1.

2 Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation
of technology-infused strategic plans.

ARTIFACT: Current Reality/SWOT Analysis

To plan for the technology needs at Hapeville Elementary School (HES), the SWOT
analysis was completed and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) were
identified. When creating this artifact, it was important to keep in mind the previously mentioned
components in conjunction with ISTE’s Essential Conditions. The Essential Conditions are
comprised of “14 critical elements necessary to effectively leverage technology for learning”
(Essential Conditions, 2018). This artifact was completed independently, however, it was
completed using artifacts and information from meetings (formal/informal) with administration
and teachers, observations, and documents such as the school’s strategic plan.
The artifact provides an in-depth look of how to facilitate the design and development,
implementation, communication, and evaluation of a strategic plan that infuses the appropriate
technology usage. The SWOT was designed and developed by dissecting Hapeville’s current
reality into the eight essential conditions provided by ISTE. The information needed to complete
the design and development portion of artifact was gathered from surveys, interviews,
observations, and most importantly, the ISTE Lead and Transform Diagnostic Tool. It was
imperative to understand HES’s academic practices, mission, vision, technology plan, technical
support, professional learning, and curriculum. Additionally, an overall picture of the school and
its status in the areas mentioned above just as important when developing a strategic plan for the
school.
After identifying the SWOT areas through the given data sources, a plan to further
support teachers was developed and implementation of the recommendations were put into
place. The school has great human resources in place – a professional learning facilitator, full-
time literacy and math coaches, a technology teacher, and members of Fulton County’s
instructional technology coaching team known as the Vanguard. Additionally, a Kennesaw State
University iTeach instructional technology coach is available to support by modeling, co-
planning, co-teaching and support with daily instruction to transform the design and
development into implementation in the classroom. Implementation took place because all
parties focused on strengthening the weaknesses and opportunities while staying keeping in mind
the strengths and threats that were also identified. Implementation at HES was a team effort
thanks to their depth of personnel.
As the SWOT analysis was completed, the plan provided suggestions for
communication, including an increased collaboration between the administration, academic
coaches, KSU coach and Vanguard members. Additionally, due to the demographics in which
HES is located, the plan indicates need to improve school to community communication. This
was to make those in the community aware of the disparities that exist outside of the school
walls and what steps can be taken to eradicate those inequities. The plan was also communicated
within HES. Inequities in teacher knowledge was prevalent. Though there were many teachers
with a great deal of knowledge, there were still more that lacked the skills and confidence to
move forward productively. The Vanguard team and professional learning facilitator work to
communicate more regularly with staff requiring support and additional instruction. Evaluation
of the effectiveness of the SWOT analysis can be conducted in the same way the information and
data were gathered. Utilizing strategies such as observations and interviews will provide access
to additional information, but the completing the ISTE Lead and Transform Diagnostic Tool at a
future date will be most beneficial and it will also expose areas of successful growth and
opportunities. Moreover, potential areas of weakness and continued or new threats can also be
identified.
As this artifact was created, there were many elements of this project were also observed.
Prioritizing efforts to clarify the vision for the staff, students, and community of HES is
imperative. It is equally as important for the administrative team to consider how to govern the
expectations of the school and provide a way to deliver those expectations in a way that does not
lead to teachers and students feeling overwhelmed and being overworked. In the future, if an
activity such as this one was conducted again, meeting with teachers after the ISTE Lead and
Transform Diagnostic Tool was completed would be interested.
This artifact helps to impact school improvement, faculty development, and/or student
learning by distinctively identifying areas of strength, weakness, opportunities, or threats. When
one is made aware of these four categories, it allows for administration and staff to plan
accordingly. They are given the opportunity to make the necessary adjustments to areas such as,
professional development, lesson planning, and communication, just to name a few.
Administration also can utilize data to identify those weaknesses in academics and make a clear
determination whether it corresponds with and supports other data that may also have been
collected. This can lead to the proper directives and communication to parties responsible with
developing the professional learning opportunities for staff. The Professional Learning
Facilitator, in conjunction with the academic coaches and technology coach, can then design
additional learning opportunities that will help strengthen the identified weaknesses and
opportunities of the SWOT.
Additional support can also be provided via modeling, co-planning, and co-teaching of
lessons by the in house KSU coach and/or the other instructional coaches in the building. How
this impacts the school and its dynamics can be assessed by observation of classrooms, formal
and informal, feedback received from all stakeholders aside from those within the school setting,
and instructional planning with teachers. Ultimately, a positive change in student learning and
achievement is where the most impactful and effective change will be noticed. Student
achievement will determine if the adjustments made by implementing the suggestions derived
from the SWOT are making a true impact schoolwide.

Reference
Essential Conditions. (2018). Essential Conditions. Iste.org. Retrieved July 7, 2018, from
https://www.iste.org/standards/essential-conditions/shared-vision.
Fulton County Schools Information Technology Department. (2015, June 1). Instructional
 and Information Technology Strategic Plan Update. Retrieved from
http://www.fultonschools.org/en/divisions/it/Documents/Technology%20Plan%20Present
ation.pdf#search=technology%20plan
Hapeville Elementary School. (2018). Retrieved from
http://school.fultonschools.org/es/hapeville/Pages/Mission.aspx