1. Forsyth County Schools Strategic Planning Meeting October 17, 2016
Stan DeJarnett, GSBA
Mary Anne Charron, GLISI
Sandra McGuire, GSBA

2. Forsyth County Schools Strategic Improvement Plan
The Big Picture
Forsyth County Schools
Strategic Improvement Plan
Dr. Jeff Bearden
Superintendent

3. Goals for the Action Team
Engage in the revised FCS Mission
Review the Strategic Goal Areas, Performance Objectives, and Strategy Map and continue to refine them throughout the process
Develop the Performance Measures, Baselines and Targets that will measure progress toward the Performance Objectives
Create district Initiatives and Action Steps that will lead to desired results

4. Summary: The Four “A’s”
ACCOMPLISH
AGREE
ARGUE
ACT
Based on Strategic Planning Day1:
What do you feel we ACCOMPLISHED?
Where did we AGREE?
Was there any data or information that your group wanted to ARGUE about?
Where do we need to ACT?

5. We value your feedback…
At the end of day please be prepared to complete an electronic feedback survey
We value your feedback throughout the process

6. Where Are We Going?

7. Mission
Is a public declaration used to describe founding purpose and major organizational commitments—i.e., what they do and why they do it
Describe day-to-day operational objectives, its instructional values, or its public commitments to its students and community
2014 Great Schools Partnership. Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from

8. Forsyth County Schools Mission
Report by Todd Shirley
Recommendations for Forsyth County Schools Mission

9. Creating Clear Alignment: FCS Strategic Improvement Planning Process
Internal and External Stakeholders
FCS District Strategic Improvement Plan
FCS Department Plans
FCS School Improvement Plans

10. Continuous Improvement Model
Who are we?
Beliefs
Mission
Vision
How do we plan to get there?
Initiatives
Action Plans
Where are we now?
Performance Data
Stakeholder Input
SWOT Analysis
How will we know we have arrived?
Performance Measures & Targets
Where do we want to go?
Strategic Goals Areas Strategic Priorities Performance Objectives

11. The Levels of Strategic Improvement Plans
Strategic Goal Areas
Big buckets of work of the district
Performance Objectives
3-4 Objectives that describe what we will do in each Strategic Goal Area
Performance Measures
Specific measures that will inform us of our progress toward achieving the Performance Objectives
Initiatives and Action Steps
Work the staff will do to achieve Performance Objectives

12. That is the WHAT… now WHY?

13. Analyze Performance from Right to Left
Central Office
Principal
Teacher
Student
What is the Central Office doing (or not doing) that’s affecting our principals’ ability to lead for instruction?
How are we helping or hindering them as instructional leaders?
How is principals’ practice affecting teachers’ instruction?
What are principals doing (or not doing) as instructional leaders that’s helping or hindering teachers’ instructional performance?
How is teachers’ instruction affecting student learning?
What are teachers doing (or not doing) in their instruction that is helping or hindering students’ performance?
What’s going on with our students’ learning?
Source: University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership and The Wallace Foundation, Creating Your Theory of Action for District-wide Teaching and Learning Improvement (2013)

14. We Analyze Performance from Right to Left We Change Performance from Left to Right
Central Office
Principal
Teacher
Student
What needs to change in central office practice to better support principal instructional leadership?
What needs to change in principal practice to better support teachers’ instructional performance?
What needs to change in teacher practice to better support student learning?
What needs to change in our students’ learning?

15. Reviewing our progress

16. Development of Strategic Goals Areas
Strategic Goal Areas:
Provide a framework to describe the district’s strategy to reach its mission & vision
Include the critical perspectives that must be addressed for the school system to be successful
They are too big to be measured

17. Development of Performance Objectives
Developed Performance Objectives that will determine the high level work that Forsyth County Schools will do during the next five years to achieve their desired results.
Created Strategy Map which is a summary of the overarching plan and provides a theory of action.

18. Forsyth County Schools
DRAFT Strategy Map
Learning and Growth
Close the achievement gap
Foster social and emotional growth
Increase professional learning opportunities
Develop effective cultural engagement strategies
Increase purposeful school and community partnerships
Acquire, train, and retain excellent staff for all positions
Culture and Climate
Operational Excellence
Plan for growth effectively
Allocate resources equitably
Steward financial resources

19. Measuring Success

20. Measuring success begins with clear desired outcomes…

21. What are the FCS Desired Outcomes? What are FCS Desired Outcomes?
5/18/2018
What are FCS Desired Outcomes?
What will be our Impact?
What will we do?
How we will do it?
The mission of Forsyth County Schools is to prepare and inspire all students to contribute and excel.
Learning and Growth
Culture and Climate
Operational Excellence
Quality learning and superior performance for ALL.

22. Performance Measures What are Performance Measures?
High level indicators that are tracked throughout the life of your plan to report your progress in each Performance Objective and will help you determine if you are meeting your Desired Outcomes

23. Performance Measures Include:
Demographic
Perception
Student Learning
Demographic
Perception
Process
School Process
Student Learning
Think back for a minute to the Data Analysis module. One of the four data sources is school processes.
School processes represent those practices, processes, and procedures over which we have control and influence.
I may not be able to fix the Literacy of my district overnight, but I can begin by looking at the process of how teachers are scoring student work.
When we continuously improve what the adults do - processes and practices – we move the needle on student learning and achievement.
Source: Victoria L. Bernhardt, Data Analysis for Continuous Improvement, Third Edition (2013)

24. Performance Measures Criteria
Check your Performance Measures for these criteria:
Start with a strong verb such as increase, decrease
Include %, #, Ratio, $
Reflect one result/measure
Are timely and actionable
Are meaningful and understandable
Are expressed annually or more frequently

25. Example Performance Objective Performance Measures
Increase Rigor for ALL Students
Performance Objective
Increase % students scoring within or above the Lexile band
Increase % students taking advanced courses in middle school
Increase % of freshman taking AP classes
Performance Measures

26. Determining Baselines
Review current and past performance levels for each Performance Measure
Start with measures that are readily available
For new measures, decide how to collect data needed to determine baselines
Express baselines in correct units of measure (numbers, percentages, dollars, ratios, etc.)

27. Targets
Your target answers the question: “Where do we want to be, and by when?”
The target is the performance level desired for your future state — the level of results that are projected
You should project a target for each of the next three years to five years

28. Those last 5% points are the most difficult to achieve!
Work Backwards
Think where you want to be in 3-4 years and work backwards
Set targets that are achievable, but will require you to work
It is easier to make larger gains early on…so plan accordingly!
Those last 5% points are the most difficult to achieve!

29. Baseline and Target Example
Performance Measure: Increase % of students scoring within or above the Lexile band
Baseline: 2016 – 55% within or above
Target :
% within or above
% within or above
% within or above
2020 – 76% within or above

30. Performance Measure Activity
At your table, generate a short list of the Performance Measures for your first Performance Objective that will allow FCS to demonstrate world-class success for the specified objective.
Write your Performance Measures on your chart paper and be prepared to discuss WHAT measures you selected and WHY you selected them. Select a spokesperson to explain your chart.

31. Carousel Activity
In our carousel activity, listen for and ask questions about:
What is being measured?
What is the baseline?
What are the targets and why were they selected?
Why did you select these measures for this Performance Objective?

32. Performance Measure Activity
At your table, finalize the Performance Measures for your remaining Performance Objectives that will allow FCS to demonstrate world- class success for the specified objectives.

33. Initiatives: Starting with your Desired Outcomes
For each Performance Objective think about where you want to be in 3-4 years. Remember your DESIRED OUTCOMES?
Once you have developed clear DESIRED OUTCOMES, you can break it down into the first year Initiatives

34. Understanding Initiatives
Each Performance Objective will have Initiatives attached that identify how your district will address improving your desired performance
Initiatives are assigned to a team or leader for further research, data analysis, measuring, monitoring and support
They are usually in place for at least a year
Initiatives have short names, like the title of a book

35. Initiative Example Literacy Initiative Vertical Teaming Initiative
Performance Objective
Increase Rigor for All Students
All students will be reading, writing, speaking and listening at high levels so that they are prepared for college and careers
Literacy Initiative
Vertical Teaming Initiative
Desired Outcome
Initiatives
Have team members review the Action Plan of the Sample School Improvement Plan.

36. Understanding Action Steps
Are the things you will DO to complete the Initiative
Should be very specific
Should be created with input from people who will carry them out
Should be reviewed AT LEAST each six weeks to ensure you are making progress

37. Action Steps Should Include:
Teams to develop and drive the work
Data analysis and root cause analysis that identify your problem areas and why you have them
Research to identify best practices in this area
Development of year 1 implementation strategy
Provide training if needed
Communication and buy-in plan
Progress checks
Revisions
Person responsible
Sustainability plan
Repeat the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle with fidelity

38. Initiative and Action Steps Process
Begin with the Desired Outcome
Determine what Initiatives you need in place that will drive you to your desired targets and outcomes.
Assign the district leader who will serve as oversight to the Initiatives
Create the Action Steps for each Initiative
Determine who will be involved in working on the Action Steps
Be prepared to share you work

39. FCS Strategic Planning Next Steps
Set up your next meeting(s) date to finalize your Performance Measures and district Initiatives and Action Steps
Complete your Performance Measures, Initiatives and Action Steps for each Performance Objective and ensure they are on Google Drive by November 4, 2016

40. Remember… bit.ly/forsythaction
Please complete and submit with your feedback at the following link:
bit.ly/forsythaction
We value your feedback throughout the process

41. Please contact us at:
Mary Anne Charron
Stan DeJarnett Sandra McGuire