SWS Principal’s Corner: Setting School Goals

John Burst Principal's CornerEvery DCPS school has specific achievement goals set by the Chancellor. The Chancellor sets these goals for SWS in coordination with Principal Burst to align with the DCPS overall goals and areas for growth specific to SWS. Below Principal Burst explains more about SWS’s goals.

 


 

How did we do on our goals last year?
Last year, we were very successful in achieving our goals. We exceeded or met all 5 of our goals. This past summer, I was pleased to report to our school community that 91% of our elementary students are on or above grade level in reading and we reduced the number of students who fell well below the proficiency level on the reading fluency assessment by 60%. (Read more specifics in a summer letter from Principal Burst.)

How are school goals determined?
Of the 5 goals, 3 goals are set by the Chancellor, and 2 are “flex” goals. We set our flex goals according to our own goals at the school and significant input from DCPS. We also consider how our school’s goals can align with Chancellor Henderson’s capital commitment goals:

  • Improve Achievement Rates
  • Invest in Struggling Schools
  • Increase Graduation Rate
  • Improve Satisfaction with School
  • Increase Enrollment

What was the process to set this year’s goals?
Over the summer, I looked carefully at our data, according to the Chancellor’s priorities and our own internal goals and priorities. I drafted goals for our school, and have since consulted with my staff and the LSAT and Advisory and Support Committee. On November 5th, I had a goal-setting meeting with DCPS and presented the goals to our LSAT.

What are our schools five goals for this year?
Our goals for this school year, as approved by DCPS, are:

  • 91% of students will be proficient or above on TRC (measures reading comprehension) assessment at the end of the year. (Already this year 64% of our students are advanced, really exceptional).
  • 92% of students will be proficient or above on DIBELS end of year assessment.
  • 92% of students will be on grade level or above on iReady end of year mathematics assessment.
  • 1st and 4th Grade Students will reach a combined 3.5 average on the Lucy Calkins’ Writers Workshop informative and narrative writing rubrics (4-point scale).
  • 0% of students will be two grades or more behind grade level on the i-Ready mathematics assessment.

What about looking at certain populations within our school?
We are aware of the need to even better address the needs of the students who are here. We will be looking specifically at particular student populations to make sure that every student’s growth rate is on par with their peers, and we will keep this in mind when school gets back initial scores from our beginning of the year testing. Breaking out data for specific populations will become more possible as our school becomes big enough to have more data and big enough groups within specific populations to report data. (Data cannot be reported with too-small sample sizes at schools to protect student identity.)