Chapter 5
V. Schoolwide Action Plan Refinements
- Based on the findings of the current progress report, further refine the schoolwide action plan as needed and include a link to the school’s most recent schoolwide action plan.
- Link to the most recent Schoolwide Action Plan
Refinement of the 2020 Action Plans
The findings of the leadership team have revealed that Maris Stella School has not systematically responded to the seven [7] critical areas. In addition, the five [5] action plans have not been addressed in a way that would merit progress. The main reasons are outlined in Section 2 of this report; there were so many inadvertent changes in the governance and school leadership. The new leaders only focused on survival and used the “band aid” approach to keep the school open and functioning. In many ways, the WASC recommendations were shelved, since there was no one who could competently “restart” the improvement process as recommend by the WASC visiting team.
Nevertheless, after a comprehensive study of the documents and with the appointment of a new leadership team, the work on the mid-term report resumed with great enthusiasm by all stakeholders. A consultant was hired and was able to engage the present administration and faculty in a process of problem-solving using part of the WASC FOL instrument. [See Section III] The leadership team informed by the documents from WASC was able to craft this mid-term report that reflects the present reality of Maris Stella School.
The team identified three major areas of weakness:
- the two boards were unfamiliar with their responsibilities and the corresponding documents
- recruitment and retention of school leadership, staff and faculty
- inadequate knowledge of understanding, alignment and application of ESLRs
Therefore, the refined action plans for 2024-2027 will endeavor to address these three areas of weakness using the 2020 action plans. These are still very practical and serve as a roadmap for the next three years. Developing new action plans with the lack of commitment by the leadership to the school improvement program will be futile and once again end with procrastination.
Action Plan 1: Governance
Focus: The Board of Members and the Board of Directors will undertake formation and coaching on the responsibilities of the members in order that can develop policies that are consistent to the mission and values of Catholic Mission Schools in Palau.
Growth Targets:
- Board of Members should clarify goals designed to provide the best possible education for all Maris Stella students.
- Board of Members and Board of Directors will develop a school-wide culture that promotes academic excellence and Catholic values in the next three years.
- Board of Directors should investigate ways to provide a finance plan to support the action plans as well as short and long-term goals for sustaining operations.
- Board of Directors should monitor consistently and purposefully enact the action plans in a timely manner.
- Administration should increase communication to all stakeholders.
Action Plan 2 : Finance
Focus: The school leadership will adopt procedures and policies for the recruitment, retention and professional development of the administration, staff and faculty to ensure student learning.
Growth Targets:
- Administration should investigate professional development opportunities, identified by staff as areas of need to improve the teaching skills of their staff.
- Administration will develop and implement a strategy to recruit and retain best teachers and school staff in the next five years.
- Administration should seek ways to fill all positions in the school
Action Plan 3: Expected Student Learning Results
Focus: With the direction of the leadership team, the entire MSS community will embark on an in-depth study of the present four [4] ESLRs to determine their relevancy and alignment to the mission and the curriculum.
Growth Targets:
- Administration and Parent Teacher Association should communicate to the wider community of students, parents, guardians, and teachers, the ESLRs, so as to ensure ownership that will lead to improved teaching and learning.
- Administration and Parent Teacher Association will focus on finding ways to share the ESLRs with all stakeholders in the next five years
- Faculty and students should work with the ESLRs to ensure that upon graduation all students will be able to meet the goals identified in the ESLRs.
- Administration and faculty should ensure that the curriculum is based on learning targets and standards and support the ESLRs.