Christopher Peak Photo
Carol Birks unveils plan Monday night.
Aims: High test scores, more engaged parents, “career ladders.”
Superintendent Carol Birks spoke about that drive to change the school system’s stats at the final Board of Education meeting this calendar year, held Monday night at Celentano School.
Presenting her first set of district-wide goals, Birks said she wants to see the schools do better on academic and behavioral measurements that the Connecticut State Department of Education uses to rate all public schools.
Over the past few months, Birks sat down internally with her executive team, union representatives and a handful of principals to decide where New Haven should direct its efforts over the next two years.
The five areas that Birks said they decided on largely mirror what she’s been talking about since a transition team convened in the spring: boosting academic achievement, recruiting and retaining talent, achieving organizational efficiency, improving culture and engaging families.
“The district goals guide our work. As a district, we have to demonstrate our progress to the state, to the school district, and, of course, most importantly to our community and our families,” Birks said. “They’re aligned to the expectations that have been set for us by the State Department of Education.”
Board of Ed: This is what we were looking for.
In academics, Birks said that she wants all students to meet the state-determined “growth targets” that will put a student on grade level within five years. Currently, only about one-third meet their targets at 35.0 percent in reading and 32.6 percent in math.
She wants each kid to have a unique “student success plan.”
Birks said the work will start in early childhood. From preschool through third grade, kids will develop the social-emotional skills that will be a foundation for learning. She also wants them to be on grade level in reading by the end of third grade. Currently, only 30.4 percent of third-graders are reading on grade level.
By high school, Birks said, she wants them to be staying on track for a diploma. At the end of ninth grade, that means students are passing all core subjects and getting at least a C in Algebra. By the time they take the SAT, she wants to see minimum score of 1000 out of 1600 possible points in the two-part test of reading and math. Currently, the average score is 897.
In talent, Birks said that she wants to recruit and retain a staff that’s equipped for the diversity within the schools.
Birks said that work will start in tweaking the protocols for recruitment to go after a “larger, more robust candidate pool, with more educators of color,” especially in some hard-to-fill areas. She said that they’ll adopt industry standards for how “we enter and exit people.” Currently, 73.6 percent of the district’s teachers are white.
Birks also wants existing staff to have a “career ladder” that defines goals, offers professional training and leadership opportunities, and monitors effectiveness. She also wants the existing staff to “increase their knowledge of cultures and the assets embedded in diversity.”
In organization, Birks said that she wants to streamline operations and maximize technology.
In culture, Birks said that she wants the school system to feel “welcoming, safe and secure.”
Birks said she’ll do her part personally by meeting with parents monthly and with students quarterly “to receive direct input on every aspect of schooling.” She wants each school to look over their security protocols and behavioral interventions.
If the schools do it right, Birks said that she hopes to see no more than 10 percent of the district’s students marked chronically absent, meaning they miss up to 18 days of class each year. That would be down from the 19.9 percent chronic absenteeism rate now.
Finally, in engagement, Birks said she wants family and community members to “share in the ownership” of the school system, including its “continuous improvement.”
Birks said she wants each school to administer a survey on feelings about the school and to pass out a handbook with expectations for students and contacts for staff.
She also called for each school to set up a governance structure that allows a range of people to participate in decision-making, especially to make sure that parents and community members have a way to “voice their ideas and concerns.”
From Central Office, Birks said, she also wants to set up a Parent University that can train moms and dads in how to participate in their children’s education.
She seeks to redesign the district’s website and create a newsletter. She also aims to increase the number of community partners working in the schools.
Birks talks about the district’s metrics at a November 2017 job interview.
“If we work in a coherent way to include all these aspects — not just the district internally but external stakeholders — we will boost student achievement,” Birks said at the end of her presentation. “This is our guide. This is our work.”
School board members said that they want to make sure that parents and students are involved in a deeper way as these broad goals are now translated into more specific plans for the district and each school. But overall, they applauded Birks for taking a first step.
“This is the kind of stuff that I’ve been looking for for some time,” said Ed Joyner, one of the board’s two elected members. “They meet the M.O.M. test. They’re meaningful, observable and measurable.
“I think all you need to make sure this happens is that policymakers and executives are working in concert, providing the cover and support that you need to execute this plan,” Joyner went on. “Because while you might be planning, someone else might be scheming. We don’t need that; we need to make sure that, even in a time of limited resources, we help you with the priorities that you deem necessary to move the district forward.”