Dixon schools improvement plan called ‘living, breathing document’

DIXON – Dixon Public Schools Superintendent Margo Empen provided the board of education with the school improvement plan during its December meeting, the impetus for which came out of a board retreat earlier in the fall.

“We have a unified approach,” said Empen, calling the district-wide plan a “living, breathing document based on data.”

Empen said the work of the administration, parents and staff to formulate the plan means that the board’s goals now align with the district and individual schools.

“Everyone has the same goals,” she said.

The school improvement plan addresses five factors important to the overall health of the district: student achievement, student social and emotional development, district work culture and learning climate, district finances, and building facilities.

The district-wide portion of the plan is 16 pages. The “living breathing” part of the document is that for each actionable item on the district agenda, there is a place for baseline data, an update on progress and an evaluation during each grading period.

The first goal for the district is for the 2024-25 school year: 80% of K-12 students will graduate on time, using tests and assessments in math and English Language Arts to track their growth.

To make that happen, a series of tasks must be completed. Beyond communicating goals with staff, students and parents, the district will also implement STAR assessments (a testing methodology focused on short exams), select an ELA curriculum, evaluate results from pilot curriculum to current data, identify teachers to work with the pilot program, and create a “look for” checklist for the program that allows the administration to evaluate progress.

The plan includes benchmarks. For instance, by the end of the current school year, 60% of all students will meet or exceed ELA growth targets, as measured by established assessments. By 2022-23, all district teachers will implement the ELA curriculum.

In addition to noting the rate of progress and groups responsible for each measure, the plan also allows for any changes that need to be made along the way. During the action phase, those responsible for their task can provide input on needed resources, anticipated costs and other levels of support that might be needed.

Here is a look at the other district goals:

— Address student social/emotional student needs by adopting a multi-tiered system of support, using student attendance, discipline data and academic data.

— Improve the work and learning culture and climate within the district by establishing a framework that encourages communication and collaboration and decision-making based on data.

— Set yearly facility goals so that all of the district’s facilities plan will be completed by the 2024-25 school year.

Accordingly, each building in the district will have its own set of goals that contribute to resolving the district one.

For example, Washington Elementary will survey parents and address discipline referrals as part of the series of benchmarks meant to align with the district’s culture and climate goals. To address the social-emotional goals, staff will complete an subject-related assessment with the goal of reducing student discipline referrals by 10% against the average from the three school years prior to the pandemic.

Empen said the district would post online and update the plan to the public would be able to track progress.