Cassopolis Public Schools have been going through a period of change over the last few months. First, previous superintendent Tracy Hertsel left after nearly three decades in the district. Then, the seat of superintendent was taken over by Angela Piazza, previously of Goshen Public Schools in Indiana.

Now, the school district is looking at changing the fundamentals of its curriculum.

With Piazza and Curriculum Coordinator Karen Blaha at the forefront of the movement, Cassopolis Public Schools will be taking the 2017-2018 school year to look at how they currently do things, implement new programs and see how the new programs work for them.

“This year is an exploratory year for us,” Piazza said. “We are looking to bring project based learning, inquiry based learning and one-to-one technology.”

Piazza explained that the changes are necessary to compete to help students compete in today’s world, particularly with the fast-paced nature of technology. The new model of project based learning will also help children to move past simply memorizing information and apply it to the real world.

Coming from a new tech school district, Piazza is hoping to implement some ideas and strategies that she used in previous schools that she found successful.

“We all bring our experiences with us, and I’m bringing what I learned [from new tech schools],” Piazza said. “But there are so many steps before we can say we are a new tech district. We aren’t ready to say that right now.”

One of the biggest pieces of new curriculum is technology. The biggest push for new technology in the schools this year will be through a one-to-one technology program, which will ensure that each student has a device, be it a tablet or laptop, that will help them to engage and learn in the classroom.

To help aid in the transition, the school board hired Forrest Glasper, of Indiana, to take over the position of technology director. As Glasper has worked in schools that have a heavy tech focus in the past, Piazza feels he will help move the Cassopolis School District in a new, innovative direction.

“As we look at our current curriculum, we are looking for more digital media and digital texts,” Piazza said. “As we move away from workbooks and worksheets, we are moving more toward the digital components.”

The two other pillars of Piazza and Blaha’s new curriculum plan are project based learning and inquiry based learning.

These learning techniques will help students to understand how their work will affect the world outside the classroom and teach children life skills, such as critical thinking along with the traditional skills and knowledge needed to succeed in school.

“[With project and inquiry based learning,] thing will always come back to how does this relate to the community?” Blaha said. “How does this relate to the real world?”

Piazza and Blaha hope to literally bring the community into the classroom, beyond the community service requirements students have to graduate.

For example, in a previous school where Piazza served as principal, a science class went to a local restaurant and took swabs of various surfaces and tested them in school labs. The students then created a manual for safe food handling for the restaurant, which the restaurant adopted and used to train new employees.

“That’s a small example, but it can be all kinds of things,” Piazza said. “Community members could even come in to the schools to talk to the kids.”

The school district is currently looking for community partners to work with students on hands-on projects like theses, and hopes to have students performing these types of projects within the year.

Though these changes to the curriculum are new to Cassopolis, they are not coming out of left field, Blaha said. According to her, the Michigan Common Core standards are written in a way that allows for technology and project based learning already.

“If you look at the way the standards are written, they really are written for students to collaborate with each other,” Blaha said. “It’s real world application, so we want to bring some of that into the classroom.”

Though both Piazza and Blaha were excited to implement the new changes to curriculum, whether or not they implement further or permanent changes will depend on staff input.

“This is a team effort,” Piazza said. “If something doesn’t work, we won’t implement it. That’s why this is an exploratory year. We are learning what will work for Cassopolis and these students.”

Teachers will have a chance to visit new tech schools at each level, elementary through high school, and to see project based learning first hand to get a better idea of what this type of curriculum looks like and if it will work for their students.

Though there are still many kinks to work out and obstacles to overcome with the new curriculum, both Blaha and Piazza said they are up for the challenge.

“We are ready,” Piazza said. “There are many things for us to look at, but we are excited for this year and we are ready.”