Stategic Planning: a Foundation for Sustaining Change

This article reports experiences relative to the evaluation of a strategic planning and leadership development process adopted by a school system located in southern Louisiana. A description of the planning model utilized and its application to the areas of staff development and curriculum alignment are described. Factors associated with successful strategic planning and the benefits of implementing such a process are delineated. Despite challenges, the evidence suggested that strategic planning has served as an effective foundation upon which to ensure sustainable change geared toward continuous educational improvement. ouisiana is seriously concerned about the quality of public education provided to the children of its citizens. The state does not have the benefit of a tradition of high quality public education and continues to be burdened with difficult social and economic conditions (e.g., Louisiana recently ranked as the worst state for children based on several indicators such as the percentage of children living in poverty, the rate of child abuse and neglect, and the high-school dropout rate) (Children’s Rights Council, 1999). In light of these conditions, Louisiana has worked recently to implement comprehensive efforts to improve education. Education reform has generally supported higher academic standards and more local accountability for student-oriented results. Evaluation of recent reform efforts have faced formidable challenges in assessing the value of multi-faceted initiatives in improving performance indicators that must be tracked over time. In the interim, evaluators must focus on determining those initiatives that appear successful in sustaining change among individual educators and that are likely to improve school effectiveness over time. This article reports our experiences evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of a strategic planning and leadership development process adopted by the Ascension ParL LAURIE M. JOYNER, WILLIAM J. MILLER, BOB N. CAGE 9 ish school system located in southern Louisiana (Joyner & Cage, 1997). In this district, the old adage, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” has taken on new meaning as this system has faced changes in the sociodemographic profile of students, shifts in the local economy and increasing pressure for improved student performance by the community. Despite these challenges, the evidence suggests that strategic planning has worked as the foundation upon which to ensure sustainable change geared toward continuous educational improvement. Strategic Planning: What Is It and How Does It Work? Strategic planning can be defined as, “a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it” (Bryson, 1994, p. 155). Most strategic planning models result in a mechanism through which organizations can (a) establish consensus on key issues surrounding its mission, goals, and objectives; (b) systematically manage change; and (c) encourage a management style that is proactive (Bryson, 1995; Feinstein, 1995). Several elements of successful strategic planning approaches are found in the model introduced in Ascension Parish by a nonprofit organization known as the Louisiana Alliance for Education Reform. The Alliance’s goal is to improve K-12 public education through the development and implementation of school improvement plans created by parents, educators, and community representatives. The Alliance provides training to school and district leadership teams focusing on (a) cultivating leadership skills (e.g., leading innovation, team development, and school redesign); (b) developing strategic planning facilitation skills; and (c) changing classrooms through planning and staff development (Louisiana Alliance for Education Reform 1997a, 1997b). The strategic planning model and methods adopted by Ascension Parish are based on earlier work by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (1991) and adapted by the Alliance for use in educational organizations. The process consists of a series of workshops focusing on the history of each school/district, the development of a common vision among the planning group, consideration of barriers in reaching the group’s vision, strategies for successfully overcoming anticipated barriers, and the development of action plans to facilitate the achievement of the collective vision. Action planning workshops are held to move participants from planning to implementation by clearly specifying what is to be accomplished within established time and resource parameters. The above planning workshops are repeated twice a year to celebrate accomplishments and to “refocus” attention on areas to be addressed in order to continuously improve the quality of education each semester. Selected Effects of Strategic Planning on Lake Elementary School Lake Elementary School is in a rural area of the parish which is located in the petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River. The school has recently expanded to include pre-kindergarten through eighth grade (as opposed to its preK-5 structure prior to 1998). Lake enrollment stands at about 950 with approximately 30% of the student population identified as economically disadvantaged. The principal at Lake has served in that capacity for 13 years and the majority of teachers have been in the teaching field for seven to eight years. Due to the addition of grades six through eight last year, nearly one-third of all Lake teachers are new to the school (Louisiana Alliance for Education Reform, 1998). The demand for improved academic performance reflected in Louisiana’s reform and accountability system, the rising expectations of local employers and the structural changes within Lake Elementary provided a number of ongoing challenges and opportunities for the school leadership team to address in its action planning sessions. In the process of exploring the needs of the school and the barriers to achieving the school vision it became clear that a NATIONAL FORUM OF SPECIAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 10 collective approach to staff development and curriculum alignment were essential to improve classroom instruction and enhance student learning.