02/18/2014 (updated 02/27/2014)

Draft actions, measurements for five-year strategic plan presented to School Board

A detailed list of initiatives and actions for achieving the goals of Cape Elizabeth School's strategic plan, and ways to measure their effectiveness, is on the agenda for the School Board's annual half-day retreat. The retreat is scheduled for 8-11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at St. Albans Church, 885 Shore Road [directions]

At the board's meeting Feb. 11, Superintendent Meredith Nadeau presented draft action steps and measures to bring about the educational goals outlined in the five-year plan adopted by the School Board in October. The actions range from teacher training to develop a standards-based assessment and reporting system, to providing i-Pads as tools for students to be responsible and productive "digital citizens".

Each of the educational goals to:

• Ensure opportunities for the success of all students;
• Expand learning opportunities for all students by cultivating an inclusive and supportive culture; and,
• Increase student engagement in learning and teacher engagement in instruction

and their related objectives are supported by detailed actions spelled out for this school year and next. Actions for years 2015-2018 were not presented at the meeting, Nadeau said, because of their volume. "Without getting paper the size of the table I couldn't really put them in a five-year plan to make it readable for tonight," she said.

Separate actions are proposed for the elementary, middle-school and high-school level, as well as systemwide. Many of them address compliance with state initiatives such as proficiency based diplomas, which will be awarded beginning in 2018; and the Common Core standards of student assessment.

The proposed measures were presented in two documents. One lists the goals and objectives, the initiatives proposed to achieve those goals and targets for measuring their effectiveness. The other details specific actions for achieving those targets.

An example measurement for the first goal of ensuring opportunities for the success of all students is for 95 percent to meet proficiency levels in reading and 90 percent in math by June 2018. Another target is for 65 percent of high-school students to pass an advanced-placement exam, up from the current percentage of approximately 48 percent, Nadeau said.

Although most of the targets are for the end of the plan's duration in 2018, measures will be taken throughout the life of the plan and reported to the board at least twice a year, Nadeau said.

"It's an aggressive plan that's fantastic, I couldn't be happier that we have measurable benchmarks but also specific action items to achieve them," said board member Michael Moore, who also thanked all of the staff, parents and community members who worked on the strategic plan committee last year.

"I'd like to thank everybody for the third or fourth time, realizing this can be scary as a teacher or administrator, but we're excited and we have confidence that we'll make progress and achieve a lot of these objectives," Moore said.