School Information :: SIT Information
Q: What is the SIT?
A: The School Improvement Team is a state-mandated team comprised of LES staff members, LES parents, and community members from Lafayette. This team is responsible for developing and managing progress on the school's annual goals. A term that is used for this process is "accountability". The SIT answers to the District Accountability Committee annually for a review of the school's progress on existing goals and development of appropriate new goals.
Q: Who comprises the SIT?
A: Currently, our SIT has both staff and parent members. We are accountable for expanding our membership to include a varied group of staff members, demographically representative parent members, and community members, and we are constantly at work to achieve this standard.
Q: What is the value of SIT to Lafayette Elementary School?
A: SIT oversees the development of goals as required by the State of Colorado. Goals are created and assessed in three areas that are vital to a successful learning environment: achievement, equity, and climate (or organization). Our SIT has worked hard to develop a process that involves as many voices as possible in the assessment and creation of these goals. BVSD provides a framework process for this task, and our team does the work, so that LES has focused, optimistic, achievable goals in all three areas.
SIT also provides accountability for the execution of the goals, by checking progress through assessments, surveys, and staff and parent input.
Q: What are the goals of the group?
A: It's not really one of our goals, but an expected result of our work is the annual "School Improvement Plan", which details our assessment of the previous year's goals, documents our research into what our goal areas will be for the current year, and then states the current year's goals in the areas of achievement, equity, and climate.
The SIT submits updates on goal progress quarterly to the District Accountability Committee, and participates in an on-site review every three years as part of the accreditation process. LES had an on-site review in 2007, and it was a great opportunity to see our school through the eyes of experts from around BVSD. They were thoughtful and inspiring as they offered congratulations for work well-done and encouraged us to dig deeper to discover practices that will best support our goals in the coming years.
Q: How often does the committee meet?
A: The team meets monthly, on the last Thursday of the month, from 2:45-3:45. We have a full, rewarding agenda each month, and are fond of celebrating the successes of our process as well as taking on the challenges that emerge in the work.
Q: Is there a SIT at every school or is this unique to Lafayette Elementary?
A: Every school in Colorado has a SIT, but it may go by another name. The basic idea is that each shool has a representative group of stakeholders who oversee accountability to the district.