Central office plants the seeds

June 2010

Every April, the staff of Stilwell Junior High School (West DesMoines, Iowa) spend a day analyzing student data together. Staff members consider standardized tests scores, look at item-by-item results and trends, and consider how groups are performing. They also look at social data, gathered from students about how the youth view their school experience, such as whether they feel engaged in their lessons and feel someone in the school cares about them. From these data, teachers glean ideas for where they will focus attention and begin to form a year-long plan for professional learning at Stilwell. In the West Des Moines Community Schools, the central office sets a vision and overarching goals, but individual schools develop their own plans for how to achieve those goals