The Portland Public Schools reached a milestone in June when the Board of Public Education unanimously approved our new strategic plan. The plan is the result of a tremendous effort over the past year by the whole Portland Public Schools community, working and talking together about how best to fulfill our district’s unique potential. Now we move into the new school year and beyond with a clear roadmap of what we want to achieve over the next five years and how to get there.

Ryan Scallon is superintendent of Portland Public Schools. He can be reached at superintendent@portlandschools.org.

To highlight just a few examples, over that five-year time span, this plan supports continued implementation of nationally recognized curricula; potentially expands the number of schools that identify as community schools (where the school and community partners work together to provide enrichment and other services to students and families); further expands on the programming at Portland Adult Education; and partners with teachers and staff to provide more support to ensure that the Portland Public Schools is an employer of choice.

To give a brief overview, the strategic plan has five strategic priorities with specific initiatives aligned to each one. The priorities are:

• Equity at the Center: Portland Public Schools strives to be an anti-racist, inclusive district by vigilantly supporting each student to achieve their potential and rooting out systemic inequities.

• Achievement: Enhance academic preparedness for college and career and instill a joy of learning in our students by delivering a universally accessible, rigorous and equitable curriculum.

• Whole Student: Cultivate inclusivity and connect community through partnering with families and community organizations to nurture supportive, inclusive school communities that promote belonging and engagement.

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• People: Elevate recruitment, retention and staff development practices focused on ensuring instructional excellence and cultivate an inclusive work environment that supports collaboration and staff well-being.

• Systems: Streamline operations and develop and implement consistent and clear operational procedures and systems that enhance equity, efficacy and accountability across the district.

The first four priorities mirror the goals of our previous five-year plan, the Portland Promise, which has concluded. These are vital goals that continue to accurately reflect where we want to go as a district. This new plan builds on those goals and provides targeted steps to achieve them. The new plan also adds systems as a priority because well-functioning operations are essential to successful teaching and learning.

We can’t do the initiatives aligned to each priority all at once, so they’re sequenced over the five years, using specific ways to measure our progress.

For the 2024-2025 school year, one example is an Achievement priority initiative to fully launch a high-quality English language arts curriculum called EL Education in all our elementary and middle schools. The curriculum provides teachers with the lessons, texts and assessments to ensure rigorous content and engaging topics for all students. We’ll also be adopting the Core Knowledge Language Arts Skills Program, that teaches K-2 students the decoding skills needed for independent reading. These research-based curricula will help ensure that all students succeed in high school and beyond.

And a Whole Student priority initiative for 2024-2025 is to create and implement systems and curriculum – and build relationships – that promote a joyful, supportive and safe school culture. This is work that we started this year and is already paying dividends for students and staff.

In short, this plan positions us to do great work over the next five years. As we progress, we will continue to keep you updated about how the plan is impacting students, staff and the district. For more strategic plan details, visit portlandschools.org.

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