WVDE Division of Educator Quality and System Support

Organization Effectiveness and Leadership

West Virginia Department of Education

Strategic Plan Training

WELCOME

Strategic Planning:

• Endless meetings• Fact free debates• Three-ring binders, and dozens• Hundreds of discrete objectives, tasks,

strategies, plans, and goals• All left undone after the plan was

completed.

Effective Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning: A thoughtful process that links the values, mission, and goals of a school or school system with a set of strategies and tasks designed to achieve those goals.

Effective Strategic Planning

D

Overview of Strategic Plan

Due Date for Submission

County Plan-On or before September 15, 2009

School Plan- On or before October 15, 2009

D

Rubric for Evaluation

Category Comments Meets Rubric Component

Needs Reconsideration

PLAN COMMITTEE The system has identified a sufficient number of participants to efficiently complete the strategic plan.

The stakeholders included on the membership team provide a broad and knowledgeable perspective regarding the preparation of students for the 21st century.

The stakeholders represent various school groups and committees that can assist in aligning improvement efforts toward common goals.

Provides a narrative describing how the plan was written, and how it is reviewed and updated during the year.

The plan gives a description of how parents, community and other appropriate stakeholder members are involved in the development and/or revisions of the plan.

CORE BELIEFS The core beliefs are few in number and can be internalized and easily remembered by staff.

The core beliefs are written in language that is powerful and that strongly conveys organizational values.

The core beliefs reflect qualities of highly effective schools and school systems.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Mission Statement is of such a length that it can be easily understood and remembered by stakeholder groups.

The statement is written in FUTURE ORIENTED language that conveys what the school or school system is striving to accomplish in order to prepare students for the 21st century.

The Mission statement specifically guides the selection of system goals, objectives and strategies.

D

Rubric for Evaluation

DATA ANALYSISKey Outcome

Indicators

Data analysis has been completed annually and new interpretations added to the plan when appropriate. The school/school system has determined goals and objectives that drive the strategic plan based on the

priorities established during the data analysis and the overall mission of the system. A summary of the overall implications for the strategic plan is included.

Meets Rubric Component

Needs Reconsideration

External Trends Data analysis includes attention to local, state, and/or national demographic trends. A BRIEF description of the conclusions reached after examining trend information and benchmark assessments

is included.

Student Achievement

Data analysis includes review of student achievement trends over time from SEVERAL data sources, not just WESTEST scores.

The goals developed from the analysis focus on improved student achievement.

Other Student Outcomes

Analysis includes review of other important student outcome data such as LEP and dropout rates, attendance, discipline, college attendance rate, Framework for Literacy , 21st century Framework etc…

Analysis includes the root causes that have a direct impact on achievement.

Culture, Conditions,

and Practices

Analysis includes a review of monitoring reports, questionnaires or observations completed by staff or external evaluators and should describe the overall culture, conditions and practices that exist in the school system.

Results of classroom walkthroughs, highly qualified teacher data and the digital divide report should be part of this section.

OEPA ANAYSIS

Identified deficiencies based upon the most recent OEPA report are included in the needs assessment and priorities established for the county.

Required revisions based on OEPA audits have been added to the goals/objectives/actions portion of the plan.

IDENTIFIED PRIOITIES

A prioritized list of strategic issues should be included from all of the data sources examined. Required OEPA revisions from OEPA audit are listed. (If necessary)

GOALS/OBJECTIVES

• The Goals focus the school or county on improvement of student achievement and other important student outcome measures.

The plan contains a limited number of Goals that can clearly focus and communicate improvement efforts over a 5-year period.

Goal statements are written in a language that is bold and challenging. The goals are derived from data analysis and prioritized strategic issues. Goal statements can be measured by quantifiable evidence at the objective level. Determine specific measurable objectives for each goal. Baseline data related to the objective is included.

DC

Rubric for Evaluation

ACTION STEPS Describes the detailed, sequential steps to be taken to implement the High-yield strategies selected.

Describes the school/county’s purpose for taking a particular action step.

Action Steps are detailed enough to act as a monitoring process for the superintendent.

PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

Professional development activities occur over time and are likely to build significant knowledge, skill and commitment of participants.

Professional development activities reflect a variety of delivery methods appropriate to the high yield strategies including but not limited to such things as study groups, plc’s, reflective practice, trainer led sessions and on-line professional development.

Professional development for each objective related to parental involvement is offered with delineated PD for teachers, parent etc…

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The plan includes objectives/action steps that support the implementation of the following guiding principles:

The plan embeds parental involvement throughout. High expectations for parents, families and community

members to become partners in education are clearly communicated throughout the plan.

Celebrating success of students to encourage success. Utilizing the community to provide resources to

strengthen school programs, families, and community members in improving student achievement.

Current county/school parent involvement initiatives are listed.

DC

Revising the Plan

CAUSES FOR REVISION

1. DC11. The Plan Committee has a limited number of stakeholders involved.

2. The Plan Committee Narrative does not describe how stakeholders were involved in planning or future involvement for review and/or revision. 3. Core Beliefs/Mission are written in a language that is hard to internalize.

4. Data Analysis is limited to WESTEST.

5. OTHER STUDENT OUTCOMES are often limited to drop out rates

5a. Analysis of this section identifying root causes that have a direct impact of student achievement is often omitted.

Top 10 Reasons County Plans are not Approved

1. DC16. OEPA analysis is omitted.

7. Prioritized Strategic Issues are not identified after data analysis or not connected to data analysis.

8. Goals and objectives are not directly linked to data analysis.

9. Action Steps list professional development activities only.

10. Professional development activities are limited to 1 delivery mode. (Usually trainer-led)

Top 10 Reasons Counties must revise

their Plan

1. DC1DDD38 OEPA visits last year

36 schools were required to revise their plan.

OEPA VISITS AND THE STRATEGIC PLAN

WHY???

OEPA VISITS AND THE STRATEGIC PLAN

COMMON OEPA STRATEGIC PLAN FINDINGS

1. Staff members cannot discuss the goals of the school.

2. Staff members were not involved in the planning process.

3. Refer to top 10 causes for non-approval status

OEPA VISITS AND THE STRATEGIC PLAN

WHAT OCCURS WHEN REVISIONS ARE REQUIRED?

1. OEPA will request the Superintendent or a designee to contact our office for technical assistance.

2. We will visit or contact the principal to discuss revisions and due dates.

3. Counties are required to also submit revisions of their plan to support the school(s).

4. This is then submitted by our Office to OEPA for their review and then to the West Virginia Board of Education for their review and approval.

5. All revisions must be moved into the plan to reflect implementation.

OEPA VISITS AND THE STRATEGIC PLAN

DISCUSSION POINTS

How does your county provide support for school planning?

How do you evaluate school plans and provide feedback?

How often do schools/county teams discuss the plan and progress ?

How do you monitor the implementation of the plan?

COUNTY SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PLANNING

In the end, school leaders must decide if the essential purpose of planning is to develop a tool

to improve student achievement—actions that add

value—or if the planning process is an end in itself.

COUNTY SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PLANNING

School leaders can, in brief, embrace strategy with plans

that are focused and brief and that provide consistent

monitoring and evaluation.

COUNTY SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PLANNING

Most important , effective strategies are executed by teachers and leaders who begin the process with the

confidence that professional practices influence student

achievement.

Douglas B. ReevesLeading School Change

COUNTY SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PLANNING

Strategic Planning: Additions, Changes, and Other Improvements

to the Website

Uploading Files

• A new feature to the strategic plan website is the ability for a user with access to include relevant documents to the strategic plan without actually adding it to the strategic plan

• Under the tab labeled “Upload Facility” there are two options.

• The first option gives the user the ability to view already uploaded files. – This option gives information on the document

such as the file name, a link to the file, a description of the file, and information about when the file was added and who added it

Uploading Files (cont’d)

• The second option under “Upload facility” is “Upload files” where the user can upload files to the website. – Here the user gives the file a

title, its use, and a brief description about it.

The Uploaded Files Page

Uses for the Upload Files Feature

• Some of the uses of this new feature are that users can add supporting documents to strategic plans without making excessively long strategic plans.

• The ability to upload files acts as an online filing cabinet and allows strategic plan related files to be stored in one central place and therefore, things can be more easily located. – For instance, when a new principal comes to a school,

he or she will not have to search for everything in paper form.

• Users can also add files such as meeting agendas, meeting minutes, and research materials to the website.

High Schools That Work

• Another new feature in the strategic plan website is the “High Schools that Work” tab where a user can view the statistics of certain high schools.

• To view this, a high school must be selected under the “Utilities” tab.

• After a school is selected such statistics include 9th grade failure rates, attendance rates, and enrollment in AP and dual credit courses.

• Data can also be entered for the school such as the ACT Profile.

• This new feature to the website has many uses because it allows for users to notice trends so that specific problems can be addressed in the schools strategic plan

A Demonstration of HSTW’s Usefulness

A Demonstration of HSTW’s Usefulness (cont’d)

• As you may have noticed from the previous slide, the attendance rate drops as the grade level increases.

• Data such as this can give users the ability to easily identify the problems a school may have so that the school may address those problems in its strategic plan.

Additions to Data Analysis

• Also added to the website for school improvement are the different sections for a school’s framework

• Under this category are the 21st Century Framework, Framework for Literacy, and Framework Worksheets

• These sections allow the schools and school systems to address the schools’ needs, what is already being implemented, and what is not an area of focus.

• When analyzing data, it is critical that all individuals involved with the operation of the school collaborate together as a group so that all opinions and perspectives on what the school needs to address are included

21st Century Framework

• The first category is “21st Century Framework” which lists the different areas that a school needs to cover in order to be a 21st Century school.

• Next to each area/quality, the group assessing the school can select Substantial Implementation, Area of Need, or Not a Focus Area.

• “Area of Need” is selected if the area needs to be addressed with available resources and “Substantial Implementation” is selected if that particular area is one that the school or school system has under control.

• A school or school system may select “Not a Focus Area” not just if it is an area that the school or school system considers unimportant, but if the school does not have the resources to address those areas

21st Century Framework

Framework for Literacy

• In addition to the 21st Century Framework, there is also a Framework for Literacy.

• This is similar to the 21st Century Framework in that the school or school system can decide whether an area is already implemented, is an area of focus, or is not an area of focus with the difference being that the areas in this category deal with literacy in the school.

• Also contained within the broad category of Literacy Framework are four categories that deal with specific elements of the literacy within a school. These categories are Core, Intervention, Independent Extension, and Infrastructure.

• Just like the 21st Century Framework, all of this should be covered by the school system as a group.

Framework Worksheets

• Also added with the 21st Century Framework and Framework for Literacy is the Framework Worksheets.

• The Framework Worksheets allows the materials covered in 21st Century Framework and Framework for Literacy to be put into a paper form.

• This can be useful so that it can be passed out at meetings discussing this material so the school or school system can more easily cover the areas of focus as a group.

Text Recovery

• Text Recovery is another new feature to the website that allows changes that have been deleted or lost to be recovered.

• Under “Text Recovery” there are two options.

• The first option is “Recent Captures” which lists the most recent items that can be recovered.

• The second option is “Last Five Days,” which lists the items recovered in to be recovered.

Standards Based Instruction

• Standards Based Instruction is also a new addition to the website.

• Standards Based Instruction allows the user to create a PDF, edit the PDF, and print the Standards Based Instruction section of the strategic plan.

• The Standards Based Instruction section of the website also allows the user to submit the SBI section of the strategic plan.

Parental Involvement

• Strong partnerships between homes, schools, and communities are needed to ensure a quality education for all children

Policy 2200 “Parent, Family, and Community Involvement in Education” to provide guidelines for strengthening parent, family, and community involvement in each county.

County Goals related to increasing student achievement, enhancing school culture etc. should also include relevant objectives for engaging parents/families in the achievement of the goal

Counties should not create “stand-alone” goals for increasing Parent/Family involvement

1. Modify action if necessary2. Use a stem to

tag subtasks that are specific to ARRA money.

2. Check all boxes that apply

3. Click “Mark Compliances to save the data