Vision Update
A school district's vision can be a beacon of focus or a statement left on the shelf to rot and not be used. Fran Finco, Onalaska School District Superintendent stated all of their decisions are focused on their vision and mission. "Where do they want to go and how are they going to get there" The vision is the "Where do we want to go?"
Updating a vision statement can be as simple as rewriting the vision without collaborating with others...(not recommended). Or involving all of the stakeholders in a school community, as recommended, will leave you with a vision of the community, as opposed to that of the individual.
When asked what didn't work, outgoing superintendent, Ithaca School District Superintendent, Bob Smudde stated, "The district's vision and my vision were not the same." This is an interesting statement as both visions can have great value and be good for education and kids but won't gain traction if they are not the same. The proverbial "paddles in the same direction" holds true in these circumstances.
I believe the key element is getting the input from the community/school community and stakeholders from a variety of angles. Below is a link to a brief presentation revolving around creating a vision within a school community.
Vision...What do you see? I shared this with everyone once I found out you couldn't view it. It's just a PP from activity on Vision from the 704 class.
The Center for Public Education states one of the top 8 traits of successful school boards is: Effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and define clear goals toward that vision. Words to live by...
Updating a vision statement can be as simple as rewriting the vision without collaborating with others...(not recommended). Or involving all of the stakeholders in a school community, as recommended, will leave you with a vision of the community, as opposed to that of the individual.
When asked what didn't work, outgoing superintendent, Ithaca School District Superintendent, Bob Smudde stated, "The district's vision and my vision were not the same." This is an interesting statement as both visions can have great value and be good for education and kids but won't gain traction if they are not the same. The proverbial "paddles in the same direction" holds true in these circumstances.
I believe the key element is getting the input from the community/school community and stakeholders from a variety of angles. Below is a link to a brief presentation revolving around creating a vision within a school community.
Vision...What do you see? I shared this with everyone once I found out you couldn't view it. It's just a PP from activity on Vision from the 704 class.
The Center for Public Education states one of the top 8 traits of successful school boards is: Effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and define clear goals toward that vision. Words to live by...
As you have stated this is crucial to the successful function of a school district. Living in a district where we have sooo many internal areas to work on it has been difficult to reestablish a vision and mission. This process as you stated needs to involve many stakeholders and cannot be done without the intent of follow through or accountability. If it is not done with all those things it will sit on a shelf and not lead your decisions. My board sees value in our current mission and feels that I should focus on the other internal process and issues. I feel that I can because I do root my decisions in our mission. We as a district need to next align a vision with that to see the big picture. It is hard but necessary work.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point about how the vision of the superintendent and the vision of the community/board need to be the same, or it will not work out. I hadn't considered the "fit" until I began taking these classes. I was unable to access your attachment, but I would be interested in viewing it.
ReplyDeleteThe superintendent I work with now will often remind me that putting in the extra time on the front end to do things right (work of vision building) will save a lot of time and headaches later. I have to remind myself of this from time to time when I begin to feel the pressure to make things happen.