Recently, I received a copy of the EMSD#63 Strategic Design Plan (Update 2009) as part of a FOIA request. I found the “plan” to be ponderous, unworkable, unrealistic and unachievable drivel. In over 30 years as a business management consultant, I have authored or coauthored a couple dozen strategic, business and marketing plans. In a business environment, this District’s “plan” would be dead on arrival.
Rather than the updated 2009 “plan”, what the district needs is a simple, workable and effective blueprint.
Butterly on Education’s Alternate Vision Statement
EMSD#63 (The District) will prepare each student to perform at 8th grade level in reading, writing and mathematics, upon their graduation, thereby maximizing each student’s opportunity for success in high school. Additionally, The District will utilize each subject daily in support of the goal. The Plan and supporting Budget will be implemented between the 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 school years, at which point, a 95% achievement rate will have been reached.
Let’s look at this statement. It is:
- short
- easily understood
- focused on the primary job of a K-8 School District
- can be tested for reasonableness and achievability
- attainable within the stated time frame.
Simple plans:
- can be created quickly
- can be implemented faster and more effectively
- can be tested in real-time when effective changes can be made
- improve the likelihood of success
- are more easily understood by all stakeholders
- allow the stakeholders to determine success or failure more easily
- succeed more often than complex plans.
Is EMSD#63 alone in creating ineffective or unachievable visions? You make the call! A random sample of US School District Vision Statements are presented below:
Random District Vision Statements
EMSD#63 needs a vision adjustment.
12 comments:
Mr. Butterly,
This is a very timely post. I agree that our Strategic Design document is unwieldy and impractical to implement. That is why I have developed a plan to address this. During the summer months, our administrative team will be meeting to brainstorm a list of possible goals extracted from the long lists of belief statements and vision statements in the Strategic Design. In the fall, I will reconvene the Strategic Design Conference, along with new attendees, to review the goals, discuss their connection to our mission and vision statements, and then pare it down to 3 to 5 measurable goals. This will create a short document that clearly reflects what we are here to accomplish and can easily serve as a quick reference when making decisions for our students.
Your alternate vision statement, which by most accounts would be considered a goal, is good with one exception. We would never want a vision that limited our students to only achieving 8th grade proficiency. Our students must be allowed to achieve to their full potential, not to an arbitrary end point.
Also, the list you provide of District Vision Statements looks like it is mostly compiled of Mission Statements rather than Vision Statements. For example, our mission statement is "Empowering students to succeed in a changing world." A mission statement is meant to be a short statement of purpose. Vision statements are much more far reaching and future focused with an eye on the ultimate results. Goals on the other hand are strategic, measurable, attainable, and time specific.
With your obvious interest in this area, you may wish to consider joining us when we reconvene the Strategic Design Conference.
Sincerely,
Dr. Scott Clay
Superintendent
East Maine School District 63
Response to your June 14, 2010 8:22 AM message.
Dr. Clay,
Let me respond to each worthy comment of your last message.
1. It was indeed a timely and coincidental post.
2. No Doctor, you do not agree with me. I did not find your Strategic Design document “unwieldy and impractical to implement.” I found it drivel and not worth the valuable stakeholder, consultant and employee time and money it took to prepare.
Also, did I get you right Dr. Clay? You intend to go on wasting valuable administrative time and money this summer to “brainstorm a list of possible goals” from a list of “unwieldy and impractical” Strategic Design Conference ideas? My god man, I didn’t know you possessed such a rye sense of humor.
3. I am quite aware of the differences between Mission Statements, Vision Statements and Goals. In the real world, it is not unheard of for an organization as small as yours, to utilize a short-term non-classic approach to Mission, Vision and Goals, by combining the properties of a short-term vision statement with the concepts of a short-term mission statement and the primary goal or goals that support it. When applied, it is usually done for speed, clarity and focus, and that is what I did in that example. This district’s children do not have the luxury of your wasting time. I suspect a title that included “Vision-Mission-Goals” would have been helpful. So sorry, my error!
Further, my formalizing a set of short-term achievement standards is not limiting. I would say Dr. Clay, if EMSD#63 were able to attain and maintain just those minimum standards; this District will have traveled a long way from where it is today.
4. Those WERE Vision statements, as presented on 24 random school district websites. I may not see the majority of them as “Vision” statements. You may not see them as “Vision” statements. Those Districts on the other hand, DO SEE THEM as “Vision” statements, and that WAS the point of the exercise.
Dr. Clay, I don’t know haw many plans, strategic or otherwise, you’ve authored. I do know this, however, there are no real world “best practice” recipes for any of those plan types. What you read as “best practice” in books seldom happens in real-life situations. Out here you learn to be innovative; you learn to be flexible, you succeed or you starve. So, the next time you decide to talk down to me by repeating what you learned in books, remember, you’re the Ph.D. who needed to be mentored. So let’s stop the bull. I only bring these issues up to inform my readers and to get your attention. It’s up to you to act on those problems and fix them wherever possible. That, sir, is what you get paid for.
5. As to my attending, in my opinion, the theatrics of another Strategic Design Conference this fall, where the future of EMSD#63 will be decided by “stakeholder” committee vote; a process that I do not trust, and one that I believe relinquishes to a “committee” a substantial portion of your professional responsibility and that of the Board for long-term academic success, I must say, no thank you.
Mr. Butterly,
My hope in responding on your blog was to have honest, public discourse with you. You have stated that you will not meet with me in person or by telephone, because you cannot trust school officials. It is apparent from this last response that your ONLY goal is to attack this school district. You have no interest in understanding anything that we do or what we are working toward, nor do you wish to show respect to the hundreds of dedicated employees of this school district.
The process of developing goals with input from our stakeholders for our district is neither a waste of time nor money. It is about purposely planning for meeting the diverse needs of our student population. That, Mr. Butterly, is what I am paid to do.
FYI: The State of Illinois, as do most states, requires all new teachers and principals to have mentors. The state also has a proposed plan to require mentors for new superintendents, but the July 1, 2010 start date has been put on hold due to the state budget woes. Although you obviously wish to portray mentoring as a negative thing, it is very common practice and as you can see, mandatory in many cases. Every new teacher in our school district is mentored for two consecutive years, every new principal for one, to help insure their success.
Sincerely,
Dr. Scott Clay
Superintendent
East Maine School District 63
Dr. Clay,
I have come to the conclusion, based upon these discussions, that my next contribution to mutually beneficial dialogue, would be best served with a new blog posting.
Took me time to read the whole article, the article is great but the comments bring more brainstorm ideas, thanks.
- Johnson
Fantastic blog, I hadn't noticed emsd63review.blogspot.com earlier during my searches!
Keep up the superb work!
Hey,
This is a message for the webmaster/admin here at emsd63review.blogspot.com.
May I use some of the information from your post above if I provide a link back to your site?
Thanks,
Daniel
Daniel,
Of course. Please write another comment with the address so I can see what you are up to. I'm always interested in the goings on in other school districts.
Hey,
Thanks for sharing this link - but unfortunately it seems to be not working? Does anybody here at emsd63review.blogspot.com have a mirror or another source?
Cheers,
Peter
Anon: January 18, 2011 2:57 PM
Hello Peter.
Thanks for stopping in. Try this address. We do not have a mirror or other source. Sorry!
http://emsd63review.blogspot.com/2010/06/unrealistic-and-unachievable-dribble.html
It works.
Sorry Peter, I have no idea what happened at your end. Give the post another try. If you are still having a problem -let me know. If you write me an e-mail I will send you a copy of the page directly.
Best regards,
Ken
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