IN Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall Fall 2018

It’s important for parents to understand how their child’s mindset influences their behaviors, motivation, and achievement. More and more teachers and school administrators are embracing growth mindset as a strategy to bolster student motivation, and these same strategies can be used at home with great results. As parents, you play a huge role in influencing the mindset of your children, so it’s important for you to model a growth mindset for your children. Showing your children that you are excited by challenges, see mistakes as learning opportunities, and understand the value of practice and trying different strategies will go a long way in cultivating their growth mindsets! Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world- renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck with decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. This roadblock keeps children from moving forward in their learning. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities. Parents often wonder what they can do and say to change their child’s mindset from fixed to growth. The good news is that mindsets can change, and there are certain strategies you can use right away to see a big difference in your child’s challenge-seeking behavior. Giving praise throughout the learning process, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes as learning opportunities, and understanding the role of emotions in learning are all practices you can begin today. Embracing a growth mindset isn’t always easy but can have a huge impact on your child…and perhaps on you, too! Mrs. Barbara Pagan, Elroy Principal Beginning in the 2018-2109 school year a new Life Skills Support program will serve students whose needs are more functional than academic. The program emphasizes pre-academic (pre-reading and pre-math skills), self-help (i.e., toileting, feeding, personal hygiene), social, and community living skills (i.e., community safety, recognizing stranger danger). The students enrolled in this program are primarily students with intellectual disabilities and delays in communication, social/emotional development, and motor skills. The goal of the program is to prepare students to work, live, and function as independently as possible. Prior to having this program, the school district contracted with neighboring school districts or the Allegheny Intermediate Unit to provide programs for students needing these services. In order to attend these programs at locations outside of the district, the district provided bus/car transportation to these alternate locations, sometimes extending the students’ school day by an hour. The district remains committed to increasing internal capacity over time to provide all students with quality educational programming in their home school district. BRENTWOOD-BALDWIN-WHITEHALL ❘ FALL 2018 65

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