STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS CHESTER SCHOOL DISTRICT 2017

STRATEGIC PLANNING J. M. Bryson defines strategic planning 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. To deliver the best results, strategic planning requires broad yet effective information gathering, development and exploration of strategic alternatives, and an emphasis on future implications of present decisions.”

Value of Strategic Planning Establishes a vision, mission, and beliefs for the school district Relates organizational capacity to community need Raises awareness of current issues and operations Establishes a path to accomplish a desired future Creates a document suitable for public relations Provides a path for the community to work together to accomplish the goals of the strategic plan Gives the ability to anticipate and react to external forces Allows the district to set specific data-driven priorities Serves as a tool for decision making and resource allocation

Strategic Planning Process Four Phases: Phase 1: Understanding Phase 2: Visioning Phase 3: Writing Phase 4: Implementation

The Strategic Planning Process: Understanding Phase 1: Understanding. Gathering Information to identify the current state of the district and community as well as the desired future state. This by necessity involves authentic stakeholder engagement involving district leadership, administration, faculty, staff, parents, students, and community leaders. This phase will also focus on data collection regarding student and operational performance to provide a factual basis for analysis of the stakeholder input.

Strategic Planning: Visioning Phase 2: Visioning. The second phase of the strategic planning process focuses on establishing the overall direction of the district (mission, vision etc.) as well as priority initiatives that will be set forth in the strategic plan. The information collected in Phase 1 will be assembled and analyzed to support deliberations in this phase.

Strategic Planning: Writing Phase 3: Writing. The formal strategic plan will be developed in this phase. The mission, vision and strategic initiatives will be translated into discrete action items. Resources will be identified and prioritized and benchmarks/timelines will be established.

STRATEGIC PLANNING: IMPLEMENTATION Phase 4: Maintaining Commitment Tracking Status Informing the Community on Progress- Scorecard Identifying the Need for Mid Course Corrections