Okemos superintendent outlines five-year targets: 80% proficiency, 100% individualized NWEA growth and attendance improvements

Superintendent Hood presented the district's strategic-planning framework and five proposed board-level goal areas, explaining which datasets the board will use to monitor progress and how often those updates should appear on the board calendar. The presentation focused on high-level "board-level" metrics rather than day-to-day classroom data.

Key academic goals announced included a five-year target of 80% of students meeting proficiency or college-readiness benchmarks on state and college-readiness measures (M-STEP, PSAT, SAT) and an aspirational district growth goal of 100% on NWEA (individualized growth measures). Hood and staff explained why particular indicators were chosen: third-grade reading (to measure the "learn to read" transition) and eighth-grade math (to indicate algebra readiness) were singled out as actionable checkpoints.

On learning environment metrics, the district proposed raising overall attendance from about 94% to 96% and cutting chronic absenteeism from 16.8% to 12.5% over five years (a ~25% reduction). Trustees discussed whether suspension counts or reported bullying incidents should be board-level indicators; staff said perception-survey questions will complement statistical indicators to capture climate and fairness concerns.

Personnel measures discussed included increasing the percent of staff with five or more years at Okemos to 75% and reporting retention/turnover measures. Administration said some measures will be provided through vendor analytics, PowerSchool crosswalks and external cohort comparisons (East Lansing, Byron Center, East Grand Rapids, Saline, Northville).

What happens next: administrators will finish constructing the perception survey and a board work session will be scheduled in October to set cadence and reporting formats for the proposed datasets and monitoring schedule.