Children First, Respect for All, Teamwork, Excellence and Quality, and Commitment to Individual Needs. The process requires the district and individual schools to evaluate current status and baseline data, establish goals, and develop school improvement and building staff development plans to achieve desired outcomes. Plans include anticipated outcomes, research-based strategies, necessary resources, documentation of improvement, and other elements. The information is acquired, discussed, spread, and folded into practice in various ways, including newsletters, the Internet, staff-written research briefs, and training sessions. Ongoing discussion groups are set up to explore new ideas.
Funding is provided to support ideas that can be integrated into the program.
The Teacher Appraisal Process uses an Individual Development Plan and annual Job Targets. Each method allows individual teachers to customize their own learning based on professional needs. The District Distance Learning Lab links staff seeking English as a Second Language certification to university coursework. The district has recorded improvements in reading, math, and writing achievement. Student scores on statewide tests also show a narrowing in the gap between students of differing socioeconomic status, opposite their state trends.