Goal 1: Progress Updates

Report 3: June 12, 2023 (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.

Report 2: March 6, 2023 

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.

Report 1: November 28, 2022 

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.

Report 3: June 10, 2024 (Final Year 2 Report)

Strategy 1: EC - 12+ Academic Support Committee held meetings on January 11, 2024 and March 5, 2024. During the January meeting committee members worked on reviewing professional development survey results to work on our goal of ensuring we have an agreed upon annual professional development survey tool to use to measure progress beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. The tool was reviewed with recommended revisions during the March 5, 2024 committee meeting.

During the March 5, 2024 meeting committee members reviewed the Character Strong Social-Emotional Learning committee feedback on where the Superintendent's Advisory Council & Strategy II character traits were taught in the curriculum. The plan developed for next year uses Character Strong/Leader in Me to teach interpersonal skills that were ranked high by the Strategy 1 committee at the high school level. This will occur during the Individual Plan of Study (IPS) block and during Reality 101 and Junior Reality classes.

Early Childhood grant information was shared with committee members. Unfortunately we did not receive the grant, so we reviewed the awardees to better understand what granters might be looking for should there be another opportunity to apply. An overview of early childhood funding that was provided during a special Board of Education meeting on October 30, 2023 and information on the budget priority request for two new early childhood teachers and classrooms were shared. As a follow-up/information, a request of approval for Pre-K expansion occurred by the Board on April 22, 2024. In addition, the
curriculum to support the added Pre-K classes was discussed by the Board on May 13, 2024 and approved at the May 27, 2024 board meeting.

The final task of the March 5, 2024 Strategy 1 Committee meeting was to review our Year 2 action steps and verify we had completed them all. Committee members then reviewed measurable Strategy 2 goals for Year 3 and provided feedback. From the committee feedback conversation, the following recommendations emerged:

Recommendations

• Annually prioritize Building Needs Assessment (grades K-12) goals to identify and determine attainable school resources, academic progress, and individual needs for each school.
• By June of 2025, the district will integrate the Individual Plan of Study (IPS) Senior Graduation Portfolio in place of the senior project into the High School curriculum.
• By June of 2025, Chronic Absenteeism data will be reported by school quarterly and a goal identified by each social worker and administrator to decrease absenteeism and increase instructional time.

Report 2: February 12, 2024 

Strategy 1: EC-12+ Academic Support committee met on November 14, 2023 and January 11, 2024. In between the November and January meeting, committee members worked to review a draft annual professional development (PD) survey used for the January 2 district certified staff PD day. The professional development survey draft was administered January 2- 7, 2024. Committee members analyzed responses during the January 11 meeting and revised questions to ensure the survey responses will help plan future professional development and address staff needs.

The committee has ranked important employability skills from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and the Perkins National Network and shared the employability skills to be integrated with the committee selecting our social emotional learning curriculum.

The Early Childhood workgroup met on November 15, December 1, and December 18 to complete work to submit the final grant. The Early Childhood workgroup created and administered a community early childhood and daycare survey from November 27, 2023 through December 8, 2024 and utilized the data regarding early childhood and daycare needs to demonstrate specific needs for Derby Public Schools. The early childhood goal from Strategy 1 will require a report on funding to the Board of Education in June. The committee is on track to make the report and has added budget priority requests to fund additional early childhood classrooms in addition to the work completed to submit the grant application.

Report 1: November 27, 2023 

The Strategy 1: EC-12+ Academic Achievement committee met on September 19 and October 17, 2023. The Early Childhood Grant Workgroup met on October 12 and October 26. During the first meeting the committee established norms and reviewed the EC-12+ Academic Achievement goals and outcomes. The committee reviewed the current Early Learning programs and need for secondary interpersonal skills, committee members spent time reviewing the Early Childhood Capital Accelerator grant as one opportunity to impact funding for additional early childhood classrooms across the district. During the second meeting in October, committee members learned more about the KSDE Employability Skills and Perkins Interpersonal and Employability Skills Rubrics and rated the importance of each skill in any resources selected by the Pre K-12 Social Emotional Learning curriculum committee. The subcommittee members were asked to voluntarily sign up for a workgroup to begin working on the Early Childhood Grant workgroup. The Strategy 1 Early Childhood Grant workgroup members met on October 12 and completed a detailed review of grant criteria and worked to identify the data we needed to gather for each section of the grant including a survey. As the Early Childhood Grant workgroup looked at grant criteria the committee members brainstormed a list of medical needs frequently requested in schools including clinic care, school-related immunizations, along with school, work, or sports physicals. The grant requirements for broadband Wifi access, family work search support, and the bonus points available for a City partnership were also discussed. During the second Early Childhood Grant workgroup meeting on October 26 committee members completed work on an early childhood needs assessment survey to go out to the Derby community and district parents and staff. The next step for the Strategy 1 committee is to work on a common post-professional development survey for professional development. The next subcommittee is scheduled for November 17, 2023.

Report 3: June 9, 2025 

The Strategy 1 subcommittee, dedicated to enhancing academic achievement across the district, had meeting on February 25, March 25 and May 7, 2025. During the committee meetings, members conducted an in-depth analysis of quarter three chronic absenteeism data, identifying significant patterns of student absences correlated with inclement weather events, documented influenza outbreaks, widespread illness reports and various additional factors that collectively contributed to a considerable decline in student attendance observed from January through late February. Committee members discussed strategies they plan to implement in their schools such as attendance competitions and celebrations to encourage strong attendance through the end of the school year.

In the March meeting, the Strategic Plan Committee members reviewed plans for the April 18 professional development day agenda, ensuring alignment with identified academic priorities and instructional needs. Additionally, the committee examined the Kansas State Department of Education's proposed graduation measure criteria, which is slated for integration into the KESA 2.0 rubric. Committee members focused on identifying potential impacts on our established post-secondary goals, particularly those connected to our Individual Plan of Study implementation and military reporting requirements.

The committee's March and May meetings included a review and refinement of the 2025-2026 academic year objectives for Strategy 1. After careful consideration, members recommended adjusting the timeline for the military student-focused goal, proposing a revised target year of 2027. This extension would provide necessary flexibility to accommodate anticipated state-level developments and forthcoming modifications to state post-secondary report cards.

In preparation for the upcoming academic year, the committee confirmed continuing membership commitments and brainstormed on needs related to our 2027 work-based learning and community connection goal. This forward-looking discussion emphasized the importance of establishing robust community connections to support real-world learning experiences, career exploration opportunities and meaningful skill development for all students.

Report 2: February 10, 2025 

The Strategy 1 committee met on November 19, 2024 and January 23, 2025. During the November 19, 2024 meeting we previewed the middle of the year surveys to ensure the questions aligned with the improved professional development (PD) goals the committee is measuring. Committee members worked to create more defined expectations for the “highly relevant, specific, and nuanced” verbiage in the PD goal. The questions were aligned to ensure they measure participants' feeling of being relevant for their professional development learning needs, and specific and nuanced to their role (and/or career) within their school.

The question focused on measuring “highly relevant” was the focus of this question for the January 2, 2024 PD Day with 43.4% of staff selecting the highest category and 80.8% of staff selecting the highest two categories. 4 is extremely engaging and relevant, and 1 is not engaging or relevant.

The question reviewed centered around specific topics related to the session being valuable. Data from the January 2, 2024 Needs Assessment PD Day showed that 41.9% of staff responded with the highest category of value and 78.8% responded in the top two categories. (5 is extremely valuable and 1 is not valuable). 

The question selected to represent “Highly nuanced” aligned to the PD being specific to their current role. The committee had questions on which staff grouping or roles didn’t feel their PD was highly nuanced and spent some time reviewing the staff cheat sheet calendar to see which staff might have been attending or missing on a PD day. The question on how applicable was the training to your current position was used to measure the highly nuanced portion of the goal. 42.9% of staff responded by selecting the highest rating and 55.3% of staff responded in the top 2 categories. (5 is strongly agree and 1 is strongly disagree). 

During the November 19 meeting, committee members also reviewed the Individual Plan of Study goal: “By June of 2025, the district will integrate the Individual Plan of Study (IPS) Senior Graduation Portfolio in place of the senior project into the high school curriculum”. Committee members reviewed the revised English 12 pacing guide adopted in spring of 2024 and the IPS KansasStar Rubric to look at the Senior Graduation Portfolio. Next, committee members reviewed samples of students' graduation projects related to a career they wanted to explore and the student’s graduation portfolio in Xello and rated them. Committee members were excited to see this innovation to the Senior Project and the addition of the graduation portfolio as a way to improve students’ career plans and have them leave the high school with post-secondary plans and resources. 

During the January 23 meeting Committee members looked at the professional development survey from the January 6 professional development day and reviewed chronic absenteeism quarter 2 trends.

For the January 6 professional development day, they reviewed each aligned PD survey question. The question focused on value showed 55% selected the top and category 89.6% responding in the top two categories, a 10.8% increase. The question on relevance showed 90.5% selecting the top two categories showing a 9.7% increase. Finally, the question on nuanced and related to their specific position showed 49.3% selected the highest category and 81% selected the highest 2 categories, showing a 25.7% increase. 4 is extremely valuable and 1 is not valuable. 

The draft of the Chronic Absenteeism data for quarter 2 was shared with committee members and questions were asked about non-resident transportation and attendance rates, the impact of viruses currently circulating through schools, and families with persistent absenteeism. Committee members looked at their top three students and charted the most prevalent reason (or root cause) for their absences and strategies to address them. Strategy 1 will continue to work towards each goal, and the next meeting is scheduled for February 25, 2025.

Report 1: November 28, 2024 

Strategy 1 met on October 1 and October 29, 2024 to work towards our year three strategic plan goals.

During the meeting on October 1, we focused on our chronic absenteeism goal to decrease absenteeism and increase instruction time, by reviewing state definitions of chronic absenteeism and examining our current attendance rates by building (KSDE Absenteeism Counts and Definitions). Next, the committee members shared attendance initiatives at their buildings (By District and Building rates). Committee members discussed trends across groups of students, including resident/non-resident, homeless students, ELL students and others who may need additional assistance. The additional committee member recommendation of analyzing resident/non-resident trends and identifying student groups who need support was noted as a next step.

During the October 29 Strategy meeting committee, members worked on the professional development goal. Committee members reviewed the professional development (PD) survey the committee created during the 2023-2024 school year. The sample spring 2024 survey results were analyzed and the survey slightly revised to ensure it provided feedback to measure slightly nuanced and targeted professional development for each group of educators. After reviewing the survey committee members determined question 1 (The training session(s) provided were specific to my work or content area and provided me with useful information) will be used to measure if teachers felt sessions were relevant and nuanced by position. The committee also determined that survey question 6 (The session presented information we can use to plan student support now and/or in the future.) and question 2 (The Goldilocks question: The information provided during today's session was...too big, too little, just right) will be used to measure if the professional development sessions are appropriate and targeted. Committee members reviewed the professional development sessions planned November 1, 2024 and January 6, 2025 and determined that both days would be used to provide the committee with feedback. The next committee meeting is scheduled for November 19, 2024.