Setting Academic Goals and Assessing Student Improvement

Every student has different academic strengths and weaknesses and individuals learn in different ways. Uniform treatment of students can result in some falling between the cracks and failing to progress in important subject areas. We should work with every student to set academic goals and to assess their progress in meeting those goals.

Summary of Proposed Solution

Every year, academic goals will be established for each student in the Newton Public Schools and parents will be kept apprised of progress toward achieving those goals.

Discussion and Implementation Plan

Newton currently has a highly regarded reading specialist program to help students whose reading skills are below grade level to catch up with their peers. This approach to goal-setting should be expanded to all subject areas. These goals should be differentiated for each student to provide them with challenge in every subject area. For example, a slow reader who is very strong in math, might have an English goal of improving reading comprehension, but might have a math goal of tackling advanced, above grade-level materials. By a similar token, a student with strong writing skills and weaker math skills might have educational goals to improve their math skills to grade level, but to do advanced writing projects.

The goal of this individualized approach is to ensure that every student realizes his or her full potential in every subject area. While students have natural strengths and weaknesses, it is not enough to accept underperformance in one area as a natural consequence of success in another.

These academic goals and objectives for each student should be mapped out over the course of a school year with measurable benchmarks at regular intervals. Teachers should provide students and parents’ feedback regarding progress towards achieving these benchmarks. In cases where benchmarks are not being achieved, supplemental assignments, mentoring, and other educational tools should be used to improve student performance.

Newton teachers do much of this on an informal basis, but structuring the process of goal-setting and measurement can provide institutional support for these efforts.

The Mayor and School Committee should work with school administrators to formalize a system of individualized student goal-setting and progress-assessment in time for trial implementation during the 2010-11 academic year and full implementation the following school year.