Student Objectives Focus Group Report, 2011-2012

2011-2012 Report | Student Objectives Review | Profile | Progress Report | Focus Group Reports | Plan | Process

Students: Students achieving the student objectives

That’s what we want our student achieving—the student objectives. Why? Because our student objectives are the "equipment" students need to impact the world for Christ.

Strengths and Growth Areas

Strengths

1. Students are achieving the student objectives.
2. Our school beliefs, philosophy, and mission are an integrated whole.
3. School staff are committed to and focused on implementing our beliefs, philosophy and mission consistently throughout the school.
4. There is ongoing satisfaction with our school mission statement.
5. Board policies are comprehensive, up-to-date, and well documented.
6. The Board’s system of policy governance is effective in providing clear understanding of the roles of the Board, the headmaster, and the staff of the school.
7. The Board is a functional body that fulfills its role faithfully according to its own agreed standards.

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Growth Areas

1. The legal status change is not yet complete.
2. Alignment of student objective indicators, department standards, and department assessment rubrics is an ongoing process that needs regular attention.
3. There is no locatable Fine Arts Handbook and thus no documented alignment of the Fine Arts Co-curricular program to our mission and student objectives.
4. There was limited student and parent involvement in the review of the student objectives in August-September 2011.
5. There is no data from parents and the wider community on their understanding of the role of the Board.

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Summary of Findings

Mission

1. CAJ’s beliefs, mission statement, and philosophy are clearly aligned and are consistent in their language.
2. CAJ’s mission, student objectives, and profile data are consistent in their language and intent.
3. CAJ utilizes effective processes to ensure the involvement of stakeholders from the entire school community (students, parents, staff, Leadership Team, and Board) in the development and refinement of the student objectives.
4. Numerous examples show that CAJ’s mission, student objectives, and program are well aligned.
5. CAJ publicizes its mission statement and student objectives extensively to students, parents, and other members of the school community.
6. An effective process governs regular review/revision of the school’s mission and student objectives at the Board and Leadership Team levels, based on current needs and trends.
7. CAJ helps students achieve the student objectives.
8. There has been discussion about the school’s mission and how it relates to the inclusion of non-missionary children.
9. The student objectives are consistent with our mission and philosophy.
10. Standards of achievement in English language are a possible source of concern.

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Board

1. The CAJ Board has clear policies and procedures regarding the selection, composition, and specific duties of CAJ’s Board of Directors.
2. New Board members receive effective training in the principles and skills essential to the effectiveness of the Board.
3. Board policies are clearly aligned to the mission statement, ends, and student objectives.
4. CAJ’s Board of Directors has clear policies regarding the review of the CAJ mission statement and the revision of the student objectives.
5. The CAJ school community understands the Board’s role to some degree.
6. CAJ's Board of Directors, the CAJ professional staff and the CAJ community vary in their understandings of the relationship between the Board and the responsibilities of the professional staff.
7. CAJ’s Board of Directors carries out clearly defined self-evaluation procedures as outlined in the Board Manual.
8. A clear process exists for evaluating CAJ’s Board of Directors, primarily based on self-evaluation.
9. CAJ has undertaken to change its legal status registration with the Japanese Government from foundation status to school status.

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Findings

Mission

1. CAJ’s beliefs, mission statement, and philosophy are clearly aligned and are consistent in their language.

Our beliefs form the foundation of the school, and the mission statement is based on them. The philosophy clearly outlines the way in which the beliefs of the school impact how the school carries out its program in order to achieve its mission. It was noted in the Visiting Committee’s WASC Report of 2006 that we would work toward having a user-friendly mission statement. A walk through the hallways and classrooms indicates that the revised mission statement is easier to use. To help parents better understand the relationships, a document called Understanding a Christian-Focused Western-Style Education was created and is available on the school website.

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2. CAJ’s mission, student objectives, and profile data are consistent in their language and intent.

Our mission statement says that we are a school for missionary children. Our profile shows that we have 40% missionary children. A study was undertaken that shows our focus on missionary children does not hinder us being a quality international school that meets the needs of all students at our school. In order to achieve our mission, we have developed the student objectives. These are built into the subjects we teach. The profile data informs our understanding and implementation of the student objectives. We aim to be a data-driven school, as highlighted in the Professional Development Plan for staff. We intentionally link all areas to the mission statement.

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3. CAJ utilizes effective processes to ensure the involvement of stakeholders from the entire school community (students, parents, staff, Leadership Team, and Board) in the development and refinement of the student objectives.

Development and refinement of the student objectives has occurred at periodic intervals since 1998, with input from all stakeholder groups. Most recently, staff and students were involved in reviewing the effectiveness of the student objectives (August-September 2011), reporting positive feedback on the student objective review process. Parents have not been directly asked for their feedback on the student objectives recently, although recent survey (2010 Parent Survey, 14) indicates there is overall understanding of CAJ's educational goals.

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4. Numerous examples show that CAJ’s mission, student objectives, and program are well aligned.

The clearest example is the curriculum overview, where achievement of CAJ’s mission is defined in terms of measurable student learning in the student objectives. This is done through a variety of assessments (see curriculum maps) which are aligned with student objectives in rubrics. The results are entered into our database for decision-making purposes. The culmination of student objective competency is the Senior Comprehensives process. Service and leadership training (e.g. School Without Walls (SWOW), Tohoku ministry trips, homeless outreach, senior ministry trip) allow students to demonstrate the knowledge learned in class and have a direct impact beyond the school. Our co-curricular program is aligned with student objectives in the athletics department. There is no available Fine Arts handbook to show an equivalent alignment in this area of the school. The Board is aware of all these examples

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5. CAJ publicizes its mission statement and student objectives extensively to students, parents, and other members of the school community.

This is done via the school website, assessments, posters, parent forums, the Chronicle and Understanding a Christian-Focused, Western-Style Education. Student objectives are communicated to students by posters in classrooms and photos in the hallway outside the Academic Office. Artwork in the atrium shows the middle school and high school students work with the student objectives. When preparing for student-led conferences in February, students evaluate themselves according to the Student Performance Analysis Form, which includes student objective rubrics. Students are also evaluated according to the student objectives on department assessments, which use department rubrics aligned with the student objectives. Other assessments also use various lines from department rubrics. Elementary report cards have a student objectives section, which makes the student objectives available to both students and parents. Parents are made aware of the student objectives through viewing student assessments and report cards, which are aligned with student objectives. Parents discuss the school’s mission statement and student objectives at parent forums hosted by the divisional principals. Prospective parents and families coming for admissions interviews are given the Understanding a Christian-Focused, Western-Style Education pamphlet in either English or Japanese. It is also publicly available online. They are also given the School Profile which shows the student objectives in the context of our overall program.

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6. An effective process governs regular review/revision of the school’s mission and student objectives at the Board and Leadership Team levels, based on current needs and trends.

The Board is scheduled to review the mission statement triennially and most recently reviewed the student objective policy in April 2010. They are also considering translating it into Japanese. According to the headmaster, the Board frequently reviews CAJ distinctives to ensure that CAJ continues to meet its mission. The Leadership Team reviews the student objectives triennially, in conjunction with the mid-term and full accreditation visits. Under Leadership Team guidance, the staff reviewed the student objectives on August 19, 2011. High School Student Council also reviewed the student objectives on Sept. 12, 2011. The processes included consideration of 21st century educational issues, student performance, and student demographics. The Leadership Team analyzed the data and reported back to staff.

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7. CAJ helps students achieve the student objectives.

Our GPA data, department assessment data, standardized test data, and senior comprehensives results indicate satisfactory achievement in all areas. The standardized test data compares well with overall averages reported by the test administrators. Staff have taken time to analyze some of this data. Academic PLCs (professional learning communities) are working toward increasing these results.

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8. There has been discussion about the school’s mission and how it relates to the inclusion of non-missionary children.

The school remains committed to meeting the needs of missionary families, while including others who desire the same education.

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9. The student objectives are consistent with our mission and philosophy.

This is unpacked in the recently published document Understanding a Christian-Focused Western-Style Education. This information is publicly available on the school website.

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10. Standards of achievement in English language are a possible source of concern.

From the 2011 Student Objectives Report, teachers are saying that our communication standards are sliding, but there is insufficient data to confirm this. We suspect it is affected by the different cultures present at CAJ. An interim plan to create further breakdown of our analysis of the student objective data will indicate if further action is needed.

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Board

1. The CAJ Board has clear policies and procedures regarding the selection, composition, and specific duties of CAJ’s Board of Directors.

The Board reviews these procedures regularly and commits to abide by them. Selection and composition of the Board are delineated in Board Policies under Section 4 Governance Process. Specific duties of the Board are also defined in Board Policies Section 4.6. The legal status change has produced frequent discussion of the composition of the Board by the Board.

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2. New Board members receive effective training in the principles and skills essential to the effectiveness of the Board.

The Board Chair reports that the Board Chair ensures that new Board members are trained in accordance with Board policy. The Board Chair indicated that in the 2011 - 2012 school year, “the Board chair conduct[ed] a two-hour training session in the fall prior to the first Board meeting for new Board members. In addition, new Board members [received] articles and books to read in preparation for being a Board member. New Board members [were] also trained on the use of the Board wiki.” At these training sessions, new Board members are provided with information regarding Board member policy, including topics such as conduct, responsibilities, committee principles, and grievances/complaints. All new Board member training is outlined in the online Board wiki, BRENDA.

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3. Board policies are clearly aligned to the mission statement, ends, and student objectives.

In an interview with the Board Chair, she states that “much work has been done to have consistency throughout Board policies with the mission statement, ends, and student objectives. Ends policies were reviewed extensively during the 2010-2011 school year.” The Board Policy Alignment Chart demonstrates the extent of that consistency.

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4. CAJ’s Board of Directors has clear policies regarding the review of the CAJ mission statement and the revision of the student objectives.

By policy, the Philosophy Review Committee reviews the school’s mission statement triennially. This committee consists of members from the Board, staff, and administration, but the committee solicits suggestions and feedback from all staff members. The Board approves the mission statement upon hearing the philosophy review committee recommendations, and all changes go through first and second readings. According to Board Policy 2.4.2, the administration may propose revisions to the 5 main student objectives and may make revisions to the bullet points (known as student objective indicators) underneath the student objectives. (The administration has a policy in place to evaluate the student objectives every three years. This evaluation coincides with the mid-term and full accreditation processes. )

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5. The CAJ school community understands the Board’s role to some degree.

Staff can read about Board policy on SOPHIE. Each year, the Board Chair informs staff about how to communicate with the Board in compliance with Board policy, and how to use the Grievance Policy. Mission representatives are invited to attend an annual Mission Representatives' Meeting where the role of the Board is explained, along with CAJ’s mission and purpose. The Board Manual and the past years' minutes are available to the community via the CAJ website. Parents can read about the Board’s role via various articles on the Board tab of the Community web page. Parents can view the Grievance Policy, which outlines how to communicate with the Board, on the Community web page. A survey question to gauge community awareness is proposed.

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6. CAJ Board of Directors, the CAJ professional staff and the CAJ community vary in their understandings of the relationship between the Board and the responsibilities of the professional staff.

The Board has a clear understanding of this relationship as stated by the Board Chair. CAJ professional staff has access to the organizational flow chart that describes the relationship between the Board and staff. The 2011 Staff Survey (see item 7) reveals that most staff are aware of the Board’s role. There is a Board section on the web page that staff are able to access for Board minutes and policies. We do not yet have data to comment on the parents’ and students’ level of understanding. They have access to the same web page as staff.

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7. CAJ’s Board of Directors carries out clearly defined self-evaluation procedures as outlined in the Board Manual.

In an interview with the Board chair, she states that “at the end of each meeting, there is time to evaluate how the meeting went that day. This evaluation is done either verbally or by using a one-page survey. In addition, once a year an online Board self-evaluation is done, and the results discussed at the next Board meeting. The results of the self-evaluation are taken into account when planning the year-long Board agenda for the next school year.”

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8. A clear process exists for evaluating CAJ’s Board of Directors, primarily based on self-evaluation.

Board members complete an annual self-reflection survey, which is not available to staff or community. The Board also review their compliance with policy at the end of each meeting and use this to set the agenda for subsequent meetings. Auditors observe and review each meeting to ensure that the Board operates within prescribed policy. Meeting minutes are available to the community through the school website. The Board Chair reports that the effectiveness of the review process “has been weak in the past, but during the 2010-2011 school year, an online survey from REALBoard Advisor was used that should do an effective job of evaluating the Board from year to year. This survey will be done mid-school year, which will help the Board to see what changes need to be done during the year in order to be more effective.”

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9. CAJ has undertaken to change its legal status registration with the Japanese Government from foundation status to school status.

This has been a far-reaching process, involving the Board’s structure, the structure and function of the Board of Councilors, the business office organization, new job descriptions for some staff, and new contract structures for direct hire staff to include health insurance, pensions, and health checks. This process is not yet complete, but a plan is in place to complete it in SY2012-13.

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