Introduction

The Albemarle County Public Schools have been working on new Strategic Plan to replace the existing Horizons 2020 Strategic Plan. Most of this work occurred in 2020 and was led by an outside consulting group. This group also led the modification of the “Portrait of a Graduate” to include topics that are over 60% focused on social/emotional/justice versus competence and excellence in educational metrics/rubrics.

C.A.R.E. is providing a copy of the latest DRAFT of the Strategic Plan, along with the soon-to-be-retired Horizons 2020 Strategic Plan, for a side-by-side review of the significant shift in the Vision, Mission and Goals of the School System.

C.A.R.E. is seeking avenues for community input prior to its anticipated adoption by the School Board this July. Upon its approval by the board, C.A.R.E. anticipates that further sweeping policy and curriculum changes will be made under its auspices.

Also provided is a link to the Strategic Plan survey results, as well as the content of the survey that was captured by a C.A.R.E. member. The survey, as presented, assumed that the respondent was in agreement with the stated goals so the results are somewhat misleading. C.A.R.E. is providing a copy of the Survey as it was presented to offer a more balanced perspective to the results.

Materials for Review of Old versus New Strategic Plans

C.A.R.E. Analysis: Big Change in Mission, Does the Community Know What That Means For School Children?

We encourage you to consider the Mission Statements and compare the Current versus the Proposed Strategic Plans. C.A.R.E. believes this is a big change in Mission which will significantly affect all the initiatives of the ACPS school system.

Also, consider that one of the first items rolled out as a pilot (CCAR – Courageous Conversations About Race at Henley Middle School) has started to generate significant activity from parents and citizens. Competing petitions with of support and concern were generated and submitted to the ACPS School Board within two months after the pilot started.

Proposed Strategic Plan Survey

This section contains a full copy of the Proposed Strategic Plan Survey & Results.

C.A.R.E. Analysis: Consider These Questions with Your Own Questions

We encourage you to think about the questions in the Survey. Albemarle County Public Schools are making a big change in their Mission. Here are a few things to consider in addition to your own questions.

1. The survey presumes that the new Mission statement is good and appropriate for ACPS. Is this a good presumption by ACPS? C.A.R.E. does not think so.
2. Did the community ever have the ability to provide feedback on the new Mission Statement? This survey assumes the Mission Statement is accepted by the community. It just focuses on whether ACPS’s “Strategies” to implement the new Mission seem to be good from the community’s point of view. Do you think the community should only be asked about strategies they want to implement? C.A.R.E. doesn’t.
3. All the quantitative questions will produce facts and figures the school system will use to claim the community has had the opportunity to give feedback and the feedback was positive. Do you think you understand enough about what ACPS’s goals and objectives really mean when put in practice to be able to give valid feedback? Those who started C.A.R.E. don’t.

Survey & Results

Important Notes:

• The following content was copied and pasted from the Strategic Plan Survey for the newly Proposed Strategic Plan with minor formatting changes for readability.
• Image captures of the results have been added and matched up with the survey questions. A link to the ori

Dear ACPS Families,

We need your feedback!

Every five to seven years, Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) takes an opportunity to work with its students, employees, families and community to create a new strategic plan. The plan acts as a guide to how we define the direction that our school division will take over the next several years. It includes our vision and mission for the school division, as well as our hopes for all of our students and how we will allocate resources to make those a reality.

Since the summer of 2020, we have been at work creating our new plan in collaboration with a diverse and intersectional group of ACPS stakeholders, and we are delighted to announce that we now have a draft of our plan to share with you!

In the following survey, you will find several components of that draft, including our new, proposed mission and the goals, objectives, and sample strategies we believe will help us realize that mission. We hope that you will take the time to read through these and tell us what you think, as we strive to incorporate as much ACPS community feedback into the final version of our plan as possible. Once we have read your survey results, we will revise and present a new draft to the Albemarle County School Board with hopes of deploying the new plan in the fall semester of this year.

If you have any questions or comments regarding what you see as you work through this survey, please do not hesitate to contact Patrick McLaughlin, ACPS Chief of Strategic Planning, at pmclaughlin@k12albemarle.org.

We remain grateful to our wonderful community members for your continued engagement and support of Albemarle County Public Schools.

ACPS Mission

Working together as a team, we will end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children’s success through high quality teaching and learning. We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds.

Goal 1 – Thriving Students

ACPS will facilitate learning experiences grounded in high expectations, networks of care, and student curiosity to ensure academic and social-emotional development for all students while eliminating opportunity, access, and achievement gaps.

Objective One – ACPS will ensure that each student is supported to achieve their best.

Strategies include:

• Create a Learning Framework that guides the implementation of deeper learning and engagement and includes a division common assessment system.
• Ensure Culturally Responsive Teaching practices are implemented in all classes and learning environments.
• Develop personalized growth plans with every student.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Two

ACPS will develop structures that support students’ academic mental health for both proactive and intervention purposes. We will ensure that academic time demands placed on students allow them adequate time to pursue their personal interests, including enrichment activities, life-long learning and career goals.

Strategies include:

• Implement a standards-based reporting system
• Continue to promote balance between academics and outside interests. (ie. division homework policy).
• Increase the number of students using alternative pathways to receiving course credit.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Three

ACPS will increase student engagement in their own learning, in the school culture, and in student governance.

Strategies include:

• Develop learning pathways that align with Virginia’s career pathways
• Expand extracurricular offerings based on student interest and increase the number of student led organizations. Participation in these activities should reflect division demographics
• Ensure at least one interdisciplinary, project-based learning experience focused on a community issue in each grade band (K-5, 6-8, 9-12)

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Goal 2 – Affirming and Empowering Communities

ACPS commits to developing a culturally responsive environment that will respect and champion the diversity of life experiences of all stakeholders and supports the physical and mental health of our students, staff, and families so they are actively empowered to engage in our school community.

Objective One

ACPS commits to developing a culturally responsive environment that will respect and champion the diversity of life experiences of all stakeholders and supports the physical and mental health of our students, staff, and families so they are actively empowered to engage in our school community.

Strategies include:

• Require all licensed staff members to earn a Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) micro-credential or certification within their first three years of being hired or by 2028.
• Collaborate with the community to fully implement the division Anti-racism policy.
• Remove all barriers to participation in division programs including programs with competitive applications and limits on participation.
• Create partnerships with local agencies whose mission is to increase the diversity of our teaching corps.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Two

ACPS will support the physical and mental health of our students, staff and families.

Strategies include:

• Adopt, implement and measure the effectiveness of a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum in grades K-12.
• Continue to develop division wellness programs for students and staff.
• Convene student representative committee to lead the expansion and improved student representation of extracurricular / co-curricular activities.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Three

ACPS will Actively empower all stakeholders to engage in our school community, through effective communications and community engagement strategies.

Strategies include:

• Develop robust community engagement that go beyond the information exchange (e.g., authentic influence in decision-making, substantive relationship-building, transformative engagement, etc.).
• Create advisory groups for untapped populations.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Goal 3 – ACPS will attract, develop and retain the highest quality staff; develop sustainable and modern facilities, infrastructure and equipment; and distribute all resources in an equitable manner to transform learning experiences and opportunities.

Objective One

ACPS will attract, develop and retain the highest quality staff.

Strategies include:

• Implement a compensation structure that makes ACPS a highly attractive workplace.
• Revamp the Teacher, Support Staff, and Administrative Performance Appraisal so that they align annually with school and departmental improvement plans and encourage growth and support.
• Research, develop, and stand-up an Employee Services department that functions solely for the Albemarle County Public Schools Division.
• Convene community conversations/employee forums about how we can continuously improve working conditions.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Two – ACPS will Develop modern and environmentally sustainable facilities, infrastructure and equipment.

Strategies include:

• Develop long range plans to address anticipated overcrowding issues.
• Increase strategic alignment with local government.
• Implement a cycle of modernization and environmental sustainability for all infrastructure.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

Objective Three – ACPS will provide resources in an equitable manner.

Strategies include:

• Remove transportation as a barrier to participation in any division program.
• Launch an education foundation which includes a goal of equitably funding supplemental school budgets.

How much will this objective help us achieve our mission?

Results

How well do you see yourself reflected in the new strategic plan?

Results

Qualitative Questions, Results Not Available

Are any parts of the new strategic plan difficult to understand or unclear? (specifically, think about the terms being used that may need to be defined or concepts that may need to be explained)

What is missing from the new strategic plan?

What other feedback do you have about the new strategic plan?

Survey – Full Results