How to get further, faster: the eight hallmarks of successful strategic initiatives

At the center of nearly every success story, we find clearly defined goals that have been constantly reiterated and are commonly understood. In the strongest cases, leaders have documented four key pieces of information: the initiative’s objective (e.g., aligning districtwide ELA instruction with the science of reading), why achieving the objective matters, how success will be measured, and the actions that will be taken to achieve those results. In our experience, initiatives that launch without such clarity almost always fall flat. Change is too hard to sustain if the destination hasn’t been set.

To realize those goals, successful districts avoid K-12’s most common pitfall: leadership by committee. Leaders still bring the right voices to the table, but also define how each individual should contribute. Who is accountable for the initiative’s success? Who is responsible for planning? Who provides input, and who needs to be informed of progress? Most importantly, who has final decision-making authority? Clear roles and responsibilities lead to better decisions, fewer meetings, and smoother progress.

While many think of accountability as “clear deadlines and consequences,” successful districts often take a broader view. Specifically, they ask initiative leaders to meet three criteria before plans can be approved:

1) Define the problems that must be solved to achieve their objective
2) Show how their plan addresses those problems
3) Define how and when progress will be measured and communicated

Hardwiring those criteria into initiative proposals ensures that time and resources will be spent addressing the most impactful issues and that teams can adjust quickly if implementation is off track.

Many superintendents strive to give principals autonomy in managing their buildings. However, to achieve district-wide results, some practices must be implemented consistently in each school. As such, clear communication of non-negotiable practices plays a key role in every success story we find. To increase buy-in for these requirements, innovative districts invite school leaders to help design standardized policies and processes before adhering to them as a team.

The digital transformation of public education, accelerated by pandemic school closures, has flooded schools with data. However, many are now swimming in information without clarity on how that data should be used to inform decisions. Where initiatives succeed, we see leaders taking the time to ask the right questions: What data do we need to craft and monitor our strategy? Who needs access to that data? Do those individuals know how to access and use that data?

Educational leadership programs rarely provide sufficient training on how to manage change. In response, many forward-thinking districts are building programs to develop those skills “in-house.” Our research has shown that such training is often most effective when attached to specific initiatives – such as how to lead changes in reading instruction or manage the implementation of universal screeners for social-emotional support. This approach yields faster returns because leaders immediately apply new skills to their work.

During the pandemic, more than 80% of EAB’s partner districts reported pausing at least one strategic initiative due to low staff morale and engagement. Through helping more than 100 districts overcome that challenge, we learned that the key is to avoid one-off teacher appreciation efforts and establish a systematic process for identifying and responding to staff concerns. For many districts, building these processes has opened the door to changes that were previously untenable. As such, sustaining teacher engagement is now central to most of the more recent success stories uncovered in our research.

Many of our case studies started at a single school before expanding across multiple sites. Unfortunately, very few school systems have a process for identifying and scaling homegrown practices. This leaves innovations siloed in pockets of each district while others attempt to “reinvent the wheel.” Districts that have established such processes often quickly differentiate themselves from peers in their region, making progress on a wide array of issues by harnessing practical solutions developed in their own classrooms.