How's this for guts? The Cincinnati, Ohio Public Schools have just adopted a plan describing in clear, ambitious detail, their goals for the next five years. It's a bold, important document...one that communities all over the country can learn from. Even a district with higher achievement than Cincinnati may gain from studying their concrete, easily understood goals.

Cincinnati's strategic plan describes where the district was in the 2004-05 school year, and where it wants to be by the 2010-11 school year. For example:

• High school graduation rate: 77% of 9th graders who entered four years earlier graduated in 2004-2005. That's up just over half in the 2000-2001 school year. But the district rightly is not satisfied, and wants to achieve 95% by 2010-11.
• College entrance tests: Most recent figures available show that 53% of CPS students take college entrance tests. The district wants to increase that to 75%. The district also wants to increase the average students' score on the ACT - American College Test from 20 to 23, and the average combined score on the SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test from 869 to 1,0000.
• Rigorous high school courses: CPS wants to increase the percentage of students taking Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college level courses from 18% to 30%.
• Kindergarten Readiness: The district aims to increase the number of kindergarten students "on track" from 49% to 59%

These are examples of sixteen different indicators that the school board has adopted. This is a great example of using various assessments to measure progress. (You can see the full plan at www.cpsboe.k12.oh.us).

Over the last five years, our Center has worked with Cincinnati's high schools, helping them increase graduation rates, test scores and attendance. But I was not involved in the creation of the district strategic plan.

Last week I talked with Rosa Blackwell, the district's superintendent. She said she is not certain that the district will reach every one of its goals. But she explained, "We are much more likely to reach our goals if we are clear about them. Adopting ambitious goals also makes it more likely that we will make considerable progress."

I agree.

Of course, goals are not enough. They require detailed plans and a lot of follow-up. The strategic plan includes a number of strategies designed to help reach goals. It also describes how individuals and organizations can help the district accomplish its goals.

Educators sometimes point to outside forces as limiting what they can accomplish. Unquestionably some students arrive at school with problems. And students spend more time in the community and with families than they do at school.

But evidence is growing that schools can have a massive, positive impact on students. It starts with a belief that educators CAN make a big difference.

Cincinnati illustrates this, with considerable progress over the last five years. So even if your school's test scores and graduation rates are higher than those in Cincinnati, I think there's a lot to learn from what that district has done.