LOXLEY, Ala. — Labeled as a “Blueprint for Excellence”, Terry Burkle and other representatives from the “Yes We Can” initiative presented their co-owned Strategic Plan Draft to members of the Baldwin County Board of Education at the Board work session Tuesday night at the BOE Central Annex in Loxley.

With the slogan “Better Schools.Better Baldwin.Better Together”, the draft is divided into five target areas that aim to improve the quality of education in Baldwin County Schools.

Dr. Alan T. Lee called it a “community effort and extremely important” to the residents of Baldwin County and explained “we want the best schools in the county and we have the plan to do it but it calls for a shift in how we do business. We want the best results we can have and will come back with a decision that works best for us.”

Burkle, external co-chairwoman for the first target area, “Funding to Meet Community Expectations and Priorities”, told the BOE members their goal for this area is to provide stable, fair and adequate funding to meet community expectations and priorities.

“We have 1,400 Baldwin County residents involved in this plan and it has been an extraordinary learning experience and we are preparing for a 21st century learning environment. Thank you to everyone who has taken part in this especially teachers. We want to accomplish a solid foundation for the graduates and a diverse workforce through this plan,” Burkle said.

Included in the first target area are four goals:

- Formalize a countywide coalition /foundation to serve as the permanent mechanism for ensuring accountability and transparency.

- Establish a task force to explore long term funding solutions that meet community expectations and priorities

-Educate and engage the entire community on school funding issues

-Provide equal access to needed resources

“Our overall goal is to provide funding and resources, human and financial, and provide a more reader-friendly format with our plan,” sad Eddie Tyler, BC Assistant Superintendent.

Target Area Two is “Data Driven Accountability” which will establish a data-driven accountability framework that supports quality teaching, learning and graduation for all. It’s goals are:

- Create a sustainable and consistent system for monitoring student progress and performance to guide improvement efforts.

-Create a sustainable and consistent system for monitoring employees’ effectiveness using findings to guide improvement efforts.

-Create a sustainable and consistent system for fiscal and operational effectiveness using findings to guide improvement efforts.

-Develop local school improvement plans to report progress, engage stakeholders, and monitor continuous school improvement.

“This plan is a living, breathing working plan and big changes are ahead and will be phased in. We will be collaborating in a way we have never done before,” explained Suellen Brazil, BC Executive Principal for Elementary School.

Target Area Three: “Leadership at all Levels” aims to develop leaders who will transform education are its goals are:

-Align the mission of the Baldwin County Public Schools with priorities established by the Yes We can Community Agreement.

-Implement a systematic plan to develop teacher leaders.

-Implement a system to develop principal leaders.

-Implement a system to develop district leaders.

-Implement a system to develop parent and community leaders.

-Implement a system to develop student leaders.

-Create a culture of customer service.

-Create a culture of community support and respect for educators.

“Data does matter and we are trying to develop a data-driven framework that will be implemented and plan to have data boards throughout the schools identifying standards and have a way to talk to each other about it,” said Pam Henson, BC Director of Instructional Support.

Target Area Four: “Every Student College/Workforce Ready” wants graduation for all ready to succeed in college, work and life. These goals are:

- Strengthen curriculum to improve access, rigor and relevance for all students.

- Create a culture in which all teachers use a variety of instructional strategies to increase student learning and academic press.

- Develop and implement a comprehensive assessment plan aligned to the revised curriculum.

- Establish a comprehensive support system to provide targeted intervention for students while building strong student/adult relationships.

- Increase number of graduates with credentials that meet entry level requirements for college and work.

-Engage parents to assume shared responsibility for student preparation for college and workforce.

The last target area is “Communication to inform, engage, and connect all citizens as shareholders of the public schools” and aims to inform, engage and connect all citizens in the successful implementation of this co-owned strategic plan. Its goals are:

- Report progress in all five priority areas.

- Improve openness and responsiveness at the local school and district level.

-Improve parental communication and involvement in local schools.

- Create a sense of ownership for public education and provide opportunities to be engaged in school reform.

- Improve district transparency to build public trust.

“Communication is the lifeblood of this district and this is a historic undertaking that will provide better news updates across the board on a regular basis,” said Terry Wilhite, Director of Communications for BOE.

This Co-owned Strategic Plan is the product of a new level of partnership between the Baldwin County Public Schools and the citizens of our community and is based on input from residents who met last year in 85 community conversations, according to the draft plan, and the Baldwin County Education Coalition developed the “Yes We Can” community agreement and presented it to the BOE in December 2010.

It has been used as a guiding document for developing this plan and the overarching goal of the initiative is to create a shared vision for Baldwin County and a collective strategy for advancing public education as the best means of realizing the dreams for the children and community.

This unprecedented level of cooperation and support has the potential to transform our community and create untold opportunities for our graduates, our local economy and our collective prosperity, the draft said.

“We still have a great deal of work to do and couldn’t have done any of it without Dr. lee’s leadership and vision and the board members openness to different ideas. This has been an incredible journey with fantastic work and we will have 21st century schools because of it,” said Denise D’Oliveira, “Yes We Can” initiative leader.

To see all the components of this plan draft, visit www.bcbe.org.