Board hears OCPS KPI update: climate surveys, recruitment, volunteers, portables and a data tool preview

Orange County School Board members on Jan. 16 received a broad update on 18 key performance indicators tied to the OCPS 2025 strategic plan, including school-climate survey results, staffing and recruitment metrics, volunteer and foundation fundraising targets, and facilities work to reduce classroom portables.

District staff said the district has shifted its survey platform in-house, reduced the number of survey questions to boost participation and is piloting a Stetson University-supported effort at selected schools. The research team previewed targets and midyear outcomes: in many measures the district reported being on track, and in several others staff said additional spring work will affect final year-end numbers.

Why it matters: KPIs measure operational performance as well as learning outcomes. Trustees asked for clearer, school-level visuals and promised follow-up on intern hiring, volunteer expansion, and whether customers (parents and staff) receive consistent service from schools and district offices.

Highlights from KPIs and operational updates - Data tool: staff said an “interactive accountability denominator report” will be previewed for the board on Feb. 11; principals are being trained to use the Power BI-based tool for school-level visuals. - Recruitment and interns: the district reported 788 recruitment “touch points” toward a year-end target of 812 and said the district hosted 292 interns this year and hired 149 of them so far; board members asked staff to report offer/acceptance rates in a follow-up. - Volunteers and partnerships: district targets include scaling Read to Succeed volunteer tutors 30% (target 604, currently 311) and growing OCPS employee volunteers (current 5,130; target 5,620). Corporate projects and partnership registration targets were also discussed. - Foundation fundraising: the OCPS Foundation target and donor metrics were presented (district staff reported current donor counts and engagement metrics and said they aim to increase new donors and retention; staff will provide detailed fund-raising totals in foundation reports). - Facilities and portables: goals include reducing leased/temporary portables; last year’s count was 1,031 portables and the district target is 831 by year end; 21 lease portables have been removed to date and several classroom-addition projects are on schedule. - IT and customer service: the CIO team reported a target of 98% satisfaction on support tickets and is preparing a February rollout of a self-help chatbot to reduce ticket friction.

Board feedback and staff commitments Trustees requested more school-by-school visualizations and asked staff to add targeted parent-customer-service questions to spring follow-up surveys for schools scoring in the lower quartile. Staff agreed to share the interactive tool and to provide follow-up numbers on intern offer/acceptance rates and volunteer growth.

District staff closed by thanking working-group leads and chiefs for contributions to the strategic-plan update and said the OCPS 2030 planning process will follow later this year. No votes were taken during the work session; the presentation produced a set of staff follow-ups and a scheduled preview of the accountability tool.

Ending: what comes next Staff will present the interactive accountability denominator report to the board (preview scheduled for Feb. 11), provide follow-up detail on intern offers/acceptances and volunteer metrics, share school-level visuals upon request and continue training principals on the new tool.