All Posts Tagged With: "K-12"
Alignment Perils
I spent two days last week working on a volunteer measurement team formed to support the local school district’s strategic plan. A core team had developed three strategic objectives that aligned perfectly with the district’s mission: one on student achievement, one on students contributing to the community, and one on lifelong learning.
They missed the boat.
I agree that all three of these objectives are important and that they align with the mission, but I think the core team aligned with the wrong thing. A school district exists to educate students. It must do that well or it is failing, even if it produces stellar citizens who continue to learn after high school. By its three strategic objectives, my district is proclaiming that one-third of the attention should be paid to student achievement and two-thirds to other things. It’s putting those responsible for the success of the district—senior leaders and the board—in the position of having to divert attention from student achievement to carry out the strategic plan.
Some argued that leadership will prioritize the objectives and focus on the student achievement one first and the others later, but that undermines the plan. Every organization has limited resources. The best strategic plans prioritize to focus those resources on what the organization must do to succeed.
Iredell-Statesville Schools (I-SS), a 2008 Baldrige Award recipient, demonstrates how a strategic plan can align all work in the district with what it must…
18Aug2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedBaldrige and K-12: Not for the Faint-Hearted
As the superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools, Terry Holliday set a vision for his district that included integrating the Baldrige model to help I-SS achieve performance excellence. Some members of the community opposed that decision, claiming that Baldrige created problems for teachers by taking time away from the classrooms that could have been spent on better things.
In 2008, two people expressed their opposition to Baldrige by running for the I-SS school board. They picked a bad platform and a bad year.
I-SS received the Baldrige Award in 2008. Here are some of the reasons why:
- Per-pupil expenditures among the lowest in North Carolina while being ranked academically in the state’s top 10 school systems
- An attendance rate that ranks third out of 115 school districts
- SAT scores that ranked seventh in the state in 2008, up from 57th place in 2003
- The lowest dropout rate (3.5%) in grades 9-12 in the school’s history
Reflecting on his tenure (he was recently named Kentucky’s Commissioner of Education), Holliday said, “If you weren’t being met with opposition, you weren’t doing anything worthwhile. Opposition made us stronger because we had to be sure we were meeting their concern.”
A visionary leader, which is a Baldrige core value, not only sees the goal but also sees the steps that are necessary to reach it and how to get most stakeholders on board for the journey.
And he doesn’t let anything stop him.
…
5Aug2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | Continued
