32 | Holiday 2021
Educating Students for Success
P RE S E N T E D BY
CACHE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT'S STRATEGIC PLAN TIM SMITH
assistant superintendent over secondary education, Cache County School District
The Cache County School District has a mission and vision to educate students for success in a changing world and to provide a safe, comprehensive, high-quality educational experience that challenges each student to achieve his or her highest potential. The district has a long track record of being a leader in the state on several key indicators, which provide evidence that we are accomplishing this mission and vision. While we are very proud of our accomplishments, we are continually striving to improve. At the end of the 2020-21 school year, the Cache Board of Education approved a District Strategic Plan. While recognizing that many academic goals exist for schools and school subjects, the Board focused on two primary
academic goals which form a foundation for student success. The first goal is to ensure each elementary student is reading on grade level by the end of third grade. This has been a long-standing goal of the district and we have led the state in this area for many years. The ability to read by third grade is critical to a child’s success in school and lifelong learning potential. A national study shows that students who do not read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma than proficient readers (The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2010). Early Warning! Why Reading By The End Of Third Grade Matters. Baltimore, MD: Anne E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved from aecf.org).
As a school district, we recognize that our success depends on the parents, students, educators, and support staff that form our school community. We appreciate the efforts of each of these groups in helping us to realize our mission and vision of preparing students. For more information on the School District’s Strategic Plan, visit ccsdut.org/strategicplan.
The second goal is to ensure secondary students graduate confident and competent in mathematics. We live in a time of extraordinary and accelerating change. The need to understand and be able to use mathematics in everyday life and in the workplace has never been more important. As students transition from high school to college and careers, confidence and competence in mathematics provide them with a solid foundation moving forward. We believe that prioritizing these two academic goals drive the district’s performance in several key areas. The chart at the bottom of this page outlines State of Utah targets, Cache County School District targets, and the latest test results that indicate how we are meeting or exceeding both the State and District targets.
