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 \nOur Moonshot: Dighton Public Schools  \nKelly Arnberger  \nDighton USD 482, Dighton, KS, [karnberger@usd482.org](karnberger@usd482.org)  \nFollow this and additional works at: [https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations](https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations)  \n Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Elementary Education and Teaching Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, and the Secondary Education and Teaching Commons  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.  \nRecommended Citation  \nArnberger, Kelly (2020) \"Our Moonshot: Dighton Public Schools,\" Educational Considerations: Vol. 46: No.  \n2. [https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2231](https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2231)  \nThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please [contact](contact cads@k-state.edu)[ cads@k-state.edu](contact cads@k-state.edu).  \nOur Moonshot: Dighton Public Schools  \nKelly Arnberger  \n“Through redesign you have the opportunity do whatever you choose to do to make your school reflect the needs and desires of your community. I believe our public-school teachers can do the  \ngreat things we keep hearing private and charter schools do if we would just let them.” Randy  \nWatson, Kansas Deputy Commissioner of Education, said something to that effect at Dighton in  \nJanuary, 2017. We would now have permission to make our school reflect the true mission,  \nvision, and values of our community without constraint. Sounds great! At least many ofus in  \nattendance listening to Dr. Watson that day thought so. We chose to redesign but we had no idea  \nwhat we were getting into, where it would take us, and how it would change us.  \nDighton is not unlike any other rural school in many ways. The teachers are well-established and  \nmany are from Dighton and the surrounding areas. The students demonstrate normal student  \nbehaviors. Certainly nothing unmanageable and some of them would even shovel your side walk  \nif it snowed. Many students assume they will go to college and figure it out from there. It is the  \nexpectation. The standard high school classes are offered in order to meet college requirements, but limited elective options. Your typical sports and activities are offered and students generally  \nperform at a pleasing level but participation is dwindling, again like many other small rural  \nschools. Overall, the community is supportive and speaks positively about the school system.  \nOutside of our general successes and practices, there were some advantages that made Dighton a  \ngreat candidate for Redesign. The community passed a $12.9 million bond in 2013 to improve  \nand beautify the facilities. Our board of education demonstrated the perfect balance of fiscal  \nstewardship, desire for improvement, and a deep love for the community in which they live.  \nAt the time, the real issue for Dighton: scores were just ok. In fact, our ACT scores were below  \nthe state average and that just did not make sense based on our rural demographic.  \nLet’s talk about what we could do.  \nIn our halls, you could hear teachers talking about how things would improve if they could just  \ndo…fill in the blank. The conversation would escalate to an excited frenzy of ideas and  \npossibilities until someone would say,“Yes, but…fill in the blank.” Business as usual prevailed.  \nStudents matriculated through the system chronologically and in many cases with passing marks  \nbased on effort but not mastery. Justifications and rationalizations proved comfortable and  \neveryone shared in the guilt to the detriment o","cbCaikg6NcUwXF5x","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikg6NcUwXF5x","pdf",175600,"English","# Our Moonshot: Dighton Public Schools\n## Background and rationale for redesign\n## Early process and first-year implementation","[{\"question\":\"What problem motivated Dighton Public Schools to pursue Education Redesign?\",\"answer\":\"The article links redesign to concerns that achievement scores were “just ok,” especially ACT results below the state average, which did not align with the rural district’s demographics.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the district describe day-to-day schooling before redesign?\",\"answer\":\"It describes a system that moved students forward chronologically and often passed them based on effort, with explanations and rationalizations replacing deeper mastery.\"},{\"question\":\"What changes did Dighton pursue during the redesign effort?\",\"answer\":\"The article highlights movement toward personalized learning, project-based learning, and standards-based grading, alongside refining implementation details during the first year.\"}]","Our Moonshot - Dighton Public Schools - Education Redesign: One State’s Innovative Journey - Article 7 | PDF",1792093822,15]