North Andover School Committee Race
North Andover School
Committee Race
>>Valley Patriot>> |
How do you drive academic improvement within our schools without unjustifiably increasing costs? The use of good old-fashioned common sense together with solid management skills can develop one of the better school systems in the state without needing huge increases in funding. Generating high quality products and services at reasonable costs is a challenge we meet every day in this country. Fed-Ex, Hewlett Packard, not to mention the New England Patriots and thousands of others, generate quality products and services without unreasonable costs everyday. Non-Profit organizations like the Red Cross and The United Way are also good examples of organizations with quality service and managed costs. A standard
practice used by all these organizations is to: 2. Develop
plans that are specifically tied 3. Budget
funding for these plans that 4. Measure results on an ongoing basis 5. Adjust the plan if the ongoing measurement identifies a problem. School Committee member Dr. Chuck Ormsby led a drive this past year to set “measurable” goals for the school system. This was a monumental achievement. It started the process of reviewing results each year instead of simply increasing our budget and hoping for improvement. The School Committee, however, watered down these goals. Unfortunately, our defined goals state that we will consider ourselves successful in FY 2005 if only 46% of our 4th grade class tests BELOW grade level in math. Successful entities do not set goals to fail 46% of the time. Why would we want to set a goal that has almost half the children in town test below grade level? Common sense suggests we shouldn’t. Solid managers simply wouldn’t. We should be setting high expectations and developing plans to meet these expectations. Since children grow up so quickly we need corrective action plans that are both timely and accurate. When was the last time parents and taxpayers were presented with a clear plan for improvement at each school by each Principal? Common sense suggests we should hear each Principal’s updated plan for improvement at least twice a year. Solid management requires such a focus. Our efforts to measure progress throughout the year are virtually non-existent. There is no measure of progress at the class, grade, school or district level throughout the year. We receive MCAS reports each October reflecting issues from the previous year, but by then it is too late. The children have moved on and the next school year has already begun. Common sense suggests we need more timely and accurate measurement of our academic progress. Solid management would demand it. Increasing communications is always a useful tool in moving issues forward, but when was the last time a School Committee member met with individual schools to listen to our specific needs? Common sense suggests School Committee members should be meeting inside each school during the year. Solid management is always connected to its customers. In short, it seems like we spend all our time discussing what amount of money to spend on education and virtually NO time evaluating the results or use of the investment. I believe a little common sense and some basic management skills will go a long way to generate tremendous academic improvement without requiring huge increases in our budgeted investment.
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