Jennifer Jimenez

Independent Newsmedia

Dysart Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Gail Pletnick presented information during the Feb. 21 board meeting on progress toward achieving the 201718 goals and objectives, which were established with the help of governing board members.

“ These are all the areas of reports the board has received to date and this is a new strategic plan and the first formal report,” Ms. Pletnick said. “As the board knows, my goals are tied to that and tied to the three-year timeline. We established benchmarks, so the board knows we are on our way and you will see new pieces we are laying out and much of that data is last year’s.” Goal A ensures that each Dysart student, through personalized learning, will develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions as defined by the Dysart’s Profile of a Graduate, which ensures 21st Century success, the superintendent said.

“We are getting every student ready by using a personalized learning approach,” Ms. Pletnick said.

All Dysart schools must demonstrate academic improvement as measured by multiple items. Ms. Pletnick said this evaluation gives the district a much clearer view of what is happening rather than using just one letter grade primarily based off just one test score.

“And we know, children are more than just one test score,” she explained.

Ms. Pletnick said one measure is about increasing the number of students enrolled in honors classes, as well as monitoring those students in Algebra 3 and 4, which she said is a gatekeeper for those moving beyond high school education.

"We want to increase to 85 percent in those classes and passing,” she said. “We also get a glimpse looking at the dashboard of how many students we have completing career technical education courses and research is tied to that. Our advanced placement courses have a pass rate of 37 and we want to move to 45.”

Goal B includes “We are Dysart”, which is stated as creating a culture of shared leadership advancing student success with open communication, innovation, ownership and empowerment.

Objectives in this area include the design and implementation of professional development pathways for advancement and leadership. Objective two is to create shared values resulting in an environment of open communication, innovation and leadership.

Measures of success will be the results of surveys and focus groups, which will indicate a level of satisfaction in the areas of communication, innovation, empowerment and ownership. Goal C aims to ensure digital safety of students and staff as the district uses technology to transform the learning and business environment.

“Digital safety is our focus and that doesn’t mean we let off the gas with what we are doing in all areas and just means we need to maintain and continue to be vigilant in all areas of safety and this new area with social media and other platforms that have raised concern,” Ms. Pletnick said. Goal D includes identifying and maximizing available resources to support the strategic plan.

Measures of success for this goal are financial reports and resource reviews to indicate compliance, increasing the number of partnerships and contribution of resources and a through a process of gathering stakeholder feedback related to resources, which will be developed.

Dr. Stephen Poling, assistant superintendent of educational services, presented information regarding the upcoming data dashboard, which takes data from various systems and puts them into one location. Staff within the district are currently being trained and soon the data will be available to the community, he said.

Visit www.dysart.org for more information.