Moline-Coal Valley superintendent reviews year-end PACE goals; several targets remain "yellow" pending state data

Dr. Savage, superintendent of Moline-Coal Valley School District 40, presented the district's year-end goals and monthly action tracker at the board meeting Monday, April 28, at the Moline Education Center, saying the district has a mix of 'green' and 'yellow' ratings and will continue work on several systemwide priorities. The presentation matters because the PACE framework (People, Achievement, Community, Environment) guides budget, curriculum, staffing and public reporting for the coming school year and shapes how the district measures improvement. Dr. Savage said the district's goals are aligned to the acronym PACE: "people, achievement, community, and environment." He described the process: goals are introduced in July, rolled out to stakeholders in August, monitored monthly during the school year, and reviewed publicly in April. He said the district completed an extended-cabinet self-evaluation on April 22 and will bring proposed priority focus areas back to the board on May 12. On the People goal the district designated a human-resources point person and reported a completed target to "increase the building capacity of our paraeducators" by a minimum of four opportunities; Dr. Savage characterized that line as green. She said the work to revise the district mission and vision, led with partner Battelle, included a stakeholder survey (launched in November) and two community nights in February and March with about 50 to 60 attendees each; that work is expected to be finished in the coming weeks and rolled out in August. On Achievement, the superintendent said the district will mark reading-score goals as yellow until state Illinois Assessment for Readiness (IAR) results are released (she said the IAR and related spring data will not be available to the district until mid-to-late summer). She also described a districtwide literacy review: "stakeholders involved in that process are at the tail end of selecting which products and materials they're ready to pilot in the fall," with elementary and secondary committees having reviewed vendor presentations. Dr. Savage described work to create additional middle-school on-ramps to rigorous coursework so students entering the district at different times or with different language backgrounds are not missed; she said principals and middle-school leaders will roll those pathways out in the fall. She also said chronic absenteeism remains a growth area and was the subject of a large committee and new strategies with community partners. The superintendent said Illinois 5Essentials survey results are still pending and noted she has requested the data from the State Board of Education. "We know that we've had some great gains, and we're looking to hit strong in all 5 areas," she said; until the state data arrive several goals remain yellow. Dr. Savage described student-led work on a "portrait of an educator," micro-credentials for students and teacher recognition tied to the portrait competencies; that work remains in progress. She closed by saying the district wants to move to more frequent board updates (quarterly) and to make the action tracker forward-facing during the school year. Board member Ramona Dixon asked that the annotated goal tracker (with red/yellow/green markings) be shared in advance of the May 12 meeting to inform board discussion. The superintendent confirmed that principals will synthesize board feedback after May 12 and staff will draft final goals over the summer. The presentation was informational; no formal board action was taken. The board will revisit priorities and data at its May 12 meeting and expects to roll out finalized mission/vision material in August. Questions about specific data timelines and pilot program choices were raised and noted for follow up.