Mrs. Julie Ramos is the Director of Strategic Innovation for the Wickliffe City Schools District. Mrs. Ramos is the former Superintendent of the Ledgemont Local School District, a School Improvement Specialist, and a former teacher. She has the responsibility for creating and sustaining innovative practices within the district. If you are interested in learning more and/or talking with Mrs. Ramos, please contact her via email: [email protected].

 

To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and useful. Innovation at Wickliffe City Schools centers on the goals of the strategic plan, working directly with businesses and community organizations to develop partnerships to benefit instructional practices for staff, as well as learning opportunities for kids. Wickliffe City School District fosters robust partnership engagement with stakeholders. These stakeholders include: parents, elected school officials, businesses, teachers, community based organizations, local government, as well as local and regional foundations. Each of these groups plays an increased, focused, and committed role in enhancing student performance outcomes.

Innovation at Wickliffe City School District includes the development and implementation of a comprehensive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program, preparing students for intense 7th and 8th grade lab experiences, and with an integrated and sequential curriculum covering grades 6-12. The STEM program is one opportunity to identify critical local employer skill set needs, to provide career exploration, and to teach in demand/high wage technical skills, ultimately leading to a skill workforce that will serve area businesses and the community.

Innovation at Wickliffe City School District is implementing Project Based Learning (PBL) at all levels. PBL creates multiple points of contact with the community to arrange for student community service projects, service learning, team building efforts, interpersonal communication skills, leadership development, career exploration, job shadowing, internships, college selections, and job placement.

 

Innovation at Wickliffe City School District provides academic and career planning for students to enable them to be best prepared for college or career when they graduate from high school. Students in grades 7-12 will engage in college and career planning as an intentional process of setting and achieving goals as part of a larger K-12 college and career readiness curriculum.

 

The Wickliffe City School District’s plan is bold and ambitious. It is future-focused as it anticipates and works proactively to address the needs of the community now and in the future. The plan is comprehensive in that it addresses the educational, social, and economic needs of the community. Finally, the plan builds alliances and partnerships that will ensure its sustainability well into the future. The innovative initiatives will create an educational environment that serves students and the community now and into the future.