The Leadership Team will meet again on October 30th to begin to put together their plan for investigation this year.
October 2009
The OHSE (Optimal High School Experience) Leadership Team reconvened on Oct. 20, 2009. The team reviewed last year's work which centered on a close examination of the cultures and systems currently in place in each of our district's high schools. They reviewed the feedback acquired at focus groups, in community conversations, and through e-mail correspondence. That information was compared to work to be accomplished this school year (reintegrating the freshman at IHS and SHS, math curriculum, comprehensive counseling review, etc.). Lastly, they listed desired areas and topics to possibly investigate this school year and how they matched up with community feedback and existing work. In that process, the team landed on the idea of "flexible scheduling" as the key topic to be investigated this year. This is a broad topic that touches a myriad of factors of organizing a school day including: class offerings, on-line learning, time of day learning, experiential learning, flexibility in staffing and sharing staff, providing balance for students, access to teachers and courses, access to facilities, access to transportation, support for struggling learners, etc. The team has scheduled follow up meetings to shape and plan our investigatory work for the year in this critical area.
May 2009
On May 18, the Leadership Team held a "Conversation Café" and invited all members of the community to talk about the Optimal High School Experience–what's working, what's not, and what outside-the-box thinking do we need to ensure all students succeed? More than 50 students, parents, and staff members attended, and the conversations were rich and varied, as outlined in the transcript of the evening. This information will be added to the feedback collected in focus groups conducted at each high school as the Leadership Team uses the information gathered during the close examination phase to begin to identify and establish priorities for further investigation.
April 2009
More than 120 students, staff members, and parents spent—combined—20 hours discussing the Optimal High School Experience in focus groups at each high school in February. The OHSE Leadership Team thanks everyone who participated for their thoughtful, sincere opinions. The groups' conversations focused on OHSE's five Guiding Beliefs and how well high schools currently provide opportunities in those areas. Overall, participants had passion about "Access" and "Connectivity" in particular. The Leadership Team now wants to broaden the conversation by inviting all community members to comment on the Guiding Beliefs and the current state of high schools via e-mail or at an open Conversation Cafe at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 18, at the Administration Building. These conversations will form the foundation for the initial stage of OHSE work: close examination of high schools.
OHSE focus group documents
March 2009
The Leadership Team spent the month of March analyzing and summarizing the data from the February focus groups at each school. The Team also explored opportunities to bring the entire community into the conversation.
February 2009
The Leadership Team held focus groups at each high school to examine the experiences of current students, staff members, and parents. The resulting data is to be used as a springboard for the next steps in the OHSE process.
January 2009
The Leadership Team met for an all-day work session with Susan Schmitt on January 14 to solidify details about the focus groups and community outreach.
December 2008
Susan Schmitt hired as facilitator for community focus groups.
November 2008
In meetings this summer and during the beginning of school, the high-school leadership team has
solidified its guiding beliefs around the Optimal High School Experience and is now developing
opportunities to solicit baseline input about the high school experience from students, staff, parents,
and community members. This will likely include focus groups in the beginning of 2009 followed by
district-wide surveys of parents, students, and staff.
Summer 2008
The district's graduation requirements committee is on hold because the Washington State Board of
Education this summer passed a
draft high-school credit framework called CORE 24 that could become mandatory depending on the
Legislature's ability and willingness to fund the plan. The "core" of CORE 24 is a set of graduation
requirements with flexibility to allow students to put together a program of study that best matches and
supports their post-graduation goals. Our School Board has expressed its support of CORE 24 and issued a call to
legislators to invest the money needed for successful implementation.
The Leadership Team met several times to develop guiding beliefs and a framework and expectations for OHSE.