What's the Target?

In order to judge success you must first have a target. Our target is for all students on our campus to be proficient or advanced in reading, writing, and math. 

When I came across this quote found on Krissy Venosdale's Flickr stream (http://venspired.com) I immediately thought of our campus target. 

No, we may never see a day when all students are proficient or exceeding our expectations. However, if we hold fast to our beliefs and push the envelope from every angle we will get that much closer to our target goal. By focusing on this target that doesn't exclude anyone, we are determined to see progress for all students. 

Our lofty goals were met with cynicism. How could we have such high expectations for our students? Then I began to think. I have two sons and three nephews. I never say, "80% of my boys will go to college." It is always a 100% expectation. We talk in the when not the if. Why should our expectations be any lower for our students?