Calendar Check — Confirming Your Spring Progress Monitoring Schedule Before May Data Arrives

Calendar Check — Confirming Your Spring Progress Monitoring Schedule Before May Data Arrives

2028-04-26

Last week, your board completed the April Governance Check. The calendar was reviewed, the progress monitoring readiness was confirmed, and the evaluation preparation was assigned.

This week, the May data is fourteen days away.

The question is not whether the board has the data. The question is whether the board has the schedule ready to receive it. A board that enters May without a confirmed progress monitoring schedule will spend the first board meeting of the month deciding what to do with the data instead of analyzing it.

A board that confirms the schedule in April enters May ready to act.

Here is the checklist.

One: Name each data point the board will review

The board adopted measurable goals in January. Each goal has a data point that measures progress toward the annual target. The April calendar check confirms the specific data point for each goal that the board will review in the May progress monitoring meeting.

For the early literacy proficiency goal, the data point is the mid-year reading assessment score — the spring administration that measures growth since the fall baseline.

For the math growth goal, the data point is the quarterly benchmark assessment for the targeted subgroups — the March or April administration that measures whether the targeted intervention is producing the expected growth.

For the ninth-grade on-track rate, the data point is the Q2 course completion data — the percentage of ninth-grade students who earned full credit in their core courses during the second quarter.

I am naming these as examples. Your board will have different data points for different goals. The point is the same: name each data point explicitly. Do not say “the board will review the data for the early literacy goal.” Say “the board will review the mid-year reading assessment scores from the spring administration, compared to the fall baseline, for the early literacy goal.”

I have watched boards in Lawrence (KS) publish the data point list in the board packet two weeks before the progress monitoring meeting. The list names every data point, the source of the data, the date of the data collection, and the format the data will be presented in. Every board member knows before the meeting what they will be reviewing. The meeting opens with analysis, not discovery.

Two: Confirm the data format and availability date

The April calendar check confirms the format the data will arrive in and the date it will be available to the board.

The format question is straightforward. Will the data arrive as a one-page dashboard — one row per goal with baseline, current data point, target, and trajectory indicator — or as a spreadsheet with multiple tabs and raw numbers? The board should have confirmed by this week that the data will be in the dashboard format the board uses for progress monitoring. If the superintendent needs additional time to prepare the data in the requested format, the board needs to know now.

The availability question is equally straightforward. The progress monitoring meeting is scheduled for the first or second week of May. The data needs to be available to the board at least one week before the meeting — ideally two weeks — so board members can review it before the discussion. If the data will not be available until the day before the meeting, the board needs to decide whether to proceed with the meeting as scheduled or push the discussion to a later date.

I have watched boards in Albemarle County (VA) set a data availability deadline as part of the April calendar check. The board president confirms with the superintendent: “The progress monitoring data will be available to the board by April 30. The data will be in the one-page dashboard format the board uses. The board packet will be distributed by May 2. The meeting is May 7.” Every date is named. Every date is confirmed. The board knows exactly when the data will arrive and in what format.

Three: Confirm the decision protocol

The board should have confirmed the decision protocol before the meeting. The protocol determines what the board will do with the data after it is reviewed.

The standard protocol has three outcomes for each goal.

Outcome one: On track. The current trajectory is on pace to meet the annual target. The board records a written finding confirming the trajectory and continues monitoring at the next scheduled check-in.

Outcome two: Needs attention. The current trajectory is below the pace needed to meet the annual target, but the gap is within the range the board considers addressable with a mid-course correction. The board directs the superintendent to propose a correction — a resource reallocation, an instructional adjustment, or a timeline change — and sets a deadline for the proposal to be presented and reviewed.

Outcome three: Off track. The current trajectory has diverged significantly from the annual target and cannot be corrected with a mid-course adjustment within the current school year. The board records a finding naming the gap, the suspected causes, and the implications for the next governance cycle — including whether the annual target, the resource allocation, or the goal itself needs revision before the summer planning process.

The April calendar check confirms that the board has reviewed and confirmed this protocol — or a version that fits the board’s specific governance framework. If the board needs to adjust the protocol before the May meeting, April is the time to do it, not the morning of the meeting.

I have watched boards in Adams 14 (CO) adopt a written decision protocol at the beginning of the governance year and review it at the April calendar check. The protocol is printed on the same governance calendar card the board uses for the quarterly checks. Every board member has it. Every board member knows the three outcomes. The May progress monitoring meeting runs on the protocol without needing to re-litigate the decision framework.

Four: Confirm the evaluation evidence timeline

The superintendent evaluation meeting is approximately six weeks from the April calendar check. The evidence collection phase should be active by this date.

The April calendar check confirms that the evidence collection timeline is on track. The board president or evaluation committee chair should have identified the evidence sources — progress monitoring data from the May check-in, budget execution reports from the finance committee, board meeting observations, and any other evidence sources the board named in the evaluation criteria.

The check asks one question: Is every piece of evidence assigned to a responsible person, and is the deadline for each piece confirmed?

If the progress monitoring data from the May check-in is a primary evidence source for the evaluation, the board should confirm that the check-in will be completed, the finding recorded, and the data included in the evaluation document. If the budget execution reports are evidence sources, the board should confirm that the finance committee will have the reports ready by the May committee report meeting.

The calendar check does not require the board to review the evidence. It requires the board to confirm that the evidence collection is on track and that no deadlines have been missed.

What a board that completes the April calendar check has

A board that completes all four checks enters May with everything in place.

The data points are named. The board knows exactly what it will review for each adopted goal.
The data format and availability date are confirmed. The board knows when the data will arrive and in what format.
The decision protocol is confirmed. The board knows what the meeting is designed to produce.
The evaluation evidence timeline is on track. The board knows that the evidence collection is assigned and scheduled.

A board that skips the April calendar check enters May with uncertainty. The data will arrive — but the board will not have confirmed the format, the availability date, the decision protocol, or the evaluation timeline connection. The May progress monitoring meeting will be a discovery meeting rather than an analysis meeting. The evaluation document will be rushed in June because the evidence collection timeline was not confirmed in April.

The data is coming. The question is whether your board has the schedule ready to receive it.

Next week: May — Spring Data Review Begins

The calendar is confirmed. The schedule is set. The data is coming. Next week’s piece opens the Spring Data Review arc — the first May progress monitoring check-in, the committee reports, and the evaluation evidence collection.

The April arc is complete. The May arc begins with data.

Subscribe at effectiveschoolboards.com to continue the series.

Your free CTA: Reply to this email with the keyword CalCheck and I will send you the Spring Progress Monitoring Schedule Prep Kit — the four-check calendar confirmation template, the data point naming worksheet for each adopted goal, the decision protocol cheat sheet with the three-outcome framework, the data format and availability confirmation template for superintendent communication, and the evaluation evidence timeline tracker. Use it to confirm the spring progress monitoring schedule before the May data arrives.

Your paid CTA: I offer a Progress Monitoring Schedule Coaching Session — a single virtual session with your board president, superintendent, and evaluation committee chair to finalize the data points, confirm the format and availability dates, review the decision protocol, and assign the evaluation evidence collection timeline. Reply to this email for pricing and availability.

This piece is the fourth of four in the Budget Adoption & Q2 Governance Launch arc. It builds from the April 19 Governance Check (view the April 19 piece), which reviewed calendar adherence, progress monitoring readiness, and evaluation preparation. The four-check calibration framework adapts the Q2 calendar format established in the Q2 Governance Launch (view the April 12 piece) and used in the January launch arc. The data point naming protocol connects forward to the May Spring Data Review arc — the progress monitoring check-in that answers whether the board’s allocated resources are producing the outcomes the board adopted in January. Subscribe at effectiveschoolboards.com to continue the series.