Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2014 V 44 No 1 | Page 34

ented around what we want our students to achieve, attain and feel when they are in our schools. If student outcomes are our North Star, designing the ship, building it and crewing it together becomes a whole lot more possible. The LCAP creates a unique opportunity to do just that and ensure that student success is at the center of planning, budgeting and ultimately programming at the local level. At the same time the state, through LCFF, has significantly broadened what student success means, moving beyond just student test scores to also include college and career readiness, conditions of learning, school climate and student engagement. A commitment to these outcomes is what I want for my daughter and all of the 6 million children attending public schools in California, including the half that live in low income households, the quarter that are learning academic English, and the 35,000 students who have experienced what no child should and are now a part of our foster youth system. 34 Leadership Reflect, refine and act Over the years I have seen more and more references to the concept of continuous improvement – for our students, our programs, and our systems in public education. The LCAP has the potential to be a living document that embodies that ideal. There is always room to reflect, refine and act. Fortunately, if done well, educators won’t have to do it alone. During the Great Recession, community engagement often meant devastating conversations around which schools to close, which programs to cut and which staff to let go. Even though we are building back and beginning to invest again, the discord and distrust likely lingers. This is often exacerbated in communities that have historically felt disenfranchised by public systems and not welcomed in the decision-making process. Your leadership will help set the tone, and there is much you can do to make our schools and the process around the LCAP annual update an inviting environment. Here are a few suggestions to consider: 1. Don’t wait. While it may be tempting to revisit the LCAP in the spring with your community, that is too late to have a meaningful conversation. Start in the fall at the 30,000-foot level and share that you are still in the early stages of implementation. Kick off your LCAP community input sessions by providing participants with clear milestones in the planning and budgeting timeline for the year to come. During this time, you can also work with your community partners to evaluate local needs by reviewing data available on the school and student goals you’ve identified in the LCAP for the current school year, as well as additional data that sheds light on how students are doing. This includes student achievement, survey information, prior levels of community engagement, and past expenditures. Reviewing the comprehensive set of current school and district plans that will eventually interconnect with the LCAP would also be a valuable approach to providing a comprehensive picture of school and district efforts.