EBR – Committee for Educational Excellence

1. EBR – Committee for Educational Excellence Introduction and Work Plan Discussion Document 24 May, 2011 CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY Any use of this material without specific permission is strictly prohibited

2. What is Our Role and Why We are Here • With the existence of a new School Board, the community should generate and own our schools’ strategic plan, built hand-in-hand with the School Board • As a committee, we are accepting this challenge and are prepared to face the tough questions, and discover answers for education in this community • We must have a bold goal and aim to develop actionable solutions to reach this goal • The future direction of the EBR School System will be guided by the plan developed by this committee and adopted by the Board • This committee will have responsibilities after the conclusion of the plan, assisting the Board in overseeing accountability for the execution of the plan

3. Example: Pueblo City Schools Strategic Plan Process (1/2) • Pueblo City, CO – Pueblo City Schools Strategic Plan • In 2007 the district, in collaboration with over 300 diverse volunteers from throughout the community, collaborated and created a District Strategic Plan • A 36 member core team lead the initiative • Each objective is facilitated by one individual leading an action team of up to 37 persons • Each objective is broken down into multiple sub groups or “action steps” Source: Colorado Department of Education

4. Example: Pueblo City Schools Strategic Plan Process (2/2) • Pueblo City Schools • Pueblo City Schools have implemented a community-led strategic plan with six objectives each under the supervision of one individual: • All Pueblo City Schools students successfully complete a comprehensive individualized education plan to prepare them to enter 21st century academic pursuits or the global work force • All Pueblo City Schools students will meet or exceed international standards and measuresof achievement • Pueblo City Schools will recruit and retain a highly-qualified competitive workforce sustained by “cutting edge” professional development for internationally-competitive schools • Pueblo City Schools will provide a system of support for students to be civil, responsible, healthy, and involved members of the global community • All Pueblo City Schools are conducive to superior teaching and learning, and are capable of responding to the diverse needs of the 21st century learners • Pueblo City Schools will secure and utilize 100% of human, financial, and physical resources required to create and sustain world-class public schools and this strategic plan Source: Pueblo City Schools Guide to the Strategic Plan: http://www.pueblocityschools.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/133707/File/PuebloCitySchoolsStrategicPlan.pdf?sessionid=ff660354db23b2770de38f2158fc5466

5. Example: District of Columbia Public School Strategic Plan Process (1/2) District of Columbia – DC Schools Strategic Plan • In October 2008, DC Public Schools released Making Student Achievement the Focus, a five-year action plan for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) as a document created to define and sequence the major steps DCPS will take over the next five years • This Five-Year Action Plan (FYAP) is intended to serve as a living document, and is to be revised regularly as DCPS learns what works and what changes need to be made • After the initial release of the FYAP, DCPS collected feedback from stakeholders through council hearings, three Chancellor’s Community Forums devoted to the FYAP, and a dedicated email address for written feedback • The feedback was organized, analyzed, and then placed into a document which could be observed by the community • In response to all of the feedback, DCPS re-released the FYAP in April of 2009 • DCPS’ revisions to the FYAP focused on addressing the feedback offered in the most frequently raised issue areas Source: District of Columbia Public Schools

6. Example: District of Columbia Public School Strategic Plan Process (2/2) District of Columbia – DC Schools Strategic Plan • The District of Columbia has implemented a five-year action plan based on six main objectives: • Ensure that schools provide a consistent foundation in academics, strong support for social/emotional needs, and a variety of challenging themes and programs • Strengthen professional development for principals, teachers, and DCPS staff • Implement a rigorous, relevant, college preparatory curriculum that gives all students meaningful options for life • Support decision-making with accurate information about how our students and the school district are performing • Provide schools with the central office support they need to foster student achievement • Partner with families and community members who demand better schools Note: each objective is broken down into anywhere from two to six smaller initiatives Source: District of Columbia Public Schools, No Child Left Behind Data Reports for DC

7. Committee’s Proposed Organizational Structure Dennis Blunt David Tatman Board Co-Chair Community Co-Chair Project Management Committee: Board Members Committee: Community Members Chair, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee Chair, Sub-Committee Community Stakeholders, including other teachers, principals, non-profits, faith leaders, business leaders, political leaders, etc.

8. Key Roles and Duties • EBR-CEE Committee Member: An EBR Board member or EBR community member charged to assist in the drafting of the EBR Strategic Plan; responsible to engage on plan development, be a member of a sub-committee, drive stakeholder engagement in committee’s work, and help gather community input • EBR-CEE Sub-Committee: A sub-set of committee members as well as other stakeholders (non-members of committee) working to define strategies, tactics, metrics, and timelines against an assigned objective • Sub-Committee Chair: Member of committee selected to lead a sub-committee; also responsible for leading the development of relevant metrics, and proposed timelines for each strategy and tactics developed by the sub-committee • Project Manager: Facilitates and manages the entire process/work-plan at the behest of the chair(s) including: facilitating and leading committee meetings and sub-committees; organizing stakeholders and communication; and responsible for drafting of the final plan • Support Staff: Supports the project manager and attached to each sub-committee; responsible for supporting sub-committee chair for meetings including: organizing meetings, developing agendas, conducting necessary follow-up, and tasking/retrieving from necessary parties sub-committee solicited data/expertise • Technical Advisors: Education experts to be brought in by committee and sub-committees to provide input and expertise to issues and questions, e.g., DOE, Superintendent and staff, APQC • Stakeholders: Members of the sub-committees who are other members of the EBR community contributing to and involved in plan development, including other teachers, principals, students, business leaders, non-profits, faith leaders, etc.

9. Key Definitions for This Plan • Goal:EBR-CEE’s mission for the strategic plan, the school system generally, and its vision for EBR students • Objectives:Specific issues or desired outcomes that are critical to meeting EBR-CEE’s goal; each sub-committee aligns itself to one specific objective • Strategies: A means for accomplishing some component of an objective; there are multiple strategies that, in their sum, fully accomplish/meet an objective • Tactics: High-level steps taken to accomplish and enact a strategy; there are multiple tactics that, at a high level and in their sum, fully accomplish a strategy • Metrics: A measurement used to gauge and track progress against objectives, strategies and tactics; metrics against tactics tend to measure inputs, while metrics against strategies and objectives tend to measure outcomes • After the completion of this plan, school staff will be responsible for developing specific action steps to execute each tactic.

10. We See Three Phases of Continued Work • 2-3 weeks • 4-6 weeks • 2-3 weeks Inputs Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 • alignment on problemand objectives • sub-committee work and community/stakeholder involvement • compile, syndicate, and refine strategic plan • Review APQC dataand analysis • Collect other data/source expertise e.g., DOE,CABL, Superintendent • Align on goal and develop objectives for EBR-CEE plan • Develop specific objectives aligned to CEE goal • Determine sub-committees and chairs for each • Identify school staff champion by objective • Determine stakeholders,e.g., political, community, business, faith, other leaders • Syndicate objectives with stakeholders • Sub-committees and chairs Phase 2 for each objective • Sub-committee aligns on objective • Brainstorm and develop key strategies to meet each objective • Review current metrics associated with objective • Develop a set of strategies relevant to and that completely address the objective • Identify tactics for each strategy defined at a high level the execution of that strategy • Determine metrics, milestones, etc. • Define metrics against the objective, each strategy, and each tactic • Determine timeline and owners for each tactic, strategy, and overall objective • Identify and hold community workshops with syndicate draft and collect input • Refine strategies and tactics • Strategies and tactics aligned toeach objective • Sub-committees present to EBR-CEE and EBR Board • Project manager to compile strategic plan and offer recommendations for changes and any additions • EBR-CEE reviews/refines • Develop metric scorecard • EBR-CEE presents draft plan to School Boardand stakeholders • EBR-CEE refines plan based on Board and community input • Strategic plan complete • Complete strategic plan containing goals and objectives, with strategies, tactics, metrics, and timelines defined for each • APQC SWOT • Question-naire results • Current strategic plan (2008) • Current school metrics and goals • LA DOE goals • Deliverables:

11. The Process Flow Illustrates Phases of Work… • 2-3 weeks • 4-6 weeks • 2-3 weeks Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 • Tactic 1 • Tactic 2 • Tactic 3 • … • … Objective 1 Strategy 1 EBR-CEE Strategic Plan presented and approved by School Board,staff, and community Strategy 2 Objective 2 Strategy 3 EBR-CEE Goal Objective 3 Strategy 4 Objective 4 Metrics Objective 5 Objective 6

12. … and Plans for Follow-up Work that Will Continue to Engage Committee and Sub-committees to Focus on Developing Actions to Execute the Plan • Committee to remain engaged in partnership with the School Board after the conclusion of Phase 3 • EBR staff will develop actions, timelines, and owners for each tactic in the strategic plan • Staff will report regularly to their appropriate sub-committee to brainstorm and syndicate the actions taken to execute each tactic • Committee will adopt the sub-committees’ action steps • Staff and EBR-CEE sub-committees will be responsible for updating and developing new strategies and tactics as the district progresses against the plan • Staff will also be responsible for tracking performance against each strategic plan metric – performance against each metric will be included in the monthly sub-committee report and each sub-committee will be responsible for communicating progress and results to the School Board

13. Examples: not exhaustive Two Examples: Objective, Strategy, Tactic Example 1: Example 2: • Objective: Decrease truancy by x% over three years • Strategy 1: Actively engage with parents of truant students • Tactic 1: EBR School System engages with parents of truant students to communicate educational consequences • Tactic 2: EBR works with DA’s office to engage parents on legal concerns • Tactic 3: School system sends quarterly data to both parents and the DA’s office regarding truant students • Strategy 2: Get truant students off the street and back in the classroom • Tactic 1: Ensure all students have access to transportation to school • Tactic 2: Build best-in-class truancy center • Tactic 3: Develop incentives and consequences to reward/punish attendance/truancy • Objective: EBR schools recruit and retain a highly-qualified competitive workforce • Strategy 1: Create best-in-class retention/recruiting system • Tactic 1: Provide incentives to attract world-class, certified personnel • Tactic 2: Develop program to retain experienced and top-performing staff • Tactic 3: Implement staff satisfaction monitoring system • Tactic 4: Create standardized hiring process • Strategy 2: Implement best-in-class staff evaluation and review process • Tactic 1: Identify and acquire evaluation tool • Tactic 2: Develop standardizedreview process • Tactic 3: Develop clear review documentation and communication process • …

14. Draft A Bold Goal is the Critical Starting Point to the Process… The EBR School District’s goal is to ensure that it provides the resources necessary for each student to have access and the opportunity to successfully complete a nationally-competitive preK-12 education, by offering a nationally-competitive education system strengthened by diversity, culture, and tradition. It guarantees a quality education that prepares students to succeed in a global economy and society via superior curricula, highly-skilled educators, active monitoring and assessment of the system’s and student’s performance, and close partnership between students, teachers, families, and the community.

15. Draft …as Well as a Draft Set of Parameters that EBR-CEE Will Commit to Working Within We will not tolerate actions that do not support a nationally- competitive education for our students. We will always make decisions based on the best interest ofour students. We will never compromise the dignity and honor of any person, nor tolerate discrimination of any kind. We will never compromise the safety of our students and staff. We will honor our community’s traditions, but not allow them to be an obstacle in creating positive change and meeting our goal.

16. Project Management Team from SSA Consultants Yvette Marsh, MBA – Facilitator Rudy Gomez – Partner Ryan McNeil – Consultant Camille Conaway – Consultant Jill Waguespack – Project Coordinator Chynsia Jenkins – Project Support Contact us: (225) 769-2676 ceeprojectmanager@consultssa.com

17. Next Steps… • Next meeting – May 31st, 5:00 – 7:00 pm • Homework – Bold Goal and Parameters