LRSP Annual Report 2011-12

Excellent collaboration has led to the development of a culture of meaningful change that positively impacts the achievement of students attending Bozeman Public Schools. This report is intended to give the reader both an overview and detailed information of the progress accomplished in year 4 of the Long Range Strategic Plan (LRSP). This report contains:

  • Executive Summary of 2011-12 Progress
  • Background
    • LRSP Overview of Development and Progress
    • Implementation Framework for 2011-12
  • Acknowledgements

I hope the reader finds this report an illustration of how the work of our education team aligns with the purpose of our schools: "Bozeman Public Schools exist to provide an outstanding education that inspires and ensures high achievement so every student can succeed and make a difference in a rapidly changing world community."

Enjoy!

Kirk's Signature

Kirk. J. Miller, Ed.D.
Superintendent



Executive Summary of 2011-12 Progress

The Long Range Strategic Plan (LRSP) has created energy and enthusiasm in our schools focused on performance and a culture of opportunity. In year 4 of LRSP implementation we remain on a course of long lasting positive change for our children and community! Thank you to all who have committed their knowledge, time, energy and heart to this process.

A glossary of terms for the LRSP is available if the reader clicks on any text that is green. Text with red underline are links to web pages allowing the reader to drill down to information they want to review deeper.

Impact of the Plan 2011-12

2011-12 saw continued substantial achievement and success in academics, activities and volunteerism for Bozeman Public Schools. An overview of progress on 27 key indicators specified on the Balanced Scorecard, provides the reader with a sense of the climate of our schools. A brief list of successes includes:

  • Academic achievement increases across multiple measures
  • State Criterion Reference Tests (CRT) results are the measures used to determine Adequate Yearly Progress under the Federal No Child Left Behind laws. State targets increased to 84.5% proficient or advanced in reading, and 70% proficient or advanced in math. This data will be available on our Balanced Scorecard in August 2012. This single measure is reported in public and is but one of the multiple measures the District uses to report on academic progress under goal 1 of the LRSP. BPS scores are well above state averages and continue to increase each year.
  • ACT – 247 students took ACT in 2011. Bozeman students scored composite 24.8 and the state average composite is 22.1.
  • SAT – 249 students took the SAT in 2011. BPS students scored 562 in Critical Reading (state mean 539, national mean 497), Math 563 (state mean 537, national mean 514), Writing 532 (state mean 516, national mean 489).
  • Advanced Placement (AP). In 2011, 755 AP exams were taken by 418 BHS students, 83% scored 3 or higher (national average is approximately 65%). Bozeman High School has a total of 111 AP Scholars.
  • Ten students were named finalists and five were commended students in the National Merit Scholar program.
  • The drop out rate and graduation rate for Bozeman High School are key indicators that are defined and measured on the Balanced Scorecard. The drop out rate for BHS has been between 3% and 4.2% (approximately 60 students). Targeted programming to keep students in school, including Alternative to Expulsion (A2X), Transitions program for freshman, and credit recovery opportunities. The success of these programs has kept more students in school. We will continue to measure this on the Balanced Scorecard to show progress toward the target of a "0" drop out rate.
  • All-State selected musicians from BHS totaled 18 in Band, 18 in Orchestra and 7 in Choir, the largest number (43) of participants in each select group from any school in Montana.
  • Athletes won five State Championships this school year and saw 13 if its 18 athletic teams finish in the top 4 of their respective sport. Student-athletes in boys’ (4th straight title) and girls’ (5th straight title) cross country, girls’ golf, boys’ swimming, and girls’ tennis were state champions.
  • The Board of Trustee recognized the performance of over 330 students and 30 staff members for their excellence and contributions to BSD7 and our state this school year.
  • The graduating class of 2012 provided over 4000 hours of community service and volunteerism.
  • All schools are innovating using a growth model by writing Action Plans targeting individual student growth of 3%.
  • Relationships, engagement, relevance and rigor figure prominently in the district Action Plans and the initial implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

We continue to make great progress on many important issues that will continue a bright future for the students in our schools. Some examples are:

  • The Bozeman Board effectively created and organized RESA4U (Region IV Education Service Agency) to optimize resources while promoting high student achievement. 55 of 70 school districts in the greater Gallatin area have joined this work. Legislation that ultimately passed the 2011 Legislative Session, SB 329, provides $2 million in funding for development of multi-district education cooperatives across Montana using the template of the work led by the Bozeman Trustees. RESA4U has been established using the incentive funding from member districts. RESA4U offered excellent professional development opportunities this school year and will begin to offer services for bulk purchase, and technology development to all member schools next school year. BSD7 is the fiscal agent for the new multidistrict cooperative. An executive director is in the process of being hired for RESA4U.
  • College and Career planning has become a major focus at BHS. A job shadow program for teachers to help them understand the workplace of the 21st century was implemented. Our bio-medical program completed its 3rd year with significant student interest in the program and an addition of the 4th year next year. An engineering career pathway was developed with successful courses offered throughout the year. Year 2 of the pathway will be offered next year. Dual credit opportunities in Math, Writing and Teaching/Learning have been created for our students through Gallatin College Programs and MSU. The dual credit is targeted towards those students who may be entering a 2-year post secondary program.
  • Instructional coaching is supporting great progress in student learning in our schools. Several schools have 100% participation in the instructional coaching model. The research, collaboration, modeling, and sharing of effective teaching strategies are making a difference in the achievement of our students. The instructional coaching model has successfully expanded to the middle schools and high school.
  • The district solidified its partnerships with MSU by strongly supporting the effort to have the Montana Board of Regents establish 2 year post secondary education opportunities for students in the Gallatin Valley. Gallatin College Program became a reality in the fall of 2010 with strong support from Bozeman Public Schools. A dual credit opportunity for high school students was offered (MA 145/Advanced Math at BHS), with many more opportunities on the horizon. The District and Gallatin College (new name as of May 2012) plan collaboratively with much success.

Our entire community contributed a great deal to the success of our students in 2011-12 and we are thankful for the outstanding support.

Action Plans 2010-11

Strategic Objectives under each of the four goals were reviewed and revised for 2011-12 (in keeping with the 3-5 year planning horizon), and Action Plans for Strategic Objectives were developed by school or department teams. An Action Plan Matrix with Strategic Objectives listed horizontally and school/department listed vertically gives the reader easy access to the Action Plan as created by the teams. The Action Plan Matrix can be found in Appendix B or on our district website by clicking LRSP Action Plan Matrix 2011-12. You can look at any Action Plan by clicking the X in the cell on the matrix.

Status Reports on School/Department Action Plans 2011-12

In order to grasp the depth of what has been accomplished with our LRSP this school year, Action Plan team leaders, with input from each school/department team, used Status Reports to indicate progress on the 98 Action Plans. The Status Reports are organized by school/department in a standard format that includes:

  • Strategic Objective
  • Department/School
  • Leader and Team Members
  • The progress expected by the end of the year for the Strategic Objective
  • Progress Summary

The short-hand name for the files tells you a lot about the report; an example is 1.01 CI Personalize Learning SR 2012. This stands for: Strategic Objective 1.01 (Goal 1, Objective 1) in the Curriculum and Instruction Department (CI), Strategic Objective short title is Personalize Learning, Status Report (SR) 2012. Each Status Report is concise (about a page long) but when reviewed as a compilation will certainly give the reader a feel for the breadth and depth of the LRSP and the impact it is having on our organization.

A Status Report Matrix, organized by Strategic Objective and school/department, gives the reader easy access to the Status Reports. The Status Report Matrix can be found in Appendix C or on our district website by clicking LRSP Status Report Matrix 2011-12. You can review any Status Report by clicking the X in the cell on the matrix.

Substantial progress has been made on all 98 Action Plans during the 2011-12 school year. You can have an overview of 20 Status Reports that would provide you with context for all Status Reports by clicking LRSP Status Reports Top 20 2011-12. A quick review shows the following breakdown of Status Reports under the four goals of the District.

District Goal Action Plan Status Reports
Goal 1: Academic Performance 67
Goal 2: Operations and Capacity Building 4
Goal 3: Community Engagement 11
Goal 4: Student Success/Safety/Health/Welfare 16

This is the work of the District intended to support and improve student learning. The four goal areas encompass plans to make progress on the 3-5 year planning horizon while aligned with 5-10 year planning horizon, Envisioned Future, and the Core Ideology of the District. This helps us to measure progress in incremental steps while keeping our eye on the big audacious goal and our future in a thoughtful, cultural way.

Background

LRSP Overview of Development and Progress

Overview

Bozeman Public Schools launched a new strategic planning process in the fall of 2007 to bring more rigor to the process of setting goals; to ensure the wants, preferences, and needs of our community are well understood; and to strategically focus our resources. We initiated this process to build a stronger and more vital School District that is widely recognized as delivering outstanding education to our students.

The Board and Staff Leadership Team followed a knowledge-based decision-making process. In so doing, we reviewed and updated existing mission, vision and goal statements for the District. This type of systematic review will be an ongoing element of our strategic planning and evaluation process.

We also established an Envisioned Future to guide us over the next 20 years. We then developed interim five-year goals and identified trends and issues that are likely to have significant impact on achieving those goals. The Board has committed itself to studying and analyzing these issues in a proactive manner to ensure the District is best positioned to accomplish its long term vision. The Bozeman Board and Staff Leadership Team used "Above & Beyond" (a community engagement process in 2006-07) and various other input mechanisms to ensure this process reflected community needs and desires.

Bozeman Public Schools’ Board and Staff Leadership Team view strategic planning as an ongoing process within Bozeman Public Schools. This is not a "strategic planning project" that is simply completed and put on a shelf. Adoption of the plan is an affirmation of the general intent and direction articulated by the Core Ideology, Envisioned Future, Goals, Strategic Objectives and a guide to decision-making in the district. The Board and Leadership Team will assess the strategic objectives annually in collaboration with the community.

Progress 2008-09

In the fall of 2008-09 this work was shared with the entire education team with the charge to begin LRSP implementation by establishing Action Plans for the 46 Strategic Objectives. This charge to the education team resulted in 161 Action Plans intended to bring rigor and a culture accepting of change in the best interest of students. Emphasis was placed on doing thoughtful, quality work in developing the Action Plans while thinking about the long range nature of the plans to align with the Goals, Envisioned Future and Core Ideology of our district. Making this work available to our community in a variety of formats (web-based, brochures and posters, presentations and dialogue with organizations) was a big part of the effort throughout the year.

LRSP Committee

The LRSP Committee was formed in 2008-09 (as part of the Implementation Framework) to establish strategies for governance of the LRSP. The original committee in 2008-09, made up of Trustees Sarah Glover, Martha Collins, and Carson Taylor, and Leadership Team members Kirk Miller and Marilyn King, met on December 11, 2008 to review and discuss the Conceptual Framework, Goals, Action Plan Matrix, and Action Plans. The meeting led to dialogue about governance of the plan, including using assessments and other measures to focus on performance of students, monitoring progress on the plan, and how to best simplify the information in ways that will help the Board and community use the plan to make decisions.

The 2009-10 LRSP Committee, made up of Trustees Denise Hayman, Bruce Grubbs, Carson Taylor (until April), and Ed Churchill (started in April), and Leadership Team members Kirk Miller and Marilyn King, met to research strategic plan governance structures to provide information about and accountability for the LRSP for the Board and public. Committee meetings on August 8, 2009, September 24, 2009, November 5, 2009, and December 15, 2009 allowed review of tools called Data Dashboards or Balanced Scorecards intended to determine and define key indicators, establish baseline information and set targets 3-5 years into the future. The Committee used the meetings to determine and define the key indicators and set baseline and targets under the four goals of the district. The Committee presented recommendations to the Board at a retreat on January 21, 2010 and discussed the Balanced Scorecard concept at the Board meeting on February 8, 2010. On February 9, 2010, the Balanced Scorecard went live on the district website with advertising in the community to make the public aware of this easy to use governance tool.

Progress 2009-10

In the fall of 2009-10, under the governance of the LRSP Committee and Board of Trustees, an Implementation Framework to guide the continued progress of the plan was developed. The entire district education team has been involved in the dialogue about the importance of the LRSP and participated in the development of Action Plans for schools and departments for 2009-10. The Action Plans were posted on the district website using a matrix to allow individuals easy access to any Action Plan for any school or department. Status Reports for 166 Action Plans for 2009-10 were developed by the school and department teams. The district has made great strides in creating a culture of meaningful change as a result of the Action Plan and Status Report framework that allows every area of the school district to consistently establish a plan and report on progress in the 3-5 year planning horizon.

Progress 2010-11

The LRSP Balanced Scorecard was updated in the fall of 2010-11. An Implementation Framework for 2010-11 guided the LRSP work for the school year. The Board of Trustees at its meeting on July 12, 2010, approved the LRSP Annual Report 2009-10 (including the LRSP Implementation Framework Report 2009-10) and went live on the district website and was advertised to keep the public informed about the progress of the district. Action Plans for the 2010-11 school year were developed by school and department teams during the student achievement related day in the fall and posted on the district web site. Plans were monitored for progress throughout the school year by the school and department teams. The Executive Summary provides the reader with point and click access to Status Reports for 157 Action Plans for 2010-11. The district has made great strides in creating a culture of meaningful change as a result of the Action Plan and Status Report framework that allows every area of the school district to consistently establish a plan and report on progress in the 3-5 year planning horizon.

Progress 2011-12

The LRSP Balanced Scorecard was updated in the fall of 2011-12. An Implementation Framework for 2011-12 guided the LRSP work for the school year. Strategic Objectives were reviewed and revised to begin the second 5-10 year planning horizon under the LRSP. The LRSP now has twenty-one Strategic Objectives (re-focused from 46). Board of Trustees at its meeting in July 2011, approved the LRSP Annual Report 2010-11 (including the LRSP Implementation Framework Report 2010-11). These went live on the district website and were advertised to keep the public informed about the progress of the District. Action Plans for the 2011-12 school year were developed by school and department teams during the student achievement related day in the fall and posted on the District web site. Plans were monitored for progress throughout the school year by the school and department teams. The Executive Summary (see above) provides the reader with point and click access to Status Reports for 98 Action Plans for 2011-12. The district has made great strides in creating a culture of opportunity as a result of the Action Plan and Status Report framework that allows every area of the school district to consistently establish a plan and report on progress in the 3-5 year planning horizon.

Implementation Framework for 2011-12

The Board of Trustees of Bozeman School District #7 endorsed this implementation framework for 2011-12 to continue progress on the Long Range Strategic Plan (LRSP). The following are components of the framework:

1. Functioning in a culture of meaningful change
Looks Like…

  • Personalizing learning opportunities for students.
  • Job-embedded professional development for staff.
  • Use of consensus process to continue to reach solutions to challenges.
  • Enhance collaboration with Montana State University and other agencies/organizations.
  • Effective communication with all stakeholders important to Bozeman Public Schools.

2. Creating a culture of opportunity
Looks Like…

  • Attention to the next 3-5 year planning horizon by focusing and compacting Strategic Objectives to best support personalized education, standards, Response to Intervention (RtI), and Technology.
  • Creative thinking to see things from a new perspective.
  • Collaborative (subject matter, grade level, and partners like the Optimization Task Force) team building within the school district and with our partners to improve student learning.
  • Monitoring innovation.
  • Alignment of resources to advance progress on LRSP.

The Bozeman Public Schools Team launched year 4 of the Plan and energized our team to remain committed to long-term strategic change that inspires and ensures high achievement so every student can succeed. The report of progress on the Implementation Framework 2011-12 can be found in Appendix A or on our district website by clicking LRSP Implementation Framework Report 2011-12.

Acknowledgements

The Superintendent’s office and Board of Trustees of School District #7 thank our education team and community for embracing the Long Range Strategic Plan. A quality product is dependent on a quality process. We know that lasting, exceptional progress takes time. We appreciate the effort of all in the past and continued effort in the future to provide the very best opportunities for our students. It is not a race to the finish, but a journey to excellence! This report is evidence of our commitment to move from "Great to Greater" in educating the next generation of students in Bozeman Public Schools who will become the bright future of our community, state, nation and world!

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Bozeman Public Schools Education Team, June 11, 2012, by

Kirk's Signature

Kirk. J. Miller, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Bozeman Public Schools

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