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We believe all students can learn, and it is our duty to ensure that all students do learn. We accomplish this by developing a comprehensive, integrated approach that provides system-wide support to schools, families, and the community.
The Lake Mills Area School District has a history of commitment to excellence in education. The Board of Education and district citizens have endorsed this commitment by supporting the development, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum and the instructional program. Administrators and staff members have worked together to design and implement instructional programs which will meet the many and diverse needs of students from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. While there are many reasons to be proud of the district’s instructional program, excellence demands a dedication to continuing evaluation and improvement.
The Lake Mills School District uses Understanding by Design as a Curricular Framework. Understanding by Design is a backwards design process, that focuses on three stages of Unit development. The first stage focuses on goals for transfer of learning through the use of Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions. The second stage focuses on Authentic Assessment of Understanding. The third stage focuses on creating a differentiated learning plan that allows teachers to be facilitators of student learning, as opposed to experts of content knowledge.
Teachers will create Enduring Understandings (understandings that are based on "big ideas" that have lasting value beyond the classroom) and Essential Questions (a question that lies at the heart of a subject. Essential Questions do not have a straightforward answer, but can produce many plausible responses, in which people could disagree) for every unit. The assessment and learning plans will focus on the six facets of understanding (explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, self-knowledge) to assess for learning.
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