Consultant urges short, measurable goals for Batavia strategic plan; board to review in June

The Batavia Public School District board heard a presentation from District Management Group consultant Simone Carpenter recommending a short set of measurable goals to guide implementation of the district’s recently adopted strategic plan.

Carpenter told the board the district should "front-load a short set of measurable goals" that the District Coordinating Council and subcommittees can use to build action plans. "A short set is better than a long set," she said, adding that the District Coordinating Council (DCC) and other committees had already reviewed the draft targets.

The recommended "power metrics" the consultant presented were: the percent of students meeting MAP growth targets (grades 3–8) and ACT college-readiness benchmarks (high school) for teaching and learning; Panorama sense-of-belonging scores for inclusion and belonging; and the Illinois State Board of Education financial profile score for operational health. Carpenter explained the choice as a balance between research evidence and what the DCC judged would drive other district indicators.

Carpenter and district staff described the monitoring structure that will link those goals to subcommittee action plans and to the board. The DCC and subcommittees will build implementation plans and collect progress data; the board will receive district-level updates twice yearly with fuller monitoring sessions planned after the June meeting. Carpenter said the DCC had proposed one-per-year movement targets for Panorama sense-of-belonging and aggressive-yet-achievable multi-year targets for MAP growth, with guardrails to trigger review.

Board members asked about subgroup breakdowns and how the district will avoid improving only aggregate measures while leaving particular student groups behind. Carpenter said subcommittees and the DCC will drill down on subgroup data and surface issues for board attention. Tom (district leader) told the board, "we will be facing some big work next year" and that the monitoring process should surface needed reallocations of staff and resources.

The board did not vote on the targets at the meeting; Carpenter asked trustees to submit questions and feedback by June 2 so staff and consultants can revise the measures ahead of the June data presentation and a planned vote. The board’s June work will include a more detailed district data review tied to the draft goals and associated action plans.

Why it matters: The recommendation narrows board-level accountability to a few indicators so trustees can more clearly assess whether district strategy is improving student outcomes and operational health. If adopted, the metric set will guide resource allocation, committee work, and public reporting in the coming school year.