The first year of Poudre School District's new Strategic Plan was filled with thoughtful planning, hard work and rapid success in the plan’s three focus areas: Literacy, Mental Health & Belonging and Graduate With Options. This article focuses on what has been done to date and what lies ahead with the Strategic Plan.
An update on the Strategic Plan was presented to the PSD Board of Education at their Aug. 27, 2024, meeting. During the update, Superintendent Brian Kingsley praised PSD staff for the efforts that led to the literacy, mental health, and graduation gains and the positive impacts this work has already had on students.
“I cannot find another school district around that has these kinds of results, and I want us to take a moment to thank our teachers, our classified staff, our school and district leaders, for their intentional effort around buying into something bigger than themselves and getting dialed in to make sure that our students are reaching their potential,” Kingsley said.
Year One Accomplishments
Literacy
PSD students in kindergarten through third grade are showing more and more growth on DIBELS early literacy tests, with 74.7% scoring at or above grade level expectations this spring (up from 66.8% in spring 2021).
During the first year of the Strategic Plan, PSD supported Literacy by:
- Implementing new elementary-level literacy curricula
- Removing materials that don’t use current best practices for literacy
- Offering multiple professional learning and coaching opportunities for staff
Mental Health & Belonging
Both PSD middle school and high school students who took the 2023-24 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey were more likely than their peers statewide to say their stress level is manageable most days, they have an adult to go to for help with a serious problem, and they usually feel comfortable talking to a friend about their feelings.
During the first year of the Strategic Plan, PSD supported Mental Health & Belonging by:
- Adding 29 positions that support mental health and starting a partnership with Colorado State University to bring Master of Social Work students and graduate into schools as interns and fellows; Efforts are supported by $13.9 million in grants (See Launch of mental health program with CSU and PSD awarded grant to bolster mental health supports >>)
- Increasing access to community partners
- Aligning mental health services, including cross-training
- Creating communications and materials to increase student awareness of mental health resources and wellness tips (See PSD Mental Health Resources >>)
Graduate With Options
The on-time graduation rate for PSD students has remained above the state average for several years and was 86.9% for the Class of 2023 (most recent data available).
During the first year of the Strategic Plan, PSD supported students to Graduate With Options by:
- Updating graduation requirements to give students more academic options aligned to their future goals
- Updating the diploma processes for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and Multilingual Learners
- Adding an automotive pathway and a behavioral health pathway at the PSD Career Tech Center (formerly the Futures Lab)
- Increasing student and family awareness of student opportunities to earn free college credit, certifications, and degrees while still in high school
Year Two Goals and Plans
The Strategic Plan work is far from over. Below are PSD’s goals and planned work for year two.
Literacy
Goals - 85% or more of students achieving grade-level achievement benchmarks in both literacy and math by the end of the 2024-25 school year; students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and historically underserved identities making more than a year’s worth of growth in literacy and math in a year’s time.
Plans - Work includes:
- Provide support for curriculum adoptions, including professional development, as PSD implements new curricula for middle school science, eighth grade social studies, and high school language arts, world history, and statistics and probability
- Evaluate the next series of curriculum adoptions
- Review student access to rigorous grade-level instruction and programming
- Develop an instructional coaching support system
- Research and implement accessibility features and supports for all learners
Mental Health & Belonging
Goals - By the end of the 2025-26 school year, PSD aims to decrease the number of incidents of harassment and bullying due to ethnicity, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities, physical appearance or other protected classes by 10%.
Plans - In order to create affirming environments, PSD will:
- Provide direct education for fourth- and sixth-grade students about fostering positive and respectful school environments
- Train and support staff and students in disrupting and reporting incidents of bias and harassment
- Align investigation procedures, responses, interventions and supports
- Provide additional training for mental health staff on supports for students who report bullying and harassment and provide professional learning about harassment and discrimination investigation and decision-making for school administrators and central office leaders
- Provide equitable leadership practices training for leaders
- Provide professional development on inclusive climates and culture for all staff
Graduate With Options
Goals - Increase overall graduation rates toward 90% and close gaps for students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and those with historically underserved identities.
Plans - Work includes:
- Looking at established career pathways and creating versions for each high school ahead of implementation of new graduation requirements
- Developing and implementing lesson plans and check-ins to ensure students with disabilities and multilingual learners are on track
- Monitoring grades and credits to help students be successful. The path to graduation begins long before high school, so there will also be several years of work put into equitable grading practices, starting with middle schools.
- Attendance has a huge impact on graduation rates, so PSD has the following attendance-related work planned as well:
- Implement automated letters to families when their student experiences chronic absenteeism or is chronically truant
- Research and develop student and family assessments for outreach engagement
- Have a menu or support for students struggling with attendance
- Review and revise the attendance guidebook.
For more information, visit the Strategic Plan website.