School Improvement Planning

Topic of Module:  School Improvement Planning
Date:  November 17th, 2012
Presenter(s): Nancy Boucher
Summary:  This module delved in-depth into the fundamentals of School Improvement Planning, including data and rational for use.  Other objectives included portraying the importance of a mission statement and engaging all stakeholders in the SIP.  Smart Goals were explored in detail and participants were able to try their hand at writing them.  Other key points put forth in this module included data driven strategic planning and the template for the SIP process.
Reflection and Application:  One key point of reflection for me included answering the following question:  How often and when do you use your school improvement plan?  I realize that we put a lot of work into the SIP the first of the year (and many of our school’s SIP practices were validated in this module), but we usually only revisited it as an entire staff at the end of the year.  I see that our school needs a better monitoring plan and evaluation process.  We will look to improve this frequency to once monthly at our school (during staff meetings) in the following year.
Another improvement we can make is to account for all of the student population in our Smart Goals.  We have many goals in our SIP that begin “85% of students will achieve…”.  Inclusionary practice would have use also create goals for the other 15% of students in the plan. 
We did improve this year’s plan by naming specific persons of responsibility for each action strategy.  I was able to use my notes/examples/experience gleaned from this module to help my principal and staff shore up loose ends, such as this.  I plan to help with the writing and direction again next year.
Side note:  The personal smart goal I created during this module was: “To improve my own physical health, over the next 6 weeks I will train for and run the Tracadie 21.1km race in under 2hr30mins.”  I’m happy to report that I have achieved this goal and have gone on to more challenging goals in running.  Smart goals work! :)
Resources and Readings from:
Fullan, Michael. (2010). All Systems Go: The Change Imperative for Whole System Reform. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.