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Marshall County Schools is working on its 2023-24 strategic plan - a document with a goal of not leaving any student behind.
Marshall County Schools Superintendent Shelby Haines said the Marshall County Board of Education was presented with a first draft of the plan during its regular meeting on Tuesday evening.
"The strategic plan is something done by every school district every year. It involves working with faculty, staff and local improvement counsels to do needs assessments and plan our goals," she said.
The draft plan is submitted to the board with editing of the document occurring a few times before it is finally submitted to the West Virginia Department of Education by July 1.
The plan includes data and goals regarding the core beliefs of the county that include family, community involvement and student success regarding their academic, social and emotional well-being.
"We go through and analyze the data and look at all the different subgroups of low socioeconomic status, non-English speakers, foster care, homeless, and see how they're performing and how we can do better for each of the subgroups," she said.
The plan also looks at graduation rates.
"We even follow up on graduates to see if they're working or in college or what they're doing," she added.
"We look at test scores, CTE (career technical education) completer rates ... We look at the number of students transferring in and out of the county," she said.
"There's a section of the plan where we look at behavioral referrals, who was suspended and why and what we can do to fix it.
"We think it is important to look at each subgroup to make sure we're reaching every group of children."
The plan is aimed at "not leaving anybody behind," she said.
Regarding its graduation rates, the county's rate is above the state average. The state's target graduation rate is 93%. She noted the county's four-year graduation rate is 95% and its five-year graduation rate is 98%. Both Cameron and John Marshall High Schools were slated to be recognized for their successful rates during the board meeting.
"It takes a lot of time, but it makes sure we're heading in the right path," Haines said of the plan. "We have three different dates in the school year where we review the plan and see how we're doing toward our goals," she said, adding the state also reviews at those times.
Haines noted in addition to the educators and board, there are different stakeholder groups in the community that review the draft and give input as well. For example, this week the Pride and Progress Committee, which is made up of community members, elected officials, retired teachers and business people, will look at the draft and give input.
Another stakeholder group is the Parent Education Resource Center.
Also, a number of people from the county district office review the plan, including the attendance director, the special education director and safety coordinator.