The OVCA Vision of Education

At OVCA, success in the classroom means that we equip our students lifelong spiritually, academically, socially, and physically.  A vision helps us to clarify what we believe is effective in education so that we can be successful in equipping our students. When we have a vision, we can pinpoint what works at our school and omit what is ineffective.

An easy way to remember the elements of our vision is to think about it in terms of the why, the what, and the how. 

WHY?

Why do we educate?

WHAT?

What do we teach?

WHAT?

What is learning?

HOW?

How do we reach our goals?

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How Do We Reach our Goals?

At Ocean View, we are conservative and traditional, yet eclectic.

Another way to ask this might be, "How do we accomplish the task of equipping our students, through the learning process, to form a well-educated worldview?"
The following strategies serve as a road map of sorts, to help us arrive at our destination. 

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First, we avoid learning gaps by basing our instruction on a developing framework of aligned standards and goals.

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Second, our perspective as perennialists and essentialists, our definition of learning, and the content we teach makes interactive lecture an important component of instruction.

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Third, we have a specific body of knowledge and skills to pass on, and thus embrace distributed practice and memorization.

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Fourth, our students experience regular test-taking.  Besides giving the teacher information about learning, tests and quizzes focus the students’ attention to the material, and create more opportunities for distributed practice. 

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Fifth, our teachers are encouraged to also implement task-based, implicit instruction ("hands-on" learning).  These simple and complex tasks can be valuable and enhance learning. They have to come in the right order in instruction: students have to be prepared for them and they have to accomplish something. Objectives of the task and assessment need to be well-planned. The projects need to help the students assimilate and use content that they have mastered.

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Sixth, our students participate in group learning tasks. 
As with any tasks, these need to be well-timed, and highly structured. They should serve clear purposes. Projects like this can provide variety and increase student engagement. They can help students internalize what they have begun to learn.

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Seventh, student-led instruction is a meaningful exercise.  Structure, planning, and communication make this a valuable experience for students.

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Eighth, our teachers plan alternate forms of assessent.  While frequent traditional tests and quizzes are important, alternate assessments can provide further useful information about the extent and quality of student learning. Both the student and the teacher receive valuable feedback. We teach not only content, but skills as well.  Alternate assessments measure acquisition of skill.

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Ninth, at OVCA, we have developed a model, or pattern, of instruction incorporating research-based principles. We call it the OVCA "Learning Curve." Teachers can reference this pattern as they plan and teach, thereby maximizing students' learning time. We provide faculty growth sessions that encourage our teachers to deliver the type of instruction modeled here. Our Learning Curve visual is consistent with WHY we educate, WHAT we teach, WHAT learning is, and HOW to provide effective instruction.