During the spring 2022, a collaborative group of over 60 teachers, administrators, students, and family and community members began the process of evaluating where the Arlington Public Schools are today and where they need to go in order to best prepare our young people for the future. Skilled facilitators from L&P Educational Services, LLC led the group through a visioning process that involved analyzing data to identify strengths and opportunities for growth and improvement. This work resulted in new Vision and Mission statements and four Strategic Priorities to be used as the basis for the development of a five-year strategic plan for the district.
Throughout the fall, a smaller subset of this group continued the effort, drafting the initiatives and action steps that form the basis of the full plan. Dan Anderson, Ed.D., provided facilitation and structure for this phase of the work.The resulting plan consists of four sections, one for each Strategic Priority. These priorities are:
- Ensuring Equity and Excellence
- Valuing All Staff
- Improving Infrastructure, Operations, and Sustainability
- Sustaining Collaborative Partnerships.
Each section begins with a Needs Assessment that describes the underlying analysis supporting the choice of the three initiatives to be undertaken over the next five years. A variety of data sources were used to identify the needs in each priority area, including MCAS scores, Culture and Climate surveys, 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, focus groups with students and families, reports from outside vendors, and feedback from stakeholders among others. Each Needs Assessment consists of a written discussion of the challenges that require attention and graphs and charts that visually illustrate the importance of addressing these needs.
A full description of each initiative follows the Needs Assessment. The write-ups include the:
- Articulation of an overarching goal
- Identification of the administrator(s) responsible for the implementation of the initiative
- Summary of what is to be accomplished and why
- Major milestones and financial impacts
- Key metrics by which the work will be evaluated.
This Strategic Plan will serve as the blueprint for achieving district goals and obtaining the outcomes the community wants to see over the next five years. The draft plan can be reviewed here. Comments may be submitted via a form that will be sent to families and posted on the strategic plan website in mid-February. The district is grateful to the Arlington Education Foundation for providing the funding that made the creation of this roadmap possible.