Lawrence Public Schools set high standards of achievement for ALL students. Our schools work to ensure that the following leading indicators of effective schools are present: safe and orderly environments, clear and focused mission, high expectations, opportunities to learn/time on task, frequent monitoring of student progress, positive home/school relations, strong leadership, collaborative work behavior and community participation.

In the Lawrence Public Schools, it is our expectation that ALL students learn essential skills. We're leading a community dialogue based on discussions of the following four questions:

• What is it we expect students to learn?
• How will we know when they've learned it?
• How will we respond if they don't learn it?
• How will we respond if students already know it?

As professional learning communities, our school district, and each of our schools, examine practices, policies and procedures in light of their impact on student learning. We assess our responses to students who are not learning and students who must be challenged to learn more.

By working together with a clear and focused educational purpose - Learning for All - our schools, parents and community partners will ensure ALL students achieve.