LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – As his classmates were working out the first-day jitters and easing back into school on Wednesday, Goldsmith Elementary fifth-grader Aaron Krausen was busy uploading his first artifact to his digital backpack.
The 2018-19 school year is the first at Jefferson County Public Schools for its Backpack of Success Skills initiative, in which students submit projects they’ve completed that they feel demonstrate their aptitude in areas like being globally and culturally competent citizens.
Aaron and other fifth-grade students in JCPS will have to defend their work before a panel at the end of the year, and his first submission is a letter he wrote last year about why he thinks Kentucky should be more welcoming to immigrants and refugees.
It was among letters that Goldsmith Principal Jeremy Renner sent to local lawmakers, and Aaron said without immigrants and refugees, half of his class wouldn’t be in the U.S. That includes his best friend, Harold, who came to the U.S. from Cuba.
“We’ve been friends since second grade, so I’m glad that they let in refugees because if they didn’t he wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t know him,” Aaron said Friday. “And I’m glad I do.”
Aaron also noted in his letter that immigrants and refugees could be in peril at home, facing prospects of war or famine.
He got a head start on the new JCPS program this summer, spending time at Goldsmith with his mother, special education teacher Laura Krausen, and learning more about the program.
“He was excited when he heard he could possibly be the first one and be able to be the leader of that to help the others,” Krausen said.
“And help his teacher out,” said Alex Windham, Aaron’s teacher, as he stood next to her. “He can help the whole class out.”
JCPS officials believe the district’s Backpack of Success Skills will yield transformational results as students get more personally invested in their work.
There are five categories for students to submit their artifacts – prepared and resilient learner, globally and culturally competent citizen, emerging innovator, effective communicator, and productive collaborator – with schools allowed to include a sixth “signature” category. At Goldsmith, Principal Jeremy Renner said that optional category might be world languages since the school has a Spanish immersion program and a diverse student body, but he said he wanted students to master the basics right before adding an extra section to the school’s digital backpack.
Students in fifth, eighth and twelfth grades must defend their work at the end of the year in front of a panel and demonstrate how the skills they’ve learned at school have prepared them for the next phase of their academic or, in the case of high school years, professional careers.
Carmen Coleman, the district’s chief academic officer, said she changed her plans on the first day of school when she found out that Aaron had become the first JCPS student to submit something to his digital backpack.
“I saw a tweet that said Goldsmith Elementary has the first student to put an artifact in his backpack,” Coleman said. “I got in my car right that second and drove over here. I was so excited. I mean, it’s awesome to see it come to life.”
Coleman says she expects the initiative will boost student performance since they will incorporate lessons they’ve learned at school to complete the projects. She also expects it to have an impact on equity in classrooms throughout JCPS because each student must have quality learning experiences in order to have artifacts for their backpacks.
“It’ll change the focus for some schools because sometimes we mistakenly think that if kids come to us and they’re behind, they can’t do these kinds of things,” Coleman said. “They can’t do this rich learning because they’ve got to work on the basics, and what we want to see is this really cause a shift.
“Yes, the basics are important, but they can learn those, and in fact are more likely to learn, if it is done in a way that matters to them, that’s meaningful to them.”
Aaron said he was happily surprised to learn that he was the first JCPS students to add an artifact to his digital backpack.
But will he be ready to defend his work at the end of the year as he prepares to enter middle school?
“Maybe,” he said, smiling.
Reach reporter Kevin Wheatley at 502-585-0838 and kwheatley@wdrb.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinWheatleyKY.
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