Knox County Schools

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Superintendent presents proposed Strategic Plan

Content of letter from Superintendent McIntyre to the Board of Education, June 2009

Dear Board Members and KCS Stakeholders:

The attached strategic plan is the culmination of a year-long effort to identify and assess the strengths and the needs of the Knox County Schools. The plan builds on the vision for the future, Building on Strength: Excellence for All Children, that I presented to the Board of Education and the community in December 2008.

Just as we did with the development of the vision, we have had broad stakeholder participation and comment as we have developed this strategic plan. We have collected insights at multiple community forums and meetings with school leaders. The Knox County Council PTA, the Knox County Education Association, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce and our school principals were also represented on the strategic plan advisory group.

This proposal provides a blueprint for our actions, and defines our success for the next five years. There are areas in this strategic plan that are very specific in nature, elements that are more general, and some components that will require additional research and analysis. We have clearly established goals and initiatives that will be regularly measured using a variety of methods and metrics.

This strategic plan provides for the productive development of our instructional practices, processes, and systems, as well as an educational culture that will enable us to realize higher levels of academic success for all students, and achieve our vision of Excellence for All Children.

I welcome your feedback on this proposed five-year strategic plan.

Sincerely,

James P. McIntyre, Jr.
Superintendent

TO PROVIDE YOUR FEEDBACK:
To email feedback:
       strategicplan@k12tn.net
To comment via letter:
     Strategic Plan Feedback
     Knox County Schools
     P. O. Box 2188
     Knoxville, TN 37901

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Becky Ashe

In the interest of fixing fractured methods of evaluating student performance, Tennessee joined the ADP, which seeks to standardize statewide definitions of achievement and ensure that students perform at or above the national mean. To comply with the Tennessee Diploma Project, Knox County students will be assessed according to the four areas covered in ACT testing: mathematics, English, science, and social studies. On the whole, the curriculum has shifted in focus from theory and abstract concepts to strategies for application and relation. Science Supervisor and Interim Director of Curriculum Becky Ashe said, "We're doing less memorizing and more applying. We've gone past the Information Age, in my opinion — information is cheap. You can look up anything you want from your cell phone. Our teachers are more concerned with answering the question students have been asking forever, `Where am I going to use this?' Everything has an eye toward application."

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