in a report available here , we discovered trends relevant not only to the participating schools, but also for anyone interested in creating a school or a curriculum that is mission based, including parents and teachers

Below are implications from our work regarding how to make a mission a powerful force for teaching, learning, and change.

1) Does your school have a unified idea of your mission? When school mission statements are clearly stated, focused, and understood by school stakeholders, they have the power to unify people around a common idea. We saw in our study of UWC that the mission statement was interpreted in a variety of manners: different elements of the mission (such as sustainability or peace) were foregrounded to different degrees depending on school context and personal preferences. For mission-driven schools that seek to effect social change, it is important for people to share a unified understanding of the meaning of the mission; what it looks like in practice; and the steps that can lead to its fulfillment.

For example, if your school’s mission is “A cleaner world for all,” some questions to ask would include: What does this mean to the different stakeholders in your institution? Does it mean simply recycling every day, or does it mean protesting for climate change (or neither)? Could “cleaner” mean cleaner morals or character to some people? A common understanding of an institutional mission and how it can be embodied can have a trickle-down effect throughout an organization by uniting people at all levels in common purpose.

Consider as well:

How are conversations about the mission happening at your school?
What messages are students receiving about the mission explicitly and implicitly?
What parallel visions of the missions might exist?
What steps are you taking to align all the stakeholders at your school around the mission? What can you to bring about better alignment?

2) What type of citizen do you hope your school is fostering? Once you’ve agreed on what your mission statement means for your school, ask yourself: What type of message does your school’s mission send about how students are meant to be as citizens in the world? Throughout our study, we asked participants questions like, “What does making an impact mean to you?” and “What does it mean to make a difference in the world?” Interviewees were asked to rank four different profiles regarding who was making the “most” impact keeping the UWC mission in mind.

What did we find? Overall, there was not a singular aligned vision across the UWC movement, or even within particular schools, about what it means to “make a difference.” Many participants in our study were relativistic in their thinking about impact, wanting to reserve judgment about whether any one type of action or type of career or action was right or wrong, or impactful or not impactful in positive ways for the world. For example, is an investment banker making a difference in positive or negative ways? What about compared to a nonprofit worker or parent?

There is nothing inherently wrong with people having different ideas about how to make a difference in the world . One might argue that we need these divergent means of impact to tackle real-world problems. However, if educational institutions are dedicated to having their students make social impact, it is necessary that they have a defined understanding of their desired impact.

Alternatively, as Walden University did when confronted with the fact that they did not know how to define the idea of “positive social change” in their mission, schools might create functional models of changemaking that students should embody in order to be agents of social change, such as cognitive and practical skills as well as values and ethics.

In thinking about these questions, consider:

How large of an effect do you expect your students’ impact to have? Should they affect society as a whole? Or maybe just their local community? Or perhaps just their family?
Are there certain topics they should focus their changemaking efforts on? Take the school above with their environmental mission– perhaps the students should focus their efforts solely on sustainability.
What methods of change should your students use? Maybe your school focuses entirely on social entrepreneurship. Or instead, you’d rather your students learned how to advocate through protesting and political change.
How should your students' changemaking efforts address issues of justice ? Do you think that your students should focus on the root causes of issues, or that they should address more pressing or symptomatic issues?

3) How does the mission translate to pedagogical practice? Our research displayed that, once a strong mission and associated conception of how the mission is shaping students has been established, it’s crucial to embed these ideas into the pedagogy and educational practices being offered by the school. In the schools we worked with, many of which were focused on developing intercultural understanding and fostering social impact, mission-aligned activities included:

Volunteer and community service programs in which students got to experience collaborating with community stakeholders.
At UWC schools, project weeks, in which students designed a week-long learning experience away from the school that required problem-solving, often involving travel to a new location.
Extra-academic activities, including student-run conferences and clubs focused on mission-aligned topics like sustainability and peace building.
Academic environments, most often courses like global politics, history, economics, and literature, that permitted conversations about school mission.

Throughout these activities, we saw that when students were afforded opportunities to bring their perspectives to the fore, and to feel autonomy and agency in the learning process, students learned more and developed skills and dispositions such as open-mindedness and greater confidence.

At your school, consider questions like:

Where in the day are students most likely to experience the mission in action?
How can the mission be embedded into environments that give students the chance to exercise autonomy?
To what degree are our educational programs aligned with the mission we want to achieve?

While many schools today have mission statements, we hope that the themes and questions we have explored here can help to bring about greater mission clarity and implementation for institutions of learning.

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School vision and mission statements should not be dismissed as empty words

Educational and Developmental Psychologist, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne

Senior Lecturer in Positive Psychology, The University of Melbourne

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Vision and mission statements are strategic documents produced by many organisations – including schools – to indicate the purpose and priorities of the organisation. For schools , they make a public statement about what the school sees as the purpose of education and how students should learn.

Vision statements outline a school’s objectives, and mission statements indicate how the school aims to achieve that vision. Schools might have one or both.

Vision and mission statements in schools make a public declaration of the values of the school. But are such statements useful, or just nice to look at but of little substance ? They can be useful – but it depends on what they include and how they’re used.

The benefits of vision and mission statements

Vision and mission statements are often reliable representations of what schools stand for , helping keep the values of the school central to how it operates.

Schools need to balance parent interests, the local community, political pressures, information and misinformation available online, and constant pressures on time and resources. Vision and mission statements can help keep the school on track with its greater purpose by helping school leaders navigate competing interests.

Read more: More than a haircut: how elite schools are struggling with the pressure to excel

Vision and mission statements are unspoken contracts between the organisation and various stakeholders. A well-written statement can guide decision-making, resource allocations, policy decisions, and how the school operates. By making their purpose clear, schools can put their goals and objectives into action .

What do schools stand for?

We recently investigated the vision and mission statements of 308 secondary schools across Victoria. Perhaps not surprisingly, most (88%) vision and mission statements referred to academic achievement as a priority.

Other themes also appeared, demonstrating schools believe academic achievement is not the sole purpose of education. Promoting good mental health was referenced by 66.2% of schools, and school belonging was mentioned by 57.5%.

These themes are encouraging to see, given a sense of school belonging in individuals and mental health promotion in schools have significant positive impacts on student educational outcomes, mental health, and suicide prevention.

In a second study , we found that the inclusion of both academic and mental health promotion themes correlated with higher levels of academic achievement for the school. This is not to say the inclusion of these themes causes success, but when schools include non-academic themes in their vision and mission statements, academic success is not hampered.

Still, 34% of schools made no mention of mental health promotion. OECD and leading academics in the field say schools currently overemphasise academic achievement in a problematic way for the mental health and holistic development of students.

Schools play a central role in addressing the well-being and social and emotional needs of young people.

Read more: Many Australian school students feel they 'don't belong' in school: new research

Problems with vision and mission statements

Despite the benefits, vision and mission statements are subject to a number of criticisms. They can be full of shallow marketing language that sounds good but has little impact on how the school operates. Staff members might not be aware of, or care about, what the statement says. This may mean the explicit values are disconnected from what actually happens in the school.

They can become dated, expressing values of generations past rather than the current needs and sentiments of the community. They can also be unrealistic and vague, providing little guidance for putting the statement into practice.

How can statements benefit the school community?

Schools should revise vision and mission statements regularly, to ensure they fit the needs of the students and community. The statement should be created collectively with all relevant parties, such as teachers, parents and school leadership. People will be more committed and supportive of something they helped create.

Vision or mission statements should avoid words and phrases that are gimmicky, catchy, obligatory or simply reflect current phases and fads. Schools should aim to be authentic and honest in their development and use of their statement.

Statements should be broad enough to cover the diversity of educational priorities in the modern era, but specific enough to guide the direction and operation of the school.

Schools should consider how the vision and/or mission statement will be implemented. How will the statement be communicated and to whom? Plan how the vision and mission statement can link strategically to the school’s policies and practices.

Schools need to make sure the school community understands and is committed to the statement. The words in a statement are meaningless without sincere efforts by school leaders, teachers, school staff, and policy makers to put those words into actions. An understanding of the statement can also help staff members prioritise their time and energy in ways that align with the values of the school.

Statements should also hold stakeholders accountable. Schools are accountable for their public statements. Parents often choose schools based on values that align with their own, and statements help fulfil those expectations. Statements can also help limit unreasonable parental demands that go beyond the school’s focus.

Well-developed and well-implemented vision and mission statements can play a useful role in helping our schools be positive and productive learning communities. Given such statements can be compared empirically and quantitatively, as we have demonstrated in our two studies, they uphold an important function for school communities. They should not be dismissed as empty words, but given careful consideration.

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Vision and Mission

“Without a vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs)

Sometimes people think defining a school’s vision and mission are relatively unimportant, and can be done quickly. Wrong!

Developing the school’s vision and mission are two of the most important steps toward creating a successful program. Done well, they give clarity and direction for a school. A muddy vision or mission can help lead to continuing conflicts, and a school that has difficulty identifying priorities.

In this section, we examine:

Developing a vision statement (including samples)
Developing a mission statement (including samples)

If your school is extremely successful over the next three- five years, how will people describe your school? Think about the answer as you begin to develop the vision. Here are some samples:

Our vision is to create a nationally known inner city elementary school that produces major gains in student achievement, and helps make the neighborhood in which it is located a much more pleasant place in which to live and work
Our vision is to create one of the state’s most effective schools helping secondary student who have not succeeded in traditional schools, prepare for, and be accepted into, post-secondary education
Our vision is to create an extremely effective k-8 rural school that not only produces very high levels of student achievement, but also helps train the next generation of rural teachers.
Our vision is to create a k-12 school that is highly regarded for its academic excellence, and for its contribution in actively serving and improving the community in which it operates.

A vision is more than broad, flowery statements. The vision helps people understand how you hope others will view you, and describes some of your highest priorities.

This is how you would describe your school to others. The Northwest Regional Laboratory suggests that Charter Mission Statements might want to answer three questions:

a. Whom do you seek to serve? b. What do you seek to accomplish? c. How will you proceed (what methods will you use).

This means that a mission statement should include:

Ages and other characteristics of students you intend serve,
Curriculum philosophy and instructional approaches you intend to use
An overall goal or two of the school.
One or two special features of the school.

Here are some sample missions:

Our mission is to help urban students who have not succeeded in traditional secondary schools prepare for work, active citizenship, and post-secondary, using a combination of classroom work and community internships
Our mission is to help inner city k-6 students develop higher order thinking skills, peacemaking skills and leadership abilities in an environment of shared values of nonviolence, equality and unity, by using a combination of the Core Knowledge Curriculum and Direct Instruction
Our mission is to partner effectively with the YMCA so that we help prepare middle school students to be responsible citizens, good workers and faithful family members
Our school strives to be a racially and culturally diverse community of students, parents and staff, dedicated to creating a peaceful environment in each person is treated with unconditional positive regard and acceptance. Within such an environment, each student, k-12, will be empowered and inspired to reach his or her full academic, emotional, physical and spiritual potential (part of the Community of Peace mission)
The LeCrescent Montessori Academy’s mission is to empower preschool through seventh grade children to unfold their potential as whole and unique persons, and through them create a peaceful world community.

Charter founders sometimes have found it challenging to decide who to involve, and how long to take, in developing vision and mission statements. Our general advice is that charter developers:

Do some initial research in the community to identify unmet needs and wants, before drafting vision and mission statements. For example, if a relatively small community already has one or more Montessori elementary schools, it may not make much sense to propose creating another one. On the other hand, if a community has a number of families sending children to Montessori nursery schools, but there is no Montessori elementary school, such a school may well be viable. If a community has a significant number of students who are not graduating, this may well be a major unmet need that a charter could meet. Include interviews with key community leaders to get a sense of what needs they see as unmet.
Based on your research and your own personal priorities, write a draft mission and vision, possibly with one or two other people who share your ideas.
Include at least a handful of other people in reviewing, commenting and refining a draft vision and mission that one or two people develop.
Establish a time line for developing the original proposal, including a time by which the vision and mission are completed. (Allowing a vision/mission discussion to go on too long can mean that other vital activities are not completed.)

It is not enough for a small group of people to create a vision and mission. Students, faculty and families need to understand a school’s vision and mission. The school’s faculty and board of directors should periodically review both the vision and mission statements. It may be that the school wants to alter one or both. For example, the highly successful Twin Cities Academy in St. Paul began by serving 6-8th grade students. Based on strong encouragement from families and students, TCA is opening a new high school in the fall of 2004. Some schools start off serving elementary students, and later conclude that they also want to enroll secondary students. Schools may also change their central curriculum or philosophy. If this happens, the school community might well want to change at least the mission, if not the vision.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory’s Charter Starters, Leadership Training Workbook 1: Start-up, nwrel.org/charter/Workbook/cs_workbook1.pdf offers some sample mission statements and includes some discussion of how to create vision and mission statements.

Six Actions to Keep Moving Your School’s Vision Forward

People standing in a circle with hands piled on top of each other.

A school’s vision statement is its goal for the future—the values the school community collectively holds, what success looks like, and how everyone works together to make that growth possible. It’s the principle that guides the initiatives you develop alongside staff, the language you use with students and families, and the mindset that inspires and motivates everyone to do their best.

As important as it is to have this kind of shared vision statement, our current circumstances—teacher shortages, changing public health guidance— make it difficult to concentrate on anything other than short-term plans. Yet, your school’s vision is the shared foundation that can sustain you and your school community through these challenging times. And maybe even emerge from the pandemic stronger and wiser.

We’ve outlined six actions that education leaders can take right now to help you keep that vision front and center.

Why having a shared school vision is important

A shared vision represents the ideal future state for students, teachers, parents, and your entire school community. Developed with a wide range of stakeholders, a school vision answers these questions:

What is the ultimate goal for our students?
What do we want our students to believe about themselves and their potential?
What is our vision of success for our students beyond our school to college, careers, and citizenship?
What values should our larger school community model to help students reach these goals?

More than a poster or mission statement on your school’s website, a shared vision serves as the anchor for how students, staff, families, and community members experience your school environment. And, it makes them feel responsible and empowered for doing their part to maintain it.

More than a poster or mission statement on your school’s website, a shared vision serves as the anchor for how students, staff, and families experience your school environment.

‍ Prioritize what matters

The pandemic solidified something we already knew—educators can quite literally do anything. That doesn’t mean they should do everything. Taking the time to make sure your teachers and staff know what the priorities are and where they should focus can help them avoid overwhelm. This also means actions that were important at one point may fall into the background for a bit, and that’s okay.

While student achievement goals are important priorities, it’s also important to remember other needs. As she watched her school grapple with immense losses from COVID-19, New Leaders alum and principal Clariza Dominicci focused on remembering the humanity and complexity of her school community—and making happiness an integral part of the school culture. “We need to bring joy back into our classrooms again,” she says. “We need to bring back those smiles.”

Align with what’s happening now

In our book Breakthrough Principals , we say that a school vision is most effective if it “grows out of your school’s needs,” and there have been plenty of challenges and setbacks over the last two years that may have shifted those needs slightly.

For instance, if your school’s vision statement is to ensure that every student can and will be ready to succeed in college and career, but you see that students of color aren’t getting access to age-appropriate coursework that’s relevant and engaging, it might signal a gap between your vision and your current state. This gives you an opportunity to think critically about your strategic plan and the programs and initiatives you’re planning in the future.

Motivate your community to keep going

Having a school vision statement can be a built-in motivator—when school leaders, teachers, staff, students, parents, and the greater community develop a sense of unity based on a common goal, it’s easier for everyone to work together and persist when things get hard.

Having a shared vision can be a built-in motivator—when school leaders, teachers, staff, students, parents, and the greater community develop a sense of unity based on a common goal, it’s easier for everyone to work together and persist when things get hard.

When New Leaders alum and principal Felipe Jackson was looking for ways to keep his school moving forward during the first months of the pandemic, he realized the one thing he could control as a leader was the way he motivated teachers to teach, students to learn, and parents to stay engaged. “I became their biggest cheerleader every day,” he says. All of that cheerleading kept them driving toward their shared goal of accelerating student learning.

Open the door to collaboration

The creation of a school vision statement begins with soliciting ideas from a broad range of stakeholders within your school community. It reflects the diverse perspectives of your staff, students, and parents, and it’s responsive to their needs and values.

Having a set vision also means it’s easier to distribute leadership responsibilities and decision-making to a collective group when it gets hard for school leaders to go it alone. The group is already invested in where the school needs to go and is ready to jump in to figure out how to keep the rudder in the water.

Communicate your own “why”

As a principal in a New Orleans school after Hurricane Katrina, New Leaders alum and principal trainer Karen Bryan-Chambers knew she needed a fresh slate to bring about change . To do that, she thought about her own vision and mission, sharing with her staff why she became a teacher and then a school leader. “Once I shared my why, I asked every staff member to tell me their why. That’s how we got our collective why—that was living within each of us.”

That first year, Chambers’ students soared because the school believed in its vision and its students—and their academic achievement grew year after year. Being candid about why she chose to be an educator led to a renewed purpose among all of her staff and their drive for excellence.

Listen to your community

Making space for all the voices within your school not only gives you insight into the day-to-day lives of those in your community, but it can also create an atmosphere where people can voice what’s important to them and be vulnerable. Clariza Dominicci’s teachers and staff are grateful they have the space to share their experiences and feelings, and this has also allowed her to lean into her vulnerability. “Sometimes, I have one plan for a meeting, and as I am listening to everyone, I decide to pivot. I put my ego aside and say: ‘You tell us. We don’t know. And we’re okay with that.”

Making space for all the voices within your school not only gives you insight into the day-to-day lives of those in your community, but it can also create an atmosphere where people can voice what’s important to them and be vulnerable.

Building a school culture and a professional learning community rooted in listening also means honoring the voices of parents and students. A recent Education Week article detailed the experiences of three administrators who have experienced student walkouts due to school policies, racial injustice, and national political concerns. Even when students were protesting, schools found a way to listen and respect the issues students were elevating as important to them—giving them a chance to express their concerns and process their emotions.

A shared school vision can make an uncertain and challenging present seem clearer, building resilience for the present and capacity for the future. It’s a reminder of how important it is to continue moving forward to benefit students and the greater school community—even when it’s tough. Especially when it’s tough.

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TESS-India: Key resources
Key resources (complete)
Planning lessons
Involving all
Talk for learning
Using pair work
Using questioning to promote thinking
Monitoring and giving feedback
Using groupwork
Assessing progress and performance
Using local resources
Storytelling, songs, role play and drama
Compendium for teacher development
School–home communication
TI-AIE: School–home communication
A language-rich classroom
TI-AIE: A language-rich classroom
Speaking and listening
TI-AIE: Speaking and listening
Early reading
TI-AIE: Early reading
Storytelling
TI-AIE: Storytelling
Reading for pleasure
TI-AIE: Reading for pleasure
Reading for information
TI-AIE: Reading for information
Knowing and using children's literature
TI-AIE: Knowing and using children’s literature
Knowing and using children’s literature
Authentic writing
TI-AIE: Authentic writing
TI-AIE: Using local resources
Language, literacy and citizenship
TI-AIE: Language, literacy and citizenship
Multilingualism in the classroom
TI-AIE: Multilingualism in the classroom
Pair work for language and literacy
TI-AIE: Pair work for language and literacy
Integrating language, literacy and subject learning
TI-AIE: Integrating language, literacy and subject learning
Monitoring, assessment and feedback
TI-AIE: Monitoring, assessment and feedback
Acknowledgements
Elementary Language and Literacy acknowledgements
Classroom routines
TI-AIE: Classroom routines
Songs, rhymes and word play
TI-AIE: Songs, rhymes and word play
Letters and sounds of English
TI-AIE: Letters and sounds of English
Mark-making and early writing
TI-AIE: Mark-making and early writing
Shared reading
TI-AIE: Shared reading
Planning around a text
TI-AIE: Planning around a text
Promoting the reading environment
TI-AIE: Promoting the reading environment
English and subject content integration
TI-AIE: English and subject content integration
Using the textbook creatively
TI-AIE: Using the textbook creatively
Learning English in the creative arts
TI-AIE: Learning English in the creative arts
The learning environment
TI-AIE: The learning environment
Developing and monitoring reading
TI-AIE: Developing and monitoring reading
Developing and monitoring writing
TI-AIE: Developing and monitoring writing
Community resources for English
TI-AIE: Community resources for English
Elementary English acknowledgements
Local resources for teaching English
TI-AIE: Local resources for teaching English
Using more English in your classroom
TI-AIE: Using more English in your classroom
Building your students' confidence to speak English
TI-AIE: Building your students' confidence to speak English
Supporting reading for understanding
TI-AIE: Supporting reading for understanding
Whole-class reading routines
TI-AIE: Whole-class reading routines
Supporting independent writing in English
TI-AIE: Supporting independent writing in English
Whole-class writing routines
TI-AIE: Whole-class writing routines
Strategies for teaching listening
TI-AIE: Strategies for teaching listening
Supporting speaking in English: pair and groupwork
TI-AIE: Supporting speaking in English: pair and groupwork
English grammar in action
TI-AIE: English grammar in action
Strategies for teaching vocabulary
TI-AIE: Strategies for teaching vocabulary
Promoting reading for pleasure
TI-AIE: Promoting reading for pleasure
Supporting language learning through formative assessment
TI-AIE: Supporting language learning through formative assessment
Developing your English
TI-AIE: Developing your English
Using resources beyond the textbook
TI-AIE: Using resources beyond the textbook
Secondary English acknowledgements
Using number games: developing number sense
TI-AIE: Using number games: developing number sense
Using structured resources to develop understanding: place value
TI-AIE: Using structured resources to develop understanding: place value
Using a number line and the expression 'Imagine if ...': positive and negative numbers
TI-AIE: Using a number line and the expression ‘Imagine if …’: positive and negative numbers
Mathematical stories: word problems
TI-AIE: Mathematical stories: word problems
Asking questions that challenge thinking: fractions
TI-AIE: Asking questions that challenge thinking: fractions
Making students believe they CAN do mathematics: operations on fractions
TI-AIE: Making students believe they CAN do mathematics: operations on fractions
Using manipulatives: decomposition and regrouping
TI-AIE: Using manipulatives: decomposition and regrouping
Using real-life contexts: the formal division algorithm
TI-AIE: Using real-life contexts: the formal division algorithm
Comparing and contrasting tasks: volume and capacity
TI-AIE: Comparing and contrasting tasks: volume and capacity
Using rich tasks: area and perimeter
TI-AIE: Using rich tasks: area and perimeter
Physical representation in mathematics: handling data
TI-AIE: Physical representation in mathematics: handling data
Learning through talking: variables and constants
TI-AIE: Learning through talking: variables and constants
Conjecturing and generalising in mathematics: introducing algebra
TI-AIE: Conjecturing and generalising in mathematics: introducing algebra
Using embodiment, manipulative and real-life examples: teaching about angles
TI-AIE: Using embodiment, manipulatives and real-life examples: teaching about angles
Creative thinking in mathematics: proportional reasoning
TI-AIE: Creative thinking in mathematics: proportional reasoning
Elementary Maths acknowledgements
Using visualisation: algebraic identities
TI-AIE: Using visualisation: algebraic identities
Developing mathematical reasoning: mathematical proof
TI-AIE: Developing mathematical reasoning: mathematical proof
Visualising, comparing and contrasting: number systems
TI-AIE: Visualising, comparing and contrasting: number systems
Connecting mathematics: finding factors and multiples
TI-AIE: Connecting mathematics: finding factors and multiples
Building mathematical resilience: similarity and congruency in triangles
TI-AIE: Building mathematical resilience: similarity and congruency in triangles
Cooperative learning and mathematical talk: triangles
TI-AIE: Cooperative learning and mathematical talk: triangles
Creating contexts for abstract mathematics: equations
TI-AIE: Creating contexts for abstract mathematics: equations
Enacting vocabulary and asking questions: exploring the circle
TI-AIE: Enacting vocabulary and asking questions: exploring the circle
Hands-on learning and embodiment: constructions in geometry
TI-AIE: Hands-on learning and embodiment: constructions in geometry
Tackling mathematical anxiety: combination shapes and solids
TI-AIE: Tackling mathematical anxiety: combination shapes and solids
Learning from misconceptions: algebraic expressions
TI-AIE: Learning from misconceptions: algebraic expressions
Developing creative thinking in mathematics: trigonometry
TI-AIE: Developing creative thinking in mathematics: trigonometry
Reading, writing and modelling mathematics: word problems
TI-AIE: Reading, writing and modelling mathematics: word problems
Thinking mathematically: estimation
TI-AIE: Thinking mathematically: estimation
Developing stories: understanding graphs
TI-AIE: Developing stories: understanding graphs
Secondary Maths acknowledgements
Brainstorming: sound
TI-AIE: Brainstorming: sound
Pair work: life processes
TI-AIE: Pair work: life processes
Using groupwork: floating and sinking
TI-AIE: Using groupwork: floating and sinking
Using demonstration: food
TI-AIE: Using demonstration: food
Concept mapping: water
TI-AIE: Concept mapping: water
Teacher’s questioning: forces
TI-AIE: Teacher’s questioning: forces
Pupils’ questioning: sorting and classifying things
TI-AIE: Pupils’ questioning: sorting and classifying things
Observing patterns: shadows and night & day
TI-AIE: Observing patterns: shadows and night & day
Practical investigation: change
TI-AIE: Practical investigation: change
Using stories: environment
TI-AIE: Using stories: environment
Using games: electricity
TI-AIE: Using games: electricity
Alternative conceptions: heat and temperature
TI-AIE: Alternative conceptions: heat and temperature
Developing the learning environment
TI-AIE: Developing the learning environment
Discussion in science: malnutrition
TI-AIE: Discussion in science: malnutrition
Using the community: environmental issues
TI-AIE: Using the community: environmental issues
Elementary Science acknowledgements
Pair work: atoms and molecules, and chemical reactions
TI-AIE: Pair work: atoms and molecules, and chemical reactions
Reading in the science classroom : heredity and evolution
TI-AIE: Reading in the science classroom: heredity and evolution
Reading in the science classroom: heredity and evolution
Mind mapping and concept mapping: acids, bases and salts
TI-AIE: Mind mapping and concept mapping: acids, bases and salts
Using local resources: life processes
TI-AIE: Using local resources: life processes
Community approaches: science education and environmental issues
TI-AIE: Community approaches: science education and environmental issues
Using games: the Periodic Table
TI-AIE: Using games: the Periodic Table
Questioning: why do we fall ill?
TI-AIE: Questioning: why do we fall ill?
Language in the science classroom: cells
TI-AIE: Language in the science classroom: cells
Probing understanding: work and energy
TI-AIE: Probing understanding: work and energy
Using physical models: teaching electricity to Class X
TI-AIE: Using physical models: teaching electricity to Class X
Brainstorming: forces and laws of motion
TI-AIE: Brainstorming: forces and laws of motion
Building mental models: teaching carbon and its compounds to Class X
TI-AIE: Building mental models: teaching carbon and its compounds to Class X
Practical work and investigations: teaching gravitation to Class IX
TI-AIE: Practical work and investigations: teaching gravitation to Class IX
Effective demonstrations: teaching light and vision to Class X
TI-AIE: Effective demonstrations: teaching light and vision to Class X
Effective project work: sources of energy
TI-AIE: Effective project work: sources of energy
Secondary Science acknowledgements
Orientation
TI-AIE: Orientation: the elementary school leader as enabler
Orientation: the elementary school leader as enabler
TI-AIE: Orientation: the secondary school leader as enabler
Orientation: the secondary school leader as enabler
Perspective on leadership
TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: leading the school’s self-review
Perspective on leadership: leading the school’s self-review
TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: leading the school development plan
Perspective on leadership: leading the school development plan
TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: using data on diversity to improve your school
Perspective on leadership: using data on diversity to improve your school
TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: planning and leading change in your school
Perspective on leadership: planning and leading change in your school
TI-AIE: Perspective on leadership: implementing change in your school
Perspective on leadership: implementing change in your school
What this unit is about

What school leaders will learn in this unit

1 The importance of having a clear vision for your school

2 What is a vision statement?

3 Developing a vision for your school
4 Involving stakeholders in building a vision for your school
5 From vision to action
6 Monitoring progress towards the vision
Additional resources
Perspective on leadership: building a shared vision for your school
Managing and developing self
TI-AIE: Managing and developing self: managing and developing yourself
Managing and developing self: managing and developing yourself
Transforming teaching-learning process
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: leading improvements in teaching and learning in the elementary school
Transforming teaching-learning process: leading improvements in teaching and learning in the elementary school
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: leading improvements in teaching and learning in the secondary school
Transforming teaching-learning process: leading improvements in teaching and learning in the secondary school
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: leading assessment in your school
Transforming teaching-learning process: leading assessment in your school
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: leading teachers’ professional development
Transforming teaching-learning process: leading teachers’ professional development
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: supporting teachers to raise performance
Transforming teaching-learning process: supporting teachers to raise performance
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: mentoring and coaching
Transforming teaching-learning process: mentoring and coaching
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: developing an effective learning culture in your school
Transforming teaching-learning process: developing an effective learning culture in your school
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: promoting inclusion in your school
Transforming teaching-learning process: promoting inclusion in your school
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: managing resources for effective student learning
Transforming teaching-learning process: managing resources for effective student learning
TI-AIE: Transforming teaching-learning process: leading the use of technology in your school
Transforming teaching-learning process: leading the use of technology in your school
Leading partnerships
TI-AIE: Leading partnerships: engaging with parents and the wider school community
Leading partnerships: engaging with parents and the wider school community
School Leadership acknowledgements
TI-AIE: TESS-India Video Resources
TI-AIE: TESS-India School Leadership Video Resources
TESS-India OER title list
TESS-India Subject Frameworks
TESS-India Key Resources and Video Resources mapping matrix
TESS-India Video Script titles
TESS-India Localisation Handbook
TESS-India MOOC Facilitation Guide
TESS-India Consultant Orientation Handbook (Draft)
Academic mentoring
Action research
Facilitating teachers' meetings
Networks: effective professional development for educational change
Reflection in education
Running an effective participatory interactive workshop
Engaging students
Focusing on examination results
Improving attendance
Dealing with large multi-grade classes
Motivating teachers
Speaking English with confidence
Supporting school leaders in motivating teacher change in their schools
Teacher development meetings
Teaching student teachers
Teaching multilingual classes
Using English in everyday life
Working with elementary Maths teachers

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TESS-India: All India Resources (in English)

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The purpose of these School Leadership units is to help you to become a more effective leader in your school. Four behaviours that characterise an effective school leader (Rutherford, 1985) are to:

have clear, informed visions of what they want their schools to become; visions that focus on students and their needs
translate these visions into goals for their schools and expectations for their teachers, students and administrators
not stand back and wait for things to happen, but continuously monitor progress
intervene, when necessary,in a supportive or corrective manner.

So developing a vision for your school is an important part of being an effective school leader. In a report that examined a number of educational systems across the world to see what factors led to improvement, it was found that ‘almost all school leaders say that setting vision and direction’ are among ‘the biggest contributors to their success’ (McKinsey & Co., 2010).

A ‘vision’ is a clear statement of what the school is trying to achieve so that all stakeholders – teachers, students, their families and community members – are working together. It is about looking forward and seeking to motivate and unify everyone to achieve the very best for the students. The vision needs to capture the aims of a school in its particular context, and guide and inform the preparation of a school development plan.

A vision is important for schools (West-Burnham, 2010) because it:

provides the focus for all aspects of organisational life
informs planning and the development of policies
clarifies and prioritises the work of individuals
helps to articulate shared beliefs and develop a common language,thereby securing alignment and effective communication
characterises the organisation to the rest of the world.

The vision is much more than a few words of vague intention; it embodies the values of the community and is the foundation for actions that will lead to school improvement.

For further information, take a look at our frequently asked questions which may give you the support you need.

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Essay on My School for Students and Children

500+ words essay on my school.

Education is an essential part of our lives. We are nothing without knowledge, and education is what separates us from others. The main step to acquiring education is enrolling oneself in a school. School serves as the first learning place for most of the people. Similarly, it is the first spark in receiving an education. In this essay on my school, I will tell you why I love my school and what my school has taught me.

We have all been to school and we have loved each and every moment we have spent over there as those were the building blocks of our lives. A school is a place where students are taught the fundamentals of life, as well as how to grow and survive in life. It instils in us values and principles that serve as the foundation for a child’s development.

My school is my second home where I spend most of my time. Above all, it gives me a platform to do better in life and also builds my personality. I feel blessed to study in one of the most prestigious and esteemed schools in the city. In addition, my school has a lot of assets which makes me feel fortunate to be a part of it. Let us look at the essay on my school written below.

Why I Love My School?

From kindergarten through primary and secondary school, and subsequently, to faculty, school is a place where we always study, grow, and establish ourselves, socialize, be a friend, help others, and love and be loved. School is a buddy that will accompany us from the beginning of our youth till the conclusion of our lives. At school, we share all of our pleasures and sorrows, and we constantly rely on one another. This is made possible through the friendships we share. They assist us in effortlessly overcoming difficulties, sharing moments of enjoyment together, and looking forward to new paths.

My school strikes the perfect balance between modern education and vintage architecture. The vintage buildings of my school never fail to mesmerize me with their glorious beauty. However, their vintage architecture does not mean it is outdated, as it is well-equipped with all the contemporary gadgets. I see my school as a lighthouse of education bestowing knowledge as well as ethical conduct upon us.

Teachers have the power to make or break a school. The teaching staff is regarded as the foundation of any educational society. It is their efforts to help kids learn and understand things that instil good habits and values in their students. While some concepts are simple to grasp, others necessitate the use of a skilled teacher to drive the home the idea with each pupil.

In contrast to other schools, my school does not solely focus on academic performance. In other words, it emphasizes on the overall development of their students. Along with our academics, extra-curricular activities are also organized at our school. This is one of the main reasons why I love my school as it does not measure everyone on the same scale. Our hardworking staff gives time to each child to grow at their own pace which instils confidence in them. My school has all the facilities of a library , computer room, playground, basketball court and more, to ensure we have it all at our disposal.

For me, my school is more than simply an educational institution; it is also my second family, which I established during my childhood. A family of wonderful friends, outstanding teachers, and fond school memories. I adore my school because it is where I learn how to be a good citizen and how to reach my goals. School is the only place where we make friends without judging them. We feel comfortable spending time with those close friends no matter what the situation.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

What has My School Taught Me?

If someone asked me what I have learned from my school, I won’t be able to answer it in one sentence. For the lessons are irreplaceable and I can never be thankful enough for them. I learned to share because of my school. The power of sharing and sympathy was taught to me by my school. I learned how to be considerate towards animals and it is also one of the main reasons why I adopted a pet.

School is an excellent place to learn how to be an adult before entering the real world. Those abilities pay dividends whether you choose to be the bigger person in an argument or simply complete your domestic tasks. When you open your mind to new ideas, you gain a lot of influence in society. Picking up unexpected hobbies on your own will teach you more about what you like to do than simply completing things for a grade.

A school is a place where I developed my artistic skills which were further enhanced by my teachers. Subsequently, it led me to participate in inter-school completions through which I earned various awards. Most importantly, my school taught me how to face failures with grace and never give up on my ambitions, no matter what happens.

Schools also offer a variety of extracurricular activities such as Scouts and Guides, sports, N.C.C., skating, school band, acting, dancing, singing, and so on. Our principal also used to give us a short lecture every day for about 10 minutes about etiquette, character development, moral education, respecting others, and gaining excellent values. As a result, I can claim that what I am today is solely due to my school, which is the best institution in my opinion.

Teamwork is an important ability that schools teach. Schools are frequently the first places where youngsters have the opportunity to collaborate with children who are different from them. Collaboration is essential for the team and individual success. Students are taught that the success of a team depends on each individual component functioning together.

To sum it up, studying in one of the respected schools has helped me a lot personally. I will always be indebted to my school for shaping my personality and teaching me invaluable lessons. It has given me friends for life and teachers that I will always look up to. I aspire to carry on the values imbibed by my school to do well in life and make it proud.

Here is the list of Top Schools in India! Does Your School Tops the List?

FAQs on School

Q.1 Why must every child go to school?

A.1 It is essential for every child to go to school as the school teaches us lessons that cannot be acquired anywhere else. The experience is one a kind and along with education, we learn many other things like socializing, extra-curricular activities and more.

Q.2 What does school teach us?

A.2 School teaches us some of the great things like first of all, it gives us basic education. It teaches us to develop our skills like art, dance, public speaking and more. Most importantly, it teaches us discipline.

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School Education /

Essay on My Vision for India in 600+ Words

Updated on
Apr 10, 2024

Essay on My Vision for India: India, that is, Bharat, is the largest democracy in the world. Up until 1947, India was a British colony. On August 15th, 1947, a new India was born. Though drained and divided, India was desperate to make it on its own. Today, India has the 5th largest economy, the 4th largest military strength, and is home to over 1.4 billion people.

Recently, the Indian Government launched Vision @2047 to make India a global economic power by 2047. The tagline for this scheme was ‘BRINGING CITIZENS AND GOVERNMENT CLOSER’.

Table of Contents

1 Economic Development in India
2 India’s Geopolitical Relations
3 Technology
4 Conclusion

Quick Read: English Essay Topics

Economic Development in India

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released in its 2023 report that India, along with China is likely to drive half of global growth in the coming years. This will be in stark contrast to just a tenth of the growth for the USA and Europe combined. It means India and China will together pave the way for a global economic rebound.

In 2023, the Indian economy will retain its crown as a bright spot, and it will remain the fastest-growing economy in the world. The American economy, on the other hand, grew by just 1.4% and that of China by 5.2%.

In the post-pandemic period, the Indian economy’s growth projection was 6.1%. This is a little less than what it was in 2022, 6.8%, but India is still the fastest-growing economy in the world, and the Indian Prime Minister is determined to make India the 3rd largest economy in the next 4 to 5 years.

India’s Geopolitical Relations

Right after WWII, the world was divided into two blocs; the Capitalist and the Socialist. However, India successfully navigated the Cold War and became a political force for decolonization. India liberated Bangladesh in 1971, reached out to Africa, successfully dehydrated Israel and Palestine, and struck strategic partnerships with the Gulf.

Today, world powers see India as an important partner, a leading voice in multilateral forums. India has become the face of peace and the loudest cheerleader of counter-terrorism.

Today’s India is capable of standing for itself. India has taught the world tolerance and universal acceptance. During the nationalist movements in the 1920s and 1930s, India was raising the banner of Swaraj, or Self-Government. However, Winston Churchill, the former British PM, dismissed India’s experience with self-government, believing India was socially diverse.

He said, ‘India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the equator.’ He was convinced that independent India wouldn’t be able to stay together. Well, Churchill was wrong. India remains united and grows stronger. India’s success as a secular state has surprised many.

Quick Read: Essay on Digital India

Just 17 years after Independence, India decided to go into space. The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCO SPAR) was set up, and in 1963, India launched its first rocket from a town called Thumba, Kerala. The rocket parts were transported on bicycles and bullock carts.

On August 23, 2023, Indian space programs reached a new height with the successful landing of Chandryaan 3 on the lunar surface. Today, India is a well-established space power, it has reached the Red Planet and is unfurling the tri-color in space to mark its 75 years of independence.

India was also the first country outside the UNSC permanent members to successfully test a nuclear bomb. And India did this despite the world’s best efforts. The American secret agency was spying on us using a satellite, and they even killed an Indian scientist to roadblock the mission. On May 18, 1974, India took the world by surprise. It became a nuclear power by successfully testing its first nuclear bomb. The operation was named ‘Smiling Buddha’.

This is today’s India, and my vision for India is far from done. India has achieved a lot in its 75 years since independence, all thanks to education and democracy. For India, its next milestone is even greater than before, as our Prime Minister aims to make India a global economic power. It can be done only when the government and the people come together with just one goal in mind; Making India great.

Quick Read: Essay on Viksit Bharat

Ans: India, that is, Bharat, is the largest democracy in the world. Up until 1947, India was a British colony. On August 15, 1947, a new India was born. Though drained and divided, India was desperate to make it on its own. Today, India has the 5th largest economy, the 4th largest military strength, and is home to over 1.4 billion people. Recently, the Indian Government launched Vision @2047 to make India a global economic power by 2047. The tagline for this scheme was ‘BRINGING CITIZENS AND GOVERNMENT CLOSER’.

Ans: On August 23, 2023, Indian space programmes reached a new height, with the successful landing of Chandryaan 3 on the lunar surface. Today, India is a well-established space power, it has reached the Red Planet and is unfurling the tri-color in space to mark its 75 years of independence. The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCO SPAR) was set up and in 1963, India launched its first rocket from a town called Thumba, Kerala. The rocket parts were transported on bicycles and bullock carts.

Ans: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released in its 2023 report that India, along with China is likely to drive half of global growth in the coming years. This will be in stark contrast to just a tenth of the growth for the USA and Europe combined. It means India and China will together pave the way for a global economic rebound. In 2023, the Indian economy will retain its crown as a bright spot, and it will remain the fastest-growing economy in the world. The American economy, on the other hand, grew by just 1.4% and that of China, by 5.2%.

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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What Solar Eclipse-Gazing Has Looked Like for the Past 2 Centuries

Millions of people on Monday will continue the tradition of experiencing and capturing solar eclipses, a pursuit that has spawned a lot of unusual gear.

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In a black-and-white photo from 1945, nine men, some in military uniforms, stand in the middle of a New York City street. They are holding a small piece of what looks like glass or a photographic negative above their heads to protect their eyes as they watch the eclipse. The original border of the print, as well as some numbers and crop marks drawn onto it, are visible.

By Sarah Eckinger

April 8, 2024

For centuries, people have been clamoring to glimpse solar eclipses. From astronomers with custom-built photographic equipment to groups huddled together with special glasses, this spectacle has captivated the human imagination.

Creating a Permanent Record

In 1860, Warren de la Rue captured what many sources describe as the first photograph of a total solar eclipse . He took it in Rivabellosa, Spain, with an instrument known as the Kew Photoheliograph . This combination of a telescope and camera was specifically built to photograph the sun.

Forty years later, Nevil Maskelyne, a magician and an astronomy enthusiast, filmed a total solar eclipse in North Carolina. The footage was lost, however, and only released in 2019 after it was rediscovered in the Royal Astronomical Society’s archives.

Telescopic Vision

For scientists and astronomers, eclipses provide an opportunity not only to view the moon’s umbra and gaze at the sun’s corona, but also to make observations that further their studies. Many observatories, or friendly neighbors with a telescope, also make their instruments available to the public during eclipses.

Fredrik Hjalmar Johansen, Fridtjof Nansen and Sigurd Scott Hansen observing a solar eclipse while on a polar expedition in 1894 .

Women from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and their professor tested out equipment ahead of their eclipse trip (to “catch old Sol in the act,” as the original New York Times article phrased it) to New London, Conn., in 1922.

A group from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania traveled to Yerbaniz, Mexico, in 1923, with telescopes and a 65-foot camera to observe the sun’s corona .

Dr. J.J. Nassau, director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, prepared to head to Douglas Hill, Maine, to study an eclipse in 1932. An entire freight car was required to transport the institution’s equipment.

Visitors viewed a solar eclipse at an observatory in Berlin in the mid-1930s.

A family set up two telescopes in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1963. The two children placed stones on the base to help steady them.

An astronomer examined equipment for an eclipse in a desert in Mauritania in June 1973. We credit the hot climate for his choice in outfit.

Indirect Light

If you see people on Monday sprinting to your local park clutching pieces of paper, or with a cardboard box of their head, they are probably planning to reflect or project images of the solar eclipse onto a surface.

Cynthia Goulakos demonstrated a safe way to view a solar eclipse , with two pieces of cardboard to create a reflection of the shadowed sun, in Lowell, Mass., in 1970.

Another popular option is to create a pinhole camera. This woman did so in Central Park in 1963 by using a paper cup with a small hole in the bottom and a twin-lens reflex camera.

Amateur astronomers viewed a partial eclipse, projected from a telescope onto a screen, from atop the Empire State Building in 1967 .

Back in Central Park, in 1970, Irving Schwartz and his wife reflected an eclipse onto a piece of paper by holding binoculars on the edge of a garbage basket.

Children in Denver in 1979 used cardboard viewing boxes and pieces of paper with small pinholes to view projections of a partial eclipse.

A crowd gathered around a basin of water dyed with dark ink, waiting for the reflection of a solar eclipse to appear, in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1995.

Staring at the Sun (or, How Not to Burn Your Retinas)

Eclipse-gazers have used different methods to protect their eyes throughout the years, some safer than others .

In 1927, women gathered at a window in a building in London to watch a total eclipse through smoked glass. This was popularized in France in the 1700s , but fell out of favor when physicians began writing papers on children whose vision was damaged.

Another trend was to use a strip of exposed photographic film, as seen below in Sydney, Australia, in 1948 and in Turkana, Kenya, in 1963. This method, which was even suggested by The Times in 1979 , has since been declared unsafe.

Solar eclipse glasses are a popular and safe way to view the event ( if you use models compliant with international safety standards ). Over the years there have been various styles, including these large hand-held options found in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 1979.

Parents and children watched a partial eclipse through their eclipse glasses in Tokyo in 1981.

Slimmer, more colorful options were used in Nabusimake, Colombia, in 1998.

In France in 1999.

And in Iran and England in 1999.

And the best way to see the eclipse? With family and friends at a watch party, like this one in Isalo National Park in Madagascar in 2001.

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Proposed new institute would study what drives transitions to sustainability

Scholars from across the university have contributed to a vision for a Sustainable Societies Institute in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability that would focus on understanding change in systems where people and nature are inextricably linked – such as cities, food, or global markets.

For communities, governments, organizations, and industries with ambitions to address global challenges and help people and nature thrive together, an important question will be how to make changes that stick – given all the complexities of social and environmental systems.

By the end of 2024, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability aims to launch an institute that seeks to inform answers to this question through scholarship and partnerships.

“The heart of the proposed institute is a question of how societies accomplish changes that lead to greater sustainability,” said Gabrielle Wong-Parodi , an assistant professor of Earth system science who has co-led discussions with faculty and scholars from across Stanford’s seven schools to develop a vision for the Sustainable Societies Institute , or SSI. “We’re suggesting that [SSI can help answer this question by] working in the real world with partners to develop solutions and [bring them] to scale in a way that is just and appropriate.”

Over the past year, Wong-Parodi and co-leader Jim Leape , the William and Eva Price Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment , have brought together dozens of Stanford scholars and institute leaders in meetings and a workshop and consulted with the school’s advisory council to explore possibilities for an institute focused on sustainable societies.

Now, building on the vision for SSI that emerged from this exploration, the school is launching a search for a director or co-directors to bring the vision to reality.

At the helm of the director search committee are energy science and engineering professor emeritus Lynn Orr , the founding director of the Precourt Institute for Energy , and organizational behavior professor Sarah Soule , who directs the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences . Officially launching a new institute will also require review and approval by the Academic Council Advisory Board and the provost.

The question of how to catalyze research that can lead to a sustainable future lies at the heart of the school’s commitment to addressing the big challenges of sustainability. “Just like the Woods and Precourt institutes, the new Sustainable Societies Institute will cultivate the connective tissue across disciplines critical to advancing research and scholarship needed to foster sustainable societies across the world,” said Dean Arun Majumdar .

Supporting transdisciplinary research

The vision developed by faculty from across Stanford calls for the proposed Sustainable Societies Institute to focus on understanding what scholars call “socio-ecological systems,” or systems where people and nature are inextricably linked, such as cities, food systems, and global markets.

The institute will create programs that foster “vibrant communities of scholars from across the university who are building our engagement with issues that are of pressing importance,” Leape said. This will support research that can build a base of evidence for what actually helps sustainable changes take hold, rather than relying on intuition about what might work, said Wong-Parodi.

In addition to initiatives and seed-grant programs modeled on other successful institutes, SSI will support ambitious, long-term research projects – potentially as long as 10-20 years. “We can follow changes over time and test the effectiveness of possible solutions, which could then meet some of the educational goals of the university as being a place where students can be embedded in long-term research projects, and where they contribute and work with partners,” Wong-Parodi said.

The Natural Capital Project , which began in 2005, illustrates how such a project could look, Leape said. Similar to the way the Natural Capital Project has engaged partners around the world to bring the value of nature into decision-making, future SSI initiatives might work with farmers, food companies, and governments to create healthier, more sustainable food systems, for example, or with international aid organizations to slow down migration in the wake of disasters fueled by climate change.

Bringing partners together

Like the work of other institutes, partnership is another key aspect of SSI. “To achieve its goals, SSI will need to work with communities, countries, companies, and organizations at any level, to develop solutions that can actually help them crack the challenge of sustainability,” said Leape, who is also co-director of the Center for Ocean Solutions .

SSI researchers will work with partners to identify appropriate solutions for them. Not every solution fits every context, Wong-Parodi said, but each problem offers lessons to learn and the possibility of adapting or scaling solutions to meet other needs.

Stanford’s strength in multiple domains makes the university an ideal place for fostering these critical partnerships. “Not only do we have the expertise, we also have the convening power. Something that we do really well is to bring people together, bring partners together, bring researchers together,” Wong-Parodi said. “That’s something that we think we should leverage and lean into.”

Leape is also a professor, by courtesy, of oceans in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Wong-Parodi is also an assistant professor of environmental social sciences in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and a center fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Orr is the Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor, Emeritus, and an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. He served as dean of the Stanford School of Earth Sciences from 1994 to 2002. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business , the Sara Miller McCune Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), and a professor, by courtesy, of sociology in the School of Humanities and Sciences .

Additional members of the Sustainable Societies Institute director search committee include Nicole Ardoin , Jack Baker , David Cohen , Peter Henry , Roberta Katz , Isik Kizilyalli , Desiree LaBeaud , and Gabrielle Wong-Parodi .

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Why is looking at a solar eclipse dangerous without special glasses? Eye doctors explain.

By Sara Moniuszko

Edited By Allison Elyse Gualtieri

Updated on: April 8, 2024 / 8:54 AM EDT / CBS News

The solar eclipse will be visible for millions of Americans on April 8, 2024, making many excited to see it — but how you watch it matters, since it can be dangerous for your eyes.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun's light . When the moon blocks some of the sun, it's a partial solar eclipse, but when moon lines up with the sun, blocking all of its light, a total solar eclipse occurs, NASA explains . Either way, you need eye protection when viewing.

"The solar eclipse will be beautiful, so I hope that everyone experiences it — but they need to experience it in the right way," said Dr. Jason P. Brinton, an ophthalmologist and medical director at Brinton Vision in St. Louis.

Here's what to know to stay safe.

Why is looking at a solar eclipse dangerous?

Looking at the sun — even when it's partially covered like during an eclipse — can cause eye damage.

There is no safe dose of solar ultraviolet rays or infrared radiation, said Dr. Yehia Hashad , an ophthalmologist, retinal specialist and the chief medical officer at eye health company Bausch + Lomb.

"A very small dose could cause harm to some people," he said. "That's why we say the partial eclipse could also be damaging. And that's why we protect our eyes with the partial as well as with the full sun."

Some say that during a total eclipse, it's safe to view the brief period time when the moon completely blocks the sun without eye protection. But experts warn against it.

"Totality of the eclipse lasts only about 1 to 3 minutes based on geographic location, and bright sunlight suddenly can appear as the moon continues to move," notes an eclipse viewing guide published in JAMA , adding, "even a few seconds of viewing the sun during an eclipse" can temporarily or permanently damage your vision.

Do I need special glasses for eclipse viewing?

Yes. Eclipse glasses are needed to protect your eyes if you want to look at the eclipse.

Regular sunglasses aren't protective enough for eclipse viewing — even if you stack more than one.

"There's no amount of sunglasses that people can put on that will make up for the filtering that the ISO standard filters and the eclipse glasses provide," Brinton said.

You also shouldn't look at the eclipse through a camera lens, phone, binoculars or telescope, according to NASA, even while wearing eclipse glasses. The solar rays can burn through the lens and cause serious eye injury.

Eclipse glasses must comply with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard , according to NASA, and should have an "ISO" label printed on them to show they comply. The American Astronomical Society has a list of approved solar viewers.

Can't find these, or they're sold out near you? You can also make homemade viewers , which allow you to observe the eclipse indirectly — just don't accidentally look at the sun while using one.

How to keep kids safe during the solar eclipse

Since this eclipse is expected to occur around the time of dismissal for many schools across the country, it may be tempting for students to view it without the proper safety precautions while getting to and from their buses. That's why some school districts are canceling classes early so kids can enjoy the event safely with their families.

Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, vitreoretinal surgeon at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai, said parents should also be careful because it can be difficult for children to listen or keep solar eclipse glasses on.

"You want to actually, in my opinion, kind of avoid them even looking at the eclipse, if possible," he said. "Never look directly at the sun, always wear the right eclipse sunglasses if you are going to look at the sun and make sure that those are coming from a reliable source."

Brinton recommends everyone starts their eclipse "viewing" early, by looking at professional photos and videos of an eclipse online or visiting a local planetarium.

That way, you "have an idea of what to expect," he said.

He also recommends the foundation Prevent Blindness , which has resources for families about eclipse safety.

What happens if you look at a solar eclipse without eclipse glasses?

While your eyes likely won't hurt in the moment if you look at the eclipse without protection, due to lowered brightness and where damage occurs in the eye, beware: The rays can still cause damage .

The harm may not be apparent immediately. Sometimes trouble starts to appear one to a few days following the event. It could affect just one or both eyes.

And while some will regain normal visual function, sometimes the damage is permanent.

"Often there will be some recovery of the vision in the first few months after it, but sometimes there is no recovery and sometimes there's a degree to which it is permanent," Brinton said.

How long do you have to look at the eclipse to damage your eyes?

Any amount of time looking at the eclipse without protection is too long, experts say.

"If someone briefly looks at the eclipse, if it's extremely brief, in some cases there won't be damage. But damage can happen even within a fraction of a second in some cases," Brinton said. He said he's had patients who have suffered from solar retinopathy, the official name for the condition.

Deobhakta treated a patient who watched the 2017 solar eclipse for 20 seconds without proper eye protection. She now has permanent damage in the shape of a crescent that interferes with her vision.

"The crescent that is burned into the retina, the patient sees as black in her visual field," he said. "The visual deficit that she has will never go away."

How to know if you've damaged your eyes from looking at the eclipse

Signs and symptoms of eye damage following an eclipse viewing include headaches, blurred vision, dark spots, changes to how you see color, lines and shapes.

Unfortunately, there isn't a treatment for solar retinopathy.

"Seeing an eye care professional to solidify the diagnosis and for education I think is reasonable," Brinton said, but added, "right now there is nothing that we do for this. Just wait and give it time and the body does tend to heal up a measure of it."

Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.

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Is it safe to look at a total solar eclipse? What to know about glasses, proper viewing

If you have your eyewear to take in monday's eclipse, here are some last-minute things to consider to ensure you're good to go..

The much-anticipated solar eclipse will finally enshroud thousands of miles of North America today in its long, narrow shadow. By now, those who plan to witness it should have their plans in place .

Travel has been completed. Schedules have been coordinated around the anticipated moment of totality. And proper eyewear is, of course, in your possession. Right?

We at USA TODAY have published no shortage of articles guiding you away from scam eclipse glasses and to the safest, most reliable options – some of which were even free. But if you need a last-minute refresher – or a crash course to catch you up on a topic you entirely missed – we're happy to oblige.

If you don't have your eclipse glasses by now, it may be too late. But some vendors, including Warby Parker , and even public libraries, have offered eclipse glasses giveaways , so be sure to check your local area before the historic event rolls into town.

And if you do have your eyewear to take in Monday's eclipse – the last one of these incredible astronomical events in North America for 20 years – here are some last-minute things to consider to ensure you're in good shape.

Solar eclipse 2024 live updates: See latest weather forecast, what time it hits your area

Can you go blind by looking at the solar eclipse?

Staring at the sun is unlikely to completely blind you , but its powerful rays can still burn and damage your retinas if you don't take proper safety precautions to view solar eclipses .

That's why eyewear is recommended if you plan to look up at the sun Monday to witness the solar eclipse, which most of the country will be able to experience in some way.

In the face of the sun's powerful rays, regular sunglasses made of cheap plastic and polycarbonate material just aren't going to cut it. Astronomers and other experts instead emphasize that skygazers intent on viewing the upcoming total solar eclipse do so with specialized eyewear crafted to protect their sensitive retinas from permanent damage.

Even viewing any part of the bright sun through camera lenses, binoculars and telescopes without a specialized solar filter could instantly cause severe eye injury , according to the American Astronomical Society.

Often made with a polyester film coated in aluminum, the glasses are highly specialized . Compared to regular sunglasses, proper eclipse glasses are 100,000 times darker to block nearly all visible, infrared and ultraviolet light and protect our sensitive retinas when looking skyward.

As another point of safety, don't look up while driving , please.

How to know when it's safe to view the eclipse without glasses

A total solar eclipse offers the unique opportunity for skygazers to witness the spectacular astral display with the naked eye – but only when the time is right.

Hundreds of cities in 13 states are along the path of totality for the eclipse, which will move across North America from southwest to northeast . When the moon moves completely in front of the sun and blocks its light for a brief period of time, you'll know it's safe to fully take in the dazzling display.

That moment is what is called "totality," whereby uncharacteristic darkness falls and all but the sun's outermost layer known as its corona makes a rare appearance to us here on Earth, according to NASA .

How to make sure your eclipse glasses aren't fake

In the rush to acquire some coveted eclipse glasses before April 8 , you may have inadvertently fallen victim to the fakes and imitators proliferating online retailers .

While plenty of legitimate certified eyewear was widely available – and may still be – less-scrupulous manufacturers try all sorts of methods and tricks to get your attention and make you believe the product you're about to buy is the real deal.

For instance, many vendors began making the grand (and entirely made-up) claim that their products are endorsed by NASA.

As the space agency reiterated to USA TODAY , NASA highly recommended that skygazers get a pair of certified eclipse glasses before the total solar eclipse charts a 115-mile-wide path of totality blanketing much of North America in uncharacteristic darkness . But it does not approve any particular brand of solar viewers, despite what many vendors may claim.

The responsibility of guiding American consumers to the safest eclipse glasses is largely left to the American Astronomical Society.

The organization maintains a curated list of approved vendors of solar eclipse glasses that it updated to give priority to North American manufacturers ahead of the total solar eclipse. Products you purchase that are listed on that site are guaranteed to be in compliance with the highest international safety standards.

Those standards are set by the International Organization for Standardization, which only vouches for solar eclipse glasses that are dark and strong enough to filter out a certain amount of the sun's harmful light.

The astronomical society also provides some helpful tips for how to spot counterfeit glasses.

No eclipse glasses? Welding lenses, pinhole projectors among alternative viewers

While certified solar eclipse glasses are the preferred method for viewing the eclipse, alternative methods do exist that don't necessarily sacrifice one's safety.

Many people, particularly blue-collar workers, may be tempted to turn to those welding lenses they have sitting in their workshop.

But beware: The most common welding goggles and helmets aren't typically strong enough to adequately withstand the sun's powerful rays and protect your vulnerable eyes.

Any welding lenses weaker than a Shade 12 filter – a number that indicates the level of protection offered – just aren't going to cut it when it comes to gazing upward in anticipation of the moon blocking all but the sun's outermost layer.

It's also not too late to buy some welding lenses, which Tractor Supply is promoting for sale at its 282 stores along the path of totality as a viable option for viewing the eclipse.

Another simple method is to create your own pinhole projector to project the sun onto a nearby surface. The American Astronomical Society offers helpful instructions to set them up.

And one final note: As you make your eclipse-viewing plans, these interactive maps should help you chart the time and duration for when totality would occur in cities along the path.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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The Mission of a School. The mission of a school is based upon what the school intends to achieve in a more physical and academic way as set out by the head teacher. For example " To create a happy, secure and stimulating learning environment in which all members of the school community can grow in confidence and develop their full potential.".
79 Examples of School Vision and Mission Statements
The of common words in school vision real mission statements are: 1. Christ 2. Community 3. Securely 4. Excellence 5. Potential 6. Skills 7. Global 8. Prepare 9. Erhalten 10. Life-long
Do You Know Your School's Vision? Tips on Making a Meaningful Mission
Simply put, words have power. And a powerful vision statement is one that gives everyone in the organization a vivid sense of purpose in the work they do. This is why, in my view, any school or ...
Developing a School Vision Statement
The school vision statement essentially outlines where you are heading as a school, holistically. It is a dream, a hope, an aspiration. It takes the strengths of the school community and projects that into the full realisation of what you could eventually become. Therefore, it is your hope for the school, which ultimately embodies your hope for ...
Developing a School Vision Statement
The school vision statement essentially outlines where you are heading as a school, holistically. It is a dream, a hope, an aspiration. It takes the strengths of the school community and projects that into the full realisation of what you could eventually become. Therefore, it is your hope for the school, which ultimately embodies your hope for ...
How to Make Mission Matter at Your School
Effective school missions can communicate a vision and unify people around common goals, especially when systematically implemented. However, some missions may not even be known or observed by school stakeholders and become mere slogans. Therefore, while most schools have a mission statement, only some schools may be categorized as "mission ...
School vision and mission statements should not be dismissed as empty words
Vision or mission statements should avoid words and phrases that are gimmicky, catchy, obligatory or simply reflect current phases and fads. Schools should aim to be authentic and honest in their ...
School Vision and Mission: Why is it important?
Proper and clear guidelines aligned with the vision and mission give the inspiration to do their best. 6. Facilitates collaboration with teams. A school with a common goal towards vision and mission can work together in teams with a positive team spirit. This helps overcome negativities and internal politics.
A vision for school leadership : a reflective essay
A final analysis for creating a vision of school leadership takes the reader to. a new level in the reflective thinking process. The intent of this essay is to. develop a broader perspective of the impacUhat leadership has on the bottom line, student achievement. Setting each student up for success through increased.
Vision and Mission
"Without a vision, the people perish." (Proverbs) Sometimes people think defining a school's vision and mission are relatively unimportant, and can be done quickly. Wrong! Developing the school's vision and mission are two of the most important steps toward creating a successful program. Done well, they give clarity and direction for a school.
Six Actions to Keep Moving Your School's Vision Forward
Here are six ways to keep it at the forefront. Goal Setting & Action Planning. Distributed Leadership. Resilient Leadership. 3/8/22. 6 min Read. A school's vision statement is its goal for the future—the values the school community collectively holds, what success looks like, and how everyone works together to make that growth possible.
1 The importance of having a clear vision for your school
So developing a vision for your school is an important part of being an effective school leader. In a report that examined a number of educational systems across the world to see what factors led to improvement, it was found that 'almost all school leaders say that setting vision and direction' are among 'the biggest contributors to their ...
Essay on My School for Students and Children
A school is a place where students are taught the fundamentals of life, as well as how to grow and survive in life. It instils in us values and principles that serve as the foundation for a child's development. My school is my second home where I spend most of my time. Above all, it gives me a platform to do better in life and also builds my ...
Essay on My Vision for India in 600+ Words
Essay on My Vision for India: India, that is, Bharat, is the largest democracy in the world. Up until 1947, India was a British colony. On August 15th, 1947, a new India was born. Though drained and divided, India was desperate to make it on its own.
Classical Christian Education
CHRIST-CENTERED. In all its levels, programs, and teaching, Logos School seeks to: Teach all subjects as parts of an integrated whole with the Scriptures at the center (II Timothy 3:16-17); Provide a clear model of the biblical Christian life through our staff and board (Matthew 22:37-40); Encourage every student to begin and develop his relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ ...
Elite College Admissions Have Turned Students Into Brands
Ms. Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist in Brooklyn. "I just can't think of anything," my student said. After 10 years of teaching college essay writing, I was ...
In Photos: What Solar Eclipse-Gazing Has Looked Like Through History
Dr. J.J. Nassau, director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, prepared to head to Douglas Hill, Maine, to study an eclipse in 1932.
Proposed new institute would study what drives transitions to
Gabrielle Wong-Parodi and Jim Leape co-led the visioning process for the planned Sustainable Societies Institute. Over the past year, Wong-Parodi and co-leader Jim Leape, the William and Eva Price Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, have brought together dozens of Stanford scholars and institute leaders in meetings and a workshop and consulted with the school's ...
Logos Times
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Why is looking at a solar eclipse dangerous without special glasses
Why looking directly at a solar eclipse is so dangerous for your eyes 01:41. The solar eclipse will be visible for millions of Americans on April 8, 2024, making many excited to see it — but how ...
Total solar eclipse safety: Everything to know about glasses, viewing
Is it safe to look at a total solar eclipse? What to know about glasses, proper viewing If you have your eyewear to take in Monday's eclipse, here are some last-minute things to consider to ensure ...
Uniforms
Uniform Policy for 2023-24 Letter from Board Chairman, Luke Jankovic 23-24 Uniform (words) 23-24 Uniform (pictures) Secondary Uniform Notes From Mrs. Miller Ties: Elementary ties for boys are available here (be sure to select the classic navy and gold stripe), crossover ties for elementary girls are found here and secondary ties/scarves are available in the front…