NORWICH – At the regularly scheduled Norwich City School District Board of Education meeting last night, Assistant Superintendent Dara Lewis familiarized the board with the outcome of Common LINKS 19: an annual summer teaching workshop for NCSD faculty.

64 NCSD teachers attended the Common LINKS 19 workshop this summer, where a shift in focus was collaboratively agreed upon. The goal after LINKS 18 was to “increase student achievement through focused instructional practice,” but this year, Lewis says the goal is to “increase student learning through improved professional practice.”

“We knew coming into this year's LINKS that we are a district in good standing––each building is in good standing, and this is a huge deal for us here in Norwich,” Lewis said. “Our district goal is to provide clarity and maintain focus on foundation to get better at what we're already doing. Even our very best teachers can get better.”

Lewis went on to say that one of the main conclusions came to at Common LINKS 19 is that the district has to align its policies and expectations.

“What happens at Gibson greatly matters to Perry Browne, what happens at Perry Browne greatly matters to the middle school, what happens at the middle school greatly matters to the high school,” said Lewis. “We need to maintain focus on foundation to get better at we're already doing. We need to finish what we've started before we take new initiatives.”