The Principal and Strategic Planning

Download or read book The Principal and Strategic Planning written by William E. Webster and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For principals leading site-based structuring and improvement efforts, strategic planning is an important tool. Strategic planning melds short-term and long-term planning models and considers outside variables and school resources. Teaching staff, community members, district office personnel, and consultants all have essential roles in strategic planning. Additionally, strategic planning provides structure for accountability in school change and reform. Many reform efforts have failed largely because they did not utilize effective planning mechanisms. For principals, it is best to seek district wide support for strategic planning. Also, teachers, administrators, and others involved should attend strategic planning training sessions. Individual strategies and preventive action must be taken to limit resistance to strategic planning. Committees are the basic means for site-level strategic planning. An Organizational Status Report that includes data inventories of the school, staff, and community is the committee's first task. Next, a brief mission statement should be drafted defining where the school is and where it is headed. Broad goals and objectives, the means to achieve goals, should then be formulated. With goals and objectives set, specific activities can be planned. Finally, a monitoring system should be established. All parties should be familiar with the plan prior to implementation, and changes should be expected. (Contains 12 references.) (JPT)