StudentSuccess

Curriculum

AssessmentInstruction

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Policies & Mission

Equity

Inspiring Every Child to Achieve2025 Strategic Plan Goals:�� We will ensure every student we serve is achieving academic

success.�� We will engage every student in a rigorous, relevant, research-

based learning environment led by well-trained staff.�� We will ensure student enrollment is at capacity in effective and

attractive Signature and Neighborhood Schools accessible to all.�� We will ensure that we systemically address sustainable,

equitable access and success for every student.�� We will ensure that our students are at the heart of every

decision made.�� We will ensure that families, community members, staff and

partners are engaged and highly satisfied with our actions and results.

�� We will hire, retain and develop highly motivated and effective staff.

1Governing Board Approved: November 9, 2017

Dear Phoenix #1 Family:

It is with great pride, I present to you along with our District Governing Board, 2025 Strategic Plan Steering Committee and District Leadership Team our 2025 Strategic Plan.

The District invested a good portion of 2017 listening to close to 900 people from our community including students, alumni, staff, families and partners. We also engaged in an outside audit to review our curriculum management systems. I am enormously proud of the work, dedication and perseverance of our Steering Committee for their willingness to take a very deep look into the District to identify the systems we need to enhance. Through this work we can achieve success for each and every child we are honored to serve across our 14 schools in Phoenix. I am also grateful for the work of the Key Communicators who helped to communicate the progress of the Steering Committee throughout the District.

Throughout the pages of this booklet, you will see our future focus in 4 very specific areas. ACTION teams will lead this endeavor, and they are titled just that because ACTION is what is needed. Each ACTION Team will be responsible for implementing the 12 recommendations that came from our curriculum management systems audit and are listed under the teams. Our 2025 Strategic Plan will remain in action as we measure and monitor our progress regularly. It WILL NOT become a document that sits on our shelves. Instead, it will guide our daily work and be driven by strong, effective policies that are student-centric and provide crystal clear direction.

We are public education and our purpose is to provide every child we serve the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

I am ready to move forward on this plan with the passion, purpose, knowledge and skills we possess to make our goals a reality. I am all in. Are you all in?

Dr. Larry WeeksCEO & Superintendent, Phoenix Elementary School District #1

2025 Strategic Plan Steering Committee Members: Kay Coleman, Facilitator Claudia Fisher Dick Foreman

Monica Goddard Mary Lou Gonzales Kim Hertzog Myra Kingsley Angela Mahkee Delia Nowakowski Clare Okyere Anthony Parra

Rosalinda Ramirez Shayne Sotelo Meleika Wadley 2

We make a commitment to every single one of our students and their families that they will receive an exceptional education at Phoenix Elementary.

~ Ms. Lynné Almy, Governing Board President

Driving Student Success Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

The single most important initiative a school or district can engage in is to raise student achievement.

A guaranteed and viable curriculum ensures that all students have an equal opportunity to learn. Each student will have access to an effective or highly effective teacher, and access to the same content, knowledge and skills in each section or class.

What is a guaranteed curriculum?

Every student is provided the opportunity to learn a core curriculum which provides them with the probability of success in school.

What is a viable curriculum?

Schools make sure that the necessary time is available and protected so students will be able to learn the guaranteed curriculum.

~ Robert Marzano

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The Importance of School Board PoliciesFrom a legal standpoint, school boards exist for one reason: to govern K–12 schools by exercising their power as a policymaking body.

This is no small point. Intellectually, it is easy to explain how a school board should function, but any given academic year brings 1,001 distractions from the main mission. You have budgets to pass, staff to hire, discipline cases to oversee, lawsuits to defend, constituents to answer, contracts to approve, construction and renovations to plan, and so on ad infinitum.

Yet policy is the tool that has been placed exclusively in the hands of school board members. It is the single, most effective way for the final decision makers to take an intimidating, complex, intensely scrutinized entity like a school district and steer it with authority.

Good policymaking produces a district that is focused in an educational sense and risk-free (at least as much as possible in this litigious environment) by legal standards. Bad policies, by contrast, can spark chaos, blur the board’s vision, and allow lawsuits to succeed even when a school district is in the right.

~ Edwin C. Darden, From the American School Board Journal

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Governing Board Policies & Direction to Staff

Strategic Plan Goal:�� We will ensure that our students are at the heart of every decision

made.�� We will ensure that families, community members, staff and partners are

engaged and highly satisfied with our actions and results.

Recommended Actions:Establish district-wide expectations and direction through new and updated board policies to:�� Establish system-wide direction through updated and new board policies

and administrative regulations to support systemic quality control of the educational program and systems operations.

�� Define expectations for technology usage in classrooms providing professional development effectively aligned with learning to enhance student learning and staff productivity.

�� Develop and implement policies standardizing programs, interventions and evaluations specifically linked to student achievement.

ACTION Team 3 Direction & Policy

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This Strategic Plan is a student centered, equity-based approach we can all be proud of.

~ Dick Foreman, President & CEO, Arizona Business & Education Coalition, Strategic Plan Steering Committee Member

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Transforming Our OrganizationJob descriptions are an essential component of any organization. Not only is it important that they are thorough and accurate, it is also vital that they are kept up-to-date, as employees’ job functions may evolve, inaccurate or outdated job descriptions can negatively effect recruiting and productivity. They are also a detriment to the employer-employee relationship and can pose legal risks.

~ From HR Insights

Poor organizational design and structure results in a bewildering morass of contradictions: confusion within roles, a lack of co-ordination among functions, failure to share ideas, and slow decision-making bring managers unnecessary complexity, stress, and conflict. Often those at the top of an organization are oblivious to these problems or, worse, pass them off as or challenges to overcome or opportunities to develop.

~ Gill Corkindale on HBR.org - Harvard Business Review

I am all in!

Phoenix �1 LeaderTitle: Highly Mo�vated and Effec�veMission: Inspire Every Child to AchieveJob Descrip�on:

District-wide Organizational Chart, Job Descriptions & Budgeting

Strategic Plan Goal:�� We will hire, retain and develop highly motivated and effective staff.

Recommended Actions:�� Update job descriptions and organizational charts establishing clear

lines of responsibilities.�� Design and implement a curriculum-driven budget linking resources to

instructional priorities. �� Update long-range facility plan connecting educational goals for

students with facility plan.

ACTION Team 4 Organizational Development

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Our plan will guide us to lead our students to the highest level of success.~ Ms. Zariffe Magana,

Principal at Heard School

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