K-8 and high schools. This includes a career and technical center that draws students from eight other school corporations across four other counties. The district has 3,400 employees, over 1,600 of whom are teachers. A LEADER IN INNOVATIVE EDUCATION In 2011, Dr. David B. Smith was appointed Superintendent of the EVSC after serving 29 years in a variety of roles in the district from teacher to principal, to interim deputy superintendent, to assistant superintendent for business and human resources, to his current role as leader. Under Smith’s guidance, the EVSChas achieved national prominence in the development of unique, innovative school models, and is especially recognized as a leader in the implementation of recent advances in the field of neuroeducation through its utilization of the GAIN (Growth in Academics through Innovation and Neuroeducation) framework. GAIN’s approach is to support healthy, whole student development with the goal for students to graduate high school with the cognitive, academic, executive functioning, and employability skills needed to be successful at work, at home, and in the community. “We have learned so much in the last fifteen to twenty years, primarily through neuro-imaging and medical science about brain development and how children learn,” Smith explains. “What we know is that traditional pedagogical practices seem to be pretty devoid of that understanding. So, what we have tried to do is align all of our thinking, and the decisions that we make, through the lens of how children learn; how they develop; and how the brain needs to be in a healthy state to take on the act of cognition.” NEUROEDUCATION IN THE EARLY GRADES SusanPhelps is EVSC’sChiefOfficer ofNeuroeducation, having worked for the district since 2010 as a psychologist and director of behavior support. Her task in her current role is to leverage the knowledge gleaned from neuroscience in determining how it can be applied in the classroom where it can impact students, allowing them to develop to their maximum potential. 455 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 EVANSVI LLE VANDERBURGH SCHOOL CORPORAT ION
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