Strategic Planning in School Systems: An Examination

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Strategic Planning
Strategic planning should be a “purposeful process that utilizes the core values, missions, and goals of a school system to establish articulate action plans to achieve organizational objectives” (Marin & Leinbach, 2014). This healthy view of strategic planning is what all schools should strive for. However, sometimes strategic planning can be seen as just another hoop that has to be jumped through in order to get through the year.
Developing a Strategic Plan
This information was gathered in an interview with Andrea Williams, principal of Theresa Bunker Elementary School. Mrs. Williams first shared with me that developing a strategic plan in this state is done with a goal for the school to achieve over the whole school year in order to be in compliance with state regulations. The district offers support to the schools in completing these strategic plans. This is more of a systems approach to developing strategic plans for each school in the district. The state provided a tool for developing plans which was not very user friendly. In order to meet the specific needs of the district and each school, the Director of Federal Programs at the district office developed a form or template that was disseminated out to each school. This form helped to streamline the development of a strategic plan as well as to make it more relevant to the needs of the schools.
Steps
The steps involved in the process of making a strategic plan for the school in the district begins first with the district infrastructure receiving information about the requirements from the state department of education. The district then passes this information on to the principals at planning meetings at the end of each school year. These m...

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...planning process more relevant for teachers, parents, and students there needs to be a better understanding of what this process is. In the reading for this assignment it stated that some teachers view strategic planning as “something done to them rather than with them” (Marin & Leinbach, 2014). There is not much buy-in or ownership in the strategic planning process how it is being implemented in this state currently. This is an area for improvement in the developing of strategic planning. There needs to be more dialogue between the administration and the faculty about what the plan actually is, how it is developed and who executes it. It is much more effective when teachers know why they are doing the work and feel more involved in the process. There is a need for a shift in the thinking about strategic planning at all levels involved (Marin & Leinbach, 2014).

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