‘Mindset Masters’ panel schedules second session on education plan

As published in the Record Journal, Monday January 21, 2013
By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
(203) 317-2235evo@record-journal.com
Twitter: @ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD - A committee working on ways to improve the school system will hold its second meeting Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. in the Getz Auditorium at Choate Rosemary Hall.

At the Mindset Masters meeting, which is open to the public, the group will continue working on gaining community support for the school district’s initiative to achieve a 100 percent graduation rate. As part of the effort, the group wants the community to read “Mindset” by Carol Dweck. The book teaches readers to practice a “growth mindset,” the idea that abilities can be improved through hard work and persistence, rather than the belief that people are born with a fixed amount of talent and ability.

The Mindset Masters committee ismade up of teachers, students, religious leaders and town officials.

At the group’s first meeting, members came up with over 130 ideas and activities to promote a growth mindset. A smaller group has started working on 30 of the suggestions, said Patty Pursell, a physical education teacher at Pond Hill and member of the school system’s Innovation Team. The team suggested the 100 percent graduation rate project and is helping to oversee it.

Pursell said the committee is trying to increase public awareness to encourage people to attend a community discussion on March 21.

“Hopefully we’ll get a large group to talk about core values for the town and the district, so that decisions (in the future) will be based on those core values,” she said.

“What we found when we did our research was that schools that had a 100percent graduation rate had 100 percent community support,” said Kate O’Donnell, an information technology resource teacher and another member of the Innovation Team.

Pursell said committee is focusing on recruiting town officials because they are in a position to easily spread information. Though the Innovation Team is spreading the message via social media, Pursell said the best method has been word of mouth.

“But we’ve found the best time to get people interested in what we’re doing is when we’ve sat down and talked to them,” she said.

The Getz Auditorium is in Choate’s science center.