Portrait of a Graduate

Vision: Upon completion, all Utah students are prepared to succeed and lead by having the knowledge and skills to learn, engage civically, and lead meaningful lives.

This vision for Utah students is also articulated through the Utah's Portrait of a Graduate, which identifies the ideal characteristics of a Utah graduate upon exiting the K-12 system. The Portrait of a Graduate serves as our north star for system transformation. As school districts and charter schools develop Portraits of a Graduate for their unique communities, we continue working through the implications of this vision for the design of our system at the state level. Our aim is to create the conditions for school systems throughout the state to intentionally deliver on this powerful vision.

Mission

Mission: The Utah State Board of Education leads by creating equitable conditions for student success: advocating for necessary resources, developing policy, and providing effective oversight and support.

The Board has adopted the following definition of equity to accompany its mission statement:

• Acknowledging that all students are capable of learning, educational equity is the distribution of resources to provide equal opportunities based upon the needs of each individual student. Equitable resources include funding, programs, policies, initiatives and supports that recognize each student’s unique background and school context to guarantee that all students have access to high-quality education.

Education Elevated 2022 Targets

To assess progress of the system toward our vision, we track several indicators at the system level. In 2017, the Board established ambitious 5-year targets for each of these indicators. These targets were set by determining the amount of progress necessary to get one-third of the way to 100% by 2022.

Education Elevated 2022 Targets
Further disaggregation by student group, including historically underserved student groups, will be made available soon.

Data Definitions
For information on data definitions for each of the Education Elevated measures.

Pandemic related disruptions have influenced student achievement in Utah. The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) initiated a comprehensive set of studies to help understand the extent of pandemic-related disruptions on students’ academic performance.

Exploring the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student Achievement in Utah Executive Report
USBE Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and Resources Effects on Learning

Goals

The strategic plan provides four goals for the education system. The goals are written as results statements reflecting an ambitious outcome we aim for the system to provide for each student. Utah State Board of Education's role in achieving these goals is to create the conditions at the state level to enable local education agencies and leaders to achieve them in schools and classrooms across the state.

For more information on personalized learning, including a definition and information on how to initiate personalized learning, refer to Personalized Learning.

Strategies

The strategic plan identifies high-leverage strategies to align efforts toward impacting each goal.

Strategies Aligned to Goal 1

1. Promote high-quality instruction in every early grade classroom
2. Increase optional access to high-quality extended day kindergarten
3. Increase optional access to high-quality preschool
4. Increase engagement of families with young children in early learning experiences

Strategies Aligned to Goal 2

1. Support districts and schools in providing effective mentoring for beginning educators and leaders
2. Assist districts and schools in providing continuous personalized professional learning for each educator and leader
3. Evaluate and support educator preparation programs in meeting requirements established by the Board while providing room to innovate
4. Lead in changing the perception of teaching as a profession
5. Promote equitable access to highly effective teachers
6. Increase the supply of transformational school leaders across the state

Strategies Aligned to Goal 3

1. Support districts and schools in creating and maintaining conditions for safe and healthy learning environments
2. Increase adoption of evidence-based student health and wellness practices
3. Build capacity of educators and other stakeholders to meet students’ mental, emotional, and social needs

Strategies Aligned to Goal 4

1. Empower USBE, educators, parents, and students with access to timely, useful, safeguarded data
2. Support LEAs in providing a personalized learning plan for each student
3. Increase access to qualified school personnel to design personalized learning plans in partnership with teachers, students and families
4. Promote new school system models for personalized learning implementation

For more information on the strategies, including a theory of change behind the strategy, and an update on implementation progress, refer to the Annual Implementation Updates.

Annual Implementation Updates

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is tracking and reporting progress on implementation toward our long-term goals.

2020

Utah State Board of Education Strategic Plan 2020 Implementation Update
Details the progress on implementation, outlines a rationale and indicators for each goal, and articulates a theory of change for each strategy.

2021

Utah State Board of Education Strategic Plan 2021 Implementation Update
A companion to the 2020 update detailing annual progress on implementation.

Goal Indicators Data

In addition to the Education Elevated Indicators, the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) tracks progress on each of the four goals using indicators aligned to each goal.

References

Reports: Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism
USBE Assessment and Accountability

2021 Utah School Climate Survey - Student Grade K-2
Qualtrics

R277-325: Public Education Exit and Engagement Surveys |  R277-623: School Climate Survey
USBE Administrative Rules

Title: 53E-2-202: Planning for Utah's Public Education System | Title: 53G-8-802: State Safety and Support Program. State Board Duties
Title: 53G-11-304: Educator Exit Survey. Rulemaking. Local Education Agencies to Create and Administer Exit Surveys. Reporting
Utah State Legislature

Early Learning

• Acadience
  USBE Assessment and Accountability
  • Kindergarten through 3rd Grade Literacy and Numeracy
• Kindergarten Entry and Exit Profile (KEEP)
  USBE Assessment and Accountability 
  • Kindergarten Numeracy and Literacy
• Pre-kindergarten Entry and Exit Profile (PEEP)
  USBE Assessment and Accountability 
  • Preschool Numeracy and Literacy
• USBE Data Gateway
  • 3rd Grade Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELAs) Proficiency (RISE)

Effective Educators and Leaders

• Retention Rate of New Educators
• Educator Engagement and Exit Survey Report (Reference: R277-325 and Title: 53G-11-304):
  USBE Policy, Law and Professional Practices Utah Legislative Reports
  • Educator Reasons for Leaving their Present Assignment. General Job Satisfaction Among Utah Educators.
  • Where Educators go After Leaving Employment in Utah
• Disparities in Access to Effective Teachers
• Proportion of Educators with Higher-than-Average Student Growth Scores (RISE)
• Proportion of Educators who are Qualified with Appropriate License:
  • Comprehensive Administration of Credentials for Teachers in Utah Schools (CACTUS)
    USBE Educator Licensing Human Resources Supports
• Education Degrees Awarded by Utah Teacher Preparation Programs

Safe and Healthy Schools

• School Incidence Data
• Student Engagement:
  • Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism
• School Climate Survey (Reference: R277-623 and Title: 53G-8-802)
• Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) Survey
  Utah Department of Human Services Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH)
• School Safety Survey

Personalized Teaching and Learning

• Student Engagement:
  • Absenteeism Rates
  • Student Surveys/School Climate Survey
• Instructional Practices:
  • Teacher Survey of Instructional Practices
  • Administrative Observations
  • Teacher Turnover by Teacher Effectiveness
  • External Observation for Fidelity of Implementation
  • Trend in Students Needing Added Instructional Support/Interventions

Note that the instructional practices measures are only collected for LEAs participating in the Competency-Based Education Grant program (Title:53E-5-502).