1260 - Board Progress Monitoring and State of the School Reviews Policy

Policy 1260

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Board Progress Monitoring and State of the School Reviews

Overview of Progress Monitoring
The Board directs the Superintendent to provide regular reports to the Board to facilitate transparency, accountability, and understanding of the work of the District in fulfilling its Vision. These reports shall focus on the:

A. Pasco School District’s Growth, Monitoring Framework
B. Outrageous Outcomes
C. Benchmarks D. Target goals
E. Stretch Target
F. Goals Pasco School District’s Strategic Improvement Plan Key Priorities

This process is part of the broader work of the Superintendent to ensure that the District monitors the effectiveness, outcomes, and impacts for all students from its curricula, programs, departments, initiatives, and overall work. Both the impacts of individual initiatives and programs on students, and the overall experience of students should remain in focus when monitoring and considering data about particular programs.

Board Directors shall strive to make policy decisions based on information received in these reports that reflects the progress or the need for improvement toward these various goals and with consideration of the overall best interests (with respect to advancing our vision) for each and every student in the District.

The Superintendent will develop a common report template or set of templates and/or report guidelines to be used consistently for all reports created by the Superintendent and district staff for the Board. The Board will approve this procedure and any updates to it.

Report Content
To support the Board’s oversight role Board Program Monitoring Reports shall:

• Be approved by the Superintendent or designee prior to submission to the Board.
• Be submitted according to the timeline requirements specified in this policy.

The reports should contain, at a minimum, the following:

Goals
The report should be organized around District Growth Monitoring Framework, Outrageous Outcomes, benchmarks, target goals, stretch target goals, and strategic improvement plan key priorities. Specifically, the report should clearly identify:

• the goal(s) being addressed in the report,
• the measures being used to assess the goals (final measures, and if different, interim monitoring measures), and
• the timeline for monitoring and assessment of these particular goals, 
• whether the goal was considered a “stretch goal” (i.e., a goal that is deliberately challenging or ambitious), and
• how these goals support the District’s goals, outcomes, and priorities; the District’s commitment to equity and accountability, and/or the District’s advancement of its values.

Rating of Goal Progress

Specify current status using a red/yellow/green color to unambiguously indicate progress on the goals based on the following color assignment:

• GREEN
  • Goals are being met or exceeded or are on track to be met or exceeded.
  • No significant changes or resources are needed.
• YELLOW
  • Goals are not yet met, AND goals are not on track to be met or are about to encounter a roadblock will slow down progress; some course correction is needed. o Progress is being made, but unintended consequences or complications have arisen.
  • Plan is in place or being developed with confidence of a path back to green.
  • Any needed resources and/or changes in strategies are accessible.
• RED
  • Progress on goals is below expectations or a significant known roadblock is preventing, or about to prevent, progress.
  • The path back to green is not yet clear.
  • Action is needed with respect to changes to the plan, resources, and/or implementation strategies.

Data, Findings and Reflections

• For data provided, explain how this data contributes to an understanding of the experiences of and outcomes for students including disaggregation by: race/ethnicity, program and free/reduced lunch designation. In addition, consider the following questions and provide any significant/salient highlights related to the key data presented:
  • Why are the data being used/highlighted?
  • Describe the data collection methods used.
  • What steps were taken in collecting the data?
  • What assumptions were made?
• Highlight what the data tells us about goal progress and outcomes. Reflect on the following questions about the data and include significant/salient highlights in the report.
  • What does the data imply regarding progress towards the relevant goal(s)?
  • What trends does the data reveal? o What specifics or nuances does the data reveal?
  • What did we see that we didn’t expect to see? Include any unintended consequences.
• Highlight other key implications of the data, particularly related to student experiences, learning, and other impacts (intended and unintended). Reflect on the following questions and include significant/salient highlights in the report.
  • How do the data expose strengths or challenges with respect to the goal(s) being reported and their implementation in the District?
  • What factors (e.g., resources, training, strategies, implementation choices/constraints, etc.) are impacting progress (negatively or positively)?
  • Were there any best practices or positive lessons learned that we should codify for this context and that we should consider sharing with others in the District to consider.
  • Were there any particular problems of practice identified?
• If the report is a summative report, provide some information about value and costs of the strategies applied to the advancement of this goal. Reflect on the following questions and include significant/salient highlights, if any, in the report.
  • Did the program/initiative have positive impacts on students?
  • Will the program/initiative be continued? Why or why not?
  • Were costs as expected, below expectations, or in excess of expectations?
  • Will any changes be made to address costs?

Organization and Formatting

• Format reports to ensure the following:
  • Make the language plain and understandable to non-educators. If acronyms or education-specific terms are used, they should be defined in the report (at first use where possible and in a list of key terms and acronyms where appropriate).
  • Label all axes, tables, graphs, figures, and data clearly.
  • Make graphical data clear and understandable such that it cannot be misunderstood. When possible, include data in tables and reports. Clarify when comparative data are based on past years/classes verses based on cohort growth.

Next Steps

• Identify for the Board any significant next steps that the District will be taking to address goal progress and attainment, including:
  • Additional resources
  • Changes in strategies o Additional data collection
  • Other key changes that will help the Board to understand the work, the needs, impacts on students and staff, implications for policy development, and progress towards goals
• Identify any of the following that you would like to recommend to and/or request of the Board in support of goal progress and attainment. Note that anything presented in this section will require Board approval to proceed.
  • Potential policy revisions (and timeline). o Needed additional resources that are not within the District’s current budget/plan and that would require Board approval (including timeline).
  • Measurement adjustments to what was approved in strategic or annual plans o Timeline adjustments to what was approved in strategic or annual plans, or Board reporting calendar o Goal adjustments to what was reported in strategic or annual plans
  • Other requests or recommendations, as appropriate

Reporting Frequency and Timeline

Reports to the Board should adhere to the following timelines and according to the dates specified in the relevant planning documents:

Strategic Plan goals

• One summative report for each Outrageous Outcomes or combination of Outrageous Outcomes should be provided each year by January

Progress Monitoring, Report Creation, and Review Protocols

As part of the establishment of the Annual Board Calendar and in creation of relevant planning documents, the Superintendent will work with the Board to provide a timeline for progress monitoring reports.

Each individual report should be prepared and submitted with sufficient time for the following report review and approval process:

Step 1. District staff complete the report using the prescribed report template and submits to the Superintendent or designee.

Step 2. Superintendent reviews and approves the report.

Step 3. Board Directors receive the report at least 8 business days prior to the board meeting unless circumstances do not allow.

Step 4. Board directors review the report and submit related questions and requests for additional information to the Superintendent at least 3 business days prior to the Board meeting. Board Directors may provide additional questions/feedback and request additional information at the meeting as appropriate but should endeavor to present the majority of their initial concerns prior to the Board meeting.

Step 5. If revisions are made to the report, the Superintendent or designee must approve the revised report prior to distribution to the Board.

Board Actions Regarding Progress Monitoring Reports

1. Request Compliance with Reporting and Monitoring Requirements. Prior to the Board meeting, if a Board Director finds that any of the reporting requirements are not met in a given report, that Board Director should inform the Board President of their concerns. The Board President should communicate any such concerns to the Superintendent. The Board President and Superintendent should attempt to come to consensus on any revisions needed for the item to be included at the upcoming Board meeting. If the Board President or Superintendent believe that adequate revisions have not been completed in a timely fashion, the Report should be removed from the meeting agenda. If, at the start of a Board meeting, a Board Director is concerned that a report does not meet the reporting requirements, during the approval of the agenda at the relevant Board meeting, a Board Director may propose that a report be removed from the agenda for that meeting and only brought back when all reporting requirements are meant. The Board may then choose to remove that report from the 1260 Page 5 of 5 agenda or to proceed with the report on the agenda as planned (which may or may not result in Board acceptance of the report).

2. Ask Clarifying Questions. The Board may ask questions of clarification of the Superintendent and/or his designated staff members to better understand the content of the report. When possible, Board Directors should submit clarifying questions to the Superintendent prior to the Board meeting.

3. Provide Feedback to the Superintendent. The Board may express, to the Superintendent, their individual satisfactions, concerns, and/or feedback about the work in the report. All feedback provided by individual Board Directors may be considered by the Superintendent and the staff. However, such feedback is not considered direction from the Board unless otherwise explicitly indicated, formally or informally, during the discussion.

4. Request Additional Information. The Board may request additional data or information from the Superintendent to be in compliance with reporting requirements, to provide greater clarity and/or transparency, to help inform related Board decisions, and/or to support the role of the Board. Such requests should be made in consultation with the Superintendent and should not unreasonably detract from the execution of the work to support students. The Superintendent should make clear to the Board the implications of their request if such requests will require significant time, effort, or expense to the District so that the Board can prioritize its requests accordingly. When possible, such requests should be made of the Superintendent by Board Directors prior to Board meeting.

5. Discuss Open Issues with Board Directors and Superintendent. Time allowing, if Board Directors have concerns related to accepting a report or related to next steps from a report, Board members may discuss further with each other and with the Superintendent, in compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act. Primarily, such discussions will take place during Board meetings in open public session as appropriate.

6. Establish a Follow-up Timeline. If the Board does not accept a particular report, or if the progress rating for any goal in a report (except the final summary reports for the annual or strategic goals) was RED, the Board, or the Board President on behalf of the Board, should consult with Superintendent to determine a timeline for an updated report. They should also agree on whether the follow up report will be written only (and included in consent agenda) or will be written and will be discussed during a future Board meeting. The Board should also establish a follow up timeline with the superintendent for receiving any additional follow up data or information. Generally, such timelines will be discussed and determined during Board meetings. However, when the Board President and Superintendent are aware of follow up needs prior to the Board meeting, they should consult with each other to agree on a timeline to propose at the Board meeting.

State of the School Reviews
School Improvement Plan (SIP) Goals

Once per year, the District shall present a SIP-oriented summative progress report or State of the School Reviews that reflects school progress related to relevant annual and strategic plan goals. These reports will be given by principals and/or their designee using a common template approved by the Board. Each school report to the Board shall reflects its progress towards its SIP goals related to advancing the District’s annual and strategic goals. Two Board members will be invited to attend. Summaries for the reports will be provided for those Board members who are not in attendance.

Adoption Date: September 28, 2021