Goals or objectives

Currently the provincial department of education, called Alberta Learning, mandates five strategic goals. Peace Wapiti School Board develops its own goals that correspond to these strategic goals. In addition, the school board has developed one further strategic goal of its own, “teaching excellence.” The school board specifies outcomes and performance measures to evaluate achievement of the goals. It also lists strategies (or objectives) to accomplish its goals. One provincially mandated strategic goal, relates to school board public relations. Described as Alberta Learning Goal 5, it is titled “Responsible and Responsive Jurisdiction.”

Corresponding Peace Wapiti goals to achieve this strategic goal of “responsible and responsive jurisdiction” are:

- Promote the school system through celebration of accomplishments.

- Develop a plan for the purpose of addressing areas of improvement.

- Demonstrate high standards for communication with the public.

- Provide leadership and clear direction to schools.

Outcomes

Each strategic goal specifies outcomes that can be measured. For the goal of “responsive and responsible jurisdiction,” the school board lists the following outcome: “The jurisdiction demonstrates leadership and continuous improvement in administrative and business processes and practices” (Peace Wapiti School Board #33, 2002c, p. 20).

Performance Measures

The strategic goals also specify performance measures. Performance measures provide data that describe the progress of the school community in achieving its goals and results (Fisher, p. 18). For the goal of “responsive and responsible jurisdiction,” the school board lists the following performance measures:

- Percentage of schools audited each year.

- Percentage of parents who are satisfied with the level of information received from the schools about programs, services and practices.

- Percentage of school-based administrators satisfied with delegated resource management responsibilities and decision-making authority.

- Percentage of parents and public who are satisfied with information received about how money is spent by the local school board.

Strategies

In addition, Peace Wapiti School Board provides strategies for achieving the goals. Strategies are actions that can be used in the medium term (one to five years) to accomplish the goals and to achieve the desired results (Fisher, p. 21). The school board lists the following strategies for achieving its goals:

- Provide accurate and complete information on topics/issues the public requests.

- Lobby the government on matters that impact the quality of educational services in classrooms.

- Encourage frequent communication between our schools and their parents.

- Post achievement and diploma exam results on the system web site.

- Regularly update data on the web site.

- Conduct school audits on a three-year cycle.

- Review the site-based management model currently in place in this school system.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 841