This professional development session focused on SMART goals and their importance in school improvement planning. The session aimed to help participants gain an understanding of SMART goals, learn strategies for determining root causes of performance gaps, and develop processes to close those gaps. Key aspects of SMART goals discussed included making goals strategic, specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound. Participants engaged in activities to analyze school processes and identify problems in order to develop action plans. Resources on setting SMART goals and measuring school processes were provided.

1. Continuous School Improvement Planning, Session 2 Professional Development Services Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Regional Offices

2. Outcomes To gain an understanding of SMART goals and why they are important in the school improvement planning process; To learn a problem solving strategy for determining root causes of gaps; To analyze and develop processes to close gaps.

3. SMART Goals Goals reflect priorities of the school. Resources and staffing should align with the goals. Goals should drive the behavior of everyone in the school. Goals should have formative assessments in place to monitor progress

4. SMART Goals Goals should address the key questions of professional learning communities. Assessment for learning and common assessments are critical feedback for monitoring progress and achieving goals. Results orientation

5. SMART Goals Strategic and Specific Measurable Attainable Results-based Time-bound

6. Strategic Focus on the vital few goals that are high leverage areas where the largest gaps between vision and current reality exist. Therefore, the greatest gains will be seen.

7. Specific Provides the concrete, tangible, evidence of improvement that teams need to stay motivated. Schools and teams should focus on specific targets for improvement.

8. Measurable Formative and summative multiple measures Schools use data to adjust programs, resources, schedules, staffing. Teachers use data to improve their practice and provide feedback to students on their learning.

9. Attainable Goals that motivate us to strive higher are those that are almost but not quite within our reach, that we need to achieve. Table Talk What is attainable improvement for standardized tests?

10. Results-Based Did student learning improve? Concrete benchmarks to measure our efforts.

11. Time-Bound Specific time-frame One year goals are ideal Builds internal accountability and commitment.

12. Process Goals vs. Results Goals TABLE TALK What is the difference? Are your school goals SMART?

13. Process Analysis To understand what processes are and are not getting desirable results so that we know what should be changed or eliminated. Flow chart activity/ mapping a school process

14. Problem Solving Cycle Activity Identify the problem List 20 hunches Generate questions and data needed to develop an action plan

15. Resources The Power of SMART Goals, O’Neill and Conzemius Measuring School Processes, Bernhardt

16. Compliance Addendum will be available on the portal and on the CD. Generic objectives, formative, and summative assessments, and strategies are written. Schools will insert compensatory education information and percentages for their goals. Schools have the option of adding goals if they wish.

17. Questions and Concerns Reflections