Superintendent's Message — February

Posted by Kathy Ludwig, Superintendent on 2/8/2023 8:00:00 AM

Dear WLWV Community,

Oregon has made significant investments in public education in the last decade in the form of targeted initiatives and grants, such as:

Each of these investments comes with specific priorities, planning, timelines and accountability measures. The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has created a new framework that brings these six programs together into one integrated process and accountability system, called the Integrated Initiatives Application. Instead of reporting on six separate grants/initiatives, there will now be one integrated system going forward.

Yesterday evening, our School Board heard from staff about this new integrated approach and approved the draft document of goals and strategies outlined in our district’s application. 

In the new application, the district identified academic goals, strategies and longitudinal performance growth targets to be measured in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The targets will measure these academic areas, to name a few:

  • 3rd Grade Reading performance
  • 5th Grade Math performance
  • 8th Grade Reading and Math performance
  • K-12 attendance
  • 9th Grade On Track
  • Advance Placement, International Baccalaureate, CTE Enrollment
  • High School Graduation 

Once our application is approved by ODE, we will make it available to the community on our website and through our communications. Engaging our community in setting priorities for our schools, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes is important to us. Thank you to those who participated in the recent community meetings and various focus groups as we developed our application. 

More Than 2,000 Responses to December Panorama Family Survey

The Panorama Survey is one of the measurement tools we use to ask students, staff, and families about their experiences and our efforts towards creating a culture and climate of welcome, belonging, and inclusion in our schools. Results from the survey help us identify any barriers that we can mitigate to improve these efforts.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback through the Panorama Family Survey this past December. District staff have spent the past several weeks reviewing your input as part of our continued efforts to improve our school communities for all students. Survey results will also be shared with our K-8 PTA leadership teams in a March meeting, as we partner together to improve and increase family engagement.

Panorama Family Survey Takeaways

Survey responses provided valuable feedback around several aspects of family engagement and school fit, such as: 

  • 76% of families see our schools as a good fit for their culture background
  • 88% of families feel their child has (some, quite a bit, tremendous) sense of belonging; with 26% only feeling “some” sense of belonging
  • 48% of families indicate that their student is (quite, extremely) comfortable asking for help from school adults
  • 61% of families indicated that they visited their child’s school every few months, monthly or weekly; 60% of families identified busyness as a barrier to more involvement
  • Open-ended comments indicated restrictions from COVID still factored into feeling disconnected to their child’s school 

Survey responses from parents/caregivers assist us in identifying “gaps” in our system, places for improvement, current practices, and adjusting strategies to ensure better outcomes for students. 

Thank You for Your Continued Partnership

We know that many families remain engaged with their schools through PTA-sponsored opportunities, evening events, co-curricular athletics and activities, volunteer opportunities both during and outside the school day, and so much more. We’re committed to increasing opportunities and access points for our families to continue being involved. Thank you for your generous and tireless support of our students, staff, and school communities. 

Sincerely,

Kathy Ludwig, Superintendent

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