Shaker Heights Schools 2020-2025 Strategic Plan

2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN Adopted: March 2020

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Acknowledgments Throughout the development of this Strategic Plan, Shaker Heights City School District leadership collaborated with and sought input from a wide range of community stakeholders.

Thank you to the following: Shaker Heights Board of Education

Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council

Superintendent’s Leadership Team

Shaker Heights PTO

Strategic Plan Advisory Committee

District Parents

Educational Equity Policy Implementation Team

District Administrators District Faculty and Support Staff

Superintendent’s Black Teacher Task Force Building Leadership Teams Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Committee

The Shaker Community

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Introduction The Shaker Heights City School District’s ​2020-2025 Strategic Plan was built on the foundation of two bedrock principles: Educational Equity and the International Baccalaureate Programme.

The first principle affirms that the ​District will attain true excellence when every student in every school meets or exceeds universally high goals. The second principle establishes a coherent framework for best pedagogical practices and for 21st-century skills in all classrooms. This Strategic Plan is in line with the school district’s long history of serving a diverse, vibrant community and its tradition of academic excellence.

The new Strategic Plan is the successor to plans developed in 2011 and 2014. The process to develop this plan began in the spring of 2018. In the fall of 2019, the District partnered with Resolute Educational Solutions, LLC, to support the plan’s development.

Resolute recommended that the District’s Strategic Plan be designed based on a Quality Assurance System (QAS) (​Bernhardt, V. L. 2016). ​A QAS promotes continuous improvement that includes an annual review cycle, data analysis, program review and evaluation, technical assistance and systems analysis. When executed with fidelity, the QAS will ensure ​focus, alignment and coherence in our work.

As part of the Strategic planning process, members of the Resolute team met regularly with a Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, which included a representative group of stakeholders.

Resolute team members also held a wide range of focus groups with students, faculty and staff, administrators, parents and community members. In addition, Resolute team members conducted numerous classroom visits and gathered and analyzed data such as student attendance, graduation rates, discipline data and standardized testing scores. Data from Human Resources and Finance were also reviewed. These data informed the creation of the Strategic Plan goals and metrics.

Going forward, the ​District’s Strategic Plan requires the District to use detailed measurements to determine progress toward intended outcomes. These reviews, which are critical to the process of continuous improvement, should reveal areas of strength and areas in need of further support.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Who We Are OUR MISSION The District will nurture, educate, and graduate students who are civic-minded and prepared to make ethical decisions; who are confident, competent communicators, skillful in problem solving, capable of creative thinking, who have a career motivation and a knowledge of our global and multicultural society.

OUR VISION Shaker is the first-choice school district for all students.

OUR CORE VALUES The Shaker Team believes: ● Each student is valued; ● Every student must succeed; ● Diversity makes us stronger; ● Breadth of experience is vital; ● Fiscal responsibility is essential; and ● We are all accountable.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Goal One

Strategic Goal 1:​ ​Strengthen student learning by providing each student with a rigorous and enriching educational experience that aligns with the International Baccalaureate philosophy and framework and that prepares all graduates for post-secondary education and careers.

Strategic Objective 1.1

Inventory, document, audit and evaluate educational programs and resources to assess alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 1.2

Improve and refine the District’s data systems and the District’s capacity to use educational data to drive student outcomes.

Strategic Objective 1.3

Expand District early childhood educational programming to increase the number of students who are prepared for success.

Strategic Objective 1.4

Prepare each student for post-secondary education and careers by expanding educational experiences based on the International Baccalaureate design-cycle framework, which includes investigating, planning, creating and evaluating.

Strategic Objective 1.5

Provide each student with a rigorous and enriching educational experience by increasing the number of Black students who are prepared for success in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) or Advanced Placement (AP) courses at the end of Grade 10.

Strategic Objective 1.6

Prepare each student for successful transitions to college and careers by increasing the number of students earning workforce credentials through Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming.

Strategic Objective 1.7

Prepare each student for successful transitions to college and careers by increasing the number of students earning college credit through College Credit Plus (CCP) courses.

Strategic Objective 1.8

Develop and implement a District-wide Technology Plan to support the effective integration of educational technology in the classrooms.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

MEASUREMENTS: STRATEGIC GOAL ONE ● ● ●

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Educational program resource report with recommendations and findings Comprehensive curriculum documentation Student-level and demographic data to examine trends such as: ○ PreK-12 program and course enrollment ○ Number and percentage of Black students DP Programme- and AP-ready at the end of Grade 10 ○ AP/DP enrollment and score metrics ○ PreK-12 state and local assessment data ○ Graduation/diploma data ○ Demographic data ■ Attendance/Truancy ■ Discipline Early childhood and kindergarten student metrics Number and percentage of students earning workforce credentials through CTE programming Number and percentage of students earning college credit through CCP Technology Plan and associated metrics Strategic Plan Progress Reports

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Goal Two

Strategic Goal 2: ​Advance educational equity by disrupting and removing institutional structures and practices which have historically been associated with racism, oppression and other forms of marginalization.

Strategic Objective 2.1

Review the District mission and vision statements to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 2.2

Ensure system-wide practices and structures are in place to support implementation of the District’s educational equity policy.

Strategic Objective 2.3

Strengthen District engagement with families who have historically been marginalized by enhancing District-wide communication and collaborating with community partners.

Strategic Objective 2.4

Review curricular and educational materials to ensure inclusion of diverse populations and perspectives in alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 2.5

Explore and refine course offerings and student assignment practices to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 2.6

Establish consistent District-wide discipline protocols and practices that are aligned with District goals and objectives in order to reduce the amount of classroom time Black students miss as a result of disciplinary actions.

Strategic Objective 2.7

Develop and implement a plan to recruit and retain Black teachers and other underrepresented demographic groups.

Strategic Objective 2.8

Examine co- and extra-curricular activities that were established to support educational equity to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

MEASUREMENTS: STRATEGIC GOAL TWO ● ● ● ●

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District mission and vision statements Comprehensive curriculum documentation Comprehensive communications and engagement metrics Student-level and demographic data to examine trends such as: ○ PreK-12 program and course enrollment ○ Number and percentage of Black students DP Programme- and AP-ready at the end of Grade 10 ○ AP/DP enrollment and score metrics ○ PreK-12 state and local assessment data ○ Graduation/diploma data ○ Demographic data ■ Attendance/Truancy ■ Discipline Revised District-wide student discipline Code of Conduct Recruitment and retention plan Staffing data School culture and climate survey data Co- and extra-curricular activity metrics Strategic Plan Progress Reports

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Goal Three

Strategic Goal 3: ​Utilize a Quality Assurance System model to review, assess and strengthen department-level support of student learning, including Business and Operations, Human Resources, Finance and Facilities, to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 3.1

Examine and revise Human Resources Department structures and practices to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 3.2

Conduct a Quality Assurance Audit of staffing patterns across the District to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 3.3

Conduct a Quality Assurance Audit of financial resource allocation across the District to ensure alignment with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 3.4

Create a long-term Facilities Plan that supports educational equity and International Baccalaureate practices, addresses the District’s needs and supports student learning.

Strategic Objective 3.5

To ensure continuous improvement, publish regular progress reports that document data analyses and findings from Quality Assurance Audits.

MEASUREMENTS: STRATEGIC GOAL THREE ● ● ● ● ● ●

Human Resources Department report with recommendations and findings District-wide staffing report with recommendations and findings School- and department-level budgeting process School- and department-level financial allocation reports Long-term Facilities Plan Strategic Plan Progress Reports

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Strategic Goal Four

Strategic Goal 4:​ ​Implement high-quality professional learning practices to build the capacity of faculty and staff to improve student learning experiences and outcomes.

Strategic Objective 4.1

Analyze District data to identify trends, patterns and areas of needed improvement to inform professional learning design and content.

Strategic Objective 4.2

Research professional learning programs, strategies or interventions that support educational equity and that align with District goals and objectives.

Strategic Objective 4.3

Create, implement and maintain a professional learning program for all staff.

Strategic Objective 4.4

Assess the effectiveness of professional learning implementation, including by establishing a logic model that contains specific improvement goals and student outcomes

Strategic Objective 4.5

Provide ongoing professional learning centered on social-emotional learning strategies, school safety best practices and school culture and climate.

Strategic Objective 4.6

Create, manage and maintain a District online resource for professional learning content.

MEASUREMENTS: STRATEGIC GOAL FOUR ● ● ● ● ● ●

Comprehensive professional learning documentation School culture and climate survey data Student discipline data Implementation documents for social-emotional learning strategies Online resource up and running with review of metrics as available Strategic Plan Progress Report

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Our Principles INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE MISSION STATEMENT The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

EDUCATIONAL EQUITY POLICY​ ​(​adopted February 12, 2019)​ The District will attain true excellence only when all students are exceeding universally high goals. The District is committed to the success of every student in our schools. In alignment with the District’s aspirations of Excellence, Equity and Exploration, it is the belief of the Board that all students deserve to be academically challenged in a safe and supportive learning environment in which they feel a sense of belonging. This environment should be free of bullying, harassment and discrimination. All Shaker students deserve to be held to high expectations while being given the resources and supports they need to exceed those expectations.

Historical and continuing structural inequities create disparate outcomes for marginalized student populations. As a District committed to equity, we seek to disrupt societal and historical inequities and eliminate disparities based on student and family characteristics such as, but not limited to, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), economic status, marital status, pregnancy, age, disability or military status, so that all students thrive.

Educational equity is based on the principles of fairness and justice in allocating resources, opportunity, treatment and creating success for each student. Achieving equity means students’ identities will not predetermine or predict school success. The Board believes that expanding opportunities for students who have been historically marginalized will enrich the overall development of all students.

The District’s vision for all students to achieve and exceed at high levels requires the District to see each student as an individual with unique strengths and needs. In order to help all students succeed, we must meet each student where the student is academically, emotionally, mentally, physically and socially.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

As such, it is the policy of the Board to promote educational equity for all District students through the budgeting process, the allocation of resources and development of Board policies in order to realize the District’s vision. In order to make educational equity a reality for all students, the Board must utilize a set of guiding principles that reflects the District’s values when addressing issues related to the budget, resource allocation and policy development.

The Board is committed to the following guiding principles: 1. Board decisions will be made with a commitment to promoting just and fair inclusion and creating conditions in which everyone can participate, prosper and reach their full potential.

2. Equity benefits the District as a whole. All students must participate in appropriately rigorous, challenging and diverse educational experiences designed to create a skill set needed to graduate and become career and community ready by being provided targeted supports based on individual needs. Expanding opportunities and increasing support for students, especially those who have been historically marginalized and may continue to be marginalized, will ultimately increase the overall educational experience, general well-being and academic achievement of all District students.

3. Equity does not mean equal. Achieving educational equity will mean that schools and students may receive different resources based on specific needs. Some resources may be distributed in a universal manner; however, other resources may be targeted to a particular building, location or group of students or staff. The District should provide every student with equitable access to high-quality curriculum, support, facilities and other educational resources, even when the process appears to be differentiated in the allocation of resources.

4. A targeted universalism approach will guide the District’s equity work. School-based programs and opportunities will be designed and implemented using targeted universalism. Said programs and opportunities must be accessible to all students, but can, and in some cases should, be targeted to provide specific supports for select students to achieve or exceed the District’s universally high goals. This will be achieved by systematically using disaggregated District and school data to inform District decision making.

5. Roles and Responsibilities A. The Board will assure that the guiding principles inform Board-level decisions related to budget, resource allocation and policy-development in order to make progress toward educational equity for all students.

B. District administration will make recommendations to the Board regarding budget, resource allocation and policy development based on the guiding principles.

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN 6. Assessment of Educational Equity The Superintendent/designee shall recommend and the Board shall adopt a tool and/or method by which the District can assess alignment of recommendations with the principles. The Educational Equity Tool will be available on the District’s website once approved.

7. Reporting Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, the Superintendent or the Superintendent's designee and Board will adopt goals and corresponding metrics related to this policy.

Reporting will include data on the distribution of staff and financial and programmatic resources across all schools and will be incorporated into the annually prepared budget documents and/or Human Resources report.

8. Definitions A. “Educational Equity” means an intentional distribution of District resources amongst schools, students and staff based on what each needs to achieve universal goals.

B. “Educational Equity Tool” is a district-wide evaluation tool used to measure the intentionality of the District programs and activities and how they meet the needs of all District students.

C. “Resources” includes money, programs and curriculum, staff time, expertise, skills, experience and professional learning, information, facilities and materials and services such as technology, food service and transportation.

D. “Universal” when used in reference to resources, means the distribution of resources to everyone or everything in the established group regardless of any unique or specific qualities or identified needs, such as the allocation of one lead principal to each school building or the provision of a standard mathematics textbook to each student. “Universal” when used in reference to goals, means published goals fostering all students’ acquisition of the skills and abilities to be successful in college, career and community.

E. “Targeted” means the distribution of resources on top of or in addition to universally distributed resources to support a particular subgroup based on unique or specific qualities or established need, such as the provision of the allocation of an assistant principal only to the school(s) whose student enrollment exceeds a specific number or the provision of supplementary math texts and workbooks to students who achieve within an established range on an assessment.

F. “Targeted Universalism” is an approach used to achieve equity. It sets universal goals for all students and identifies targeted means and processes for specific populations depending on how they are situated to opportunity. This approach

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2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN recognizes that the District must respond with necessary resources and multiple paths needed for different school communities and students to thrive.

References Bernhardt, V. L. (2016). ​Data, data everywhere: Bringing all the data together for continuous school improvement.​ Hammond, L. (2018). Kerner at 50: Educational equity still a dream deferred. Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved from: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/kerner-50-educational-equity-still-dream-deferred?gclid=E AIaIQobChMIyoHqrtuS5wIVSrzACh14WQ_aEAAYASAAEgII_PD_BwE Manghani K. (2011). Quality assurance: Importance of systems and standard operating procedures. ​Perspectives in clinical research​, ​2​(1), 34–37. doi:10.4103/2229-3485.76288 US Department of Education (2018). U.S. Department of Education Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2018-22. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED586968

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