SDNB Releases 2017-2020 Strategic Priorities, Expands Metrics

Information provided to the School District of New Berlin’s Board of Education on Sept. 11 will help guide the work of the district in the years to come.

Superintendent Joe Garza provided an update on the strategic priorities for 2017-2020, the district’s 2017-18 Education for Employment plan, and the District’s ‘Accomplish More In Four’ campaign, which strives for all students to achieve success in some form of college level coursework prior to graduation.

“These documents culminate a six-month effort on behalf of many administrators, staff and stakeholders to sustain our progress and continuously improve,” Garza said.

The district started its College and Career Readiness (CCR) initiative in 2013 to expand the opportunities available to students to identify interests, set goals and develop action plans to reach those goals. This work remains a priority in the 2017-2020 strategic plan as well as the 2017-18 Education for Employment plan which is required by the state of Wisconsin for all K12 school districts.

“Our Education for Employment plan provides another layer of detail to our strategic plan,” Garza said. “We have embraced the shared objectives of the legislation for the benefit of our students. We want them to see the relevance in what they are learning, develop critical dispositions, and graduate as informed consumers of, and prepared for, postsecondary education and training. We are thankful for the support of our Board of Education to allow us to continue this important work.”

The SDNB School Board was the first to approve an Education for Employment (E4E) plan. The district is a strong advocate for E4E programming, which includes components such as labor market analysis, stakeholder engagement, career awareness, exposure, and preparation, entrepreneurship programming, technological literacy, financial literacy, citizenship, applied learning, college-level coursework, and academic and career planning. Earlier this year, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, the Board passed the first policy (Policy 6154) in Wisconsin that confirms the district's commitment to this work. Part of that policy was to implement a broader set of measures at a district and student level to monitor the number of students who are participating in learning opportunities that increase the likelihood of post-secondary success.

“One of the perceived barriers to this work is the misalignment of state funding as well as the accountability measures on our state report card,” Garza added. “While we advocate for and await changes at the state level, we need to hold ourselves accountable to the work we know makes a difference in the lives of our students and the needs of our state economy. To that end, we are implementing a College and Career Readiness dashboard to track our progress in key areas.”

Also at the Sept. 11 meeting, members of the district's leadership team presented a framework that has been in development over the past year. The data will help inform the district's continuous improvement plans in years to come and provides a broader view of what it means to be ready for life after high school. This framework was informed by the AASA Redefining Ready! campaign and was revised to reflect the unique objectives in the SDNB.

One of the metrics featured during the presentation was the number of students who successfully complete college-level coursework. The district’s ‘Accomplish More In Four’ campaign helps inform students and families how they can effectively leverage the resources available to demonstrate readiness for college level coursework through early placement exams, transcripted credit, dual enrollment and more in order to complete their first semester/year of college, or even an associate’s degree, prior to high school graduation.

The SDNB represents Wisconsin on the AASA National Redefining Ready! steering team and participates in the working cohort formed this year. The working cohort includes representatives from CESA6 as well as many other districts across the state, including Menomonee Falls, Mishicot, Antigo, Appleton, Racine Unified, Chippewa Falls, and Elmbrook. SDNB representatives convened in California last week to review their progress and collaborate on next steps.

Gov. Scott Walker’s executive budget calls for additional measures of CCR to be added to state report cards. Specifically:

• the number and percentage of pupils participating in the early college credit program;
• the number and percentage of pupils participating in a youth apprenticeship;
• the number of community service hours provided by pupils;
• the number of advanced placement courses offered and the number of advanced placement credits earned by pupils; and,
• the number of pupils earning industry-recognized credentials through a technical education program established by a school board.

SDNB’s programming and district dashboard already supports these measures.

“The ACT, which is the standard measure for College and Career Readiness, simply is not representative of a diverse set of learners who all demonstrate readiness in a variety of ways,” Garza said. “We are honored to be part of the collective efforts of many that recognize that a student's accomplishments can not be measured solely by a single score.”

This work is also expected to be leveraged by Waukesha County with a new effort chartered by the Waukesha County Business Alliance in partnership with the Waukesha County Center for Growth to develop a county scorecard that reflects the quality of the talent pipeline that serve the county’s and state’s economic development needs. The SDNB was asked to join this effort, which is set to kick off later this month.

Wisconsin’s First District congressman and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan praised the district for its work during a visit Sept. 18.

“What you’re showing us and doing here is precisely what we’re hoping the rest of the state can do, and the rest of the country for that matter," said Speaker Ryan. He added that he wants to get funding back into the hands of local school districts so administrators and educators are able to update curriculum and classes based off of what will get their students jobs.

That is the objective of the state’s Education for Employment legislation as well. This legislation, however, did not include any direct funding to K12 to implement needed changes in support of shared objectives.

“School districts that are exceeding expectations should be provided the means to continue to advance this important work,” SDNB School Board President Tom David said. “Given the demography and geography issues our state is experiencing, we have to move quickly to meet the needs of our students and the environments we are preparing them for, especially in light of the additional opportunities provided by Foxconn. We will continue to advocate for resources to be applied directly to K12 instead of through state agencies, so we can provide the greatest impact as quickly as possible. The funding sources available now, which are limited to youth apprenticeship and tech incentives through ACT 59, are simply not sufficient.”