Northwood Academy Charter School

Minutes

Strategic Planning Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday December 4, 2019 at 5:30 PM

Location

Northwood Academy Charter School (4621 Castor Avenue)

Committee Members Present

A. Hollister, J. Williams, K. Dugan, K. Spraga, T. Hunt

Committee Members Absent

None

Committee Members who arrived after the meeting opened

K. Spraga

Guests Present

M. Bly

I. Opening Items

A.

Call the Meeting to Order

J. Williams called a meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee of Northwood Academy Charter School to order on Wednesday Dec 4, 2019 at 5:35 PM.
Amy Hollister gave an overview of the Strategic Plan process and and explained the connection and support from Lauren Iannuccilli.
 

B.

Record Attendance and Guests

II. Strategic Planning: Outcomes Analysis and Goal Setting Project

A.

WHAT: Present an Overview of The Project

Committee reviewed and discussed documentation/presentation previously submitted by Lauren Iannuccilli.

Deliverables for the project:
  • Dashboard of Schoolwide Goals
    • A set of common S.M.A.R.T goals, rooted in student outcomes and the school's mission, that can be tracked by the Board and leadership to evaluate success. The goals can be set forth in a dashboard for tracking outcomes in relation to targets over the next charter term.
  • Action Plan
    • A set of prioritized strategies and action steps to implement in support of achieving the established goals. This would draw from and expand on the strategic plan and align with completion of the Pennsylvania Department of Education comprehensive plan.

B.

WHY: Provide Rationale for the project

K. Spraga arrived.
  • Focusing on outcomes, not inputs
    • Setting goals related to outcomes
    • School Leadeship as subject matter experts will develop outcomes with accountability and oversight from the Board.
    • Create S.M.A.R.T Goals for Outcomes
  • Common Language and Expectations
    • Specific areas that are beneficial to create outcomes:Frameworks, Proficiency, Subgroups, Surveys, HS Enrollment.
  • Ultimate Purpose is Succinctly Measured
    • Mission: What is the purpose of the school?
    • What are a reasonable set of organizational benchmarks/KPI's and how are we measuring those outcomes? Academic Success / Mission / School Climate & Culture / Organizational & Financial Performances / Stakeholder Satisfaction.

C.

WORK TO DATE: Share Outcomes of Initial Data Analysis

Work completed to date:
  • Multiple calls with school leadership to understand interests related to goal-setting•
  • Analysis of the following data sources:
    • Annual Charter Evaluations (Charter School Performance Framework outcomes)
    • School Progress Reports
    • Future Ready Pa Index
    • Great Philly Schools Rating
    • LinkIT! reports
    • Staff survey results
    • Parent/guardian survey results
    • Student survey results
    • Strategic Plan
  • Drafted report related to data analysis
  • Presentation to Strategic Planning Committee
Reviewed data analysis from all reporting sources.

Three Main External Reporting Sources for the school:
  • Charter School Performance Framework
    • Local - Developed by Charter School Office
    • Connected to ACE (Annual Charter Evaluation)
    • Includes an Organizational and Financial Performance that drives the authorizers opinion regarding renewal, expansion, etc.
  • School Progress Report
    • Local - Developed by SDP Performance Office
    • Tool used to compare Northwood to other SDP Schools
    • Only Academics / Does not evaluate organizational and financial performance
    • Not used for renewal
  • Future Ready Index
    • State - Developed by PDE
    • Only Academics / Does not evaluate organizational and financial performance
    • Not used for renewal

Other Reporting Sources:
  • Great Philly Schools Rating
  • Student Surveys
  • Parent/Guardian Surveys
  • Staff Surveys

D.

Potential Next Steps

1) Stakeholder Interviews
          -Select a cross-section of stakeholders to engage in determining areas for S.M.A.R.T. goals including Board members, Administration, Teachers, and possibly Parents.
          -Draft questions for respective interview groups.
          -Conduct interviews.

2) Dashboard Development
        -Utilize feedback from interviews and data analysis to date to draft preliminary S.M.A.R.T. goals.
        -Solicit feedback on goals; revise as necessary.
        -Create dashboard to house goals and track outcomes in relation to goals.

3) Action Plan
       -Expand scope of interviews to solicit ideas on the priority actions to drive goal attainment.
       -Facilitate leadership meeting to build consensus on plan priorities and additional details.
       -Draft action plan.

III. Closing Items

A.

Committee Questions

What is the timeline for the project moving forward regarding goals?
  • The baseline for goals can be based on the previous year's data for an interim evaluation period. Then devleoep S.M.A.R.T Goals for the beginning of the new 5 year Charter Renewal Cycle which starts July 2020.

Can the dashboard be connected to our current student information system for real time data on attendance, suspensions, attendance, etc?
  • This options will be considered as the dashboard is being developed. It will depend upon which platform is being used. 

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:40 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
M. Bly