Accreditation for Growth or "AFG" is a unique accreditation process that helps direct the district through a comprehensive self-assessment of all its programs and procedures.  NBC will implemnet a variety of strategic planning elements as a vehicle for growing in student performance and the institution’s capacity to affect that growth.

What is Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is the means by which an organization continually recreates itself for extraordinary purposes. Implicit in this definition is the concentration of all efforts, resources, activities, and energies toward defined goals. Planning is based on the organization’s vision of a preferred future.

What steps have we taken?
NBC began the self-assessment process in 2006.  In the first year, a strategic planning committee was formed.  It was comprised of school board memvbers, administrators, teachers, parents, and students.  This committee helped develop a vision statement, belief statements, and the profile of a Northern graduate and these documents can be viewed if one clicks on the tabs to the right.  

 

This fall, Internal Coordinators were appointed.  Ms. Zaic and Ms. Stella were appointed to the high school and the middle school respectively.  In addition, a Steering Committee comprised of the superintendent, assistant superintendent, both building principals and both internal coordinators has been formed.  The Steering Committee will monitor the process being made at the Middle School and the High School. 

 

Our next objective is to get to our preferred future. One step in that process is to determine, from an internal perspective, what we do well - our points of pride, our strengths, our pockets of greatness.  This process of determining, from an internal perspective, what we can do better involves self-reflection, honesty, and an ability to be “self-critical”. This will be aided with the administration of three separate surveys.  Northern's internal survey was given to the high school parents, students, and teachers last spring.  The Middle School will administer the "Schools to Match" survey this winter and finally, the AFG's "Standards" survey will be administered this spring.  At that point, all the data will be collected and evaluated.

 

At this time, the Middle School and the High school are moving forward with separate strategic planning committees to gather these data and prepare for the visitation from the AFG committee durning the FY'09 school year.