Teachers Adam Flugge and Brad Burris listen as Westerville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Good welcomes District Leadership Team members.
The Westerville City Schools Department of Academic Affairs convened the first meeting of the District Leadership Team (DLT) on January 24. Twenty-three individuals representing many facets of the educational process met at the Early Learning Center to get acquainted and begin the process of using their unique skills and talents to strengthen the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan and establish collaborative structures for its facilitation. The new group is dedicated to learning and working together in order to improve the entire system, support teachers and students, and increase achievement.
Continuous Improvement efforts have resulted in more State Report Card indicators and higher performance indices being attained successively for each of the past five years. While past accomplishments and growth are celebrated, it is recognized that higher levels of success should always be sought. To realize this goal, the DLT will assist with engaging all stakeholders in more focused, frequent conversations about teaching and learning. The team’s primary work is to build the capacity of the entire district. Their mission falls under the umbrella of the state’s Ohio Improvement Process, which encourages facilitating district-wide improvement in instructional practices and student performance.
Westerville City Schools Superintendent Dan Good welcomed the group and challenged them to keep an eye toward the district’s Vision – To be the benchmark of educational excellence, and Mission – To prepare students to contribute to the competitive and changing world in which we live. In Westerville, those two principles framed conversations with thousands of community stakeholders, who assisted in the development of a robust Strategic Plan. While the plan itself is very specific in terms of inputs and outcomes, it can be summarized in the five district goals around which all work is centered. “And this, I believe, is what has resulted in our successes,” said Dr. Good. “We are focused on attainment of objectives by aligning all of our operations to the key deliverables, these five goals. That’s our secret: alignment, alignment, alignment. We strive to show a measurable, positive impact on our goals no matter what sort of decision we make – academically or operationally, and we believe these decisions work in tandem to support student performance.”
The five goals are:
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Every Student Achieves Educational Success;
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Learning and Working Environments are Safe, Nurturing and Efficient;
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The Best Staff are Recruited, Selected, Developed and Retained;
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Community, Parents Students and Staff are Engaged as Partners in Education; and
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Fiscal Resources are Maximized to Support Educational Success.
Dr. Good challenged the DLT to evolve the Districts’ Strategic Plan through the use of voluminous data and accessible research that provides evidence of correlation between a proposed action and improved achievement at the district, building, grade, class, student group and individual levels. “These actions,” he concluded, “will be articulated in building and grade level plans, including specific actions addressing specific demographies that we serve.”