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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes 06-06 WA Amending the 2010 Strategic Plan WESTLAKE ACADEMY Y SOLUTION NO. 06-06 A RESOLUTION OF THE WESTLAKE ACADEMY BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TOT E 2010 WESTLAKE ACADEMY STRATEGIC PLAN. WHEREAS, Westlake Academy was founded based on a mission that includes providing an innovative approach to education that focuses on the needs of each student; and WHEREAS, The Westlake Academy Board of Directors adopted the Westlake Academy 2010 Strategic Plan within the 2005-2006 budget; and WHEREAS, The Board of Directors and staff have had the opportunity to receive input from parents and staff concerning ways to continue to improve Westlake Academy, which prompted a review of the Strategic Plan document; and WHEREAS, The Board of Directors have concluded that certain Objectives should be added to the section of the Strategic Plan entitled "Alignment of Goals and Objectives". NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE WESTLAKE ACADEMY BOARD OF DIRECTORS: SECTION 1: The CEO be directed to amend the 2005-2006 Budget, 2010 Strategic Plan by adding the following objectives: Under Alignment of Goals and Objectives; Goal II, "Adhere to High Expectations", Add Objective F: "Educate students and parents in the IB grading system and articulate benefits and superior attributes to improve parental buy-in and participation in the education process, Under Alignment of Goals and Objectives; Goal III. "Share responsibility of educational development among parents, teachers, staff and community." Add Objective a "Establish consistent reliable conduit of communication among teachers and parents utilizing technology, personal meetings, and IB assessment tools." And Objective Ie "Provide parents with access to materials used by the students to encourage participation and support at home." SECTION 2: The Westlake Academy staff be directed to implement the actions described in"Exhibit 1"related to the 2010 Strategic Plan, Goals and Objectives. SECTION 3: The CEO and Head of School review the Strategic Plan each year in conjunction with the annual budget and report recommendations and results back to the School Board of Directors. PASSED AND APPROVED ON THIS 10TH DAY OF APRIL 2006. ATTEST: 5:74X zaw—�� Scott Bradley, President an Dwinnell, Secretary Trent O. Petty, C APPROVED AS TO FORM: tz L. Stanton oy, ow ttorney EXHIBIT 1 Westlake Academy Board of Directors Amended Goals and Objectives for 2005-2006 accompanied by Action Plans. 2005-2006 MYP Consultant Recommendations: 1. Continue to fund professional development needs. 2. Make vertical and horizontal curricular development a priority. 3. All teachers have OCC password to access MYP subject guides, Area of Interaction guide, and other relevant documents. 4. Develop assessment model and communicate through entire school community. 5. Develop a plan to vertically integrate each area of interaction over all MYP levels. b. Continue to articulate desire to house PYP and MYP in same facility. 7. All staff receives MT level training. 8. Develop and use modified rubrics to assess student's work and to implement use of MYP subject criteria. 9. Develop course outlines and descriptions for years 3 and 4 (grades 9-10), that will align with Texas essential elements. 10. Develop the course of study selected for the IBDP program that will be offered at the eleventh and twelfth grade year to ensure that math and foreign language offerings in MYP will be adequate and appropriate. 11. Create detailed plan of implementation of the Personal Project. 12. Present to both students and parents the method of reporting assessment for IBMYP and grades for the state and university systems. 13. Present examples of interdisciplinary units focused through an Area of Interaction. CONCERN 1. IB GRADING There is a prevalent lack of understanding with regard to the IB grading system. Parents have not been able to establish relative benchmarks of performance and expectation. This lack of understanding results in a lack of"buy-in" to the grading system and creates pressure to adopt a more traditional grading model that would undoubtedly compromise the full benefit the IB curriculum. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 4, 8, 12 WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS—"..sharing the responsibility of educational development among teachers, parents, community and students." TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION- Goal II. "Adhere to High Expectations": Add Objective F: "Educate students and parents in the I13 grading system and articulate benefits and superior attributes to improve parental buy-in and participation in the education process. ACTIONS 1. Progress benchmarks should be articulated in a way that gives parents a clear understanding of their student's progress and expectations relative to peers from other schools. Data to establish these benchmarks could be collected in several ways including the use of standardized tests, comparing Westlake Academy with the progress and performance of other IB schools, comparing Westlake Academy performance with public ISDs, public charters or even private schools. In order to provide an additional comparative benchmark, Westlake Academy will rewire that all students in grades K through 9 begin taking additional standardized tests. Tests for grades K-2 are anticipated to be administered this year while grades 3-9 will be administered next year. There is not sufficient time in 2006 to offer these tests given the prescribed State TAKS testing schedule. 2. Parents will be required to attend training on the I13 grading matrix. The first meeting this spring was held for the 6th grade parents moving into the MYP program, with the DP program meeting to occur in April, 2006. CONCERN 2. OVERALL TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION Parents want to see a common, reliable, consistent conduit for communication established between parents and teachers. There is a direct correlation between the general ill-feelings expressed toward individual teachers and the parent's perception of that teachers communication habits. Some feel that complaining does no good because of an unwritten but apparent closed door policy that says "we have hundreds on the waiting list. If you don't like it, we are a school of choice and you can leave." MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 4 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION. Goal III. "Share responsibility of educational development between parents, teachers, staff and community." Add Objective . "Establish consistent reliable conduit of communication between teachers and parents utilizing technology, personal meetings, and IB assessment tools." WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS—"..sharing the responsibility of educational development among teachers, parents, community and students." ACTIONS 1. Establish minimum ,standardized parent/teacher communication parameters using all available technology, personal meetings and ID tools. Should reflect a required minimum frequency and required minimum acceptable content. CONCERN 3. ACADEMIC STANDARDS FOR MATH INSTRUCTION IN UPPER GRADES There is a perception among many that Westlake Academy has had two substandard years of math instruction in the upper grades. Some parents feel their children would have to play "catch-up" if they transferred to a different school, even though no data exists that would confirm that fear. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 10 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION: Goal I Objective A Goal IV. Objective A, B, E WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS—"..provide a rigorous curriculum..", "..providing an innovative approach to education that focuses on the needs of each student..." ACTIONS Identify means of supplementing math instruction by initiating: 1. More challenging math expectations for those able to move ahead 2. Help and individual instruction for those not meeting expectations through advanced differentiation training 3. New supplemental math instructional programs 4. Additional assessment mechanisms to be shared with parents as to how best measure and improve performance. CONCERN 4. LACK OF ASSESSMENT 'TOOLS Some parents do not believe the school has developed a reliable means of teacher or student assessment. This has resulted in some calling for more standardized testing such as Stanford or Iowa to benchmark Westlake Academy student progress. It has also resulted in what is perceived to be a lack of comparative documented student achievement. State law requires that each teacher be given an annual evaluation. All Westlake Academy teachers have received at a minimum one evaluation per year in accordance with this requirement. Teacher assessments for 2005-2006 are not yet complete but will be before the end of the school year. It would be beneficial to convey to parents how teachers are evaluated. In addition, an evaluation tool could be identified that allowed students to evaluate teachers. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 4, 8 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION. Goal I Objective C Goal HI Objective B Goal I1 Objective WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS— Too granular to specifically identify ACTIONS 1. Share the teacher performance assessment tool with parents and include in the personnel policies and procedures handbook. 2. Investigate a separate student assessment tool that allows students to evaluate their teacher's performance. Results would obviously be tempered against the overall evaluation, but would be useful in identifying student perceptions about individual teacher's skills and style. 3. Introduction of additional standardized tests. (See Actions under Concern 1.) CONCERN 5. INADEQUATE SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL TO MEET PERFORMANCE ANCE OB CTIVES: A. RULE COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT B. COUNSELING SUPPORT Common concerns have been expressed on the perceived inconsistent application of school rules. For example, upper grades are considered to be treated differently with respect to the uniform requirements. Disciplinary measures are perceived to be too subjective and not evenly applied. There is a feeling that additional supervisory personnel are necessary to provide support in this area. There are also questions as to when the school will consider employing an additional guidance counselor for the upper grades that will assist the students. This need will become pronounced as students begin seeking support in identifying scholarship opportunities, course selection guidance, career path, etc. The current governance model is perceived to be too flat by some which results in too many people reporting to one person. This has resulted in lax oversight across the board and too much room for individual interpretation and enforcement. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 12 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION: Goal I Objective F Goal LL Objective A Goal V. Objective A, B, C, G WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS— "..encourage good citizenship and maximize individual student potential. " ACTIONS 1. All teachers will be reminded of the importance of 100% observance of school rules, including the uniform policy. 2. At minimum, and as a first high school counseling function, one additional part time position will be included in the budget in 2006-2007 to implement a grading matrix which will convert IB grades to a traditional GPA. A full time high school counselor is anticipated to be hired in 2007-2008. CONCERN 6. ROLE OF TEXT HOODS and SUPPORT MATERIALS in IB CURRICULUM and PARENTAL ASSISTANCE The IB curriculum does not exclusively rely on text books to teach so parents are sometimes at a loss many times as to how to help their students understand their assignments. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION: 8, 9, 13 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION: Goal III Objective G Add Objective I. "Provide parents with access to materials used by the students to encourage participation and support at Borne." WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS— "..sharing the responsibility of educational development among teachers, parents, community and students. " ACTIONS A means of conveying or sharing the assigned reference and support materials used by teachers should be identified and incorporated into the normal parental communication materials. CONCERN 7. 113 TEACHING SKILLS VARY WIDELY FROM TEACHER TO TEACHER. MYP RECOMMENDATION CORRELATION. 1,2,3,4,S,7,8,12,13 TEN YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES CORRELATION Goal L Objective A, I3, C Goal II Objective B, C Goal ITS Objective A, B, C, WESTLAKE ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT EMPHASIS— "..rigorous curriculums that is international in scope.. " "..innovative approach to education that focuses on the needs of each student.. " ACTIONS 1. As in Concern 94, parents should be provided the performance assessment tool used for teachers. 2. Recruitment activities must be enhanced. Additional dollars need to be budgeted for teacher recruitment to attract and retain the best and brightest. All teachers must"fit" and buy into the IB scheme as well as the expectations of the Westlake community. I The deployment of Ili philosophy should always be weighed in light of local expectations and deployed in a manner that encourages eagerness and support rather than driving wedges between the IB curriculum idea and community values. 4. All teachers in Westlake Academy must have received III training before or during their first teaching year.