Ideas About... - Newark Board of Education

Develop strong processes for recruiting and supporting principals and teachers.
Ensure qualified principals and teachers are in every school and classroom.
Professionally develop educators throughout their careers and work with them to take on leadership roles and new positions within the district.
Coach, evaluate and provide feedback for principals and teachers to help them continuously improve their effectiveness.
Recognize and retain effective principals and teachers.

Assess programmatic and educational needs of each ward and the availability of quality school options.
Engage community in any decisions about locating schools, transitioning ineffective programs, and re-using buildings.
Ensure open student enrollment process is transparent and objective.
Collaborate to solve common challenges such as transportation.
Improve enrollment process to ensure that more students get one of their top three choices.
Improve communications with families about quality school options through guidebooks, websites, fairs, etc.
Successfully implement “community school” pilot to provide more non-academic supports to South Ward students and families; plan for expansion elsewhere.

Use data to measure the effectiveness of central office and school staff.
Use data to measure district and school performance and progress.
Train district and school staff to analyze and use student learning data to make decisions and improvements.
Train families and community to interpret information about district and school performance and progress to help them make informed educational choices, including enrollment.
Publish guidebooks and school performance reports to help parents better understand school strengths and weaknesses.

Use content and standards that are rigorous enough to prepare students for college and careers.
Use content that is accessible to students of all different performance levels and learning styles.
Invest in and integrate technology into curriculum and classrooms to ensure students are ready for 21st century careers.
Use “benchmark” or other formative assessments throughout the year to make sure students are on track to make progress.
Strengthen science, technology, engineering and math content.
Offer more arts during and after school.
Increase focus on humanities (Literature, Social Studies, etc…) and language.
Create consistent vision, instruction and programs to meet the needs of English language learners.
Ensure that special education students are in more inclusive environments.
Continue to increase participation in, and quality of, early childhood pre-K programs.

Use information from classroom observations to help teachers improve their teaching.
Customize academic supports for each student to ensure instruction and resources meet their needs.
Revise discipline code to reflect policies that focus on remediation and healing, not punishments.
Provide more customized social and emotional supports to each student.
Improve school building security and school culture to make sure students feel safe.

Improve school services (janitorial services, food services, etc.).
Establish policies for how school board will function and be structured once local governance is returned.
Continuously update district policies to meet evolving needs of all students and staff, and to align with current operations.
Expand training for school district staff and School Advisory Board members on district policies.
Develop an evaluation process that holds superintendent accountable for the school district’s progress.
Allocate school-based funds based on students’ needs, such as more funding for special education students.
Develop and widely share online budgeting tools to help stakeholders understand funding realities.
Better analyze, understand and explain key budget variables (enrollment, demographics, etc.).

Ensure that central office and schools regularly engage school staff, families and other community stakeholders about key decisions.
Create internal and external “feedback loops” to provide regular input to district and school leadership.
Ensure school-level strategic plans include community engagement goals, strategies and coordination with the Office of Family and Community Engagement.
Conduct regular conversations with key stakeholders (i.e., parents, grandparents, principals, teachers and students).
Continue working with Mayor’s Office and city leaders to identify collaborative approaches to solve common challenges.
Establish structures and supports for working with non-English-speaking communities.
Expand partnerships with community organizations and local colleges and universities.
Train parents and community members how to effectively advocate for their children’s needs.