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 SummaryContract 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…