Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board is set to vote on goals for 2013-14 at its Oct. 14 meeting.
One of those goals is to increase the number of students meeting or exceeding the standard in state testing to 75 percent in math and reading.
The board met in a work session on Sept. 28 to develop goals for this school year. The resulting draft includes four goals, and the board will vote on them during its regular meeting Monday night.
While being 100 percent committed to providing a high quality education to all students, the board’s vision is to “expect the best,” according to the draft.
High expectations are necessary if the district is to expect the best, Supt. Don Schrader said.
Schrader had the board members and administrators work in small groups to develop the goals, he said. They talked about their beliefs and what they feel the district should look like.
The draft goals coming out of the session included the following:
n Improve Student Achievement – All students show growth in Math, Reading and Writing.
Seventy-five percent of all students will meet or exceed the benchmark standard or individual growth targets (OAKS) in math and reading.
Students will show growth in math, reading and writing using data from multiple sources, including DIBELS, STAR, AR, EZ-CBM and other school based data sources.
n Improve Instruction – Staff will be high-quality, trained and retained.
The district will promote professional development activities that promote best practices; provide time and opportunity for professional learning communities teams to meet and collaborate; and analyze and evaluate hiring practices.
n Financial Stability – Support student learning by deploying strategic budgeting processes that support the recommendations for class sizes in kindergarten through sixth grade; provide financial support and resources to improve curriculum and instruction; and analyze school schedules, calendars and the four day school week.
n Strategic Planning – Evaluate and develop a new strategic plan “Pathway to the 2020.” The board will conduct a work session to review progress on the 2009-14 Strategic Plan and then conduct workshops that engage the community and key stakeholders in the process of creating a new Strategic Plan.
Board members and administrators have continued to provide input on the draft during the past two weeks, Schrader said.
“Some of the main things they talked about was looking at class sizes,” Schrader said. The district has about six classes at or slightly above 30 this year. Last year, it had classes as large as 33 and 34. Class sizes fluctuate even during the year. A classroom scheduled at 32 students this year is down to 29.
Controlling class sizes can present a challenge operationally, he said, wondering whether a class of 32 can be broken into two classes of 16.
“I think, when you have an effective teacher, they can manage 18, they can manage 32,” Schrader said. But fewer students means more individualized attention. Smaller class sizes will help, but he asked at what expense.
The board also wants to revisit the calendar and analyze the schedules, Schrader said, and it is focused on improving student achievement.
Schrader said he would prefer 100 percent meeting or exceeding the standards, but 60 percent or 75 percent is a reachable goal. Schools across the state would be doing well to reach 75 percent in reading and math.
The board’s goals are derived from its mission, guiding principles and vision, Schrader said. That translates to building goals, which are part of the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan, a document the district must send to the state Department of Education.
Under the goals and CIP, the district will focus on reading and math scores extensively this year, Schrader said. That should lead to improvements in other areas, which depend on reading and math skills.
The schools set more detailed goals to achieve the overall vision of the board, Schrader said. The specifics are hard for the board to set.
“They can look at test scores and say, ‘You need to do your job;’ and that’s what we’re doing,” Schrader said. “We are doing everything we possibly can to make things improve.”
The district has come through some large changes in recent years, Schrader said, but the bottom line is “if you train your teachers to be effective, learning happens. You’ve got to have the right folks in front of the kids.”
The way to do that is through training and professional development, Schrader said, and that’s a critical part of the goals.