School District Policies
State and local policy are critical to the goals, structures, and practices of public schools. They guide priorities, provide direction, and set parameters. Local district policy can especially help support and sustain a school district’s continuous improvement efforts. These local policies comprise the procedures, positions, aspirations, and guidance that a local school board approves and to which schools are held accountable.
When beliefs, aspirations, commitments, and practices are adopted in policy, they are protected from staff turnover and sudden changes in a school or district. In addition to protecting practices, commitments, and visions, policy can also amplify them and accelerate their implementation. A policy can be written so that it encourages continued or expanded investment in best practices. Policy can also play a role in achieving educational equity, as well as hold local leaders and even the school board itself accountable for maintaining and funding the practices, structures, and commitments that have been passed by the school board.
What follows are a host of policy resources intended to help educators examine how their districts and schools are ensuring that the best equitable goals, guidance, and practices are secure, codified, and implemented.
These tools are intended for educators to use as they design, critique, and refine summative assessments aligned to a proficiency-based learning system.
The following policy exemplars—all addressing issues of educational equity—are the products of examining, excerpting, and rewriting local district policies from public school districts nationwide and are presented here as a starting point for consideration, review, editing, and adoption.
The following policy exemplars— addressing issues such as grading and reporting—are the products of examining, excerpting, and rewriting local district policies from public school districts nationwide and are presented here as a starting point for consideration, review, editing, and adoption.
The following policy exemplars— addressing topics such as graduation requirements and multiple pathways—are the products of examining, excerpting, and rewriting local district policies from public school districts nationwide and are presented here as a starting point for consideration, review, editing, and adoption.
These policy-related resources are designed for school and district personnel who, while not formal policymakers, still play a significant role in bringing the voices of students, parents, caregivers, family members, and community members to the process of making local district policy.
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