NCA+Standards

=Standard 1: Vision and Purpose=

toc The school establishes and communicates a shared purpose and direction for improving the performance of students and the effectiveness of the school.

Our strategic planning process will involve a continuous conversation about what we do at Seton. Below are some guiding questions:



**Guiding Questions for a Vision**

These are only a few things, add your own questions to help shape the conversation!
 * What do we do best?
 * What does our school look like day-to-day?
 * What does learning look like?
 * What do our students take part in?
 * What do our students produce/create?
 * Who are our graduates? (Who will they become?)
 * Why do students want to come to Seton?
 * What needs can we satisfy for students and the community, that others do not provide?
 * What kind of image do we want?
 * What do we want to be known for?
 * How big/small do we want to be?
 * What personal needs do we want to satisfy?
 * What is our philosophy, ethical and social responsibilities, and values?
 * Where do we want to be in five years?

=Standard 2: Governance and Leadership=

The school provides governance and leadership that promote student performance and school effectiveness.


 * Hire school board members
 * Structure school board governance and discern/define roles
 * Craft/adapt guiding documents for the board to canvass for policy development
 * Begin the Vision/Mission strategic planning process
 * See Standard 1
 * Involve stakeholders
 * Commit to charter/Montessori model and research other successful models
 * How will Seton stand out?
 * How will Seton do different things than in its past?
 * How will Seton do different things than the KC MO district?
 * Establish financial stability/viability

=Standard 3: Teaching and Learning=

The school provides research-based curriculum and instructional methods that facilitate achievement for all students.

**Efforts**

= = =Standard 4: Documenting and Using Results=
 * Provide on-going PD via local, national, and digital conferences for each content area.
 * Encourage action research highlighting Seton's needs/strengths, provide a pathway to publish those results in content area journals, local media, or social media.
 * Empower teachers and students to participate in public performances of their work
 * Concerts
 * Poetry readings
 * Conference proposals
 * Et Cetera
 * Facilitate honest, reflective writing with staff and encourage a sustainable culture of reflective practitioners
 * Develop PD time for teachers to observe one another and co-teach across the curriculum
 * Set aside meeting time after 1:30 to promote lesson demonstrations, i.e. "Here's something that worked really well in my class..." or "Here's something I planned out in detail and was excited about that failed! Help!"
 * Provide a feedback structure for response between teachers/principal
 * Denote a space (physical or digital) for teachers to share best practice literature (books, lists, articles, etc.)
 * Read common texts as a staff on school time or supported by a stipend after school (think: //meet at Starbucks and read together//)
 * Book Study
 * Professional book share (come bring a book that's influenced you as a teacher)

The school enacts a comprehensive assessment system that monitors and documents performance and uses these results to improve student performance and school effectiveness.



This wiki will provide us with plenty of space for documenting our ideas, processes, and conversations. Anyone can create a page, edit, and track changes instantaneously. The little graphic above should illustrate that this space is an order of magnitude easier to use for collaboration than email. **Steve has volunteered to be our learning community secretary (title pending approval by our board of bureaucratic titles). Anything that gets thrown out in meetings that you want put somewhere on the wiki (and don't have time to do yourself) just let him know!** As for tracking individual content area changes or goals, if you can't get it on the wiki, Steve will show you how. =Standard 5: Resources and Support Systems=

The school has the resources and services necessary to support its vision and purpose and to ensure achievement for all students.



**List of Grants awarded for 2010-2011**


 * 1) Title I ($?)
 * 2) Title II ($4,000)
 * 3) PD Grant ($30,000)
 * 4) $15k allocated to OdysseyWare
 * 5) Proposition C ($?)

=Standard 6: Stakeholder Communication and Relationships=

The school fosters effective communications and relationships with and among its stakeholders.



We need to develop habits of communication (and policies eventually) that navigate us as often and closely to quadrant IV (Informed + 2 Way) as possible. Here is an example from the Orange Unified School District or OUSD (Orange, CA) Communications Plan in 2007: "TOP TEN CORE VALUES This we believe above all else that... 1. All students will learn. 2. All available resources will be utilized to ensure student success. 3. Everyone needs to model servant leadership. 4. Creating a shared vision will empower others. 5. Communicating our shared vision requires honesty and consistency. 6. All people should be treated with respect and dignity. 7. We demonstrate trustworthiness by all we say and do. 8. We need to listen empathically and respectfully to understand the message beyond the words. 9. Everyone is our customer and, therefore, we will always follow-up and follow-through. 10. What’s best for our students comes first and foremost." Those are key ideas they stress as vital to maintaining their mission and vision. When there is clear communication, the path to the goal will be smoother. We need to author our own values in communication between staff, students, parents, our board, the community, etc. Here is the OUSD's delineation of stakeholders: "**Target Audiences** We should take this clear and simple model and modify it to fit our own needs as an organization.
 * 1) Internal
 * 2) Students
 * 3) Staff
 * 4) District Level
 * 5) Classified
 * 6) Certificated
 * 7) Leadership
 * 8) Site Level
 * 9) Classified
 * 10) Certificated
 * 11) Leadership
 * 12) Board of Education
 * 13) External
 * 14) Parents
 * 15) Parent Organizations
 * 16) Key Communicators
 * 17) Business Community
 * 18) Elected City Officials
 * 19) Elected State and Federal Legislators
 * 20) Civic Groups
 * 21) Senior Citizens Groups
 * 22) Religious Groups
 * 23) Community Groups
 * 24) Education —school districts and local colleges and universities
 * 25) Private Schools
 * 26) Electronic Media—Web site, email, pod cast, listserv, etc.
 * 27) Print Media—newsletters, newspapers, flyers, etc."

=Standard 7: Commitment to Continuous Improvement=

The school establishes, implements, and monitors a continuous process of improvement that focuses on student performance. .



When we use a cyclical model for reflection and action, we help to ensure that we are always aware of our changing environment. It has been said that schools are places where change is the only constant; there is some truth to this. With regard to teacher inquiry and action research, we must understand that ﻿"when teachers question their practice and gather and analyze data using tools easily incorporated into everyday teaching, improvement of practice is a logical outcome" (Meyers & Rust 2003). These tools might include:


 * samples of student work
 * anecdotal records
 * time-samples of various-sized groups
 * daily journals of students and teachers
 * classroom and peer observations
 * surveys
 * interviews