SEIZING OPPORTUNITY
DURHAM IS A COMMUNITY RIFE WITH OPPORTUNITY. Forged by a rich history, strengthened by its diversity, and positioned as a center of rapid economic growth in our state, Durham has a bright future.
Durham Public Schools has a significant role in realizing this future for our community. The district is following the same upward trajectory by unlocking historic growth through prioritizing academic excellence and nourishing the whole child, all in the face of persistent inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Resolute in our commitment to providing the best possible education for every student, we are excited to launch our next strategic plan. This plan was born from a comprehensive and collaborative planning process involving extensive community input and reflects the needs and aspirations of our students, families, educators, and community. It will guide our district as we enter our next phase of growth.
This plan provides a roadmap for the next five years, outlining key priorities and ambitious goals that will guide our decision making and resource mobilization to address the shifting needs of our students and community. It reaffirms our commitment to equity and access, embraces innovation and creativity as drivers of excellence, and draws on the assets of our city, county, and state.
As we embark on the next step in Durham Public Schools’ evolution, we invite all members of our community to join us in working towards this vision.
SERVING
31,333 STUDENTS
CAMPUSES
54.8%
54% OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
5,054 EMPLOYEES
INCREASED THE PERCENTAGE OF SCHOOLS MEETING OR EXCEEDING GROWTH EVERY YEAR OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS
OVER
$66 MILLION IN SCHOLARSHIPS OFFERED TO SENIORS IN 2022
CORE BELIEFS
EQUITY
Our students and schools deserve equitable access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. Durham Public Schools and the community must distribute those resources in a manner that eliminates inequities.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Durham Public Schools must be intentional in acting collaboratively and involving all stakeholders, ensuring that our community utilizes its collective resources to support every child. The Durham community shares responsibility with DPS for the success of our children.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Durham Public Schools will challenge every stakeholder, especially our students and educators, to embrace a growth mindset: the belief that every child can be academically successful. It is our expectation that all of our students will excel globally and reach their highest potential.
MISSION
Durham Public Schools embraces, educates, and empowers every student to innovate, serve, and lead.
A CHILDCENTERED APPROACH
Our students deserve an education that is caring, culturally responsive, and embraces the whole child. Durham Public Schools will address the social, emotional, and academic needs of each student.
VISION
Durham Public Schools: Igniting Limitless Potential
THEORY OF ACTION
If the Durham community shares responsibility in the investment of every child using a holistic approach, then we will ensure that resources and opportunities are informed by equity and that we are intentional about setting high expectations for all stakeholders in their role in educating the whole child, as we support and increase the capacity of administrators, teachers, staff, and parents so that they are equipped to support and develop efficacy in instruction and student learning.
STRATEGIC PLAN 2023-2028
P RIORITY 1
Foster Academic Excellence
GOAL 1A: By 2028, 90 percent of DPS students and schools will meet or exceed standards for year-to-year academic growth as measured by the state model.
GOAL 1B: By 2028, at least 70 percent of DPS students will achieve grade-level proficiency with a focus on Black, Hispanic, Students with Disabilities (SWD) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) students as measured by End-of-Grade and Endof-Course testing.
GOAL 1C: By 2028, the DPS four-year cohort graduation rate for students who start with DPS in ninth grade will be at least 90 percent.
GOAL 1D: By 2028, 85 percent of DPS students will demonstrate Career and College Readiness as measured by the ACT/WorkKeys composite proficiency.
GOAL 1E: By 2028, at least 70% of ELs will meet their annual progress targets.
GOAL 1F: By 2028, at least 90% of schools (w/SWD subgroup) will exceed GROWTH standards as measured by the state model.
PRIORITY 2
Provide a Safe and Healthy School Environment that Supports the Whole Child
GOAL 2A: By 2024, DPS will develop measures of fidelity for implementation of a research-based cultural framework and social-emotional learning curriculum. By 2028, 100 percent of Durham Public Schools will implement a research-based cultural framework and social emotional learning curriculum with fidelity.
GOAL 2B: By 2028, DPS will reduce the percentage of Black students, students with disabilities, and Hispanic students suspended in the district to 5 percent or lower.
GOAL 2C: By 2028, DPS will have an overall student attendance rate of at least 95 percent or higher.
GOAL 2D: By 2028, at least 95 percent of DPS students will participate in annual student surveys (e.g. student climate survey, Panorama survey) and identify their school community as "a good place to attend and learn" and that they "feel like they belong."
PRIORITY 3
Recruit, Support, and Retain an Exemplary Staff
GOAL 3A: By 2028, DPS will decrease the turnover rate of all DPS employees by 5 percent with a focus on teachers, instructional assistants, and bus drivers.
GOAL 3B: By 2028, DPS will increase the fill rate of all DPS positions by at least 5 percent with a focus on hard-to-staff instructional and classified positions.
GOAL 3C: By 2028, the percentage of DPS educators and staff who identify as Hispanic or Black will each increase by at least 5 percent.
GOAL 3D: By 2028, at least 90 percent of DPS educators and staff will agree that their school/department is a “good place to work and learn” based on NCDPI's Teacher Working Conditions survey and annual Employee Engagement Survey.
AT A GLANCE
PRIORITY 4
Cultivate Meaningful and Authentic Community Engagement
GOAL 4A: By 2025, DPS will assess processes and establish standards for enhancing consistent, understandable, accessible, and culturally responsive messaging for internal and external stakeholders.
GOAL 4B: By spring 2024, DPS will develop and implement tools to listen to and determine family needs. By 2025, DPS will use these findings to support schools in designing effective, meaningful family engagement programming. By 2026, 100 percent of schools will implement and evaluate such programming.
GOAL 4C: By spring 2024, DPS will design and implement a robust process for identifying, connecting with, approving, and onboarding community organizations as partners. Then by 2027, all schools will have one or more high impact community partnership to support increasing positive student outcomes.
PRIORITY 5
Conduct Business, Administrative, and Operational Functions
Responsibly and Equitably
GOAL 5A: By 2028, DPS will provide healthy, safe, technologically current, and environmentally conscious facilities for 100 percent of DPS properties.
GOAL 5B: By 2028, 90 percent of DPS students who ride district buses will have on-time arrival to and from schools.
GOAL 5C: By 2028, DPS will increase K-12 Student Enrollment to achieve 100 percent utilization of seat capacity at all school levels (approximately 35,000 students).
GOAL 5D: By 2028, DPS will fully integrate business modernization, including payroll, HR, IT, and finance systems, to align district strategic objectives and business, administrative, and operational needs.
PRIORITY 1 Foster Academic Excellence
Increase student performance on key academic indicators with a focus on ensuring equitable learning opportunities for all students.
GOALS
GOAL 1A
By 2028, 90 percent of DPS students and schools will meet or exceed standards for year-to-year academic growth as measured by the state model.
GOAL 1B
By 2028, at least 70 percent of DPS students will achieve grade-level proficiency with a focus on Black, Hispanic, Students with Disabilities (SWD), and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students as measured by End-of-Grade and End-of-Course testing.
GOAL 1C
By 2028, the DPS four-year cohort graduation rate for students who start with DPS in ninth grade will be at least 90 percent.
GOAL 1D
By 2028, 85 percent of DPS students will demonstrate Career and College Readiness as measured by the ACT/WorkKeys composite proficiency.
GOAL 1E
By 2028, at least 70 percent of ELs will meet their annual progress targets.
GOAL 1F
By 2028, at least 90 percent (w/SWD subgroup) will exceed GROWTH standards as measured by the state model.
STRATEGIES
Curriculum | Provide schools with training and support to maximize fidelity of implementation of adopted core instructional resources from Pre-K-12.
Opportunity Gaps | Develop and scale data-driven, research-based best practices for instruction— including accelerated student learning strategies and culturally responsive curriculum—to increase subgroup performance and address opportunity gaps. (e.g., high-impact tutoring, professional development in acceleration, summer bridge programs, etc.)
Early Childhood | Improve Pre-K to Kindergarten curriculum alignment and increase enrollment in district affiliated, high-quality Pre-K seats.
Career and College Readiness | Increase access to, enrollment in, and completion of advanced courses, including Honors, AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment courses for high school and high school courses in middle school as well as CTE Pathways and courses that result in an industry credential.
Personalized, Experiential Learning | Develop and implement innovative strategies that promote deeper, self-paced, technology-enhanced, and experiential learning and support schools in identifying and adopting these opportunities for students.
Multi-Tiered Systems of Support | Utilize differentiated core instruction and schoolwide tiered support systems to address the academic, behavior, social-emotional/mental health needs of all students.
Exceptional Children | Provide teachers and students the support necessary to increase the percentage of time where students with disabilities are included in core general education classes.
Professional Learning | Develop a professional learning plan for all teachers to support with specific strategies that address math and literacy content knowledge and student-centered instruction, especially for Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students.
English Language Learners | Strengthen support for English Language Learners by providing instructional staff with professional learning that promotes cultural understanding and instructional strategies that support English Learners at all language proficiency levels.
Equity Audit | Perform an Equity Audit to assess how district policies, practices, and programs impact student opportunity gaps.
PRIORITY 2
Provide a Safe and Healthy School Environment that Supports the Whole Child
Strengthen the vital social and emotional supports necessary for student success.
GOALS
GOAL 2A
By 2024, DPS will develop measures of fidelity for implementation of a research-based cultural framework and social-emotional learning curriculum. By 2028, 100 percent of Durham Public Schools will implement a research-based cultural framework and social emotional learning curriculum with fidelity.
GOAL 2B
By 2028, DPS will reduce the percentage of Black students, students with disabilities, and Hispanic students suspended in the district to 5 percent or lower.
GOAL 2C
By 2028, DPS will have an overall student attendance rate of at least 95 percent or higher.
GOAL 2D
By 2028, at least 95 percent of DPS students will participate in annual student surveys (e.g. student climate survey, Panorama survey) and identify their school community as "a good place to attend and learn" and that they "feel like they belong."
STRATEGIES
Restorative Practices and Exclusionary Discipline | Provide all school administrators and educators annual professional learning and supports for school-based staff around building positive school culture and healthy school climate, reducing the use of exclusionary disciplinary practices, and increasing daily attendance.
Inclusion and Intersectionality | Provide differentiated professional learning and curricular support to all educators to ensure that all students are included and feel safe, supported, recognized, and celebrated within their school and have the opportunity to learn about, discuss, and confront issues of equity and justice in school.
Extracurriculars | Ensure that every DPS middle and high school has extracurricular opportunities in athletics, arts, culture, wellness, and STEM.
Discipline | Analyze disaggregated school-level and offense-specific disciplinary consequences to strengthen equitable application of district disciplinary policy.
Student Voice | Create regular opportunities to amplify student voice by seeking and acting on student input, including providing all administrators and educators with annual training to make meaning of student survey data.
Mental Health and SEL | Provide all school administrators and educators annual professional learning on mental health, social emotional learning, and trauma informed instruction aligned to student survey data.
Student Wellness | Integrate developmentally appropriate systems, structures, and processes that promote student health and wellness at the school and district level as aligned with board policy, including strengthening implementation of the ten components of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model.
Cultural Frameworks | Strengthen implementation of cultural frameworks through integration with existing school improvement processes, professional learning, and empowering school-level Student Services staff as leaders of implementation.
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum | Apply curriculum adoption best practices to develop and implement Social-Emotional Learning curriculum with fidelity at schools district-wide.
Attendance | Create a culture of attendance at schools by building staff capacity to support students with attendance challenges, implementing positive approaches to attendance interventions, identifying and removing barriers to attendance, and strengthening collaboration with families and local agencies to support students at greater risk of chronic absenteeism.
PRIORITY 3
Recruit, Support, and Retain an Exemplary Staff
Employ a highly qualified, caring, and student-centered employee in every DPS position.
GOALS
GOAL 3A
By 2028, DPS will decrease the turnover rate of all DPS employees by 5 percent with a focus on teachers, instructional assistants, and bus drivers.
GOAL 3B
By 2028, DPS will increase the fill rate of all DPS positions by at least 5 percent with a focus on hard-to-staff instructional and classified positions.
GOAL 3C
By 2028, the percentage of DPS educators and staff who identify as Hispanic or Black will each increase by at least 5 percent.
GOAL 3D
By 2028, at least 90 percent of DPS educators and staff will agree that their school/department is a “good place to work and learn” based on NCDPI's Teacher Working Conditions survey and annual Employee Engagement Survey.
STRATEGIES
Grow Your Own | Expand district “Grow Your Own” programs that leverage the assets within Durham to identify and support staff, students, and community members interested in a career in education, with a focus on Hispanic and Black candidates.
Retention | Develop and implement innovative incentives to recruit and retain effective employees (e.g. professional development, financial incentives, etc.), especially those who identify as Hispanic or Black.
Career Development | Design and implement a tiered professional incentive program for employees to increase retention within the district.
Leadership Development | Identify and develop future school and district leaders through targeted professional development and the creation of a Professional Learning Network, with a focus on recruiting Hispanic and Black candidates.
Compensation | Review compensation of certified and classified positions to ensure market competitiveness and equity within district positions.
Recruitment | Strengthen existing and identify new and innovative partnerships with traditional and alternative educator preparation programs, especially those which produce Hispanic and Black candidates.
New Teacher Support | Strengthen onboarding, customized professional development, and mentorship programs for new teachers.
Affinity Groups | Develop and support school and district level affinity groups for historically marginalized or underrepresented populations.
Staff Wellness | Develop and celebrate, at regular intervals, integrated school and district level approaches that promote employee health and wellness.
Staff Interviews | Conduct and analyze exit and stay interviews to identify and address employee needs and areas of growth for the district and its schools.
PRIORITY 4
Cultivate Meaningful and Authentic Community Engagement
Increase dialogue, feedback, collaboration, and partnerships between DPS and the Durham community.
GOALS
GOAL 4A
By 2025, DPS will assess school and district processes to establish standards for enhancing consistent, understandable, accessible, and culturally responsive messaging for internal and external stakeholders.
GOAL 4B
By spring 2024, DPS will develop and implement tools to listen to and determine family needs. By 2025, DPS will use these findings to support schools in designing effective, meaningful family engagement programming. By 2026, 100 percent of schools will implement and evaluate such programming.
GOAL 4C
By spring 2024, DPS will design and implement a robust process for identifying, connecting with, approving, and onboarding community organizations as partners. Then by 2027, all schools will have one or more high impact community partnerships that support increasing positive student outcomes.
STRATEGIES
Customer Service | Develop standard operating processes to create a culture of excellent customer service.
Communication | Establish and implement a plan to "meet families where they are" including assessing the effectiveness of communication systems at the school level using data to inform appropriate strategies and resources to strengthen school and family/community relations.
Ambassadorship | Expand ambassador programs to support and facilitate collaborative engagement, including Parent, Student, and Community Ambassadors.
Branding | Define DPS’s identity as the premier option for students, staff, and families to learn, grow, and work, and provide marketing support that increases school, family, and community engagement.
Language Support | Improve language access support in schools and the district by ensuring adequate Spanish-language staffing levels and expanding support for families who speak languages other than Spanish.
Engaging Families | Strengthen processes and systems that support the whole family/child from enrollment through graduation, with an intentional focus on differentiating supports to address the diverse needs of the community. (e.g., Family Academy, Establishing a Comprehensive Engagement Center, Annual Parent Summits, School-level family engagement opportunities, collaborative community hubs).
Professional Learning | Offer professional development for school leaders, teachers, staff, and families on effective family and community engagement.
Community Partners | Support schools and families in identifying and connecting with community partners and local agencies to meet student needs. DPS will implement a process for defining, engaging, supporting and analyzing the impact of community partners.
PRIORITY 5
Conduct Business, Administrative, and Operational Functions Responsibly and Equitably
Strengthen service to students, families, and the Durham community through responsible stewardship and equitable distribution of capital, financial, technological, and human resources.
GOALS
GOAL 5A
By 2028, DPS will provide healthy, safe, technologically current, and environmentally conscious facilities for 100 percent of DPS properties.
GOAL 5B
By 2028, 90 percent of DPS students who ride district buses will have on-time arrival to and from schools.
GOAL 5C
By 2028, DPS will increase K-12 Student Enrollment to achieve 100 percent utilization of seat capacity at all school levels (approximately 35,000 students).
GOAL 5D
By 2028, fully integrate business modernization, including payroll, HR, IT, and finance systems, to align district strategic objectives and business, administrative, and operational needs.
STRATEGIES
Strategic Marketing | Develop a strategic marketing plan that highlights how business operations support student achievement through proper financial management, safe reliable transportation, nutritious and culturally diverse meals, and safe, clean, and educationally appropriate learning and working environments, which can be used as material for DPS’ larger student enrollment marketing plan.
Sustainability | Expand initiatives to increase the sustainability of district facilities and operations (e.g. upgrading energy efficient systems, increasing available alternative energy sources, expanding recycling/ composting programs.)
School Safety | Perform a district wide school safety audit that evaluates district facilities, policies, and practices to ensure students, families, staff feel safe across all district facilities.
Nutrition | Provide healthy, culturally responsive breakfast and lunch options accommodating multiple dietary needs or preferences district wide.
Professional Learning | Collaborate with the DPS Professional Learning Department, as well as community colleges, trade schools, and universities, to create professional learning modules for all business and operations staff, to increase knowledge and skills necessary for carrying out current job duties, as well as DPS succession planning.
Business Operation Assessments | Establish a cycle of comprehensive district-wide reviews of systems to assess financial, human, technological, and capital resources, and leverage findings to improve productivity.
Data Driven Decision Making | Leverage technology and data analytics to continuously collect, evaluate, and improve operational productivity within all business divisions, departments, and units.
Transportation | Develop, implement, and continuously improve a system to assess bus routes to improve efficiency, maximize staffing, and improve on-time service for all students who need transportation to and from school.
Capital Improvements | Annually review and update the district's Capital Improvement Plan to maintain accurate and up-to-date reporting around the allocation of the 2022 bond and the development of and communication around future bond measures.
Specialized Spaces | Review and upgrade specialized learning spaces (including classrooms, media centers, and common areas) to facilitate learning, foster collaboration, and support innovation).
2023-28 STRATEGIC PLAN BENCHMARKS
* A&L denotes data for schools labeled as "a good place to attend and learn" (see page 8,Goal 2D).
** BEL denotes data for schools where students "feel like they belong" (see page 8,Goal 2D).
The benchmarks on the adjacent pages indicate the interim steps Durham Public Schools will take to reach its projected goals in 2028. These benchmarks will serve as a measure to monitor the district's progression in attaining each goal.
Tools and Family Programming Use of tools to listen and determine family needs Findings used to design family engagement programming 100% of
* DPS will design and implement a robust process for identifying,connecting with,approving,and onboarding community organizations as partners.
** All schools will have one or more high-impact community partnerships that will support in increasing positive student outcomes.
COMMUNITY-DRIVEN | RESEARCH-INFORMED
Durham Public Schools partnered with RTI International throughout the 2022-23 school year to facilitate the development of a communitydriven strategic plan. As part of this process, a steering committee of 50 community stakeholders, including students, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and district and community leaders considered student outcome data, staff feedback, community questionnaire and focus group input, and current research-based best practices to develop a plan that reflects the needs of its diverse and passionate community. This vision for DPS honors the hard work done to date while exploring new avenues to ignite the limitless potential of all DPS students.
STEERING COMMITTEE
RUBEN AHUKANNA, Teacher Assistant, Merrick-Moore Elementary
DR. OLU ARIYO, Director of College Recruitment and High School Partnerships, Durham Technical Community College
JESSICA AUSTIN, Principal, Lowe's Grove Middle
OPICI BECTON-RICHMOND, Teacher, C.C. Spaulding Elementary
DR. KRISTIN BELL, Executive Director of Exceptional Children, DPS
SHEILA BROCKERS-WHITE, Teacher, City of Medicine Academy
DR. KELVIN BULLOCK, Executive Director of Equity and Professional Development, DPS
MICHELLE BURTON, Durham Association of Educators
EMILY CHAVEZ, Vice Chair, Durham Public Schools Board of Education
WALLACE CHERRY, Bus Driver, DPS
DOUGLASS COLEMAN, Program Director, BOOST, Duke University
DAVID COUSINS, Teacher, School for Creative Studies
JOSE CRUZ, Teacher, Shephard Magnet Middle
CHLOE DANIEL, Student Representative, Durham School of the Arts
YOSHEKA GAISIE, Teacher, Ignite Online Academy
TANYA GIOVANNI, ESQ., Chief of Staff, DPS
MAGAN GONZALEZ-SMITH, Executive Director, DPS Foundation
TY GULLEY-HARRIS, Student Representative, Neal Middle
DR. NAKIA HARDY, Deputy Superintendent, DPS
LAURIE HENRY, Teacher, Riverside High
KAFI HILL, Social Worker, Durham Performance Learning Center
SUNNY HIRALDO, Teacher Assistant, Southwest Elementary
EVA HOWARD, Executive Director of Safety and Security, DPS
DONALD JONES, Principal, Lakewood Montessori Middle
ANTONIO JONES, Chairman, Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People
JEFF KOWEEK, Senior Executive Director of Employee Relations, DPS
DR. ALVERA LESANE, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, DPS
PAUL LESIEUR, Chief Finance Officer, DPS
PAUL MIJUMBI, Director of IT Operations, DPS
DR. LAVERNE MATTOCKS-PERRY, Senior Executive Director for Student Support Services, DPS
ANAYELI MOGOYAN, Spanish Language Interpreter, DPS
DR. JULIUS MONK, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, DPS
DR. PASCAL MUBENGA, Superintendent, DPS
PATRICIA OBREGON, Community Organizer
MILLICENT ROGERS, Durham Public Schools Board of Education
NICHOLAS ROTOSKY, Principal, Southwest Elementary
DR. ALBERT ROYSTER, Executive Director of Research and Accountability, DPS
DR. STACY STEWART, Chief of Schools, DPS
DEPRINA STOVALL, Child Nutrition, DPS
WILLIAM "CHIP" SUDDERTH, Chief Communications Officer, DPS
CRYSTAL TAYLOR-SIMON, Principal, Middle College High
HUMBERTO TREJO, Parent
JEREMY TUCKER, Director of Arts, DPS
BETTINA UMSTEAD, Chair, Durham Public Schools Board of Education
BEATRIZ VAZQUEZ, Parent
KARMISHA WALLACE, Durham Assistant City Manager
TOMEKA WARD SATTERFIELD, Director of Student Wellness and Advocacy, DPS
DR. JEROME WASHINGTON, Pastor, Mount Vernon Baptist Church
CLIFTON WILLIAMS, Director of Maintenance and Environmental Services, DPS
STEPHANIE WILLIAMS, Director of Fiscal Operations, DPS