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Alexandria City Public Schools Strategic Plan 2010-2015

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Adopted by the Alexandria City School Board, March 19, 2009
Printable Version (PDF)

• Vision
• Mission
• Principles
• Goals
• Strategic Objectives
• Acknowledgements

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VISION

Set the international standard for educational excellence, where all students achieve their potential and actively contribute to our local and global communities.

MISSION

Provide the environment, resources, and commitment to ensure that each and every student succeeds — academically, emotionally, physically, and socially.

PRINCIPLES

We Believe In Educational Excellence

• Every child deserves a healthy, safe, engaging, supportive and challenging learning environment.
• All students shall be prepared as life long learners for career, college and civic responsibilities.
• Educational programs must promote creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and international understanding so our graduates can succeed in a global economy.
• We recruit, develop and retain only effective and dedicated administrators, teachers and staff.

We Believe In Higher Achievement for All

• Each and every student can learn.
• Students will show respect and responsibility for oneself and others, and shall become self-reliant advocates for their learning.
• Educational outcomes are not presumed by income, race, disability, gender, language or family background.
• We value, respect and embrace diversity and have high expectations of all students and employees.
• We strive to diversify our staff to reflect varied cultural backgrounds and serve as positive role models for our students.

We Believe In A Culture of Collaboration

• Home, school and community all play a vital role in student success.
• We reach out to community stakeholders.
• By working together, teachers and staff model collaborative behavior and improve the quality of learning for all students.

We Believe In Continuous Improvement and Accountability

• Educational program decisions are based on research-proven best practices.
• We encourage and nurture innovative educational and business methods.
• All decisions are transparent, fair, consistent, professional and evidence-based.
• We set clear, actionable goals and measure, publicize and take responsibility for our results.
• We are fiscally responsible and use resources efficiently and strategically.

We Believe In Environmental Stewardship

• A healthy environment is critical to our future.
• We think green, build green, teach green, and live green.

GOALS

Equity and Excellence: Every student prepared for college, work and life.

Each student, with support for their unique circumstances, will graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills necessary for higher education, multiple career paths and active citizenship.

1. Ensure all students demonstrate significant academic growth, and dramatically improve achievement outcomes for students below grade level.
2. Provide a rigorous, relevant, and internationally benchmarked education to enable all students to succeed as citizens in the global community.
3. Create an exceptional learning environment.
4. Implement a focused, transparent governance model that incorporates effective communication and evidence-based decision making.
5. Provide clean, safe and conducive learning environments that utilize best practices for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

1. Ensure all students demonstrate significant academic growth, and dramatically improve achievement outcomes for students below grade level.

1. Eliminate academic achievement differences among race, income, disability and language subgroups.
2. Demonstrate every student achieves at least one year of academic progress annually in reading, writing and math and greater than one year for any student below grade level.
3. Lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive and coordinated model that provides quality pre-K experiences for all 4 year olds in the City of Alexandria.
4. Ensure every secondary student has a comprehensive plan for success and is equipped with the tools necessary to achieve their goals upon high school graduation.
5. Establish a division wide program to empower parents to be supportive and informed advocates for their children.
6. Ensure 100% compliance with the implementation of Individualized Education Programs as written and maintain compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations.
7. Create or expand alternative education strategies and programs that will minimize out of school suspensions and improve the graduation rate.
8. Create effective partnerships to encourage a sense of community ownership of our schools and to support the development of the academic, social, physical and emotional needs of students.

2. Provide a rigorous, relevant, and internationally benchmarked education to enable all students to succeed as citizens in the global community.

1. Develop an adaptable curriculum appropriate for the changing needs of society that addresses 21st century skills, including creativity, higher order thinking skills and project based learning.
2. Create a vertically aligned preK-12 ACPS curriculum which exceeds state standards and identifies appropriate international benchmarks and assessments.
3. Ensure every child is challenged and engaged with school experiences responsive to each student's talent and interests.
4. Increase participation and successful completion of Advanced Placement, honors, world language, advanced math, and science courses.
5. Provide opportunities to develop civic responsibility through community service projects; encourage participation in team sports, internships and after school enrichment activities.
6. Promote excellence and increase participation in the fine arts and career and technical education (CTE) courses.
7. Implement at each school, an exemplary educational program that enhances the curriculum and meets the needs of the students.
8. Institute a consistent, division-wide approach to help students develop positive relationships, show respect and responsibility and become self-reliant advocates for their learning.

3. Create an exceptional learning environment.

1. Recruit, retain and develop superior staff.
2. Achieve cultural competence for all staff with diversity training that incorporates awareness, understanding, high expectations and appropriate instruction for all students
3. Foster collaboration and shared responsibility for student development and achievement with all members of the school community.
4. Ensure every student has a responsible adult advocate, mentor, or advisor.

4. Implement a focused, transparent governance model which incorporates effective communication and evidence-based decision making.

1. Develop and revise policies to ensure effective governance, continuous improvement and accountability.
2. Ensure prudent financial stewardship and resources necessary to achieve the strategic plan.
3. Implement an internationally recognized assessment to measure performance management and leadership excellence.

5. Provide clean, safe and conducive learning environments that utilize best practices for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

1. Integrate environmental stewardship throughout the curriculum, as well as facility design, construction and operations.
2. Collaborate with the City of Alexandria to achieve the Eco-City vision.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the following individuals and organizations that participated in the strategic team meetings and provided significant contributions to the final plan. Their innovative ideas, thoughtful insight and valuable feedback were instrumental throughout the process.

NAME	ORGANIZATION
Rudy Abate	High School — Student Council Association
Anne Marie Baker	Plexus Consulting Group Facilitator
Michele Brandon	Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee
Lillian Brooks	Alexandria Court Services
James Butler	Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations
Margaret Byess	Assistant Superintendent for Finance
Bill Campbell	Parents and Teachers Association (elementary school)
Ronnie Campbell	School Board Member
Eileen Cassidy-Rivera	School Board Member
Vickie Cattaneo	Parents and Teachers Association (high school)
George Chadwick	Alexandria Arts Forum
John Chapman	Alexandria Youth Policy Commission
Francis M. Chase, Sr.	Education Association of Alexandria (elementary school)
Debra Collins	Alexandria City Manager's Staff
Sally Craft	Urban League Northern Virginia
Sybil Currie-Boyd	Education Association of Alexandria (middle school)
Cathy David	Deputy Superintendent
Sherry Delaney	Talented and Gifted Advisory Committee
Rick Dorman	Alexandria Chamber of Commerce
Mark Eisenhour	Administrator (high school)
Maribel Enriquez	Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Latino Student Achievement
Dawn Feltman	Administrator (elementary school)
Yvonne Folkerts	School Board Member
Mary Gaddis	Education Association of Alexandria (support staff)
Sheryl Gorsuch	School Board Member
Jay Grymes	Assistant Superintendent for Federal and State Programs
Jonathan Gueverra	Northern Virginia Community College
Pat Hennig	Substance Abuse Education and Violence Prevention Advisory Committee
Madye Henson	Superintendent's Advisory Committees on African American Student Achievement
Theresa Hernandez	Family Life Education Advisory Committee
Janice Howard	National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — Alexandria Branch
Karen Hughes	Rotary Club of Alexandria
Robin Jamison-Moorer	Education Association of Alexandria (high school)
Jennifer Jones	Plexus Consulting Group Facilitator
Amanda Karkhoff	Student Health Advisory Board
Eric Leventhal	Facilitator
Kostas Liopiros	Alexandria Information Technology Commission
Blanche Maness	School Board Member
Sean McEnearney	Alexandria Early Childhood Commission
Scott Newsham	School Board Member
Crystal Olguin	Plexus Consulting Group Facilitator
Arthur Peabody	School Board Member
Jennifer Pflasterer	Plexus Consulting Group Facilitator
Shainada Philips	High School — Senior Class
John Porter	Assistant Superintendent for Planning and Operations
Carlyle Ring	Former Alexandria School Board Chairs
Morton Sherman	Superintendent
Joseph Shumard	School Board Budget Advisory Committee
Garry Steele	Administrator (middle school)
Sandra Strachan-Vieira	Special Education Advisory Committee
Evelyn Urrutia	Tenants and Workers United
Marc Williams	School Board Member
Charles Wilson	School Board Member
Margaret Wohler	Alexandria Arts Commission
Steven M. Worth	Plexus Consulting Group Facilitator
Jeff Zack	Parents and Teachers Association (middle school)
ALTERNATES
Ruth Dinzey	Tenants and Workers United
Carol Farrell	Alexandria Early Childhood Commission/City Manager
Ron Frazier	Alexandria Youth Policy Commission/City Manager
Marianne Hetzer	Parents and Teachers Association
Maureen Leary	Alexandria Early Childhood Commission
Ron Lemley	Alexandria Court Services
Janice McLaury	Parents and Teachers Association
Gina Miller	Education Association of Alexandria (elementary school)
Nichole Ronerson	Education Association of Alexandria (support staff)
Cathy Santiago	Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Latino Student Achievement
Sara Schaefer	Administrator (middle school)
Mpho Tutu	Talented and Gifted Advisory Committee

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Contact: Office of Communications. Modified: Monday, April 20, 2009 1:20 PM EDT.