Strategic Planning for Educational Excellence

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STRATEGIC PLANNING IS ESSENTIALLY A PROCESS that enables an organization or unit within an organization to chart where it is going over the next three to five years, how it is going to get there, and how to know if it, in fact, got there. When Associate Superintendent Janet Addair and the Orange County Public Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department embarked on the development of its strategic plan in December 2008, her belief was that a sound strategic plan is the single most important element in achieving educational excellence.

This premise in no way diminished the significance of faculty, administrators and support personnel, appropriate curriculum and instruction, adequate facilities and services, a supportive climate, and other crucial areas. Long-range planning, however, could provide the unique opportunity to view the system holistically, with a principle focus toward the whole organization rather than isolated and seemingly independent components.

Addair also had several important goals. First and foremost, the plan should guide educators toward improvement and excellence. Such a plan must be operational and sensitive to community and district-specific needs--not just a collection of platitudes and jargon that would never provide real direction. Secondly, it was essential that stakeholders be involved throughout the planning process. In fact, those persons involved should include not only CTE personnel, but also other district educators, students, business leaders and government officials. Additionally, the leadership did not want to spend months in a formal needs assessment and analysis of areas potentially in need of improvement. The associate superintendent …