Overview of Goals
The TPS strategic plan is designed to support the school’s vision and mission and the TPS board of directors will regularly refer to this strategic plan so that decisions are made with long- term goals in mind. The TPS board of directors will annually evaluate the progress made and use this as an important metric for evaluating the Head of School. The TPS strategic plan identifies eight key goals to be achieved over the next five years. These goals are explained in more detail in the pages that follow.
- Ensure Academic Excellence through a Classical Education: based on a well-defined academic program, highly effective instruction, and exceptional student outcomes
- Recruit and Retain Top-notch Faculty and Staff: implement recruitment and retention strategies that allow the school to attract and retain a highly effective faculty and staff
- Cultivate a Positive School Culture: create a place where civility, mutual respect, and the championing of school core values and virtues are visible and pervasive
- Improve Communication: in order to increase trust, involvement, and support, improve communication between the school and stakeholders
- Develop TPS Facilities and Infrastructure: improve the functionality and aesthetics of the TPS campus to fully support learning, activities, and school pride
- Continually Improve Campus Safety: ensure that the school adjusts and adapts to the ever-changing safety concerns
- Establish and Launch the TPS Foundation: increase the capacity of TPS to attract donations and grants in order to further our school mission and vision
- Build TPS’s Governance Capacity: ensure that the board of directors has the training and resources it needs to effectively fulfill its duties
Goal #1: Ensure Academic Excellence through a Classical Education
Temecula Preparatory School has an established history of academic excellence with a typical 100% graduation rate, 85% college going rate, and standardized test scores that exceed state and regional averages. To continue to excel, TPS has set a clear vision of the goals we desire for student academic and personal development and a clear path with a purposeful curriculum in place for achieving those goals. To ensure that TPS continues to improve its instructional program, we will pursue the following objectives:
Objective 1.1 Provide targeted teacher training to continually improve instruction
- Develop a comprehensive Classical Education Training Program
- Provide training on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and on the development and adoption of NGSS curriculum
- Provide training to teachers on lower school writing program
- Provide training to teachers on using Tier I interventions in the classroom and differentiated instructional strategies for both low and high performers
Objective 1.2: Review and align academic standards and curriculum
- Complete the review and vertical alignment of TPS’s standards and benchmarks and the alignment with state standards
- Implement Next Generation Science Standards
- Develop assessments for lower school art, music, and drama programs
Objective 1.3: Implement programs that will enhance student learning
1.31 Implement the AP Capstone Program, a keyboarding instruction program, a Math 7 class, and a program to help students improve their study skills
- Provide training to parents on how to best support their students academically
- Explore offering foreign language instruction in the lower school and dual/concurrent enrollment classes in upper school
Goal #2: Recruit and Retain Top-notch Faculty and Staff
Temecula Preparatory School hires faculty and staff who are highly skilled at their jobs and who model the values and virtues that define our school. Because California is currently experiencing a teacher shortage, this is an especially important time to garner high levels of employee satisfaction and retain our most valued employees. Toward this goal, TPS will pursue the following objectives to increase the school’s ability to recruit and retain faculty and staff.
Objective 2.1: Utilize recruitment and hiring strategies that attract and identify the most qualified applicants
2.13 Include teacher observations as part of the hiring process when possible
Objective 2.2: Implement strategies that increase the satisfaction of faculty and staff working at TPS
- Annually review salary schedules, stipends, extra duty pay, and benefits package to ensure that TPS is competitive with surrounding districts
- Ensure that faculty and staff have the training and resources they need to do their jobs effectively
- Develop a comprehensive orientation and training program for new faculty
- Provide opportunities for staff team building
- Annually review employee surveys to identify areas of improvement
Goal #3: Cultivate a Positive School Culture
For Temecula Preparatory School to most effectively fulfill its mission and vision, it is important that members of the TPS community demonstrate a pride in the school, believe in and model the school rules and virtues, and support each other in the quest for self- betterment. In order to strengthen our school culture and improve the commitment of students, parents, faculty, and staff, the following objectives will be pursued:
Objective 3.1: Promote clear student expectations that are consistently modelled and enforced
- Develop and implement a schoolwide behavior plan that provides a common language for enforcing and explaining rules
- Develop and implement a schoolwide social and emotional learning program that integrates TPS’s virtues
- Provide training to teachers and staff on professionalism and importance of modelling our student expectations
Objective 3.2: Improve parents’ support of TPS and understanding of classical education
3.21 Offer a series of parent information meetings that provide parents with helpful information about TPS, classical education, and how to support their children
- Communicate and coordinate efforts more closely with PATS to increase parent volunteering
- Review and improve the enrollment process so that new families have a clear understanding of TPS’s mission/vision, curriculum, and culture
Objective 3.3: Improve student buy-in, support, and pride in TPS
- Provide opportunities for dialogue and discussion so that students better understand the purpose of their work and the goals of the school
- Create opportunities for teachers and staff to build rapport with students
- Provide training to students on life skills including social media use, conflict resolution strategies, managing stress,
Objective 3.4: Strengthen TPS’s relationship with the surrounding community
- Explore options for holding community events such as a Renaissance Fair, evening lecture series, and other events open to the community
- Build relationships with local companies to increase the support for our school
Goal #4: Improve Communication & Public Relations
As a K-12 school serving over 1,000 students, effective communication is extremely important for keeping the school community informed about updates and changes, school events, and other important information. Faculty and staff should use consistent systems and methods for communicating with students and families because families often have more than one child attending our school.
Objective 4.1: Effectively use technology for timely and efficient internal and external communication
4.12 Ensure teachers update their gradebooks in Aeries at least twice per month
Objective 4.2: Improve the reliability of information made available
- Create a more effective system for the updating of the school’s website
- Standardize protocols for leaders of extra-curricular programs to inform and update parents about practice and event information
Objective 4.3: Ensure that decisions are made in a transparent manner
- Provide teachers and staff more information about the school’s finances, long- term goals, and other data and information that is driving decision-making
- When possible, provide opportunities for students, families, faculty, and staff to provide input when big decisions are being made
- Have a faculty representative attend board meetings and keep the staff informed about board actions and decisions
- Develop an information/communications policies and procedures plan
Objective 4.4: Develop and implement a public relations plan
- Research costs of working with a PR firm/expert to provide the school guidance in formulating a PR plan
- Create a PR plan
- Calculate personnel and other costs to execute the PR plan and develop a sustainable strategy to execute PR plan
Goal #5: Develop TPS Facilities and Infrastructure
It is important to the TPS community that the school campus offers a comfortable and welcoming environment and has the facilities and resources to fully support student learning both inside and outside the classroom. From athletic fields to science labs, we want to make sure that our students have the facilities necessary to develop their physical and mental capacities. For this reason, we will be working to improve the functionality of TPS’s facilities while also improving the aesthetics of our school campus.
Objective 5.1: Complete the development of a long-term facilities plan
- Work with TVUSD to agree upon site improvement possibilities
- Include analysis and recommendation for staying at current site or moving offsite
5.14 Develop maintenance plan to allocate funding for the future replacement and refurbishment of the school’s facilities including the school’s aging portable classrooms
Objective 5.2: Research, prioritize, and complete site improvements
- Research possibilities for the construction of a bigger gymnasium or theater, baseball/softball fields, and permanent classrooms
- Research possibilities for increasing shade on campus and drinking fountains
- Research possibilities for improving the parking lot and pick-up/drop-off process
- Research potential need to renovate science classrooms
- Complete football field and track renovations
Objective 5.3: Improve the aesthetics of the TPS campus
5.31 Research and implement strategies to beautify the campus
Objective 5.4: Develop a long-term technology plan
5.41 Develop a plan that outlines the school’s long-term technology needs
Goal #6: Continually Improve Campus Safety
Because the safety of students, faculty, staff, and volunteers is of the utmost importance, TPS needs to constantly assess and reassess our safety policies, procedures, and infrastructure, to ensure that we are providing a safe environment. In addition to informing our faculty and staff about any changes in our safety plans, it is also important to update students and their parents, as appropriate, so that safety practices can be both understood and reinforced at home.
Objective 6.1: Complete update of new safety plan
6.11 Update and adopt new safety plan and refine/customize plan as necessary
Objective 6.2: Provide education and training opportunities for students, staff, and parents
- Schedule emergency preparedness training for faculty and staff
- Schedule emergency training for students
- Provide school safety information and updates to parents
Objective 6.3: Campus monitoring
6.33 Purchase vests or uniforms for campus volunteers so that they are easily identifiable during school events
Goal #7: Establish and Launch the TPS Foundation
The TPS Foundation is being established for a number of reasons, including to separate school funding that is not generated from state and federal sources and to provide a vehicle for developing more sophisticated fundraising campaigns. By establishing the Foundation and supporting its development, the goal is to provide Temecula Preparatory School an additional revenue source to assist with facilities, sports/extra-curricular programs, and other costs that the school has limited capacity to cover with traditional revenue sources.
Objective 7.1: Complete legal and technical tasks for setting up the Foundation
7.11 Finalize policies and procedures
Objective 7.2: Develop plan and goals for Foundation
- Develop plan for recruiting and training Foundation staff and/or volunteers
- Develop plan and goals for giving campaigns, building relationships with local businesses and alumni, grant writing,
- Ensure there’s a clear and cooperative relationship with PATS
Objective 7.3: Increase fundraising and leverage parent expertise
- Implement fundraising plans and increase money raised from annual fundraising events, including Resolution Run and Patriots Ball
- Develop a system for parents to share their skills and areas of expertise and how they might help the school
Goal #8: Build TPS’s Governance Capacity
Responsible for ensuring that Temecula Preparatory School carries out its mission and vision, the TPS board of directors needs to have accurate information, relevant training, and sufficient resources in order to successfully fulfill its duties. The ever-changing educational landscape and the need to rotate in new board members necessitates a systematic approach to keeping existing members up-to-date and new members properly on-boarded.
Objective 8.1: Improve board effectiveness by increasing board knowledge and capacity
- Assess and prioritize board members’ training needs and put together a board training schedule
- Develop and implement board trainings
- Develop a process for the board to self-assess their performance on an annual basis
- Consider arranging a summer retreat for board members to receive concentrated and uninterrupted training
Objective 8.2: Develop board resources and structures to increase the transparency, efficiency, and continuity of decision making
- Review, organize, and post board approved school policies
- Continue to develop the board calendar and other resources that provide board members context and continuity from year-to-year
- Consider the development of board committees to focus on particular areas of need (e.g. governance, facilities, finance, )
- Annually update the school’s strategic plan and regularly use it as a reference for decision making
APPENDIX A: Completed Items
1.13 Provide training to teachers on “Six Traits of Writing”
1.24 Update TPS’s Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLR’s)
1.31 Implement the AP Capstone Program, a keyboarding instruction program, and a Math 7 class
1.41 Review/improve teacher oversight and evaluation process to ensure teachers receive useful feedback and are held accountable for their performance
- Start the job posting and hiring process in the early spring
- Include information about our school and academic program in job descriptions to help attract teachers who fit best with our instructional philosophy
2.14 Explore developing partnerships with teacher training programs and colleges as a teacher recruitment strategy
3.22 Create a system for teachers to be able to send positive messages home
4.11 Implement schoolwide text messaging system
4.13 Complete the construction of and launch TPS’s new school website
5.42 Make computers available to students and classes that need them (rather than Chromebooks)
- Hire Safety Expert to review school campus, conduct a risk assessment, and provide additional training to campus security and school leaders
- Identify and implement an anonymous reporting system
- Add an additional campus supervisor to increase the presence of campus security and improve student supervision
- Research use of Watch Dogs or other parent-run campus monitoring program
7.12 Create a plan for the initial seating of the Foundation’s board of directors
- Identify and implement software options for accepting payments/donations and arrange for staff training
- Development and implement plan to transition from TPS fundraising accounts to TPS Foundation accounts