Reference no: EM133084197

Developing A Shared Vision

Overview

Building a shared and challenging vision can be an important first step leading to organizational change and improvement. In this week's work, we consider processes for developing a vision, including through ties to NBOE's vision and strategic planning work.

Discussion Participation

The readings above provide best practices, suggestions and recommendations for the development and articulation of a shared school/district vision, and planning for implementation, stewardship, and monitoring of that vision. Refer to those readings to answer the following questions:

1. The process of developing a new or refined vision.
A. Revisit chapters 5 & 6 from K&P. Identify three concrete principles (values, priorities, etc) and three concrete strategies (actions, processes, etc.) that you could use for vision development.
B. Building on these ideas, describe steps that you would take to develop a shared vision or enhance an existing one for your school if you were in a position to make a change.
C. How might you build on both the substance of the Next Decade and the process used to develop that plan as you work on the vision for your school?
D. What quantitative data (community characteristics/school/district demographics) and qualitative data would you draw on to revise the vision? What stakeholders would you engage to assist you in the process? Why would that data and those stakeholders be
important for this work?

2. Developing the content of a new or refined vision
A. Analyze the existing vision. Review the vision (or mission) statement of your school. Are they aligned? Is your school's statement consistent with what you learned in your School Culture and Climate paper? Do the goals of the vision match the practices you saw?
B. Review (and expand, if needed) your notes from the group discussion this past week. Based on that discussion and your analysis of your data (as well as any new data gathered), provide a first draft at a new/revised vision for your school, explicitly tying it to data that you have collected or analyzed.

After reviewing the data, identify 2-3 specific pieces of data that may help you understand how well your school is doing in terms of Priority 3 as well as the types of school culture described by Gruenert and Whitaker. The indicators listed on p. 44 of The Next Decade can help you to identify particularly useful data. What does that data suggest? What questions does it raise?

Question 1: Communicate a shared vision and plan for developing, supporting, and sustaining positive culture and climate in all classrooms, schools, and departments across the district.

Question 2: Build the capacity of the Office of Student Life, including all necessary staff and resources, to support the development of collaborative and learning-driven cultures in all schools and departments.

Question 3: What kind of culture and climate would you like to establish in your school? What would it "feel" like for a new teacher? A parent? A student? What would they see and hear?

Question 4: What kinds of things would you need to do to establish a positive and trusting environment?

As a new principal, stakeholders will be looking to you to either maintain the current culture or make changes. How will you know what to do?

MLA Paper format