Pillar 01
Excellence and Equity in Education
The same ceiling for every Novi student. We measure excellence not by the top of the class, but by how high we raise the floor — across every classroom, every subgroup, every school.
Novi Community School DistrictNovi · Michigan · Est. 1958
Strategic Plan · 2024 — 2027
Limitless
Potential.
Novi Community School District's plan for the next three years — and an honest look at where we are right now.
Begin reading
Vol. 02 · Issue 03Updated April 2026
The Proof — published quarterly · audited annually
0%
Four-year graduation rateMDE · Class of 2025
0
Advanced Placement courses offeredNovi High School
0:1
Student-to-teacher ratioDistrict average · 2025–26
#0
In Michigan, three years runningNiche · 2024, 2025, 2026
0
Students across 11 buildingsEnrollment · 2025–26
A Letter from the Superintendent
Mr. Ben Mainka · Superintendent2026
This plan is not a document. It is a promise. The five focus areas you will read below — Innovative Academics, Staff Support, Wellness, Student Passions and Interests, and Financial and Infrastructure Management — were drawn from the voices of more than four hundred parents, students, teachers, and neighbours.
What follows is their answer, translated into twelve goals and tracked, in public, every quarter. We will not hide from numbers that move the wrong way. We will name the people doing the work. And we will keep this page honest, even when honesty is uncomfortable.
Read with us. Question us. Help us keep the promise we made to every Novi student.
Mr. Ben MainkaSuperintendent · Novi Community Schools
The Vision
Limitless Potential — three commitments drawn from our community.
Pillar 02
Leadership in Learning
Teachers given time, training, and trust to lead. Students given the agency to lead their own learning long after the diploma. Both anchored in the 5D Instructional Framework.
Pillar 03
Constant Curiosity
A district that keeps asking better questions of itself. Curiosity is the only durable advantage we know how to teach — and the operating principle of every Novi classroom.
Chapter01/05Innovative Academics
Innovative
Academics.
Three goals: literacy K–4, technology integration including AI, and curriculum aligned to the 5D Instructional Framework. Each goal tracks i-Ready, M-STEP, and PSAT/SAT proficiency against the prior three-year average.
71%
+0.0pts
Reading proficiency · grades 3–8 · M-STEP ELA
Reading proficiency rose 4.0 points in 2025 — the largest single-year gain since the plan was adopted. Plan goal: annual increase compared to the prior three-year average. Method: M-STEP ELA, all tested grades, district-wide.
SAT — class of 2025
0
93 points above the Michigan average. Up 11 points year over year — tracked under Goal 3 of Innovative Academics.
SAT score is the average composite (ERW + Math) for all Novi seniors who tested in spring 2025.
AP exam pass rate
0%
Of 1,847 AP exams taken by Novi students, 88% scored 3 or higher.
"Pass" follows College Board convention — a score of 3, 4, or 5 on a 5-point scale.
5D framework adoption
0%
Every Novi teacher will receive a 5D Instructional Framework observation and feedback cycle this year — Goal 3, Measure 5.
The 5D Instructional Framework is the district's shared language for high-quality instruction across all subjects.
Chapter02/05Staff Support
A place where
people love to work.
Two goals: a supportive work environment, and collaborative decision-making that includes the people the decision affects. Resignation rate kept below 3%; engagement scores above 80% on the Panorama staff survey.
0.0%
3-year average resignation rate · target ≤ 3%
Novi's 3-year average resignation rate sits well under the plan's 3% ceiling, and roughly half the Michigan public-school average.
Panorama engagement score
0%
Above the 80% target for a third consecutive year. All eleven buildings reported.
Decisions with stakeholder input
0%
Of major decisions affecting more than one building or 50+ staff, 92% included representatives from affected stakeholder groups.
Staff voice score
0%
Employees reporting their opinions are valued and considered — Goal 2, Measure 4.
Chapter03/05Wellness
A school that
feels like home.
Three goals: school safety, proactive communication with every stakeholder group, and a culture where every student and staff member feels they belong. Belonging is a precondition for learning — not a reward for it.
Student-reported belonging climbed from September to March — eight points off our 2027 target with two months left in the school year.
The single-largest mover was middle-school students, where the new advisory model adds twenty minutes of one-on-one teacher time every Wednesday.
Monthly Panorama SEL pulse — N ≈ 5,400 / monthTarget — 80% by spring 2027Source · Panorama Survey, weighted by school
Black students78%Target 84%+2.1
Largest single-year gain among any subgroup.
Students of color (combined)81%Target 86%+1.4
Asian, Black, Hispanic, multi-racial. Within 5 points of district average.
Economically disadvantaged71%Target 80%+0.6
Free- and reduced-lunch eligible. Slowest of the four lenses.
Students with IEPs64%Target 72%+3.2
Growth credited to the new co-teaching model rolled out fall 2024.
Multilingual learners69%Target 76%+1.9
WIDA levels 1–4. Novi serves students from 47 home languages.
Connection & belonging — disaggregated.
Five lenses. One target. The plan commits us to closing every gap to single digits by 2027 — and to publishing the gap quarterly until we do.
Where the line above moved more than a point, you can see why. Where it didn't, you can see who is responsible for fixing it.
Safety drills · target ≥ 90%
0%
Of scheduled drills completed accurately and on time, district-wide.
Building newsletters on schedule
0%
Above the 90% plan target. Tracked under the Proactive Communication goal.
Bullying incidents · substantiated
0
Across all 11 buildings, year-to-date. Every case has a named adult and a closed-loop plan.
Chapter04/05Student Passions & Interests
Curiosity,
productively.
Two goals: personalised learning pathways from grade 5 onward, and an extracurricular ecosystem that reaches every student. The plan is also a permission slip to try.
78%
0pathways
CTE pathways · grades 9–12
CTE pathways now run at Novi High — from AI and cybersecurity to biomedical sciences. 1,140 students are enrolled in at least one this year.
Internships & site visits · grade 12
0%
Of seniors completing an internship, job-shadow, or career-related site visit. Plan target: 80%.
EDPs reviewed · grades 5–12
0%
Of students who opened and discussed their Educational Development Plan in Xello during the year.
Club participation · district-wide
0%
Of students participating in at least one school club or activity. Plan target: 75%.
Chapter05/05Financial & Infrastructure
Stewardship,
on the record.
Two goals: long-term financial stability with full audit transparency, and a common standard of excellence across all eleven school facilities. A great plan with broken buildings is not a great plan.
17.6%
0findings
Annual audit · target 0 findings
Zero findings or material weaknesses on the 2024–25 district annual audit. Internal controls tested at 100%. Budget variance: less than 1.5%, against a plan ceiling of 1.5%.
Fund balance · target ≥ 15%
0.0%
Of annual expenditures held in fund balance. Above the board-approved 15% floor for a fourth consecutive year.
Buildings meeting Common Standards
0/11
Of school facilities at the Facility Common Standards of Excellence. Two more buildings on track for 2026–27 completion.
Energy consumption · YoY change
-0.0%
District-wide energy consumption fell year over year through HVAC retrofits and the new LED lighting standard.
We do not measure ourselves against neighbouring districts. We measure ourselves against the version of Novi we promised.
Mr. Ben Mainka — Superintendent
The Path
Every milestone — past, present, and not yet.
Spring 2024
Plan adopted
Board of Education approves the 2024–2027 Strategic Plan after 14 community sessions.
Fall 2024
Co-teaching model
Special Ed and General Ed teachers paired in every K–5 building. First year of measurable IEP gains.
Spring 2025
Equity dashboard goes public
Disaggregated SEL and proficiency data published for the first time at this URL.
Fall 2025
5D framework adoption
Every Novi teacher entered the first observation cycle under the 5D Instructional Framework.
April 2026
You are here
Mid-cycle public review. Two years of data, two years of work to come.
Fall 2026
Ninth-grade success teams
Dedicated cohort of staff to track every freshman's on-track-to-graduate signals weekly.
Spring 2027
Plan retrospective
Public hearing, full audit, and the start of conversations about 2028–2031.
Stay close to the plan