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New Providence highlights Vision 2025: SEL, AI in classrooms and expanded electives
Summary
District leaders and students presented Vision 2025 goals and classroom examples Feb. 20, including SEL lessons, i-Ready diagnostics, teacher‑controlled AI tools used for writing feedback, and new electives such as Wellness P.E., Marketing and Biomedical Engineering.
District leaders presented the New Providence School District’s Vision 2025 curriculum goals and classroom implementations at the Feb. 20 board meeting, with examples ranging from first-grade SEL activities to high-school biomedical engineering prototypes.
Jonathan Keaney, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Supervision, framed the presentation around Vision 2025 goals: enhanced elementary and secondary programming, a districtwide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum, modernized facilities and an instructional framework emphasizing higher-order thinking. Keaney invited teachers and students to demonstrate lessons and projects.
First-grade teacher Kathy Yanni described an SEL activity that asked families why they chose a child’s name and used the story Alma and How She Got Her Name to build identity and community in the class. "By recognizing the stories behind their names, students can better appreciate their identities and the diversity within their classroom," Yanni said.
Third-grade teacher Brittany Heaslip demonstrated the i‑Ready Try/Discuss/Connect routine used to structure math lessons; district staff explained that i‑Ready diagnostic reports help teachers identify prerequisite skills and plan targeted instruction. Middle‑school teacher Russell Anderson and students described using MagicSchool AI for Document‑Based Questions: the AI provides initial feedback while teachers retain control and customize responses. "The program is easy to use and gives students simple and easy feedback," student Luke Rios said.
High-school presenters described new electives: Melissa Halpern and student Isabella DeLuca previewed a Wellness P.E. course emphasizing yoga, strength training and self-reflection; Wendi Millard and student Miriam Lawler described a Marketing elective that connects students with local business owners; and four Biomedical Engineering students presented projects including a timed drug-delivery prototype, a micro‑pacemaker model, an organ‑on‑a‑chip system and an AI model to interpret American Sign Language trained on a 90,000-image dataset.
Keaney said AI tools are being used as teacher-controlled "think partners" rather than replacements, and the district has issued guidelines for classroom use. He also credited a grant obtained with help from Jennifer Pasuit for enabling Project Lead The Way middle-school courses.
What happens next: the board received the curriculum report; no vote was taken. Presenters encouraged continued community participation in strategic-planning sessions, including a March 4 session on elementary instruction.
