Download District Strategic Plan

Washington Township Strategic Plan Summary

The Washington Township Board of Education has adopted a new strategic plan for 2012-2015. It’s a realistic plan that raises the bar in all areas of the district, with enough specifics to provide a roadmap for where we’re going. At the same time, we recognize that all good plans maintain a level of flexibility that will allow us to respond to changing circumstances in education.

Overall, you can think about the goals in this plan as falling into at least one of these three categories:

We’re going to Manage.

We’re going to Measure.

And most importantly, we will Master.

 What does that mean? Here are a few highlights from the district’s new strategic plan. The full plan is available at our website, and I urge you to read it.

From the district’s perspective, we will Manage the ongoing process of becoming an International Baccalaurate – or IB – World School Corporation. We are several years into that process, and well on our way.  IB Authorization is a journey not a final destination.  We are raising the bar for teaching and learning through this incredible process.

That time consuming and demanding process will be worth it, because it will make Washington Township the first district in Indiana, and one of fewer than ten nationwide, to offer the extraordinary International Baccalaureate curriculum to all of our students.

All divisions in our school district outlined in the strategic plan will support teaching and learning through the management of their work.  This includes Business Services, Human Resources, Operations and Special Services.

Next, we will Measure our outcomes and our procedures through a quality assurance process to answer the following question, ‘How do we know if teaching and learning is occurring from deployment of the outlined strategies through the support of all district divisions and support?’

We are continually evaluating, looking at data to make sure that teaching and learning is occurring a high levels.  This can’t be done without also reviewing data from our support systems to ensure optimal learning environments.

Lastly, we will Master the key skills we need to ensure quality teaching and learning for every child.  In the next few years, we’ll be making sure that every elementary classroom – every single one – has 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading work every day. Because we know from years of teaching reading that one of the best ways to help children become better readers is to put a book in their hands and help them discover what’s inside.

We also are making math and reading curriculum more consistent among our elementary schools, so that all students arrive at middle school with the same skills, and the same range of experiences. This doesn’t mean that our schools will become identical; rather, it means that you can be confident that all students are receiving the same high quality, inquiry based lessons, regardless of where you live in the district.

The district’s wide quality assurance process is in place now, and it is already making a difference in student learning. A group of experienced educators is frequently visiting classrooms throughout the year, to observe and build a better understanding of teachers’ challenges and opportunities. The conversations that grow out of those visits will help teachers improve their skills and share their best practices with other teachers in the district.

In addition, our technology division is hard at work to ensure that all our educators have access to a reliable network of technology, which they will be able to use to access timely student data any time, any where.

There are many more “granular” goals contained the plan, and the details of how we will achieve them are outlined in the Action Plan document.  This Action Plan is supplemental to the strategic plan but will serve as a working document.

Here’s the big picture: Washington Township has a great tradition of excellence and the strategic plan is set force to continue this legacy.

All of our goals contained in this three year plan are aimed toward the bigger – and really, quite extraordinary – goal of making our district an International Baccalaureate World School Corporation, offering the children of Washington Township the consistent and comprehensive education that they need to succeed in this world.

I ask for your help in achieving this big goal. Thank you for your support.

Dr. Nikki Woodson, Superintendent