Part C—Describing Recommendations for District/Campus Improvement Initiative & Lessons Learned

My district hires a consultant to work with Board members and the Superintendent to brainstorm district goals and then reach consensus on those goals for the upcoming school year.  While the approach is collaborative and a best practice, at times it results in district goals that are quite broad and not easily measureable. Goals also seem to be based on the current issues facing the district and are not far-reaching to impact where the district hopes to be in 5-10 years. 

I believe the quality of the district goals developed may be improved if some pre-work was done before the meeting with the consultant.  A recommendation I would make would be that the Superintendent and his executive team draft proposed goals which are closely focused on three important areas: improving student performance and increasing district accountability, improving the district’s financial position in these difficult economic times and into the future, and developing an intermediate-range plan for district facility needs.  My district is a fast-growth district, which is why I believe an intermediate-range (3-5 year) plan is about as far as we can project into the future.  Then when working with the consultant, the Board and Superintendent would have a more defined starting place to begin their work.  If the goals were developed in this manner, I believe district goals may be more comprehensive and more closely aligned to district data and needs.

Another suggestion I would make is that the District Improvement Plan be written in a more concise format which defines short, intermediate, and long-range goals for improvement.  Currently, it is a compilation of all of the Campus Improvement Plans. I believe common themes/practices/programs should be developed so that all of the campuses have a framework on which to focus their goals and efforts. This would allow campuses at the elementary, middle, and high school level to focus on specific strategies for achieving their goals. 

For example, bullying is a problem that parents and students continue to identify as a concern in our schools.  If a common approach to teaching anti-bullying was established, each school level would understand their role, and redundancy and duplication of effort would be minimized.  Elementary schools could focus on teaching what bullying is, what to do if it is happening to you, and appropriate bystander behavior.  Middle schools could focus on the importance of appropriate peer relationships and how to recognize and react to cyber bullying.  Finally, high schools could focus on using social media appropriately and dating violence. While the overall framework is still the teaching of  anti-bullying strategies, each level in the school system has a unique and age-appropriate part in the whole.