Group to consider ‘Lorain Promise’

Includes list of what scholars can expect from district

Lorain’s academic improvement plan includes lists of things scholars can expect from their schools.

There also is a schedule of changes coming in the next six months, largely in preparation for the 2018-19 school year.

The Lorain Academic Distress Commission will meet Nov. 29 to consider approving “The Lorain Promise,” the school improvement plan drafted by Chief Executive Officer David Hardy Jr.

The meeting is scheduled at 5 p.m. at the Media Center of Lorain High School, 2600 Ashland Ave. It is open to the public.

Hardy’s final draft includes much of the material published Oct. 22 in “The Lorain Promise.”

The 23-page document repeats five commitments of Lorain Schools.

Each commitment has a goal to achieve by 2022 and a “Year 1 Indicator of Success” that will be in place for the 2018-19 school year.

New to the final draft are lists of three things that “scholars can expect to experience or learn.”

For example, for the first commitment, the district aims to help parents be able to help their children by accessing necessary supports for themselves.

Scholars will get the social and mental health supports they need, according

to the final draft.

To invest in early scholars, Lorain students will have universal access to pre-kindergarten learning programs. Scholars also will be able to read on grade level by the beginning of third grade.

To promote equity, scholars will visit colleges, explore careers and learn more about local and national culture.

In creating schools where adults and scholars thrive, scholars will feel their teachers, support staff and all adults in the school system hold high expectations for them.

As Lorain prepares scholars for the world of tomorrow, scholars can expect more rigorous and relevant materials for math and English language arts. They will be asked to do more challenging thinking, according to the final draft.

The final draft of the Lorain Promise outlines a schedule for the next six months.

Within 30 days, the district

staff “will organize roles and responsibilities in the administrative office to best support our commitments and goals.”

The next step will be to identify and prioritize initiatives to act on first, according to the final draft.

Within 120 days, teams will be in place to implement new initiatives to meet the commitments.

In six months’ time, the district will implement initiatives for the 2018-19 school year.

Hardy also updated the figures as his community “listening tour” stretched to 90 days from 60 days. In that time, he had 3,306 contacts with scholars, community members and staff.

There were 35 focus groups, 68 one-on-one meetings, 30 school and community town hall meetings and events, and 1,146 survey responses.

The meeting will include an overview of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office relationship with the Academic Distress Commission.