Schools

Novi School Board Discusses Superintendent Goals

Superintendent Steve Matthews reviewed district objectives for the next year during the board's work session Thursday night.

Novi Superintendent discussed his action plan to achieve the with the Board of Education at its work session Thursday night.

The superintendent broke down each of the district's goals to list a draft of his own goals for the school year with deadlines for each point. Matthews' plan is as follows:

District Goal One

The Novi Community School District will ensure that each student will make no less than one year’s growth in one year’s time. 

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Superintendent action plan:

"Our goal would be able to provide a report to each parent on their child to identify if their child made yearly growth in the core subject areas," Matthews said. "We also have to have conversations with our teachers and our elective subject areas … How are those teachers going to measure growth so we can provide some evidence that there is some value added by students attending those classes. And ultimately we would like to be able to provide a report to the Board of Education…"

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"The goal that I have personally and I think we have as a district is to create things that are so good that people want to follow what we're doing to raise the standards throughout the county," said RJ Webber, superintendent for academic services.

Matthews' plans for this goal are as follows:

1. Create a robust internal accountability system.

  • Reach consensus on specific assessments in math and reading that can be used in grades K-12 to measure yearly growth. Due December 2011.
  • Create a framework for measuring yearly growth in science, social studies and writing that will begin to be used starting in the 2012-2013 school year. Due April 2012.
  • Create a mechanism to report yearly growth to stakeholders (students, parents, community members, teachers, administrators, and the Board of Education). Due June 2012.

2. Measure yearly growth with the Northwest Education Association (NWEA)

  • Pretest all students in grades one-eight with the NWEA in September 2011 and identify a growth goal for each student. Due October 2011.
  • Post-test all students in grades one-eight with the NWEA in May 2012 and identify the growth or progress each student made in the 2011-2012 school year. Due June 2012.
  • Provide a parent report for students in grades one-eight based on the NWEA that will identify specific learning activities that can be done over the summer. Due June 2012.

3. Staff the Office of Academic Services, within the existing budget parameters, to provide the appropriate support to meet our yearly growth goal.

  • Create a Student Growth and Accountability position. Due Nov. 1, 2011.
  • Analyze the needs within the Office of Academic Services and bring to the Board of Education additional items for discussion and implementation as appropriate and needed. Ongoing.

4. Create opportunities for teacher and administrator professional development outside of the school day.

  • Create a Summer Institute for teachers and administrators to focus on improving instructional practice. Due summer 2012.
  • Analyze opportunities for teacher and administrator professional development and implement and fund as appropriate and needed. Ongoing.

District Goal Two

The Novi Community School District will ensure that all students achieve at a high level. (There will be no achievement gaps.)

Superintendent action plan:

"As you've seen in the past reports from Mr. Webber, we have an achievement gap in our district," Matthews said. "What we're suggesting if every student is making one year's growth in one year's time is that the achievement gaps will narrow and we can ensure that all students are achieving at a high level."

Matthews' plans for this goal are as follows:

1. Build a comprehensive K-12 plan for addressing the needs of students performing below grade level.

  • Create a system that provides for classroom and out-of-classroom support with input from teachers and administrators. (Pyramid of Intervention) March 2012.

2. Create opportunities for students to receive additional academic support.

  • Start Saturday enrichment blocks in cooperation with the Department of Community Education open to all students but with a focus on students who need additional skill development. Due February 2012.
  • Start two-week summer enrichment blocks in cooperation with the Department of Community Education open to all students but with a focus on students who need additional skills development. Due Summer 2012.

3. Staff the Office of Academic Services, within the existing budget parameters, to provide the appropriate support to monitor and support our goal of high achievement for all.

  • Create a supervisor position for the growing economically disadvantaged (Title I), professional development (Title II) and ESL (Title III) groups. Due Nov. 1, 2011.
  • Bring any additional needs of the Office of Academic Services to the Board of Education for discussion as needed. Ongoing.

District Goal Three

The Novi Community School District will evaluate and enhance opportunities for students while maintaining a minimum 10 percent fund balance.

Superintendent action plan:


1. Do a comprehensive review of current programs.

  • Create a rubric to provide a cost/benefit analysis of programs, clubs and activities. Due December 2011.
  • Recommend any changes for the 2012-2013 budget process. Due February 2012.

District Goal Four

The Novi Community School District will improve organizational quality and customer service by creating common standards, systems and principles.

Superintendent action plan:

"The majority of cabinet is brand new … What we're walking into is offices that we're trying to identify what the process for accomplishing the goals of the district are, and in some cases what we've found is that there may not have been a well-defined process or we've found that perhaps the person who understood the process had it in their heads but not on a piece of paper, so we're trying to put together a process that everybody understands," Matthews said.

Matthews' plans for this goal are as follows:

1. Analyze central office functions and processes to improve effectiveness and service. Due as soon as practical.

2. Evaluate processes and procedures of teacher and administrator evaluation to comply with new legislation. Due May 2012.

3. Create a comprehensive process to gather feedback from stakeholders on district programs and processes. Due February 2012.

4. Create a comprehensive district communications strategy. Due May 2012.


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