Stage 1: Orientation & Readiness
Stage 2: Gather & Organize Data 

Meeting One:  Planning Team Agenda

The Kansas Improvement Process is inherently flexible, allowing districts to adjust the process, agendas, and/or activities to fit the needs of the district/school. Although this meeting is represented as one session, it could be a series of sessions. 

What are the objectives for the meeting?

The goal of this meeting is to develop a level of cooperation and commitment to support changes that will occur as a result of continuous improvement efforts. This includes a common understanding and readiness to orient stakeholders to systematic district and school improvement processes. Attention is also given to understanding the vision/mission of the school and/or district. 

Preparing to collect a wide range of data that creates an accurate picture of the current reality for the district and/or school is an objective of this meeting. This includes collecting quantitative and qualitative data to conduct a self evaluation by each district and/or school. 

What are the tasks for the first part of the meeting?

• Participate in warm-up and/or team-building activities as appropriate.
• Discuss the rationale for engaging in a district and/or school improvement process.  Consider how change may impact students and staff.
• Develop group norms for meetings. Decide:
  • When will meetings be held?
  • How can the group stay focused?
  • Will team members share roles? (i.e., timekeeper, recorder, etc.)
  • How will decisions be made?
  • What are the expectations for completing tasks? (See suggestions in Working Toward Consensus)
  • What conflict resolution techniques will be adopted?

• If the district is identified on improvement or has schools identified on improvement under No Child Left Behind or if a school is Accredited on Improvement, Conditionally Accredited, or Unaccredited under Quality Performance Accreditation, the following steps are taken:
  • Review Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) data and discuss state/district requirements
  • Review current practices that:
    • support teachers in becoming high qualified;
    • provide transitions for students between preschool, elementary, middle school, and high school; and
    • encourage parent/family involvement.
• Review Section B: Factors that Impact School Improvement byusing the First Turn Last Turn Activity.
• Familiarize team with the Integrated Improvement Plans for districts and/or schools.
• Establish timelines for meetings and completing the Integrated Improvement Plan.
• Establish decision-making methods. The National Staff Development Council recommends consensus building and provides step-by-step guides and activities for implementing consensus building methods and developing norms in their publication Transforming Schools Through Powerful Planning.
• Review and analyze district beliefs, vision, and mission statements for relevance and alignment with process.

  What are the tasks for the second part of the meeting?  

• Thoroughly review assessment data, participation rates, graduation rates, and attendance rates. This data can be found on the Kansas State Department of Education website at http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=151. Additional information is found on the Center of Educational Testing and Evaluation’s website at http://www.cete.us/.

• Identify continuums to complete from the District Integrated Needs Assessment (DINA). These continuums maybe adapted and used at the school level as well. Make plans for administrating the continuums with appropriate stakeholders.
  •   Districts and/or schools on watch are encouraged to complete:
    • Leadership
    • Safe and Caring Environments
    • Student Achievement
  • Districts on improvement are expected to complete all continuums at least once each year.

What are assignments for the next meeting?

• Review “What to Collect?” worksheets and establish data collection assignments

• The data coordinator assigns responsibilities for data collection using the “What to Collect” worksheets, including the following data:
  • Achievement
  • Perceptions
  • Contextual
  • Demographics
• The data coordinator assigns logistics for data collection and storage.