Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award

Past Recipients

2017 Vision in Action Recipient  |  Program Information

2016 Recipient

Jason Lee Middle School 

Jason Lee Middle School of Tacoma, Washington, was announced as the 2016 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient at the 71st ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit Show. One of the many areas in which Jason Lee excels is in supporting students entering middle school and preparing them for what comes next. Incoming 6th graders attend a four-day orientation camp in August where they are connected with 7th and 8th grade student mentors. These older students provide guidance to their mentees throughout the school year, modeling a safe, responsible, compassionate, and respectful Bobcat (the school's mascot) to align with the school's whole child pillars.

Recent evaluations have demonstrated Jason Lee's impressive gains in student success, both academic and otherwise. After just one year of implementing the Tacoma Whole Child Initiative,h the school has seen a 21 percent decrease in unexcused absences along with increases in the number of students who pass various subjects. In addition, students are demonstrating their depth of conceptual knowledge, engaging in self-reflection, and improving interpersonal interactions—all of which reflect a well-rounded learning environment.

To learn more about Jason Lee Middle School and its approach to a whole child education, listen to an episode of the Whole Child Podcast featuring Jason Lee staff and read the full press release.

2015 Recipient

Magnolia Elementary School  

Magnolia Elementary School was selected as the 2015 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient. Magnolia serves 497 students from prekindergarten through 5th grade in suburban Baltimore. The school is classified as Title I and 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. A staff of three administrators, three school counselors, 44 teachers, and 10 support personnel provide a well-rounded learning environment for each child.

As part of its commitment to the healthy tenet, Magnolia Elementary runs programs to enhance the physical and social-emotional health of each student. For example, the school keeps students' bodies healthy by participating in a harvestable school garden program. Through the program, students grow vegetables on school grounds that are then incorporated into school lunches. Since many of the students' home neighborhoods are not safe for outside play, the school has reworked its master schedule to allow for increased physical education periods and additional free play time connected to lunch periods. The school also includes movement periods in its after-school intervention program.

Magnolia Elementary also has a mental health cohort that meets six times each year to evaluate the support the school is providing to teachers, staff, and students. The cohort is comprised of a school psychologist, guidance counselor, social worker, and school health readiness counselor; the school focuses on promoting healthy social-emotional skills and conflict resolution strategies.

As a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports school, Magnolia Elementary believes in emphasizing positive behaviors and teaching character. To build a greater sense of school community, the school has created five "houses" on campus, and each house aligns with a specific character trait: responsibility, respect, cooperation, encouragement, and perseverance.

Students from each grade and every staff member in the school—support staff and faculty alike—are a part of the house system. Within their respective houses, students participate in numerous service learning projects, including making and sending cards to veterans, packing meals for students in need, and cleaning the school grounds.

Due to the school's focus on evidence-based practices, the percentage of students rating proficient or advanced in mathematics and reading on the Maryland School Assessment has increased in four of the last five years.

To continue student growth in academics and all other areas, Magnolia Elementary has created a strong structure for sustainability. The school's three-part mission statement—which includes developing students as well-rounded citizens, partnering with families and the community, and believing in each other—is integrated into every aspect of the school improvement plan.

In order to accomplish the goals of the school improvement plan, and to make sure that the entire school is accountable for whole child support, leadership is divided between quality improvement teams, which meet monthly and collaborate on each element of school success. A few of these are the assessment team, which analyzes data from formative and summative assessments; the community collaborations team, which facilitates events that include families and the community; and the integrated instructional strategies team, which uses the whole child approach to provide professional development training based on staff needs.

By aligning each of the school efforts—professional development, classroom instruction, assessments, and community engagement—with the mission statement and prioritizing whole child support in that mission, Magnolia Elementary has set up a successful and sustainable environment for student growth.

To learn more about Magnolia Elementary School and its approach to a whole child education, listen to an episode of the Whole Child Podcast featuring staff from Magnolia.

2014 Recipient

Washington Montessori School  

Washington Montessori School was selected as the 2014 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient because it has taken specific steps to ensure that high school students from all backgrounds are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Washington Montessori School is a public magnet school in the Guilford County Schools with an enrollment of more than 400 preK–5 students. During the 2009–10 school year, the school was designated in North Carolina as a Priority School, with 50–60 percent of students performing at grade level, including more than 50 percent below grade level in reading. In 2010–11, after instituting changes that supported the whole child, the school became a School of Progress, with 60–80 percent of students performing at grade level.

One area where Washington Montessori has excelled is in its commitment to the health of its students. As a Title I School, 78 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and many have limited access to healthy meals at home. The school has stepped up to this challenge by instituting its universal breakfast program, beginning each student's day with a healthy breakfast free of charge.

The Washington Montessori staff also implemented systems to provide students with healthy meals even when school is not in session. Student-grown gardens have been planted on campus, enabling students to take home fresh foods for the weekend. The school also keeps the cafeteria open throughout the summer, feeding an average of 150 students each day during those months in between academic years.

The clothing closet is another program dedicated to making students feel supported at school. Throughout the year, the school's social worker receives donations of clothing to give to students who may need it during school, in the case of accidents. The program can also provide gifts of new shoes, clothes, glasses, or school supplies to students in need.

The school has created additional programs to foster family and community involvement. One of these is Data with Dinner, held four or more times throughout the year, which provides students, parents, and other community stakeholders with dinner and a conversation about student progress through various data points. Two more programs are Breakfast Bunch and Lunch to Learn, in which parent-initiated topics are discussed and a relaxed atmosphere is provided for parents to express concerns, ask questions, and view presentations from faculty members and district leaders.

The sustainability of a school's success is an essential component of winning Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award, and Washington Montessori School places an admirable focus on this requirement. The presence of collaboration, coordination, and integration are important factors in determining the long-term success of a school’s whole child implementation. Washington Montessori's School Leadership Team, which meets each month to plan for the long-term health of the school, is one of the important collaborative and coordinated efforts the staff has put in place to achieve sustainability. The team works on many initiatives, including

• Facilitating development of the school improvement plan.
• Meeting the school's educational, safety, and parent involvement goals.
• Building the school's capacity to address parent and staff concerns.
• Building the school's capacity to promote high academic achievement, effective educators, adequate resources and facilities, safe and orderly schools, and strong parent and community relations.

2013 Recipient

Milwaukie High School 

Milwaukie High School (MHS) was selected as the 2013 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient because it has taken specific steps to ensure that high school students from all backgrounds are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Located just south of Portland, Oregon, MHS educates 1,330 students in grades 9–12 and has partnered with over 11 community organizations and agencies to support its students. It is an example of what can happen when schools and communities partner and commit to a whole child approach to education.

Academically, MHS challenges each student through all levels of rigorous instruction and participation in curriculum. Education is personalized for students in the path they may choose to follow after high school. At the core of the Milwaukie High program is to make students college-ready when they graduate. Not all students will go to the university, but all students need to be able to read, write, and think critically; problem solve; and work with others in team situations. 

In August 2012, a 2,800-square-foot, state-of-the-art school-based health center (SBHC) was opened on the MHS campus to meet the health needs of students. To fund this initiative, the MHS staff helped raise more than $600,000. No district dollars were used to fund the center, whose medical sponsor, Outside In, provides physical, emotional, and dental health services free to all students. This year, SBHC is open to middle school students in its feeder system.

To help meet students' and families' needs, the high school has partnered with community organizations to provide food items and clothing. The Oregon State University Extension Service and the Oregon Food Bank offer a once-a-month harvest share, where surplus fruits and vegetables from the community are shared with families that would like to receive them. The distribution occurs on the school campus near the end of the school day. There is also a food pantry in school where students may get healthy snacks if they are hungry during the school day. MHS has also opened a clothes closet for its students called the Mustang Heart, which is run by the leadership classes to provide warm clothing for students during the cold part of the year.

2012 Recipient

Byrne Creek Secondary School

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Byrne Creek Secondary School, located in Burnaby, British Columbia, is the 2012 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient. ASCD honored Byrne Creek Secondary School because it is an example of the supportive education community that a commitment to the whole child can create. It is the first Canadian school to receive the award.

Byrne Creek educates a culturally diverse group of 1,250 students in grades 8–12. The area has a large population of immigrant families, many of whom are refugees from war-torn countries. More than 60 percent of the students come from families where English is not the primary language spoken at home. The building's design encourages a sense of belonging through its large, open spaces for community gatherings; 120-seat Centre for Dialogue modeled on the United Nations; open hallways; and bright, natural light.

In response to the diverse set of learners at Byrne Creek, teachers strive to be masters of personalization and differentiated instruction. All students are offered a comprehensive range of courses at all grade levels, including honors and advanced placement, and adapted and modified programs are available through day, night, and summer sessions. The school also offers an independent directed studies program where students, working from learning outcomes, design the objectives, assignments, and assessments that will guide, support, and measure their learning.

Educators at Byrne Creek benefit from weekly collaboration time to discuss practice, identify struggling students, and develop plans to ensure that learning is taking place. During this time, teachers also review broader school goals, assess progress, and adjust instruction to ensure that students are properly supported. The school works closely with at-risk students through the Village of Attachment, a group of staff that forms partnerships with families and community members to create a web of support around Byrne Creek's most vulnerable students. The Village meets weekly as a large group to discuss issues, research, and progress, and individual support teams meet on an ongoing basis to develop more explicit support plans for each student.

Byrne Creek faculty and students also value public- and private-sector partnerships that enable partners to provide needed support throughout the school and local community. To support students' health, the school works with community partners and the British Columbia Agricultural Society to provide breakfast, lunch, and after-school food programs featuring fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a community outreach program that supplies fresh bread, dairy, and produce to students and families in the community. 

The school offers a comprehensive program of extracurricular and intramural athletics for students and many counseling and social services to ensure a strong fabric of social-emotional health. All programs are supported by an educational component or curricular connection to ensure that Byrne Creek students and their families acquire the knowledge and skills to make healthy choices.

The overall success at Byrne Creek is the result of passionate staff, thoughtful planning, and integrated programming coming together in a vibrant and diverse community. The staff members at the school are dedicated educators who genuinely care for their students and approach each new challenge with an open mind.

To learn more about Byrne Creek Secondary School and its approach to a whole child education, read the press release.

2011 Recipient 

Quest Early College High School

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Quest Early College High School, located in Humble, Texas, was the 2011 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient. ASCD honored Quest Early College because it has taken specific steps and produced exceptional results to ensure that high school students from all backgrounds are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

• Healthy: Quest's innovative wellness program helps students establish lifelong healthy habits. For example, each student creates a personal yearlong wellness plan and reflects upon and monitors the plan as the year progresses. Goals set in the plan promote body, skill, and social fitness; students select wellness activities based on personal preference to fulfill these goals.
• Safe: Quest students ASPIRE to be the best they can be. ASPIRE is a Quest acronym that stands for academic behaviors, study habits, problem solving, integrity, reasoning, and engagement. Quest students use these cognitive skills to successfully interact with a rigorous, challenging curriculum. The school provides advisory, tutoring, counseling, and more to help students meet the challenge.
• Engaged: Quest students engage in service learning every Friday at sites throughout the community. They can be found in elementary schools, nursing homes, museums, government offices, and more. Service learning along with senior internships and Senior Exhibition foster authentic learning and strong civic responsibility.
• Supported: When students enter Quest they are assigned to a Family, a multiage group that students belong to for four years that encourages meaningful relationships among students and faculty advisors.
• Challenged: Prior to graduation, Quest seniors complete Senior Exhibition, a capstone project in which students research a social issue, work with a group, create and execute a social action plan, and present their findings.

To learn more about Quest Early College High School and its approach to a whole child education, listen to an episode of the Whole Child Podcast featuring staff and a student from Quest and read the press release.

2010 Recipient 

Malcolm Price Laboratory School

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The University of Northern Iowa's Malcolm Price Laboratory School (PLS) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was the 2010 Vision in Action: The Whole Child Award recipient. ASCD honored Price Laboratory School because of the intentional and specific steps its educators took to ensure that students at every level—from preschoolers to high school juniors and seniors—are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

• Healthy: All 369 students participate in daily physical education classes and a weekly health program for juniors and seniors. This program empowers the older students to take responsibility for their own health and fitness. With a new breakfast and lunch program, Grassroots Café, PLS is able to provide its students with fresh and organic foods grown from local farms and has drastically cut down the amount of processed foods served to the students.
• Safe: To guarantee that their students are safe, educators at PLS instituted the "Be a Buddy, Not a Bully!" program for their elementary students. With an emphasis on character education, students are taught about their responsibility to respect themselves and others.
• Engaged: Educators at PLS have been able to engage their students through project-based learning focused on topics of the students' choosing. The 8th graders participate in "The Empathy Project," in which students develop films that raise awareness, stimulate empathy, and call viewers to action on a variety of issues including the danger of gossip, cyber bullying, and using slurs. The 11th graders participate in projects that include hosting a radio talk show, engaging in service learning, and job shadowing.
• Supported: At PLS, all 6th–12th grade students participate in advisory groups daily at the middle school level and a minimum of twice a month at the high school level. Advisory groups participate in developmentally appropriate activities and moral discussions, and some students view their advisor as an "in-school parent."
• Challenged: All PLS students participate in a college preparatory curriculum; 11th and 12th graders also participate in a multicomponent Junior/Senior Options Program. This program allows students to personalize their own curriculum with flexible scheduling. Some of the options students can choose to participate in are dual-enrollment university courses, individualized courses, internships with local business, cadet teaching, and senior projects.

To learn more about Price Laboratory School and its approach to a whole child education, read the press release.

PLS Staff Testify on Capitol Hill

Clare Struck, an elementary guidance counselor from PLS in Cedar Falls, Iowa, testified at the April 22, 2010, Senate ESEA hearing on meeting the needs of the whole child. Senators learned about the challenges and benefits of providing students with a whole child education based on the firsthand experiences and successes of PLS educators. Struck joined a panel of distinguished educators, including Geoffrey Canada. Learn more.

PLS School Meal Overhaul by The Wellmark Foundation

Through a two-year grant to implement healthy school lunch programs using locally sourced foods, staff at PLS have completely redesigned the lunch program by cooking everything from scratch with local fruits and vegetables. They have dramatically increased the consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables; reduced the amount of waste; and increased parent, school staff, and student satisfaction with the food and the program.