A Review of the Communtiy-Driven Efforts to Create Together 2024

Grounded in our vision for student success, we undertook an extensive journey with our greater community to develop our strategic plan - Together 2024. It describes our District values of equity, community and joy, as well as our culture, goals and strategic actions. The District's Graduate Profile articulates the skills needed to succeed in this rapidly changing world, and we committed to developing these skills so every student graduates ready to pursue their goals. View the latest version of the plan here.

Our community was essential as we built and shaped Together 2024 together. The most intensive engagement took place from 2019-2021 to create our three-year plan, with the years following devoted to refinement and prioritization of the plan with the support of our SRCS community. 

The Together 2024 efforts were spearheaded by an Advisory Team, and extensive engagement was key to the work. We designed a process with opportunities for students, teachers, staff, partners, community members and others that were powerful, meaningful, engaging and ultimately, successful. We strived to make sure we had an inclusive and open process to engage as many stakeholder groups as possible. We heavily publicized the workshops and meetings through our many communication channels so our greater community was aware of the process and to encourage participation at events. Translation and interpretation was provided. Overall, the meetings and workshops were very well-attended with high participation and engagement. There was positive feedback about the process and the direction we were headed.

Overall, the Together 2024 process consisted of the following:

• 4 Advisory Team Meetings
• 4 Student Voice Sessions
• 4 Community Workshops
• 22 total teacher/staff workshops (two sessions at each school)
• Monthly Leadership Team Meetings

We had nearly 80 members of our Advisory Team, who served as representatives for the following groups: students, teachers, staff, parents, partners, administrators, Board members and community members. The Advisory Team was extremely engaged and crucial to the work; meetings were designed to be informative to ensure members had the knowledge necessary to make decisions, and also action-oriented to achieve results. District Office leadership visited every school twice to meet with teachers and staff to capture their input, using individual and group activities to allow for authentic engagement. We held two different versions of community workshops at four different schools that were open to the entire SRCS community, and they were very well attended. In total, an estimated 300 people were involved in our Together 2024 process.

The essence of the Together 2024 process was to create our three-year strategic plan, which would become the foundation of our Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP).

Our Values

We used a series of activities to identify our Core Values; we used the following considerations to guide the conversation:

• Does the value inspire you to be your best self and be your best person?
• Does the value make you feel excited and motivated to work in / attend / be connected to SRCS?
• Does the value help guide decisions in the classroom, school and district?

In the end, we landed on the following District values:

• Equity: We honor and empower individual identity and experience
• Community: We welcome, value and support every member of our District
• Joy: We engage in meaningful learning through energy, enthusiasm and humor

Our Graduate Profile

The next task was to establish Core Skills. Originally the Together 2024 Advisory Team received much input from the community and narrowed these down to five key skills our students needed to learn to be successful in today’s world. Building on the initial work done by the San Rafael High School staff, the committee chose the skills of Effective Communicator, Critical Thinker, Productive Collaborator, Courageous Advocator and Reflective Learner. Subsequently we formed a Graduate Profile Steering Committee this year that revised these skills slightly, added problem solving and also reworded/simplified some of the other skills. We also began to more specifically identify what these skills look like in practice. Our next step is to work with our high school teachers to help them teach and build experiences into the curriculum that allow students to practice these skills, including the use of Project-based Learning.

• Communicator: I share my point of view, my work, my art in ways that are clear and engaging. I listen to understand. I consider the needs, expectations, and culture of my audience. I can communicate through a variety of media, including digital, and choose the right medium for the message. My writing is well-crafted and persuasive. I speak with skill and confidence. I can present myself professionally.
• Critical Thinker: I reason. I break problems into parts that can be named, studied, and understood. I take time to consider an idea before accepting or rejecting it. I consider multiple perspectives. I subject sources to careful scrutiny. I make judgments based on the analysis of data and the weighing of evidence.
• Collaborator: I can work with others toward a common goal. I know how and when to step up or step back. I apply my strengths toward team success, and teammates can depend on me. I can give and receive feedback constructively. I seek a diversity of perspectives. Through respect and trust-building, I can work across lines of difference and toward consensus.
• Problem Solver: I ask questions. I seek solutions to problems by considering various approaches, drawing on available resources, and thinking creatively. I apply known problem-solving techniques to new and unfamiliar contexts. Anticipating obstacles, I persist and adapt my approach as needed.
• Reflective Learner: I have a vision for my future and a plan to get there, which includes attending to my mental and physical health. I nurture my passions and creative talents. Through effort, practice, and regular reflection, I improve. I learn from success, failure, and feedback. I organize my time, tap resources, and sustain the focus I need to reach the goals that I set for myself.
• Community Advocate: I am a valuable member of many communities—local and global—and I work to make those communities stronger and healthier (including the beautifully diverse city of San Rafael). I develop knowledge of and take pride in my various social and cultural identities. I understand, respect, and celebrate the identities of others. I stand up for inclusion and against prejudice. I develop the skills to advance justice.

Our Goals

Through the Together 2024 process, we collaboratively crafted four three-year goals. We were in the midst of finalizing our strategic actions when the COVID pandemic hit and halted our work. Nevertheless, there was significant engagement around determining our strategic actions. To identify and prioritize actions, our Advisory Team worked through established criteria centered around data, research and alignment. The goals include the following, with the detailed action items included in the larger document. 

1. Student Success: San Rafael City Schools ensures that every student graduates with a profound love for learning, experiences a learning environment that is nurturing and engaging, and develops the necessary skills to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world.
2. Staff Success: San Rafael City Schools is dedicated to attracting, developing and retaining culturally responsive teachers and staff that purposefully serve every student.
3. Community Engagement: San Rafael City Schools values every member of our community and is committed to actively engaging our parents, community organizations and the broader community to ensure the success of every student.
4. Systems and Structures: San Rafael City Schools creates intentional and equitable systems and structures that monitor, adjust and improve outcomes for students, particularly our most vulnerable.

Our Culture

Later, we worked closely with our key stakeholders to craft how we capture our District’s culture. 

SRCS will ensure that a safe, supportive and collaborative learning environment is in place at each school and throughout the district that aligns with our key values of equity, community and joy. The key actions we will take to ensure a positive culture include the following:

• Affirm: We will encourage and uplift our students and staff and provide positive feedback and celebrate their success with joy.
• Connect: We will discover student’s and staff’s needs and interests to ensure they feel valued, known and supported as we meet their needs and ensure equity.
• Engage: We will meet and greet and get to know each and every student and staff in our schools to ensure they feel welcomed, included and part of our school community.

Equity Blueprint Plan
In partnership with Education Trust-West and Marin Promise Partnership, SRCS conducted an Educational Equity Audit (EEA) at San Rafael, Terra Linda and Madrone high schools in the Spring of 2019. The EEA served as a catalyst for advancing SRCS’ efforts and initiatives to understand and address opportunity and achievement gaps among District students. Through interviews, focus groups, master schedule analysis and more, the team at Ed Trust-West was able to identify key findings and recommendations in 10 categories:

1. Course Access and Success
2. Curriculum and Instruction
3. Student Supports and Interventions
4. School Culture and Climate
5. College and Career Readiness Supports
6. Certificated Staff Diversity and Professional Learning
7. Community and Family Engagement
8. English Learners and Students with Disabilities
9. Alternative Schools
10. Allocation of Resources

The EEA findings and recommendations were presented to the Board of Education in August of 2019 and then taken to our Equity Blueprint Planning team during the 2019-2020 school year to be vetted and prioritized. A diverse team of approximately 30 TK-12 teachers, students, administrators and parents met seven times during the course of the year, taking a pause once COVID-19 hit in March and reconvening in September of 2020. These final discussions on key priorities took place in the Fall of 2020 where students, parents, and other stakeholders helped the District create the three-year plan. While the EEA focused on our high schools, the recommendations in the Equity Blueprint Plan are TK-12 recommendations.

On November 16, 2020, the SRCS Board of Education voted to approve our Equity Blueprint Plan, which defined strategies in four areas of focus: English Learners, Equitable Access, Academic Support, and Anti-racist Curriculum and Practices. In total, 14 sessions were held for input as the Equity Blueprint was developed. The Equity Blueprint Plan significantly shaped Together 2024. 

All this led to what we're now calling our Together 2024 strategic plan. View the latest version.