2014/15 Strategic Update for the Community

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1 An update to last year s Unparalleled Altitude To realize our goal of being a world-class district, we have several years of climbing to complete. This update is the climb for the 2014/15 school year. 2014/15 Strategic Update for the Community

2 In 2013/14, Eagle County Schools sought input from the community about what it expected out of its public schools. The community said it wanted a world-class school district that prepares students to be internationally competitive. Working with a comprehensive range of district staff members, Superintendent Jason Glass developed and shared a new plan to deliver on those expectations. Dr. Glass globally inspired vision required the Board of Education and the district to reevaluate and update its core mission, vision, and values. For the 2014/15 school year, Eagle County Schools is excited to share this update to our Strategic Plan.

3 Mission: In safe environments, we teach the children of Eagle County to have creative and active minds, compassion for others, enthusiasm for lifelong learning, and the courage to act on their dreams. Vision: Internationally competitive graduates Values: Respecting educators Engaging students and improving achievement Equitably preparing a diverse student body Involving the community Delivering a challenging curriculum The updated mission, vision, values, strategies, and tactics contained herein were approved by the Board of Education at the September 10, 2014 meeting.

4 L E A R N E R S Learners Develop a system of customized learning. Tactic 1: At the elementary level: Focus on foundational elements of literacy and numeracy by implementing multi-step, failsafe systems where outcomes are clear, teams of educators closely monitor student progress, and take student-specific actions at the earliest signs of struggle (Response to Instruction). Tactic 2: At the secondary level: Create clear and customized pathways to college or careers that include abundant opportunities for experiencing college-level work, earning college credits while in high school, and with local employers and experts engaging in experiential opportunities. Tactic 3: Tailor instruction at all age levels for exceptional students, both gifted and special education. For gifted students, we must go beyond just acceleration and offer deeper opportunities for learning and engaging opportunities for self-study and enrichment. For special education students, we must provide adapted instruction, tailored to fit their needs, and supported to the same high standards we have for all students. Tactic 4: Leverage and expand online and blended learning opportunities to create an abundance of learning options for students. We focused professional learning opportunities on collective understanding and implementation of Response to Tactic 5: Shift toward student progression based on mastery of learning instead of timebased notions of learning (earning credits based on hours of seat time in class). Students advance or receive additional time as they need it and have access to an abundance of experience-based learning opportunities. Tactic 6: Consider alternate school calendar structures and summer supports that can mitigate the summer slump (a decline in academic ability after the summer months), and provide engaging and enriching learning opportunities outside the regular curriculum. Tactic 7: Convert our natural student demographics into an enormous advantage by expanding multi-lingual opportunities across the district with the goal of every student graduating from Eagle County Schools being able to speak multiple languages. Tactic 8: Ensure that all English Language Learners have a masterful command of English (i.e., they can read, write, speak, and listen across all content areas). Tactic 9: Ensure students have a voice in their education. Tactic 10: Achieve demographic balance in schools to ensure high quality, diverse learning environments. Instruction best practices. We expanded the AVID program to middle school level. E D U C A Educators Create a professional model of teaching. Tactic 1: Focus on recruiting teachers from the very best colleges and universities anywhere in the country, if not the world. Tactic 2: Recruit from our own topperforming high school students, creating local systems with world-class standards of excellence to grow-our-own talented educators. Tactic 3: Remain incredibly selective about whom we allow to begin or to remain teaching in our schools. Tactic 4: Compensate, recognize and provide supports for our new and existing teachers so that we are competitive for new teaching talent while retaining our experienced and talented educators. Our educators should be among the best compensated in the State of Colorado for us to be competitive. We redesigned our recruitment strategy and received 200 more highly qualified applicants than the previous year, which allowed us to bring 79 top quality candidates to the district. We began working with Colorado Mountain College on their Bachelor s

5 T O R S Tactic 5: Support and build upon our existing career ladder (career, mentor, and master teachers) while looking to expand it for more professional options such as year-round teachers or specialist teacher-leaders that bring expertise to a key area of student need (data specialists or language-learning specialists). Tactic 6: Support and value the time of our existing professional learning model to empower our front-line educators further. Tactic 7: Support educators with opportunities to enrich their content knowledge and stay abreast of new and emerging best practices in teaching. Tactic 8: Entrust principals with the responsibility of instilling the practices necessary to achieve the performance goals of their schools. S T A N D A R D S Standards Align curriculum and practices to high standards. Tactic 1: Continue the work of rigorous curriculum design, establishing ongoing cycles to benchmark and align our curriculum in all content areas against the Colorado Academic Standards, internationally benchmarked standards, and internationally competitive systems. A mantra that must burn in the minds of all educators must be: alignment, alignment, alignment in thinking about how instructional work aligns to high standards. Tactic 2: Continue the work of developing curricula in all subject areas that are clearly aligned with the district s high expectations. Expand the curriculum to include: character education, critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration. Tactic 3: Provide teachers with clear and evidence-based literacy and numeracy resources district-wide that are aligned with our standards. Tactic 4: Continue the district s work around formative assessment (but work to make this process faster and much more efficient) and the formative assessment process as an instructional practice. Also, build capacity of district-wide formative assessments in literacy and numeracy that have a direct impact on classroom instruction and that are clearly aligned to district standards. Degree in Elementary Education, with Eagle County Schools staff on the planning committee. We provided a cost-of-living-adjustment raise to staff members following years of decline or stagnation in pay. We added literacy and numeracy lessons, resources and tasks, and focused professional learning on consistent application of instructional strategies to meet kids where their academic needs were and provided either enrichment or support to keep them above or at grade level. We evolved the common formative assessment landscape by creating an assessment item bank on Educator Central. This provided teachers access to assessment questions already created and tied to standards for formative assessment and served as models for the types of questions teachers should be asking students based on the standards. These collaboratively created and scored teacher-owned formative assessments provided immediate feedback to students to impact their learning. Adopted 9/10/14

6 T E C H N O L O G Y The Special Role of Technology Adapt practices to integrate technology into the learning process. Tactic 1: Develop media-rich schools. Tactic 2: Provide high-quality, state-of-the-art devices for each student. Tactic 3: Develop curricula for technology, including accelerated pathways. W R A P A R O U N D Wraparound Supports Provide internal and external supports that remove barriers to learning. Internal Tactic 1: Ensure that buildings and grounds are safe. Tactic 2: Provide safe and reliable transportation of students. Tactic 3: Provide healthy and nutritious meals. Tactic 4: Provide guidance counseling services. External Tactic 1: Engage and involve parents and families. Tactic 2: Engage and leverage community organizations. Tactic 3: Provide a comprehensive and robust community-wide system around early childhood. We made a significant push to update antiquated and failing technology. Libraries began transforming into media-rich learning commons. Mobile computer labs greatly increased the ratio of devices per student, and our internet connection received a comprehensive update. We also organized a comprehensive, and on-going, collaborative effort among the community s multitude of non-profits, governmental agencies, and philanthropies to enhance and align their interoperability effectiveness.

7 COMMUNICATIONS The Special Role of Communications Relay essential information to foster stakeholder support for the district. Tactic 1: Foster teacher-to-parent interpersonal communications as the most common contact method with stakeholders. Schools communicate and connect via open houses, newsletters to parents, active PTA/Os, events to draw parents into schools, and recruitment of volunteers from individuals and businesses. Tactic 2: Deliver strategic communications directly to parents and staff members related to specific departments. Tactic 3: Engage the larger community of stakeholders with information about the district s progress, successes, and challenges. Tactic 4: Trigger and support grassroots advocacy efforts around state and national public education issues. F I N A N C E S A Fiscally-sound District Maintain stakeholder trust through transparent management of district finances. Tactic 1: Maintain a community-based finance committee to provide additional oversight on audit reports. Tactic 2: Provide clear communications to stakeholders on fiscal matters. Tactic 3: Develop and maintain a comprehensive, outcomesbased budgeting strategy, including five-year planning. Tactic 4: Identify opportunities to continuously strengthen the district s financial base. Tactic 5: Evaluate district programs based on a return-oninvestment analysis. Tactic 6: Create and maintain a long-range Facilities Master Plan in concert with the academic program. In communications, we hosted the first Insider s Academy to provide in-depth and transparent insights into district operations. We also expanded outreach with social media, our website, and began weekly columns in the Vail Daily. Our community responded on a grassroots basis to contact state legislators to insist the negative factor be restored. This resulted in $110 million more dollars in state funding and contributed to a small increase in our budget. We hired an experienced Chief Financial Officer, passed our annual audits with flying colors, maintained required operating fund balances, and tightened our alignment between expenditures and strategies designed to improve student outcomes. Adopted 9/10/14

8 / 1 5 F O C U S While we continue to make progress across all fronts of our strategic plan, this year we are focusing on: Teaching to high standards and expectations Tailoring instruction to student needs Empowering frontline educators Unlike the unproven reforms forced upon us by the state, these are research-based, effective ways to improve student performance. The top-performing systems in the world focus on these fundamental, albeit politically boring, techniques to stay on top. We need our community and staff to remain focused with us on what works and avoid the distractions of national- and state-level politics. Together, with local control, we can ensure that our children are prepared and internationally competitive. 948 Chambers Avenue, POB 740 Eagle, CO