The Superintendent’s Checklist for Mid-Year Reviews
A mid-year check-in is a powerful tool for superintendents and other district leaders to evaluate progress in the current school year and re-align priorities for the months to come.
While superintendents may use this review process to prepare for their own evaluations, it is also a unique opportunity to forecast expected costs and achievements for the remainder of the year. By preparing an interim progress report on district objectives, superintendents can set clear directions and improve the coordination between building leaders, district administrators, and school boards.
By working closely with superintendents from a wide range of districts, SchoolData has developed dashboards specific to district administrator concerns. This checklist covers the data metrics superintendents find most helpful for evaluating the state of the district mid-year.
Student Performance
- Students at or above 10% absence rate
Monitor attendance trends by building, grade level, services, or other demographics. Are there unexpected declines in attendance from prior years? Are the district’s absence initiatives making a difference?
- Students performing at grade level on benchmark assessments
Get insights into what instruction or intervention may be required before spring assessments. By comparing current assessments with student performance from prior years, superintendents can monitor broad trends in student achievement.
- Students at risk
The semester break is the perfect time to identify students who may be tipping into a higher-risk tier while there’s still time to intervene. A multi-factor risk indicator can help surface students who have failed to earn credits, ranked below grade level on an assessment, or dipped below a threshold GPA.
- Counts of discipline incidents
Examine patterns of student behavior and disciplinary actions to assess school climate and the effectiveness of behavioral programs. Administrators can compare incidents to ensure that responses are equitable across the district. Monitoring incidents by grade levels YOY also helps leaders anticipate the needs of each school as students advance.
- Percent of students completing certification or licensing programs
Work-based learning and licensing programs are important avenues to prepare students for their future. How does the CTE program distribution compare to your district makeup, and how well do students finish a course of study once started?
Financial Planning and Accountability
- Civil Rights Data Collection
Review the data collected for state and federal CRDC reporting to understand your students’ access to advanced classes, student retention at each grade level, and the proportionality of discipline measures.
- Budget expenditures YOY
Is the district on track to meet budget at year’s end? Are expenditures trending upward in ways that will affect next year’s budget?
- Linear regression on initiative spending
Compare the dollars spent YTD with the impact on student growth or another desired outcome. Is the initiative having the effect you hope for, or should the strategy change for the remainder of the year?
- Enrollment projections
Combine public data from your region with current student counts. Adding a mid-year snapshot of enrollment data allows districts to more accurately anticipate funding, predict staffing needs, and prepare recruitment campaigns where applicable.
Staff Development
- Percent of teachers attending district PD offerings
Track the progress of ongoing professional development initiatives, from registration to feedback. For even deeper analysis, use student growth charts to see the impact of teacher development over time on students’ outcomes.
- Percent of staff turnover
Review teacher retention rates for a window into staff satisfaction. Higher-than-normal turnover can indicate a need for a closer examination of school culture and performance.
- Evaluation tasks completed on time
If staff self-assessments and other evaluation requirements are delayed or have low completion rates, additional support may be needed to prevent teacher burnout and encourage professional development.
Taking action on the mid-year check-in
A successful mid-year review demands a solutions-centered focus. Based on our years of collaboration with school districts, the team at SchoolData knows which metrics are most helpful in impacting student success.
With our easy-to-use interface, users at every level of your district can see and interact with their students’ data to develop more actionable interventions. From comparing class data YOY to creating student groups for intervention, teachers and district leaders can have greater access to data that helps them make a difference.
How can SchoolData help you make a difference? Contact us for a free demonstration.
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About SchoolData.net + Munetrix
SchoolData.net and Munetrix, two dynamic providers of K-12 data analytics, have now joined forces. Combined, these applications provide districts with early warning tools, student performance analytics, college and career-ready preparation, CTE reporting, human resource management, school performance analytics, peer benchmarking, financial analytics, and tools that simplify compliance reporting. By putting actionable insights about academic and financial data at administrators’ fingertips, SchoolData and Munetrix help districts support students at risk, foster public transparency, and drive gains in student achievement.
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