FRAMINGHAM — Less than a year into the job, Superintendent Robert Tremblay has issued the first draft of a new strategic plan for the district that prioritizes communication with parents, increased use of data in assessments and other goals.
Tremblay is asking residents to review and comment on the document, which was posted on the town’s website earlier this year. According to an announcement, work began in the summer and fall to formulate the “philosophical discussions” about how to improve local schools into “goal-setting and action-planning.” They aim to improve individual schools and improve student achievement over a three-year span.
“Together, we incorporated priorities from a variety of existing district-developed documents and identified a number of areas that demand our collective action,” the announcement reads. “We incorporated high leverage district goals to inform school improvement and turnaround plans and framed all of this within the context of state standards that connect easily to educator and leadership evaluation standards.”
Residents are invited to view the document online and provide comments through the end of January. Administrators will reconvene in February and integrate community feedback. To offer thoughts, email the superintendent at rtremblay@framingham.k12.ma.us or call 508-626-9117.
Below are several key issues raised in the draft plan:
Curriculum: Update curriculum for all content areas at all grade levels. Develop a seven-year curriculum plan and review cycle to address immediate and long-term needs. Also put in place a professional development plan for administrators to focus on instructional leadership. “If we develop a common understanding of high quality instruction (HQI) including standards-based content knowledge in ELA and Math, pedagogy and high leverage strategies among all staff, then students will have equitable access to rigorous and engaging standards-based instruction to increase student achievement,” the plan reads.
Assessments: Create a system and culture of consistent and accurate assessment, data analysis, reflection and feedback. That includes creating common formative assessments for all grade levels and content areas, beginning within the next year. Data from the assessments should increasingly drive instruction.
Social/emotional support: Another area of focus is the social and emotional needs of students. That includes demonstrating cultural proficiency and making students feel safe and effective in their classrooms. This goal includes professional development for staff, including a tool to collect and measure relevant data, and a proposal to establish a student support team. Within two years, the district aims to begin piloting social and emotional learning curriculum, decrease reports of bullying and drive down the suspension and expulsion rates at all schools.
Family and Community Engagement: The district aims to foster community partnerships and support, engage and collaborate with every family in the educational mission of the Framingham Public Schools. Strategies in this area include the creation of a task force, family surveys and stronger communication and outreach efforts. The town-wide PTO is viewed as one vehicle to reach more parents. The district has also floated increasing Internet access for families, and expanding its home visit program. Another focus is improving multilingual communications to reach more parents.
Professional culture: Create and nurture a collegial, collaborative, and professional culture among teachers that supports the district’s focus on increasing student achievement. This area also touches on encouraging principals and others to assess themselves, and get into a cycle of setting personal goals. Another proposal is increased peer observation practices among teachers, and more wellness activities such as yoga. The district is also exploring a new "teacher academy" proposal that would support new hires within their first three years on the job.
Diversity: Establish hiring practices that diversify school and district staff to reflect the student population of the Framingham Public Schools. That includes attending local "diversity in hiring" job fairs, recruiting students to become teachers in the future, gathering data on teacher turnover, improving the current mentorship program, and emphasizing the importance of fluency in other languages.
Jim Haddadin can be reached at 617-863-7144 or jhaddadin@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JimHaddadin