Little Rock School Board to review student achievement and enrollment goals at a special meeting on Thursday

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The Little Rock School Board, at a special meeting Thursday, will consider a set of goals Superintendent Mike Poore will have to pursue with regard to student success, student enrollment, employee salaries and other areas of activity.

The board will meet at 5:30 p.m. for the special meeting, which will be followed by the regular monthly board session to set the agenda for the November 18 business meeting.

[DOCUMENT: Read LRSD Board’s proposed goals » arkansasonline.com/119goals/]

Little Rock School Board member Jeff Wood drafted a resolution that lists goals based on sentiments expressed at the board working session earlier this year with Micah Ali, a board training consultant who is also the longtime president of the Compton, Calif., Unified School. School district.

“After giving it to all of you… I don’t want to own this document,” Wood recently told other board members of the proposal.

“This is our document, our goals, so whatever revisions you feel are necessary to completion expectations or the time frame within which things are accomplished, I welcome all of your comments,” said Wood.

The draft resolution covers seven categories of operations.

“[I]It is the desire of this Board of Education to build and maintain a world-class school district that fosters learning so that all students, upon graduation, are prepared for a fulfilling and abundant life, ”he says. introduction of objectives.

The first goal calls for an annual increase of 2% or more in the number of students who reach the “ready” and “pass” levels on the state’s end-of-year math and literacy exams. It would start with the state’s annual assessment in 2022, which currently matches the ACT Aspire exams.

The goals also call for closing the achievement gaps between students – by increasing the results of lower performing students. Specifically, the goal is to reduce the difference in combined ‘ready’ and ‘overdue’ scores between students of different races and between socioeconomic groups of students by 2% or more each year compared to the last year.

Stopping the decline in enrollment in the district of 21,000 students is another goal. The resolution calls for an end to the decline in K-12 enrollment starting in the 2022-2023 school year, and then increasing K-12 enrollment to 25,000 by October 1, 2030.

The goals call for increasing and maintaining teacher salaries to the point that the district ranks among the top five school districts in Arkansas for teacher salaries at all career and education levels by August 2024 and remains there every year thereafter.

Another goal is to increase by 5% per year until the end of 2026-2027 the number of certificates awarded to students for their success in career paths.

Another goal calls for the integration of social and emotional learning at the district level, which would involve policy setting, professional development, funding, time and staff.

“Establishing an infrastructure for social and emotional learning ensures that it remains a visible priority in the school,” says the draft goal.

The goals also address the issue of special education in order to “promote the growth of cognitive, physical, social and emotional needs of students”.

This includes providing effective transition services to post-secondary experiences so that students with disabilities are prepared to lead productive and independent adult lives.

The school board would expect the superintendent to consult with the board from time to time about the resources and strategies needed to achieve the goals.

In addition, the council “would promote the success of all employees of the Little Rock School District and hold them accountable for achieving those goals,” the draft resolution said.

School board member Greg Adams welcomed the draft goals at the board meeting at the end of last month, but asked for time to “get to the nitty-gritty with the numbers,” for discuss with district leaders the proposed actions to determine if they are achievable or could even be higher.

Adams also requested that a measure be identified and included for the special education goal.

This kind of discussion should take place at the meeting on Thursday.

“I think the resolution is a good place to start and a good framework for discussion,” Adams said in response to questions about the goals on Monday.

“I think more discussions are needed before adopting targets,” he said.

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