18227 LM Nov-Dec 2018

Dashboards ... cont’d.

Schmitt states after attending the IASA sponsored ESSA Academy and Dashboard training in August he returned to brainstorm with his district’s administrative team, including principals, technology coordinator, special education director and curriculum director on setting up indicators and achievements for the district to include in their dashboard. The district serves 2,100 students in PreK–12 grades. “We set up a document for the overall school achievements so everyone was working off the same framework. Each of the six school principals developed information that was included in their own success story, learning environments, school achievements and extra curriculum for students. That was their opportunity to highlight what was happening in their schools,” said Schmitt. “We emphasized the fact students in our district maintain a 3.0 average at the community college level. Also, we promoted what we do in the professional development area for our staff.” The district dashboard went live on October 30th, the day before the ISBE School Report Card was launched. Schmitt issued a press release about the dashboard to the local news media once it was launched and alerted parents via the district’s e-bulletin and via Twitter. The Sandwich Record published this story . Schmitt reports the Media Club and technology staff is working on a 2–3 minute video highlighting successes throughout the district that will be added to the dashboard in the future. Jeff Stawick, superintendent of CCSD #146 in Tinley Park, came back from the IASA/ECRA dashboard training enthusiastic about implementing his district dashboard. “The professional development training we received in putting the dashboard together really got our juices flowing and we wanted to pursue our vision for areas that still needed additional attention,” said Stawick. “We recognized the dashboard is really a contrast to the school report card. It does a nice job communicating the value of public schools. It goes a step further in providing that local touch of what our local needs assessment and strategic plan say we value as a school district.” Community Consolidated School District #146 is a PreK- grade 8 school district serving approximately 2,400 students. The dashboard is available on the district website . Stawick affirms the dashboard has a direct connection with the district strategic plan that was developed five years ago with ECRA. “The way our strategic plan is

organized is actually the categories of our dashboard. It is a demonstration of our effectiveness to that end,” said Stawick. “It is a good overall descriptor of our district, of what we value and believe in, including our mission, vision and principles.” In launching the district dashboard, Stawick used the opportunity to blog about the dashboard on his superintendent blog and promote the dashboard via social media. “We want to make sure everybody knows it is out there,” said Stawick. “We are going to use the dashboard as a district improvement tool and organizational help tool.” He indicates this winter the district is planning to refresh its strategic plan. The dashboard includes a video of the district serving Tinley Park, Orland Park and Oak Forest communities. “We want to be as transparent as we can, but if you are going to include every detail of everything you do it will be easy for some of that information to become outdated,” said Stawick. “We only wanted to go as deep as we would be able to maintain over time. The dashboard is a living tool that will continue to evolve as we update it with new data, ideas and strategies for success.”

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#ILSchoolStories — for links to other districts’ dashboards