OXFORD – High academic achievement, quicker response to academic interventions and collaborative professional development will continue to be priorities as the Oxford Academy and Central School district looks ahead at the upcoming school year.

According to Superintendent Randall Squier, these goals do not represent a shift in focus for the district, but rather a continued emphasis on the guiding principles which have been driving decision making for the last few years.

“It’s the same work we’ve been doing, we just want to be better at it,” Squier explained.

The district has been using four questions to guide their actions. Those questions, according to Squier, are what does the district want students to learn, how does the district know they’ve learned, what does the district do if they haven’t learned and what does the district do if they have learned.

The first questions is answered, at least in part, by standards set by New York State, but also through essential outcomes set by teachers at each grade level.

The second, Oxford has been working to answer through the use of assessments and benchmarking, a process which Squier said he and his administrative team will continue to refine in the coming school year.