May 6 Academic Achievement meeting and Operational Excellence meeting
Covered by Documenters Christina Brunson (see her notes here) and Rick Bohan (see his notes here)
In December 2023, Akron Public Schools unveiled its Blueprint for Excellence Strategic Plan, which is designed to “ensure all APS scholars are college, career, and life-ready by providing innovative educational experiences.”
The blueprint is built on four cornerstones: A culture of safety and belonging, academic achievement, operational excellence, and partnerships, family and community engagement.
APS administrators and staff meet quarterly to provide updates in each area. The public is invited to attend these quarterly meetings, whose purpose is to discuss each area and decide the key performance indicators (KPIs) to mark progress.
On June 6, district staff met to discuss two cornerstones — academic achievement and operational excellence. Akron Documenters Christina Brunson and Rick Bohan attended these meetings. Here’s what they learned:
Academic achievement
During the academic achievement meeting, Keith Liechty-Clifford, the director of school improvement, said the district had not met its early literacy goal of 24%, instead clocking in at 23%. A KPI was set for 19% in 2023 and 23% for 2024. Liechty-Clifford said these are preliminary numbers because of summer programming and retesting, which should bring the numbers up.
Marcie Ebright, the director of the district’s College & Career Academies, presented on this year’s graduation rate. The goal for 2023-2024 was 87%, and the district achieved 87.7%, which is the highest graduation rate for the state of Ohio’s urban schools. APS had 1,290 students graduate. Kenmore has the lowest graduation rate and Akron Early College and Akron Stem had the highest rates at 100%.
The goal of this program is to increase the four-year graduation rate to 90% for next school year.
Operational excellence
During the operational excellence meeting, the board learned the APS Human Resources Department was renamed the Human Capital Department to encompass comprehensive support for personnel performance, recruitment and retention. A new labor relations position was also created with the intent of addressing and resolving employee issues promptly, effectively and efficiently.
The department will evaluate and optimize operational efficiency by strategically repurposing existing positions and creating new roles to ensure alignment of responsibilities. The aim is to support staff and teachers as changes, including staff reductions, take place.
At the same time, district officials said they are working to improve overall job satisfaction and wellness for all staff by providing meaningful work, growth opportunities, and professional support and engagement. The teachers, staff and administration have been surveyed to get a better understanding of how they’re feeling now.
Finally, the operational excellence team said it was committed to working with a more diverse pool of vendors, especially minority-identified business enterprise vendors.
The third-quarter meetings have yet to be scheduled.
Learn more about the Blueprint for Success here.
