Developing the plan

Dr. Grover’s entry plan, Cross & Joftus’ Comprehensive District Review, and District Management Group’s Grand Island Senior High visioning process have uncovered several opportunities for GIPS to strengthen its systems and practices to close achievement gaps and ensure outstanding outcomes for all students. These include:

• Continuing to focus on the critical interplay between teachers, students, and curriculum by ensuring that schools and teachers have the support needed to effectively deliver a high-quality, relevant curriculum and related academic and behavioral interventions.

• Empowering and supporting principals to be instructional leaders in schools.

• Educating the whole child by fostering students’ creativity and social-emotional skills and by addressing students’ ranging needs, including physical health, mental health, and nutrition so they are able to focus on learning.

• Connecting learning to students’ interests and potential career pursuits to spur engagement and prepare students for college and careers.

• Making sure that facilities and infrastructure are capable of serving a growing student body and provide flexibility in accommodating innovative academic programming.

• Expanding learning opportunities and increasing community partnerships to make learning relevant.

• Leveraging our community’s resources to meet the diverse needs of our students.

• Strengthening our early childhood programs and working with community early childhood education programs and families so that children are ready for school.

• Providing different levels and types of resources to students, teachers, principals, and schools based on demonstrated need.

• Making resource decisions more transparent.

• Pursuing authentic engagement of the district’s educators, leaders, and community and leveraging the strengths of the full Grand Island public while expanding partnerships and collaboration at the state level and internationally.

• Establishing technology platforms that streamline processes and give GIPS leaders and staff access to timely data (e.g., achievement, behavior and attendance, human capital, and financial data) related to students, schools, and the district.

• Using data relentlessly to understand where we are, whether we are successful, and what we are going to do next.

• Prioritizing and supporting district initiatives.

• Establishing implementation and monitoring procedures that allow for feedback, reflection, and course correction.

The strategic plan sets the course for translating these opportunities into action.

This strategic plan is based on the collective input of nearly 3,000 educators, principals, community leaders, school board members, district staff, parents, and students who participated in Dr. Grover’s listening tour, Cross & Joftus’ district needs assessment, and the Grand Island Senior High visioning process. More than 70 Grand Island leaders, educators, students, and staff members came together to develop the specifics of the plan. This included:

1. An advisory committee of 20 district and community leaders who provided guidance on specific student outcomes to anchor the work of the system and reviewed a draft of the plan. This group will serve as an accountability partner supporting the district as it moves into plan implementation.

2. A working group of 55 GIPS teachers, students, school and district leaders, and staff with deep expertise about the district who translated findings from Dr. Grover’s listening tour and the Cross & Joftus review into specific strategies that the district will undertake in the next five years. Because it is critical for GIPS to measure its progress and impact, the working group also established a set of clear measures—student outcomes and indicators of progress—to be tracked throughout implementation.

3. The GIPS school board and superintendent who were actively involved in the planning process by serving as members of these groups and by providing input on the plan’s strategies.

Because this plan has been developed by leaders at all levels of our organization and across our community, we are confident it will be embraced as intended: a co-created roadmap for GIPS’ future.