Junior Board Presents at Statewide Summit
Education Innovation Plan - What is it and why are we doing it?

The world our students will enter after graduation continues to change in remarkable ways, from AI reshaping how we work to a workforce that looks nothing like it did a generation ago. While strong academic knowledge remains essential, today's students also need to think critically, communicate effectively, collaborate with others, adapt to new challenges, and apply their learning in meaningful ways.

This year marks an exciting next step in bringing that vision to life. Each school will implement an Education Innovation Plan built around the unique strengths and needs of its students. While every plan looks different, they all share the same goal: creating engaging, meaningful learning experiences that help students grow academically while preparing them for careers, college, and life. These pilot programs will be adapted as necessary, and parents will be kept informed of our progress.

We believe the educators who work with students every day are best positioned to guide this work; thoughtfully improving the learning experience for every student.

The world our students will enter after graduation is constantly evolving and we are committed to ensure they are prepared to succeed.

The Why

"Success today demands more than content mastery — it requires critical thinking, adaptability, collaboration, and the confidence to navigate change. Our Graduate Profile reflects this reality: a clear, shared vision of who we want our students to become, not just what we want them to know."

Reimagining Success at Each School Site

Waggoner Elementary: Expanding opportunities for students to learn through purposeful play, both in the classroom and on the playground.

Rominger Elementary: Fourth and fifth graders learn from a team of teachers who each specialize in different subjects, building strong cross-subject knowledge.

Winters Middle School: Making collaboration a central part of the learning experience across all classrooms.

Winters High School: Building on the school's longstanding Senior Capstone tradition, expanding opportunities for students to demonstrate learning through authentic, real-world projects.

Profile of a Graduate

The Winters JUSD Profile of a Graduate identifies the skills, knowledge, and attributes that support students in a successful transition to life after high school. We are committed to creating the conditions and experiences that ensure each student can succeed in fulfilling the profile’s vision for learning.

  • Critical Thinking: Students seek deeper understanding of complex ideas through dialogue, questioning, and problem solving and apply their knowledge in novel and cognitively demanding ways.
  • Communication: Students read, write, speak, and listen with confidence, demonstrating the ability to receive the thoughts of others and express their own thoughts respectfully, academically, and persuasively.
  • Collaboration: Students work together to achieve collective goals, equitably sharing responsibility for project planning, facilitation, task completion, outcome quality, and reflection to promote their own growth and empowerment.
  • Creativity: Students generate innovative ideas, original products, and inventive solutions to both classroom and real-world problems.
  • CulturalAwarenessStudents recognize and appreciate diversity, demonstrating awareness of and sensitivity to the backgrounds and beliefs of others who are different from themselves.
  • Community Engagement: Students develop partnerships and engage in advocacy, address the issues that affect them, and bring about meaningful changes that improve the well-being of their community and its members.
Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this work a priority? Preparing every student for success in school and in life is at the heart of everything we do, and the world our students are graduating into keeps changing quickly. Strong academic knowledge remains essential, but success today also calls for critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and the confidence to navigate change. This work is an intentional investment in giving our students (and the educators who serve them) what they need to succeed, built directly on the real strengths already present across our schools.

How was the Profile of a Graduate created? Our Profile of a Graduate was shaped with input from students, staff, and the community, identifying the durable skills every graduate should carry forward: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, cultural awareness, and community engagement. It reflects a shared vision of who we want our students to become, not just what we want them to know.

What does it mean to engage student voice? It means students are active partners in shaping this work, not just told about it after the fact. Throughout this process, students have shared what engages them, what challenges them, and what helps them succeed, including through efforts like the WHS Junior Board, and that voice will continue to be heard as each school's plan takes shape.

What is the Education Innovation Plan, in a nutshell? It's how we're bringing our Graduate Profile to life at every school. Each site is building its own Education Innovation Plan around the unique strengths and needs of its students, different in the details, but all aimed at the same goal: engaging, meaningful learning experiences that help students grow academically while preparing them for college, career, and life.

Who is guiding this work? This work is guided by the people who know our students best - our own teachers, principals, and staff, building each school's plan for their own students. The Board of Education set the shared vision, and from there, our educators were given the room to shape what that vision looks like at their site.

Will every school's plan look the same? No, and that's by design. Each school's plan is built around its own students' strengths and needs, so what you see at Waggoner, Rominger, Winters Middle School, and Winters High School won't look identical. What they all share is the same goal: helping students grow academically while preparing them for careers, college, and life.

How does this build on what Winters JUSD already does well? This work starts from strength, not from a problem to fix. Our educators are trusted to build on the practices already working in their classrooms and schools, extending what's effective rather than starting over - an intentional investment in giving our students, and the professionals who serve them, what they need to succeed.

How will families stay informed as this moves forward? Families will be kept informed every step of the way. Plans will be adapted as needed, with regular updates on progress shared along the way, including a State of the District update each spring, so the community can see how this work is unfolding at each school.

Which phase of Education Innovation are we in right now? We're in the fourth and current phase: Implementation and Monitoring. The groundwork is already behind us - contemplating the traditional approach, creating our Profile of a Graduate, and listening and learning from students, staff, and community - and this year that vision is coming to life in classrooms, with each school piloting its own Education Innovation Plan at Waggoner, Rominger, Winters Middle School, and Winters High School.