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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRes 06-06A WA Amending the 2010 Strategic Plan WESTLAKE ACADEMY RESOLUTION NO. 06-06-A A RESOLUTION WITHDRAWING RESOLUTION 06-06 AND SUBSTITUTING IN ITS PLACE THIS RESOLUTION OF THE WESTLAKE ACADEMY BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVING ANAMENDMENT TO THE 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 previously adopted Resolution 06-06 without the benefit of any input from the Head of School and her faculty; WHEREAS, the Board of Directors and staff have now had the opportunity to receive input from parents and staff concerning ways to continue improving Westlake Academy, which prompted a review of the Strategic Plan document; and WHEREAS, the Board of Directors has concluded that certain Objectives should be added to the section of the Strategic Plan entitled"Alignment of Goals and Objectives"; and WHEREAS, the Board of Directors finds that it is in the best interests of the Westlake Academy parents, students, and community to withdraw Resolution No. 06-06 and in its place adopt this Resolution. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE WESTLAKE ACADEMY BOARD OF DIRECTORS THAT: SECTION 1: The Head of School is directed to amend the 2005-2006 Budget, 2010 Strategic Plan by adding or amending the following objectives: Under Alignment of Goals and Objectives; Goal II, "Adhere to High Expectations", Add Objective F: "Educate students and parents about the 113 programs and grading system articulating benefits and superior attributes of the curriculum in order to improve parental understanding 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." Amend Objective G: "Establish consistent reliable conduit of communication between teachers and parents utilizing technology, personal meetings, and the criteria used in Massessment tools." Add Objective 1: "Provide parents with access to resources and materials used by the students to encourage participation and support at home." SECTION 2: The Westlake Academy staff is directed to implement the actions described in"Exhibit I" related to the 2010 Strategic Plan, Goals and Objectives. SECTION 3: The Head of School shall review the Strategic Plan each year in conjunction with the annual budget and report recommendations and results back to the School Board of Directors. SECTION 4: Resolution No. 06-06 is withdrawn and this resolution shall become the operative resolution concerning the matters contained herein. tln PASSED AND APPROVED ON THIS DAY OF 2006. ATTEST: Scott Bradley, President y an Dwinnell, Secretary Barbara Brizuela, Head of School APPROVED AS TO kpRM: L. Stanton Lowry, n Attorney Exhibit 1 Strategic Plan Add Objective F: Educate students and parents about the IB programs and grading system, articulating the benefits and superior attributes of the curriculum in order to improve parental understanding of and participation in the education process. Actions taken: J. Obligatory meeting was held with prospective MYP students and parents to explain MYP program and grading. The meeting was well attended. MYP Coordinator and present MYP students spoke and answered questions. 2. Similar meeting for present MYP students and parents was held April 25tH 2006. The meeting was also well attended and received. 3. Hired an expert to set up system for equivalencies with local grading patterns (expert will begin working on this in May 2006). 4. New parents for the incoming year received a notice attached to their enrolment package advising them that an obligatory IB Introductory meeting will be held in the Fall. 5. Informative meetings will require the attendance of students with parents in order to improve the very poor attendance by parents at meetings in the past. 6. At least one of the two yearly individual parent conferences will be student- led. This gives parents personalized insight into the understanding of and participation in the educational process. Very successful MYP student-led conferences were held in April and PYP Student-led conferences are being held in May. 7. Standardized testing has been slated for all levels of the Academy during the next months. This will give parents and teachers another parameter for comparing students of like ages and grade levels at a national level. Kindergarten through Grade 2 will use the Iowa Test of Basic Skills during the Spring semester testing window; G4-9 (and up in subsequent years) will use the Stanford tests during the Autumn testing window. After this initial testing period, the Academy will evaluate how often and at what grade levels these standardized tests should be administered. 8. A PYP Newsletter will be written at regular intervals. The first issues have already been distributed. This will help families understand the fundamentals of the program. Actions planned: 1. Workshops and meetings for parents on specific subjects or aspects of the PYP, MYP and Diploma programs will be held. Plans already are underway for: a. Family Math Night; b. the Learner Profile; c. Parent Education Night; d. a week-long celebration of Public Education Week. 2. Make articles more readily available to the wider community published in the IB World and other publications that focus on IB®. 3. Have more parents become involved in Community Service hours. 4. Publish curriculum documents on line—the MYP Matrix and the PYP Program of Inquiry and the PYP Grade level Handbooks. 5. Publish (now underway) IB Assessment guidelines for both PYP and MYP 6. Invite University representatives to speak about IB Diploma applicants. Amend Objective G: Establish consistent reliable conduits of communication between teachers and parents utilizing technology, personal meetings and the criteria used in IB assessment tools. Actions taken: 1. Weekly newsletters are now being issued by all teachers in hard copy or electronically. a. MYP will continue to issue a section letter, but more input concerning specific subjects will be included. b. PYP section newsletter will be issued regularly. c. MYP subject criteria and rubrics are in student binders and posted in MYP classrooms. d. PYP students use rubrics regularly and these are posted before an assignment is done. Actions planned: 1. Reinstate more frequent Breakfasts with Head of School. Room parents and any others interested will be invited. 2. Encourage parents to seek out ways to meet with the appropriate staff when they have questions or need information. Also encourage parents who do have a good understanding of the program and its benefits and opportunities to share that with other families. 3. Survey all parents regularly to see where their major concerns lie and use them to help direct Academy goals within the framework set. This could be accomplished by expanding the survey sent to all parents after the Blacksmith Apprentice Program drive; the survey sent this year to all parents did include many topics that have to do with satisfaction and dissatisfaction with school programs and policies. 4. Post sample grading criteria and rubrics on the school website. Add Objective Ie Provide parents with access to resources and materials used by the students to encourage participation and support at home. Actions taken: 1. PYP Class newsletters all include information on current Units of Inquiry and suggestions for activities to be done at home. 2. PYP newsletters often include educational websites that reinforce subject specific activities that are conceptually based(math, language, science), as well as websites that are particularly useful for research for young people. 3. Assignments are usually set out clearly on the homework page of the school website and in the student agenda. Actions planned: 1. Include more subject news in the MYP newsletter. 2. The Academy website is being redesigned. A team of teachers is working on the contents and recommendations that include creating a parent page with links and resources that will be valuable to helping students at home. Actions taken to address other concerns expressed by staff, students or parents— differentiation and teacher appraisal: 1. In core subjects, work is differentiated. It may be differentiated by: a. Outcome: there is a general assignment; the criteria and rubrics, set and shared with students, outline what is needed for the highest mark. Thus students work to their ability. b. Task: students are assigned different tasks according to their level of conceptual understandings. i. In MYP math classes there are differentiated groupings. These are fluid and when one concept is mastered a student may move into another group. ii. There are also individualized computer math programs currently being used for math to further help meet individual needs (Success Maker and Renaissance Math). c. Tutoring is offered by most teachers after school or during the day for help in core subjects. d. The very nature of IB offers many of these differentiation concepts incorporated into the plans. Actions planned for differentiation: a. Plans are underway for implementing long-distance learning to advance students who are years above their age group or who have knowledge and talent in subjects that are not on offer at the Academy. b. A study group made up of teachers, parents and HOS, all of whom have had extensive study or involvement with students of high ability, have been meeting for two years and after much study are now working on policies and identification means to assure that students with all types of special needs are served to the best ability of the Academy. c. Increase staff development plans to include more courses on differentiation. 2. Teacher Appraisal Actions taken: a. Teachers have been appraised during each of the two completed years to date. Appraisals during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 year were based on teacher self-appraisals using a standardized template. Teachers then had an appraisal interview with the Head of School and set up an Action Plan with goals, means to achieve the goals, time frame, and evidence that goals had been achieved. These appraisals form part of the teacher's file. b. During 2005-2006 school year the Academy implemented a peer- appraisal system. Peer appraisal, new to schools,has been proven to be an extremely successful tool that improves knowledge, performance and managerial skills for both the appraiser and the appraised person. These appraisals will be completed by year's end. Actions planned: a. Share the template with parents and include the procedures for carrying out appraisals in the personnel policies.