I often tell school board members through the strategic planning process they can do anything they want as a school district, just not everything. It is the time of the year when school boards should be taking stock of progress made on their strategic plan priorities and discussing with the district leadership team what the next steps are for accomplishing their long-term goals.
The most important theme of your discussions should be coherence. Is your mission and vision cohesive with your district goals, plans and priorities and does that translate to the day-to-day activities in your district? Your district strategic plan should be a cyclical process where you frequently examine what is working and how you can align and move your resources to support your greatest needs.
As stewards of the district's resources, board members must have a clear understanding of the district's top priorities. When making decisions about where to allocate resources, it's essential to consider how each choice will contribute to achieving overarching goals. This involves engaging with district leaders, principals and teachers, listening attentively, and asking the right questions to identify barriers to success and opportunities for improvement. Board members play a pivotal role in connecting the dots between feedback from all levels of your district, from teachers to principals to the superintendent.
In this process, agreed-upon metrics are valuable tools. Looking at how your district is performing on state assessments, reading and math measures, and graduation rates, provides direction on areas that need more resources. The building needs assessment process provides a vehicle for pulling all these questions and metrics together for the board of education. If you would like more information on that process, read how Derby used the needs assessments to support improving their student outcomes.
While indicators like test scores and graduation rates offer a broad perspective on performance, smaller, more immediate indicators can also help drive decision-making. Attendance, grades, and formative assessments offer valuable insights into student progress and needs.
One thing to watch out for is losing sight of your big picture, especially when there are changes in leadership or new faces on the board. It takes time and effort to make sure that everyone is on the same page and understands the district's priorities. Without an overarching vision and priorities established by the board, the nature of school districts is to have schools operating in isolation from one another and trending towards being more different than similar in their approach to supporting student needs. School boards must be intentional about creating order and structure districtwide to support our students.
Ultimately, the primary goal is to prepare students for success in life. By aligning strategic planning and resource allocation with the district's overarching vision, every decision made by the board moves the district closer to achieving this goal.
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