Palmerton Area School District is putting the finishing touches on a comprehensive plan it said will serve as its road map over the next three years.

“We had a team that looked at various types of data to determine strengths and weaknesses and funneled all of that down to areas we want to work on,” Palmerton Assistant to the Superintendent Jamie Schuler said last week. “The overall goal is to develop a systemic K-12 approach to proactively address learning gaps, providing all students access to grade level curriculum and standards, and teachers the instructional tools to support all learners.”

The plan, which is required by the state, focuses on two priority goal areas, both of which the district hopes to hit by 2025.

“PASD will decrease performance gaps between school buildings and increase proficient and advanced outcomes on standardized assessments; and develop a vertically aligned curriculum accessible for all staff in English Language Arts and math,” the plan states.

Vertical alignment, Schuler explained, means making sure what the district is asking its students to do K-12 is aligning, in a sequential order, and components are not being repeated over the course of several grade levels.

“To help reach those goals, the district plans to acquire and implement the use of a data warehouse system, implement Professional Learning Communities to support the use of data analysis to improve instruction and student performance, and develop a multitiered system of support,” Schuler said.

Another Palmerton goal outlined in the plan is to increase availability and use of student and family centered supports provided by the school district. Action steps include increasing career readiness opportunities for students K-12, providing professional development for staff focusing on inclusive and supportive environments for all students and families, increasing diversity of course offerings at the secondary level, increasing the number and strengthening the existing relationships between the school district and community entities, and increasing STEM/STEAM related resources and opportunities for all grade levels and content areas.

“Moving forward we want to meet the needs of the 21st century learner and prepare our students to go out in the world,” Schuler said. “That goes for K-12, not just at the high school.”

The entire comprehensive plan, which has to be approved the school board, is available for review at https://www.palmerton.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Comprehensive-Plan-_-2022-2025.pdf.

Schuler said the committee who put together the plan will get together each of the next three years to review where the district is in the process and what adjustments may need to be made.

“This is a really good plan that the group came up with,” Director Audrey Larvey said. “A lot of work and time went into this and we’re appreciative of that as a school board.”