Running head: IMPLEMENTING 1

Implementing a Strategic Plan: Lakeview High School

Olga M. Herget

EDU515 Measurements and Metrics

Dr. Niralee Patel-Lye

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Implementing a Strategic Plan: Lakeview High School

Lakeview High School (LHS) is located in an urban residential community, which serves a

portion of the city of Waterbury, Connecticut. The comprehensive high school includes grades 9-

12 and the student body consists of approximately 1,774 students. The school’s 2014-2015 self-

generated profile provides general information about curriculum design, student/teacher

population, and standardized test scores. It also depicts a troubled organization in need of

guidance, reform, and a unified vision.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis can help an

organization identify problems, determine where changes can occur, and organize information

for all stakeholders (Work Group, 2016). The report provided by Lakeview High School informs

the following SWOT chart

S W

 Experienced and dedicated teachers  CHALLENGED rating by CSDE

 Manageable class size (21 students)
 Successful Fine Arts Program
 Successful Athletic Program
 Partnership with higher education
institutions
 Significantly performing below the
district reference group (DRG) average
in Mathematics and Science
 Low graduation rate (19%)
 Low attendance rate (55%)
 Limited availability of Honors and AP
course work
 In need of technology update
 Lack of alignment between school
beliefs and school action
 Lack of evidence of fostering
community within and outside of
school walls
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O T

 Provide professional development for  Increasing enrollment, no room for

teachers and staff facility to grow
 Develop a curriculum with high  Shrinking economic base
standards  State budget cuts
 Offer more Honors/AP courses  City budget cuts
 Create a stronger mentoring program
within the school
 Create leadership opportunities for
student body within the school
 Strengthen the relationship between
students and community

Leadership: Key to Success

An underperforming school does not happen overnight and it is clear Lakeview’s

administration has not properly addressed the academic and social issues within the school. The

lack of strong leadership at Lakeview High School has created a failing environment, which is

reflected by the current low student attendance rate (55%) and low graduation rate (19%).

The first action LHS has to take is address the leadership problem. The superintendent

and Board of Education must hold the administration responsible for the current state of the

organization. The Board of Education should require additional leadership training of all

educational leaders including building administrators and department chairs. School principals

take on a variety of responsibilities including assessing the effectiveness of teachers, encouraging

parent involvement, and monitoring student achievement. Most importantly, a school principal

provides strategic direction within a school system (Dowd, n.d.). Effective leaders need to be

trained to lead improved instruction and school change, not just manage buildings (The Making

of, 2012). School leaders must be informed on changes in the educational field in order to
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effectively implement change within a school community.

The implementation of a strategic improvement plan at the school-level requires the

following (Boatsman, Gillmore, & Wagner, 2014).

1. School leader communicates effectively with employees and addresses concerns.

2. A realistic timetable is created and followed by all stakeholders

3. Checkpoints created to assess progress toward strategic planning goals.

4. Regular follow-up meetings with team leaders take place after the plan is created.

5. Establish with certainty the organizational structure and resources can support the

strategic plan.

The key to success of an improvement plan is assigning specific roles, breaking goals

down into manageable steps, and monitoring the entire process.

Mission Statement

Lakeview High School is about to embark on a challenging path and must clearly develop

short-term goals that will aid the long-term plan of the organization. VMOSA (Vision, Mission,

Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans) is a planning process, which facilitates communication

between all stakeholders and provides a clear picture of the organization to the community (Work

Group, 2016). By explicitly focusing on these five ideas, the leaders of LHS will be able to

develop a manageable five-year improvement plan.

A school’s vision communicates to the community the organization’s beliefs. Currently,

LHS has a list of ten beliefs. The list is long, wordy, and redundant in some cases. Missing from

the report is a clear and concise school Mission Statement. This statement publicly shares the

administrative vision of schooling and relays how that vision may be affected by a variety of
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factors in the community and outside world (Schafft & Biddle, 2013). In order to condense the

school’s beliefs and create a concrete Mission Statement, the principal will create a task force

responsible for drafting three sample Mission Statements, collecting feedback from

teachers/school staff, and proposing the new Mission Statement to the Board of Education within

six months. The task force will be comprised of one assistant principal, one guidance counselor,

one school secretary, a teacher representative from each department, two students, and volunteer

parents. The mission statement should clearly express the school’s dedication to high standards

and the community.

Action Plan to Achieve School-Wide Goals

Lakeview High School’s principal and assistant principals have created multiple

objectives and goals for students. However, they are too broad in nature, lack detail, and do not

have a time expectation. To implement a school improvement plan an organization must decide

who is going to do what, what is an acceptable time frame, and how the process will be

monitored. SMART goals are an excellent method to clearly define an organization’s goals and

break down an improvement plan into manageable and measurable steps (Mind Tools, n.d.).

Currently Lakeview High School lacks a challenging curriculum and outside world

opportunities. LHS leaders must set strong, attainable goals for both faculty and students to raise

motivation and increase achievement (Turkay, 2014). To begin the implementation of the school

improvement plan, Lakeview High School will follow these action steps:

ACTION PEOPLE OBJECTIVE DATA NEEDED TIME FRAME

INVOLVED
Create a Building Analyze and discuss Standardized
school-wide administrator data Tests Reports to be
data team shared every
SPED teacher Identify areas of Quarterly student quarter
weakness and grades
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Guidance strengths Benchmark

counselor Assessments
Share findings with
Teacher faculty in a timely Teacher
representative fashion observation
s from each
department.
Create a Building Examine and Copies of each By Spring 2019
curriculum administrator determine which department’s begin to update
team curriculum is up-to written all department
Department date with CCSS and curriculum curricula and
Heads which is outdated begin to write
Research other curricula for new
Teachers Begin to explore successful honors and AP
adding honors school’s courses
classes to all curriculum maps
departments for all By Fall 2020 all
four academic years. Research other core departments
school’s will have CCSS
Survey teachers to grade/ranking aligned courses,
find out who is system. lessons and CFAs
interested in and Especially
qualified to teach AP schools who Fall 2020 Begin
courses weight honors/AP to write
courses curriculum for
Reevaluate the additional
current grade/ranking vocation/career
system teach classes

Create a Building Explore what Teacher surveys Survey completed

professional principal teachers and school by Fall 2019
developmen staff needs/ interest Research
t team Department are through a survey educational Spring 2020
Heads administered by trends (i.e. Begin to set up
department heads technology use in professional
Teachers the classroom) development-to
Discuss needs of help improve
Other staff teachers with learning and
Superintendent/Chec teaching
k Budget
Set up
Begin to research professional
different professional development for
development AP teachers
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opportunities
(school-wide and
department based)

Create a Building Collect demographic Survey Survey created

graduation principal data on students students/guardian and collected by
task force s Spring 2019
Guidance Determine what
counselor outside and behavior Suspension EIP in place by
factors are causing activity (in and Fall 2021
SPED teacher students to not finish outside of school)
school
Two core Retention activity
teachers Create an Early
Intervention Plan to Class Failure
Two non-core support at-risk activity
teachers students
Gather five years
of data on
students who did
not finish school

Create a Building Increase parent Gather data on Fall 2019 Begin

parent Principal involvement family needs to host coffee
advocacy with the Principal
group Teachers Inform parents of events
graduation
Parents requirements/test
results/mastery levels

Improve school
climate

Create a Building Share with Informal Fall 2019-Begin

faculty administrator administration department monthly meeting
council concerns, problems, discussions. to discuss faculty
SPED teacher questions faculty concerns/question
may have about Survey Monkey- s
Guidance policies and on specific
counselor procedures policies and
procedures
Teacher Ensure teachers feel
representative they have a voice in
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s from each decision making at

department the school

Facilitate
communication
between all
stakeholders
Create a Guidance Determine how the Student surveys Begin to offer
student school can help new courses to
Students
success students succeed Research material freshman and
team Teachers on helping sophomores
Develop and create a students succeed 2020-2021
half-year course
“student success
seminar”

Develop and create a

half year course on
“setting goals and
achievement”
Create a Building Determine how to Current Fall 2019-surveys
program administrator offer more enrollment in
design team vocational/college vocational Spring 2020-
Guidance credit courses program Select additional
department courses to be
Communicate with Current taught.
Students outside businesses / enrollment in
universities to university Fall 2021-begin to
Teachers establish additional partnership offer additional
partnerships programs career-tech
courses and
Survey students to Student interest college credit
find out their survey courses
interests

Involvement of Outside Stakeholders

It is essential Lakeview High School remember to involve both internal and external

stakeholders. Within schools, internal stakeholders, such as teachers and extended school staff,

can control the environment and produce a positive change within a school. However, external

stakeholders, such as community members and local businesses, have the ability to support a
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school’s improvement plan (Engaging Stakeholders, 2009).

Lakeview High School needs to acquire perception data. It is important to gather data

from all community members including teachers, students, parents, and Waterbury residents. The

school principal with create a community learning team to that will foster collaboration between

the school and Waterbury residents. The learning team will create a survey for parents and

community members. The survey will be available to parents at Open House and be sent out

electronically twice during the school year. Learning Points Associates (p. 12) share sample

questions to ask of all stakeholders

 How do the members of our school community feel about our school and district?

 How satisfied are school community members about our educational programs?

 What do the members of our school community perceive to be the strengths and

needs in our school?

By asking these questions, the leaders of LHS will be able to gauge how the community

perceives the school and will be able to discern how the community can support the educational

needs of students. Lakeview High school will also be able to raise parental involvement within

the school.

Effectiveness of the Plan

In order to monitor the effectiveness of the improvement plan all seven of the new

committees must regularly meet to share information and assess what is or is not working. Data

must be shared with the superintendent, Board of Education, and parents. Success of the plan

will be measured by improvement within the school environment and student performance.

Examples of this include:

1. Enrollment in new courses increases over a five-year span.

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2. Increase in student attendance over a five-year span.

3. Increase student graduation rate over a five-year span.

4. Increased scores standardized testing (at the state and national level) over a five-year

span.

5. Increased parent participation over a five-year span.

6. Increased community service involvement over a five-year span.

7. Increased community business partnerships over a five-year span.

8. Increase student/parent satisfaction ratings over a five-year span.

9. Increased teacher satisfaction ratings over a five-year span.

10. Improvement of school rating over a five-year span.

(Measuring Success, n.d.).

Conclusion

Lakeview High School faces many challenges but change is on the horizon. The

improvement plan requires leaders that can communicate a vision and inspire others to work

toward a common goal. By, all stakeholders, the educational leaders of Lakeview High School

ensure a brighter future for students, their families, and the community.
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References

Boatsman, Gillmore, & Wagner. (2014). Strategic planning and goal setting: Assessments:

Strategic planning goal setting [White paper].

Dowd, M. (n.d.) Duties and Responsibilities of School Principals. Retrieved from

http://work.chron.com/duties-responsibilities-school-principals-7885.html

Engaging Stakeholders. (September 2009). RMC Research Corporation. Retrieved from

https://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/support/stakeholderlores.pdf

Guide to Using Data in School Improvement Efforts. (2004). Learning Point Retrieved from

http://wvde.state.wv.us/schoolimprovement/documents/guidebook.pdf

Measuring Success - The School Turnaround Field Guide. (n.d.) The Wallace Foundation.

Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/measuring-

success-school-turnaround-field-guide.aspx

Schafft, K. A., Biddle, C. (2013). Place and Purpose in Public Education: School District

Mission Statements and Educational (Dis) Embeddedness. American Journal of

Education, Vol. 120 Issue 1, p55-76. 22p. 4 Charts, 1 Map.

The Making of the Principal: Five Lessons in Leadership Training. (2012). The Wallace

Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-

center/Documents/The-Making-of-the-Principal-Five-Lessons-in-Leadership-

Training.pdf

Turkay, S. (2014). Setting goals: Who, why, how? [Manuscript].

Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2016). An

overview of strategic planning or "VMOSA" (vision, mission, objectives, strategies, and

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action plans).

Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2016). SWOT

analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.