Craft Category: Strategies

Teachers are mentors to small, single-gendered groups called “Prides.” In the mentor role for these groups, teachers are referred to as “Pride Leaders.”

Students at Valor spend time in a single-gendered small group meant to foster community and individual non-academic support.

Each student at Valor participates in a once weekly elective-type class that provides direct instruction related to their social-emotional learning.

Valor students participate in a weekly “Circle” exercise, during which they work to improve themselves, their community, and their relationships with others.

Students participate in “True North” practice to build presence and balance A great deal of Valor’s social-emotional learning (SEL) works

Individual, Relationship, and Community-based activities that students complete and often share through a communal practice called “Circle.”

Valor students work through the Compass Phase System in a self-paced, competency-based approach spanning from grades 5 through 12.

Small group instruction plays a central role in helping Valor teachers meet a diverse range of learning needs.

Teachers at Valor have created a series of playlists built to review math standards and students work through them individually, at their own pace.

Valor determined two core Compass Habits representing excellence in each of the five Compass Disciplines. Students develop competency in each of these habits, which are sequenced through a series of phases within the Compass Phase System.