Visioning & Strategic Planning
It's essential for school districts to develop a vision that they can develop into a strategic plan. Yet, this, alone, doesn't guarantee progress or success. Particularly in an increasingly challenging environment with many financial, political, social and educational obstacles, school districts need to operate with more precise strategy than ever before.
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In addition, how we "do school" is changing. Today, in our global economy, our students need to develop core (durable) skills that span beyond the academic skills that have traditionally been taught in school. These are the specific skills that employers demand from our graduates and as school leaders, we need to provide experiences for our students to be introduced to these skills. ​See below (Figure 3). World Economic Forum, Top Core Skills in 2025.
See "Deliverables" below for more details.​​​​​
Deliverables
Establish Key Stakeholder Group
First, it is important to establish a community group that involves all representatives of a school district. This includes students, teachers, other staff, administrators, influential community and business leaders.
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Develop Timeline Of Action
Putting a timeline in motion over the course of the next 3-5 years is essential! This work takes time and you cannot rush it if you expect to achieve any of the goals within your strategic framework.
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Create (or redefine) Vision & Strategic Plan
Developing a vision of what you want your school district to aspire to is an important part of the process. Further, a defined strategic plan that outlines a series of achievable goals will establish the parameters upon which to frame this work.
Develop Communication Plan for Success
A well-thought out communication plan is important to showcasing the progress and success of the school district. We need to be more strategic in highlighting the successes that are taking place in the school district.
Create (or redefine) Graduate Profile
School is changing. We must look realistically at how to provide experiences that support BOTH the academic and the durable skills that employers are demanding of our graduates in today's economy.
Develop Accountability Matrix
In order to make sure that everyone understands their role and the level of accountability that they have within the strategic framework, it is important to establish an accountability matrix.
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