Marshall school improvement committee makes progress on mission, objectives

About 20 people continued crafting Marshall school district's mission statement and objectives Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Continuous School Improvement Plan committee meeting.

The meeting was the second in a series of three. Assistant Superintendent Brandon Russell, who is leading the effort, said the group's goal is to have a revised plan ready to present to the school board at its Nov. 24 meeting.

CSIP is an ongoing process, but the state requires districts to review and revise plans every five years.

Russell said this year the process has been aided by a new online tool provided by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Electronic Plan and Electronic Grants System is helping the district create a more focused plan with a greater emphasis on measurable objectives.

Russell said school districts often tried to include too much in their plans and there was a tendency to blur the line between strategies and objectives.

The new approach could help districts produce plans that are clearer, more focused and more useable, he said.

The four areas the Marshall committee has been discussing are student achievement, high quality teaching staff, resources and facilities and parent-community involvement. A fifth area, governance, isn't currently being addressed because not enough people joined the committee to form of a subcommittee on that topic, according to Russell.

The subcommittees discussed their respective areas, identifying factors that are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Following those discussions, the group generated ideas for revising the district's mission statement. The group discussed how to craft a clear, concise statement that includes an emphasis on both empowering students and encouraging them to be accountable for their own education.

The goal of the third meeting will be to take the ideas generated Thursday and arrive at a new mission statement and set of objectives.

Of the 20 people present, there was one student, two parents and one school board member. The rest were administrators, teachers and staff members.

The final scheduled meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. The location will be announced.

Contact Eric Crump at marshalleditor@socket.net

On the Net:
Marshall 2004-2009 CSIP plan:
www.marshallschools.com/dist/csip06_07.h...