St. Louis Park district lays out year-one implementation of strategic plan, focusing on ASCEND metrics and communications

Superintendent Dr. La'10 Hines and cabinet members gave the school board a multi-part update on Oct. 28 about implementing the district's new strategic plan, built around a portrait of a learner titled ASCEND.

Dr. Hines said the district will assess where elements of ASCEND currently appear in students' experiences and then build measures around those elements. Executive Director Lowie described three commitments that guide implementation: “We Are One Saint Louis Park,” build trust and transparency with stakeholders, and invest in staff to transform student outcomes.

Cabinet and research staff described programmatic steps now underway: development of new surveys (exit surveys and an employee engagement survey), redesign of professional development toward on-demand and sequenced learning, an enhanced PD feedback form, and clearer accountability and reporting cycles. The district's research and evaluation team is building data collection tools to operationalize ASCEND across the next four years, aligning teacher-evaluation rubrics and curriculum review with new measurement tools.

Staff also said they are tightening testing windows for in-year universal-screening tools such as FastBridge and MAP so that scores can feed instruction more quickly. The district is piloting equity learning walks and working toward a common feedback form for observation and coaching.

Communications staff described a consolidated approach to family and staff messaging. ParentSquare will become the central communications channel for district notices while academic platforms such as Seesaw and Schoology remain in use for classroom content. A website redesign is planned for early spring, and a staff intranet was launched to centralize internal resources. Communications staff also described a new "shine squad" training to create brand ambassadors among employees.

Board members asked how teachers are included in PD and feedback-loop development and raised concerns about survey fatigue. Presenters said PD committees and PLT (pedagogical/ professional learning team) meetings bring teacher voice into development; they recommended using short in-person PD time to gather immediate feedback and to limit email-driven surveys.

Data staff emphasized the district will use multiple measures rather than relying on any single test: universal-screening tools for progress monitoring, MCA results for state-standard proficiency checks, and deeper qualitative checks such as student work samples and interviews. Dr. Lafayette said the goal is to create longitudinal measures that capture ASCEND traits beyond traditional standardized-test metrics.