White Knoll High School is helping all students develop the World-Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by adapting our instructional planning and delivery methodology to provide our students with innovative and creative learning structures to support our students’ learning, even during a global pandemic. WKHS, its students, parents, faculty and stakeholders have risen above the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic. Our teachers and students navigated eLearning together via Google Meets, Zoom classrooms, phone conferences and even socially distanced home visits. The content brought us together, but the virtual time maintained the Timberwolf family as a unit. The pandemic united many forces that challenged our normal practices, but grew us academically, socially and emotionally through technology. Our success is shared by ALL stakeholders involved in supporting students and teachers through the process, and sincere appreciation goes to everyone involved.
Our district’s vision, “Empower each child to design the future,” weighed heavily on our teachers to provide the standard of a high-quality and cutting-edge education during a period of uncertainty and separation. In spite of these challenges, our courageous teacher leaders redesigned units of study and assessments around essential learning. As a result, teacher leaders developed lessons that elevated student choice, student voice and relevant learning experiences. Students demonstrated their learning through project-based activities, inquiry learning, Flipgrids, blogs, Breakout Boxes, virtual labs, relevant performance tasks and discussion boards. Students were able to express and “design” their learning through a variety of mediums that revealed understanding and highlighted talents. As we move forward, we are committed to continuing to personalize learning experiences that empower and leverage students’ voices and choices.
At WKHS, our school work plan focused on Student Engagement, Equity and Social-Emotional Learning. Throughout the school year, teachers focused on an area of personal growth that was aligned with one of these targeted areas. Content area teams such as biology, algebra and English focused heavily on the Student Engagement Model to increase student engagement through inquiry-based learning and the workshop model. These student-centered activities increased student work time as they built resiliency and depth in reading, writing and processing with ongoing teacher feedback. Teachers were intentional with asset-based thinking approaches when making instructional and management decisions within the classroom. Teachers on the Equity teams continued to assess areas of inequity at our school and are working to ensure an equitable high school experience for ALL students. The Social-Emotional Learning teams dug into the five Social-Emotional Learning competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Responsible Decision-Making, Relationship Skills, Social Awareness) and the impact on students of trauma and risks for dropping out of school. Student support teams identified the needs of the students to connect them with resources, agencies and community of support for individualized assistance. The intentional work of teachers spoke to our district’s System Commitment that “ALL students, regardless of circumstances advance on time, are prepared to graduate and ready to enter college, the military or industry with certification.” We continued to perfect our teacher teams, also known as Professional Learning Communities, in an effort to enhance our instructional planning, delivery and assessment. Our English 2 PLC is used as a model of effective teaming, as their End of Course Assessment pass rate reached 86.8% this spring.
As we look back on this historic school year, there were many successes achieved by students, faculty and the school as a whole. First and foremost, WKHS graduated 435 students on a beautiful Thursday morning on June 10, in our very own stadium in front of family and friends, livestreamed for all to see. The 2021 graduating class had some impressive numbers, earning more than $31,000,000 in scholarship money, with 17 Palmetto Fellows, 272 LIFE/HOPE Scholarships, 278 graduates heading to college and 14 graduates joining the military. Our Fine Arts department continued to produce All-Region and All-State performers. The Archery team placed seventh in the national tournament, and our Environmental Science Club earned the title of SC Green Steps School. Multiple teachers earned state and national awards.
WKHS is tremendously proud of our Timberwolf family and the manner in which we traversed the challenges of the past school year. Our teachers, students and families proved that they can support one another and become stronger through adversity. We are committed to empowering ALL students to be productive global citizens in the 21st century by fostering accountability, lifelong learning and respect, even during a global pandemic.
Edward Daughtrey, Principal
Ryan Loguzzo, SIC Chair
