Educators ready for new year, new goals

A new goal-setting process in Cape Girardeau schools will mean substantial changes for students and teachers over the next year.

Many of the 2004-2005 goals, developed by teachers and administrators in each individual school, revolve around student achievement on the state's standardized assessment, the Missouri Assessment Program. However, schools also used this year's goals to address issues surrounding discipline and parental involvement.

"MAP is on everybody's mind, but we added some new twists this year with parent involvement and school climate," said Rhonda Dunham, principal at Franklin Elementary.

Among Franklin's three goals are plans to increase parental involvement by 20 percent and reduce discipline incidents by 10 percent. To do that, teachers are making improvements in the atmosphere of the school.

"School climate has an effect, whether positive or negative, on students' achievement," Dunham said. "We're focusing on taking the negative out, and that can be hard to do when kids come in with so much going on in their lives."

Each school determines its own annual goals, which are presented to the school board. This year, each school was required to follow a new system that required them to create SMART goals, an acronym for "Specific and Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, Time-bound."

"In the past, it's sometimes been unclear how we're going to attain our goals," said Lee Gattis, principal at Central Junior High School. "It was a little hazy."

With the new format, schools not only list goals, but develop strategies that will help them meet each goal and determine specific ways of measuring their success.

Though there are no consequences for not meeting the annual goals, school officials say they do impact what happens in classrooms.

Each goal includes a list of strategies to help schools achieve, and some of those strategies will mean noticeable changes for students and teachers this year.

For example, part of Central Junior High School's goal of improving MAP scores this year includes creating common assessments among courses taught by different teachers, so that no matter whose class a student is in, they're taking the same tests at the same time of the year.

"Teachers will still have the freedom to teach lessons differently, but this way, everyone's on the same time frame and the information being taught comes to a common end," said Gattis.

The new testing system should be in place in time for final exams at the end of the first semester.

Frank Ellis, principal at Central Middle School, said he feels his school's goals will have a big impact on what happens during the year.

"We sat down and discussed what things we can do to make Central Middle School a better school," said Ellis. "I think kids already notice a difference in the climate here."

Ellis said his goals focus on academics, communication and student behavior.

"The great thing is that these goals are all generated by the entire school faculty," Ellis said. "These aren't just Frank Ellis' goals. The staff wants us to be the best we can be, and even better."

cclark@semissourian.com

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