Strategic Planning: How Districts Leaders Engage their Communities to Build and Implement a Strategic Plan

This report outlines how to engage your community in the strategic planning process to meet the needs of everyone at your school district.

This study from the District Leadership Forum explores how school districts build strategic plans to guide their district’s strategy for the next three to five years. This research includes how administrators assess and revise their district’s mission, vision, and core values to align the district’s strategy with institutional principles. Further, the research describes how administrators convene teams from across the district to ensure the strategic plan meets the need of everyone at the district. Lastly, this report covers how administrators implement their strategic plan to drive continuous impact across their district. Explore the major findings from the report below.

Executive Summary

Contract a third-party vendor to provide comprehensive strategic planning support. Contacts at each profiled district highly recommend contracting a vendor to facilitate the strategic planning process. Vendors have experience facilitating strategic planning for school districts, which proves essential when managing the complex, nuanced process. Further, vendors bring outside objectivity and candor to strategic planning, which contacts report as valuable. Strategic planning vendors work in conjunction with district steering committees to lead the strategic planning process. Vendors design districts’ strategic planning process, lead steering committee meetings, conduct research and community engagement, and often write the first draft of the district’s strategic plan. Nonetheless, administrators at profiled districts report that their vendor-facilitated strategic plan reflects their district’s unique context. Contacts explain that vendors do not generate the content of the plan—only the process used to generate the content.

Seek out underrepresented community voices throughout the strategic planning process. Administrators at profiled districts worked to include stakeholder groups that might otherwise not participate in the strategic planning process to ensure that all community groups could help determine the district’s future. At District A, administrators recruited staff from departments across the district including members from the nutrition and custodial teams to serve on their steering committee. Administrators at District B conducted personalized phone outreach to the Hispanic community at their district to ensure that members of that community felt welcome at and attended the district’s community forum.

District D convened an almost 70-member strategic planning steering committee to ensure representation from all community stakeholder groups.

Research community perspectives and priorities to identify and refine strategic goals. Contacts at all profiled districts stress the importance of vigorous, representative community engagement during the strategic planning process. Community engagement ensures that the district’s plan aligns with the priorities of the community at large. Further, it ensures that each stakeholder group feels heard. Profiled districts use a combination surveys, community forums, focus groups, and interviews to research their community’s priorities and perspectives. Profiled districts research community perspectives both before identifying goals and while refining the goals and supporting objectives.   

To drive impact through strategic plan, promote ownership and accountability. Strategic plans live and die by implementation. Strategic plans all too often become shelf documents that fail to drive impact. To ensure strategic plans drive impact, administrators should promote plan ownership. At District A and District B, the steering committee assigns each goal to a senior district administrator. This senior administrator, referred to as the goal manager, must achieve the strategic goal’s objectives and tasks, as measured by the goal’s metrics. In addition, administrators at District B, District C, and District D regularly present strategic plan progress to their school board to keep themselves accountable for achieving strategic plan items.

Launch a Strategic Plan

Develop Strategic Plan that Aligns with Mission, Vision, Values, and Community Priorities

Each of the five districts profiled in this report, District D, District C, District B, District E, and District A, approached strategic planning similarly. Administrators at each district used a process to build a community-driven strategic plan that aligns with the district’s mission, vision, values, and community priorities. See the archetypal strategic planning process below. Normally, steering committees drive the strategic planning process through a series of meetings over the course of one school year.

Recruit a Diverse Selection of Representatives to Ensure Broad Engagement

Administrators at District C, District D, and District A chose to convene steering committees representative of their district organization and their communities. These committees range from 30-70 members. While these committees are large, contacts stress the importance of involving each stakeholder group from across the community (e.g., parents, local business leaders) and within the district organization (e.g., building administration, custodial team members). These committees included senior district leadership as well.

To ensure the academic department does not dominate the strategic planning process, recruit staff from a variety of departments to the steering committee. For example, administrators at District A recruited members from the nutrition and custodial teams.

At District D, administrators sought to include at least two staff members from each building in the steering committee. To identify and recruit district staff to their steering committee, District D administrators used the following practices.

• Staff Recommendations. District administrators asked building administrators to recommend building staff to participate in the steering committee.
• District-Wide Staff Application. District administrators sent out a steering committee application to all staff. This application included several open-ended questions and demographic indicators.
• Ensuring Diversity. Once administrators received the recommendations and applications, they outlined each candidate’s position (e.g., art teacher), building, race, ethnicity, gender, and grade level on sticky notes. They picked candidates to ensure that they had adequate representation in each of these areas. Similarly, contacts at District A picked staff that represented a diverse range of opinions, diverse professional experience, and diverse skillsets.

To identify and recruit community members to join their steering committee, administrators at District C completed the following. See below for the district’s committee membership.

• District-Wide Survey. Administrators sent out a district-wide Google Forms survey asking community members whether they would like to join the district’s steering committee. The survey briefly explained the strategic planning process and indicated the required availability (i.e., described the dates and times the committee would meet). The survey asked recipients about their relationship to the school and to which school level they were affiliated (e.g., elementary, middle).
• Ensuring Broad Representation. Once administrators received responses, administrators picked candidates who represented each of the following community sectors: government, information, finance, public health and human services, education, families, community‐ and faith‐based organizations, legal, and students.

Steering Committee Membership at District C
Adapted from District C’s Strategic Plan

Target Outreach to Local Community Organizations

To ensure representation from all community groups on steering committees, administrators at District D reached out to local community groups that administrators expected would otherwise not join the steering committee. Specifically, administrators at District D reached out to the local mosque, local church groups, local community organizations (e.g., local chapter of the NAACP), and local government bodies (e.g., department of health) to request their participation. Similarly, District C administrators reached out to local government officials to request their participation.

To Maximize Efficiency, Consider Forming a Smaller Steering Committee of District Leaders

District E Steering Committee Membership

Contract a Third-Party Vendor to Provide Comprehensive Strategic Planning Support

To hire a strategic planning vendor, administrators at District E put out a request for proposal (RFP). The district received around 15 RFPs. They chose their vendor based on two criteria: (1) demonstrated strategic planning experience and (2) commitment to community engagement.

Strategic planning vendors cost around $100,000 to facilitate the strategic planning process from start to finish. At profiled districts, vendors completed the following services:

• Designed district strategic planning processes
• Scheduled and led steering committee meetings
• Facilitated focus group sessions and stakeholder interviews
• Conducted classroom walkthroughs
• Analyzed district data
• Wrote first draft of strategic plan
• Iterated on strategic plan content with steering committee

Research Education Trends and District Status to Identify Goals

Before engaging the community, steering committees should identify potential goal areas so that steering committees can ask for feedback and direction from the community on specific topics. Steering committees at both District C and District D completed exercises to identify potential goal areas.

At District C, the steering committee researched trends and issues in K-12 education. To complete this exercise, the committee did the following.

Similarly, the steering committee/vendor at District D and District E completed exercises to identify potential areas for strategic goals. Prior to any steering committee meetings, the committee at District D read an analysis of their district’s data. The analysis included sections on enrollment, demographics, and academic achievement. Committee members would read a section and then engage in an online discussion through an online discussion board. Through this exercise, the committee identified six areas to focus on while soliciting input from community stakeholders: finance; governance; school improvement; instructional delivery; college, career, and life readiness; and community voice. At District E, the strategic planning vendor analyzed district data and conducted classroom walkthroughs to better understand the district’s current position in respect to potential strategic goals. For example, the vendor examined data on the proportion of Black students in honors classes compared to district demographics, which helped highlight equity as a potential goal area.

Survey District Community to Identify District-Wide Priorities

In addition to sending out a digital survey, administrators at District C printed out physical copies of the survey. They distributed physical copies to local public buildings (e.g., library, government buildings) and collected them after approximately one month.

To understand the most pressing issues to the community, administrators at District C surveyed their district on the community’s top priorities for the district over the next several years. The steering committee sent out a six-question survey via Google Forms to the entire district community and district staff (see Appendix A for the survey). The survey included four multiple-choice questions and two open-ended questions. The steering committee used the insights gleaned during their initial research to identify 14-18 answer options to the four multiple-choice questions. The committee collected 1,176 survey responses total.

While only District C surveyed their district specifically for their strategic plan, all profiled districts informed their strategic plan to some extent through their regular survey routines. Steering committees use awareness gained regular normal surveys (e.g., climate surveys, staff surveys) to inform their decisions in steering committee meetings. See several profiled districts’ survey platforms and costs below.

Develop Strategic Plan

Use Community Forums, Focus Groups, and/or Interviews to Research Stakeholder Priorities

After identifying around four to six strategic goal areas, all profiled districts researched their community’s perspectives and priorities to determine exactly what the goals should say and how to accomplish them. To do this, profiled districts used one or more engagement method (e.g., focus group) to solicit input from district stakeholder groups. In general, districts attempted to solicit input from both internal (e.g., teachers) and external stakeholders (e.g., parents). Further, administrators attempted to solicit input from each community group within the district.

To solicit stakeholder input, profiled districts issued a general call for volunteers to serve in a focus group or take part in a community forum. For the most part, administrators sent district-wide emails calling for general attendance.

Strategic Planning Community Engagement Overview
How Profiled Districts Reached Stakeholders to Solicit Input on Strategic Goals

Conduct Targeted Outreach to Community Groups to Ensure Representative Participation

To ensure representative participation at these events, profiled districts conducted targeted outreach towards community groups that would otherwise underrepresent themselves in focus groups or community forums. Contacts at District B note that personalized phone outreach effectively draws community members to their forum who otherwise would not attend. 

At Smaller Districts, Hold Community Forum for Feedback on Priorities

The smaller profiled districts, District B (~3,500 students) and District C (~5,500 students), relied primarily on community forums to solicit stakeholder input. Administrators use these sessions to gather information on community members’ top priorities within identified goal areas (identified through surveys, research on education trends, and/or district data analysis). This allows administrators to refine goal areas into goals and determine how to operationalize strategic goals.

Normally, District B holds their community forum on a weekend morning. See below for how administrators at District B facilitate their community forum.

After the community forum, district staff write up each comment aired during the community forum and email it to the participants so that participants know the district registered their feedback. Contacts note that themes emerge during community forums—community priorities come into focus. Steering committees use this information to refine goal areas into goals and develop objectives, which determine how the district will achieve their goals.

At Larger Districts, Hold Focus Groups for Feedback on Priorities

Focus Group Practices at Profiled Districts

Interview High-level Stakeholders One-On-One

In addition to focus groups, vendors at District D and District A interviewed stakeholders one-on-one to further solicit feedback on goal areas and potential directions for the district. At District D, the vendor interviewed school leaders, division leaders, and city officials, including the mayor.

Assess and Revise District Mission, Vision, and Core Values to Ensure Strategy Aligns with District Principles

Each profiled district begins their strategic plan with statements that outline their district’s mission, vision, and core values. At District D and District B, the school board manages the review of the mission, vision, and values. Contacts at District D report that while the school board manages the revision of the mission, vision, and values, they go through a process of checks with district administrators.

At District A, the steering committee assessed and revised the district’s mission, vision, and values. To do so, the steering committee completed vendor-guided brainstorming and discussion sessions that addressed foundational questions such as “what makes [District A] unique?” and “why do you like working at [District A]?” and “what is the best part of your job?”

Contacts at District A advise administrators to incorporate unique and fun aspects of the district into strategic plans to avoid producing a bland, corporate strategic plan. For example, the steering committee included ‘joy’ as one their core values at District A.

Develop and Refine Four to Five Goals to Guide Overall District Strategy

Steering committees should use information gathered from their community engagement initiatives (e.g., focus groups) and other research (e.g., data analysis) to distill district aims into four to five strategic goals. Contacts note that steering committees develop goals through an iterative process during the community engagement phase. As noted in the community engagement section, steering committees should refine potential goals through feedback from the community.

Strategic goals should describe broad district intentions. For example, a strategic goal at District Breads, “increase the academic achievement of all students.” Each goal should have adequate room to develop supporting objectives, tasks, and metrics within it.

At District C, the steering committee translated some of their survey feedback directly into strategic goals. For example, administrators translated the most popular answer to question two of their survey (see Appendix A) directly into one of their strategic goals. Question two reads, “what are the greatest challenges and issues District C has to address over the next six years in order to provide an excellent education to our students?” The most popular answer to that question reads, “maintain safe and secure district schools and facilities.” As a result, the steering committee created a goal on school safety.

Develop Objectives, Tasks, and Metrics to Support Each Goal

Once the steering committee establishes strategic goals, the committee can develop objectives, tasks, and metrics that serve to describe how districts will both operationalize and measure their efforts. At most profiled districts, the vendor writes the first draft of the strategic plan and then iterates and revises the plan with the steering committee. Vendors and steering committees develop plans from the top (goals) downwards through tasks and metrics. See below for a framework that outlines a common strategic plan structure. While this plan structure does not correspond to any research-backed framework, each profiled district and vendor employed this strategic planning framework.

Monitor Progress

Assign a Goal Manager to Each Goal to Ensure Plan Ownership

Strategic plans live and die by implementation. Strategic plans all too often become shelf documents that fail to drive impact. To ensure strategic plans drive impact, administrators should promote plan ownership. At District A and District B, the steering committee assigns each goal to a senior district administrator. This senior administrator, referred to as the goal manager, must achieve the strategic goal’s objectives and tasks, as measured by the goal’s metrics.

Incorporate Strategic Plan into Staff Meetings Regularly to Promote Plan Presence in Everyday Operations

At District B and District C, two districts with histories of driving impact through their strategic plan, senior district administrators (the superintendent and the assistant superintendent for secondary education, respectively) spoke about living and breathing their strategic plan. Each spoke about how the strategic plan permeates their district.

To encourage district staff to keep the strategic plan top-of-mind, administrators at District C incorporate it into each staff meeting. Specifically, administrators explicitly tie each meeting’s agenda item to the strategic plan. Further, administrators print a graphic that represents the strategic plan in the upper left-hand corner of each staff meeting agenda.

Consider Distilling Plan into Graphic and Distribute Posters

In addition to incorporating the strategic plan into each staff meeting, administrators at District C encapsulated the broad strokes of their strategic plan into an easy-to-digest graphic. They distributed copies of the graphic to each classroom and office in the district.

Regularly Present Plan Progress to School Board to Ensure Plan Accountability

To keep administrators accountable to achieving aims outlined in the strategic plan, administrators at District B, District C, and District D regularly present strategic plan progress to their school board. At District C, administrators present plan progress quarterly. Each quarter, administrators focus their board presentation on one of their four strategic goals. Administrators present on each goal once per year. At District B, goal managers present their work on each task once they have completed the task.

Keep a Tracker Online to Ensure District Leadership Awareness of Task Progress

At District B, the superintendent keeps a tracker that outlines which tasks have been completed and which ones have yet to be completed. See below for an adapted version of the tracker. Note that the tracker below only represents an excerpt of a tracker.

A strategic plan tracker allows senior leadership to stay abreast of district progress on strategic plan tasks. To provide transparency to the community, administrators publish the document at the end of the district’s strategic plan.

Consider Developing Dashboards to Communicate Plan Progress to Community

Administrators at District Aplan to create district dashboards that communicate strategic plan progress to the community.

However, administrators at District C created dashboards to communicate plan progress for their previous strategic planning cycle and administrators found that very few community members looked at the dashboards.

So, districts that build dashboards to communicate plan progress should also institute a practice that promotes the dashboards, such as a regular email to the district community that emphasizes the dashboards’ importance.

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