Superintendent's Message: How do you know where you’re going if you don’t have a map?

The first day of school is one of my favorite of the year. Administrators, teachers and support staff spend the summer planning, training, ordering supplies and getting the buildings in order for a new year. Then, one morning, 4,600 students arrive in a whoosh of activity and chatter. Minutes after the first bell rings, the halls are quiet and the classrooms fall into an orderly hum of activity. By the second day, it’s business as usual across the district.

One has to admire the ease at which so many children and adults can settle into a routine of teaching and learning. Expectations for students are clear and they do not disappoint when it’s time to fall back into the school routine.

It is through clear expectations that we teach our children the value of goal-setting. Without clear goals, how does one know when he has been successful?

Just as students and individuals need to set goals, businesses and organizations cannot realize accomplishment without knowing where they are going. The Emporia Board of Education established the goals for the Emporia Public Schools through the strategic plan. Our plan has two over-arching objectives:

1. 100 percent of our students will improve their individual state assessment scores in reading and math each year.
2. 100 percent of our students will graduate from high school.

These objectives have provided the road map for district operations for the past five years. From these objectives came a strong district improvement plan. Budget decisions, curriculum and professional development have been focused to support the goals.

We have made progress toward these goals, but neither has been fully realized. Student achievement in Emporia is at an all-time high. State reading and math assessments announced in July show another year of academic growth by all of our student subgroups. Our district reached the Adequate Yearly Progress targets of No Child Left Behind for a second year, an accomplishment that removed Emporia from the list of schools “on improvement.” Nevertheless, we still have work to do to help all students achieve at higher levels each year.

The district has begun to focus even more on the second goal – high school diplomas for 100 percent of our students. It should be noted that this goal does not tie the diploma to four years of high school. The strategic planning group purposefully established that objective knowing that some students need more than four years to fulfill the requirements for high school graduation. State graduation rates do not take these students into account, but we do not give up on students that are still working on a diploma after four years. We continue to add supports to help students finish high school.

Last month, the Emporia Board of Education held its annual retreat to evaluate the district’s work and identify goals for the year ahead. Board members observed that academic achievements and effective instructional programs were among the highlights of the year. Yet, now is not the time to relax our expectations.

The year ahead is full of challenges, the first of which is maintaining our academic vigor in an atmosphere of limited resources. Managing the budget and maintaining a strong financial position were at the top of the board’s goals for the administrative team. Additional priorities for the board this year are open communication and strong relationships with parents and staff to foster trust, a better understanding of the culture of poverty that encompasses the lives of many students, and eliminating discrimination in our actions, policies and practices.  Finally, the board wants a greater emphasis on teaching students important life skills that go beyond test-taking.

The board will refine these goals to give administrative staff clear direction for our work this year. The board also is ready to update our strategic plan and create new long-range goals. They will ask for public input into this process to ensure they are in tune to the needs and priorities of the community. A new road map is coming and we will need your help to get it right.