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IPCS is dedicated to becoming a reflective learning community for all of its stakeholders -students, parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and community members. To accomplish this, the IPCS Accountability Plan will incorporate best practices found in Urban Learning Centers' Self-Assessment Plan, the Coalition for Essential Schools Exhibitions Project, and elements found in the 1999 Charter Starter Workbook Assessment and Accountability Module developed by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. This Accountability Plan will allow IPCS to assess movement toward the creation of a collaborative school culture which supports powerful teaching and learning. IPCS will embrace continuous improvement through the examination of student achievement data and monitoring effective implementation of comprehensive reforms. Student assessment will be ongoing and used to determine levels of student achievement across the school. Data collected will be analyzed so staff can identify areas that need improvement and plan how to improve instructional programs and supports for students. New goals and priorities will be set for implementation based upon student needs. School assessment will measure and track the school's progress toward its goals. Assessment results will be used to determine program adjustments needed. Data collected will provide information to parents, the community, the Local School Board and the Board of Education on the performance and progress of the school. Philosophy and Guiding Principles for the Accountability Process Accountability necessitates self-assessment, and will be viewed as a process of inquiry, not an evaluation of the school. As an analytical tool and reflective process, self-assessment will benefit IPCS in the following ways:
As assessment tools are determined and developed for IPCS, the following guiding principles will frame the process:
Assessment Plan Format Data collection will follow a common format. The format will be organized around measurable performance objectives for both students and the school. For each objective there will be expectations, strategies for attainment, progress indicators, measurement tools, and a description of current status. The format of the plan looks like the outline below:
Content Standard Addressed Student Performance Objective #1
School Performance Objective #1
Annual Self-Assessment & Accountability Report At the end of the first year, assessment data collected will become part of the IPCS Annual Report. Thus, examining current status will become the basis for annual reflection on the school's progress towards its objectives. Data will be collected and collated so baseline information can be developed to assess student achievement progress and implementation of Innovation's design components. Information will be analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated and shared in the Annual Report. A Self-Assessment Committee, comprised of staff, parents, and community, with input from students, will review the report to highlight accomplishments and outline areas in need of improvement. The committee representatives will determine where they believe the school stands in terms of powerful teaching and learning, governance and management, learning supports, and the use of technology to support the school. A summary of the committee's findings will be submitted to and reviewed by the Local School Board. A follow-up celebration will be scheduled to present the summary and report to all of the stakeholders. This initial report will serve as a benchmark for measuring progress in following years and provide data that can be charted on an annual basis.
School and Student Accountability As mentioned in Part IV, an important student performance assessment tool will be the Electronic Portfolio. IPCS will extend the Electronic Portfolio concept to whole school accountability in an effort to increase the value of the assessment process for school-based improvement. Portfolio use at both the student and school level will be challenging but we believe will provide benefits that promote the innovative nature of our school. For the student portfolio tool, two guidelines will provide the framework for content: (1) The portfolio structure will reflect the goals that each student is expected to achieve, and (2) student work will remain central. The Hawaii Content Standards and Performance Standards define the goals and expected achievement of students. Assessments, links to standards, and self-reflections will appear alongside student work. In expanding the concept of electronic portfolios to the whole school context, the same two guidelines will be used. The school accountability system will provide the structure of the portfolio tool so that technology supports the work engaged in by the school community. Student work will be the primary focus, with teaching, learning, and community issues taking their place in the context of students' work. School teams, comprised of staff, volunteers, mentors, parents and community, will create multimedia short stories to describe the activities and achievements of teachers and students. As with student portfolios, the teams will need to become comfortable with the technology and learn how to make meaningful use of images, videos, and sound to represent information. The school portfolio will be web-based making it accessible to the local community as well as the global community. It is Innovation's goal to use electronic portfolios as a concrete motivation for addressing issues at the core of education, and a tool for personally involving students, teachers, staff, and school community in their education and their school. The goals identified for the portfolios will be continuously revisited as new challenges and changing factors arise.
Teacher Accountability: Teacher accountability at IPCS will be governed by the HSTA-Local School Board contract, the HSTA contract, collective bargaining laws and Part VII of this document, the Personnel Management Plan. The HSTA contract negotiations have formally commenced and the IPCS is awaiting a draft from the HSTA board. It is the staff's and Interim Board's desire to provide accountability structures that vitalize all staff members, offer frequent, humane, direct feedback and support to any struggling staff members, and provide the LSB with the authority to take decisive action in personnel situations requiring immediate remediation. Personnel information can be found in Section VII. The Staff Assessment and Reflection Tool at the end of this section is the primary document for assessing staff accountability. Prior to the beginning of the school year each staff member will fill out a Staff Assessment and Reflection sheet. Assessment information will then be shared with the other staff members for suggestions and comments. Copies of these documents will be kept on file for semi-annual self-review and/or with the Teacher/Director. However, it is expected that staff members will update the document during the staff planning periods each quarter. Year-end staff evaluations will focus on the extent to which each staff member has made progress in or fulfilled several of the domains. Because the curriculum at IPCS is integrative, academic progress of students shall be the responsibility of the staff collectively, and shall be only one factor considered in the evaluation process.
Fiscal Accountability The necessary and proper oversight of all financial aspects of the charter school shall fall to the Local School Board. A yearly audit will be conducted by an independent auditor and made available to the Board of Education, Local School Board, community, and staff of IPCS.
Accountability to Parents/Community/ Local School Board: IPCS will be responsive to the needs and wishes of parents. Parents will be informed from the beginning about the mission and vision of the school and what is expected from them. As stated previously, parents will be invited to be active participants in the assessment process and contribute their ideas for improvement via a survey conducted first and last quarter, and during the annual review of the Accountability Report. They will be kept informed with updates on enrollment, finances and assessment results via quarterly newsletters, meetings and gatherings, and student conferences. Newspaper articles and the Innovations web site will inform the community of school news and progress. The Annual Accountability Report will be shared with the school's stakeholders as outlined in pages 2 and 3 of this section. Parents of students exiting the school will be asked to fill out a form which indicates how the IPCS program has met or not met their student's needs and/or expectations. This information will be analyzed and reviewed by the Local School Board.
Accountability to Board of Education The Annual Accountability Report will be available to the Board of Education upon request. IPCS will submit a four year review report to the BOE in June 2005 to apply for charter renewal. |
Site last updated October 30, 2000
