Goal 1: Progress Updates
June 12, 2023 • Strategy 1 Update (Final Year 1 Report)
On February 22 the Strategy 1 committee met. During the February meeting the committee focused on the wording for professional development job description changes and revisions to the Early Childhood (EC) Scope and Sequence document. The EC Scope and Sequence draft document received positive feedback from committee members. Next, the committee reviewed the research on the characteristics of high-impact professional development from Learning Forward and discussed the need for building and system-level reinforcement to help instructional strategies from professional development transfer into the classroom. Committee members then made suggestions for revising the job descriptions of Instructional Coaches, Secondary Department Chairs, and principals.
On April 5 the final Strategy 1 committee meeting was held to review the progress toward each goal for the first year of the Strategic Plan. Committee members reviewed the final version of the Early Childhood Scope and Sequence. Next, committee members heard from Gregory Martin, McConnell Air Force Base School Liaison Program Manager, regarding the tracking of students enlisted in the military for post-secondary and reviewed the revised senior exit survey questions. The final activity finalized job description changes and included professional development "Look Fors." These "Look Fors" were recommended by committee members to be communicated with each professional development session that should be supported in classrooms across our schools. The committee then reviewed the goals and action items for year 2 cycle of the strategic plan and provided feedback.
March 6, 2023 • Strategy 1 Update
The Strategy 1 committee met on November 16, 2022 and January 18, 2023. During the November 16 meeting the committee provided feedback on the Early Childhood (EC) Scope and Sequence progress and reviewed district professional development. The committee reviewed the outline of professional development activities provided to all staff and analyzed the role that administrators, educators, department chairs, and instructional coaches have in supporting ongoing professional learning. The professional learning goals will be revisited at a later meeting to further define roles and recommendations.
On December 13 and January 9 the EC Scope and Sequence workgroup met and worked in teams on the draft scope and sequence. The workgroup continued the conversation around differences between Early Childhood Categorical program and the overall comprehensive Early Childhood/Kindergarten Readiness focus from the state. Each team worked hard throughout November and December to align the Kansas Early Childhood standards to instructional resources currently utilized in our Early Childhood and PreK programs.
During the January 18 meeting, the Strategy 1 committee reviewed the progress on the 3 year Draft Q1 and Q2 Scope and Sequence and 4yo Draft Q1 and Q2 Scope and Sequence and provided feedback to refine the final version the EC Scope and Sequence workgroup is working to complete. Next, the committee analyzed district academic assessment scores alongside school-specific goals and established an annual 2% district-wide growth goal for state and local assessments. Finally, the committee reflected on conference participation rates and made recommendations around conference schedules and communication to help promote increased conference attendance.
November 28, 2022 • Strategy 1 Update
The Strategy 1: EC - 12+ Academic Achievement Committee has met once on November 1, 2022. During this meeting the committee established norms and reviewed the EC-12+ Academic Achievement goals and outcomes from the strategic plan. The Early Childhood scope and sequence was the focus of the first committee meeting. Background information on the current programs offered to Derby families and students in the birth to PreK age range was provided. The current programs discussed included the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) pre-K Program at Wineteer, the Parents As Teachers (PAT) program, the Child Find process and The Opportunity Project. Next the subcommittee broke into teams and reviewed the current KSDE Early Childhood standards that include developmental goals for kids age birth-5 years old and the referral process for our Early Childhood program from Kansas Department of Health and Environment and other sources. Casey Lucas, co-chair and Assistant Director of Special Services provided an overview of our current early childhood (EC) classrooms across our eight of our nine elementary schools. The Strategy 1 subcommittee members were asked to voluntarily sign up for a workgroup to begin working on the EC Scope and Sequence and report progress back to the committee at subsequent meetings. The first EC Scope and Sequence Workgroup meeting occurred on November 10, 2022 to review a variety of EC scope and sequence samples from other organizations and districts both locally and from other states. The workgroup members then discussed our feedback from EC teachers, our current EC instructional needs and the created this draft EC Scope and Sequence template for full Strategy 1 subcommittee feedback. The next subcommittee is scheduled for November 16, 2022.