Sisters schools aiming at 'excellence'

With an eye on promoting excellence in the face of daunting budget cuts, the Sisters School Board and new Superintendent Jim Golden reviewed draft proposals for mission and vision statements, board and superintendent goals for the school year 2010-2011 in their meeting on Wednesday.

They expect the final board goals to be approved at the August 31 board meeting, with Golden's goals to be finalized shortly thereafter. Board Chair Chris Jones noted that the board members have some fundamental philosophical differences on the mission and vision statements and she expects that agreement on these documents will take additional time.

Golden presented his draft proposal for a series of "dashboard gauges" that would be used to track school and student performance in real time. They stress the use of "formative assessments." These are measurements that provide the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening.

It was noted that, while tracking results such as the Oakes tests are necessary and valuable, they are what Golden calls after-the-fact "autopsy reports." They tell you how well your students did, but they don't let you adjust their instruction in real time to improve their performance.

The board members agreed with Golden that in the search for meaningful measurement, caution must be exercised to somehow measure and track the very qualities that make Sisters schools unique and excellent, but often prove challenging to quantify - qualities relating to the growth of the whole student, and the value of the unique arts and cultural programs that Sisters schools offer.

Golden noted the Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project as a prime example of such unique and valuable programs that are well regarded nationally but whose impact and value are difficult to quantify.

"This is one of the flagship programs that brings people to our district...it sets the gold standard," he said.

At several junctures, Golden stressed the need for alignment of goals, vision, and mission between the board, the administration and the staff. He offered a number of different strategies that he intended to employ to bring about that district-wide alignment and "get everyone on the same page."

Board member Cheryl Stewart noted the positive value of having the goals and benchmarks accessible to all, and in having these documents in the same format and presentation so that it was clear how a specific school board goal translated directly into actions down the line at the school level.

The concept of SMART goals was presented by Golden as a tool being used at the High Desert Educational Service District in the effort to make goals that are a "living breathing thing," not just a document sitting in a binder on a shelf. The SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable and time sensitive.

Board Chair Jones noted that "where the rubber meets the road it is the quality of the teachers in the classroom that makes the difference." Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers remains a significant goal in itself.

In other school news, it appears that there may well be some federal stimulus funds filtering down to the Sisters school budget; however, it is expected that no adjustments to the local budget will be attempted until after the state releases its latest budget projections at the end of September.

There is a distinct possibility that more education budget cuts are coming due to state budget shortfalls.

The board adopted the concept of running a three-year school calendar. Each year will start after Labor Day and conclude as early in June as possible. There will be a one-week spring break that will be set to coincide with the Oregon university spring break.

Changes won't take effect this year. The 2010-2011 calendar is posted on the school Web site. The administration is working to fill in the detailed dates for the next two years, and the calendars for these years will be posted shortly.