Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned
During this year’s internship activities, I had the opportunity to review campus and district improvement plans as well as attend a site based meeting on one of the campuses. These experiences coupled with serving as the internal coordinator for strategic planning provided me with valuable experiences and lessons on the development, implementation and monitoring that takes place throughout the planning process. These experiences have led me to make some recommendations for improving our current system of developing improvement plans within the school district.
The change process in the district needs to be one that is cohesive and reflects the overall mission and needs for the school district. Currently, the district improvement plan and the campus improvement plans are developed concurrently. This results in documents that at times are not aligned. Campuses often do not see the district improvement plan until after their campus plan is developed and approved by the school board. The district should first work to develop a district improvement plan that is aligned to the strategic plan. After this is complete, the district improvement plan should be reviewed with campus principals and shared with campus staff. This process will allow the campus to align their campus plan to the district plan ensuring that all school are working on the district mission while still being reflective of individual campus goals. Campuses could then develop departmental goals based on the campus plan.
One of the greatest lessons learned came as a result of serving as the district’s internal coordinator for strategic planning. Through this process, led by Cambridge Strategic Planning, I was able to see firsthand how a district can develop a common vision with goals and objectives that are aligned to an agreed upon vision. Once the mission and goals were developed we created five distinct goals for the district. After this, we recruited action team leaders and formed committees with membership from across the district to develop action steps that could be implemented over the next five years. Seeing this process come to fruition when the final plan was presented to the school board was a rewarding experience. The presentation was done by a cross section of the community, business partners, students and staff that had been involved in the entire process. Witnessing a parent stand side by side with staff, in front of the school board, to express what they expected for their child with a plan that delineates the steps to achievement is what public education should be about.
The opportunities I have been given during my internship have developed my professional skills and an awareness of the functioning of the district as a whole. I am pleased to have completed these activities. As I look forward, it will be with a better understanding of school administration and an appreciation of where we can go.
No comments:
Post a Comment