On March 2, 2023, the Strategic Planning CORE team met to continue working on “rebooting” Grandview Heights Strategic Plan.  It is this work that drives our district's work and focus and it is how we prioritize our collective efforts to proverbially move the needle.  Some of the more recent work that we have accomplished includes, but is not limited to, recently authoring a brand new Vision Statement for Grandview Heights Schools, continuing to work with our Inquiry Teams to provide a framework for each focus area, developing commitment statements for our district, evaluating whether to continue to use our district characteristics, and developing 21st century competencies.

On February 13, 2023, the Strategic Planning Inquiry Team met to continue building understanding, priorities, and research in their assigned areas.  We have landed on three core areas:  1) What must Grandview Heights Schools do to provide students with the tools, partnerships, infrastructure, and resources necessary to realize their dreams? a) partnerships and b) Security; 2) What must Grandview Heights Schools do to advance academic excellence and future readiness in a leader and learning centered experience?  a) Pedagogy and b) Pathways; and 3) What must Grandview Heights Schools do to advance student and staff well-being to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment?  a) Belonging and b) Balance.  This is our current framework and thinking as we continue our strategic planning process.

On February 1, 2023, the Core Team met to decide on how to frame the other organizational drivers. Some districts have articulated values, beliefs, pillars, or commitments. Many districts also have articulated learner competencies, attributes, and profiles/portraits of a learner/graduate. Which do we want, if any? After reviewing many comparable and aspirational districts’ organizational identities, the team decided that Grandview Heights Schools would develop Commitments that represent our core values in action and Competencies that represent what our learners need in the present and for their future.

On January 23, 2023, the Inquiry Teams met to conduct a thematic analysis of the focus group, interview, and community engagement data. As a result, themes were identified and will be pursued for further inquiry over the next couple of months. Some of the themes identified include concerns about academic pressure, social-emotional health and well-being support, experiential learning opportunities that are real-world and future-oriented, partnerships within and outside of our community, student voice and choice, preparation for post-high school pathways other than college, updating the elementary school, integrating new technologies, and ensuring a sense of belonging and inclusion for all students and families.

On January 11, 2023, the Core Team met and continued to work on drafting a vision statement. After many insightful conversations and sharing, a small group was appointed to take on the task of finalizing the draft vision statement. This subgroup met later in January and drafted this vision statement  - “Our students will DARE to explore and pursue BOUNDLESS possibilities!” This vision acknowledges the critical role of education in preparing students for a rapidly changing future filled with careers that are currently unknown to us and the desire to ensure that our students have the courage to take risks and pursue many pathways based on their interests. When you link our mission statement to this vision statement, it reads, “Our mission is to maximize and personalize every student’s learning SO THAT [our vision] our students will DARE to explore and pursue BOUNDLESS possibilities!” The team is currently ‘trying on’ this vision statement and is seeking feedback. We hope to finalize it during our March meeting.

On December 12, 2022, the three Inquiry Teams met to expand their perspective about the future and the discuss the implications on our learners’ educational experiences, begin the analysis of the focus group and community engagement data collected during the fall by categorizing participant responses, and continue to deepen their understanding of the inquiry areas. The inquiry teams will reconvene on January 23 to discover emerging themes from the data and set the direction for their continued inquiry based on these themes.

On December 7, 2022, the Strategic Planning Core Team began to draft ideas for a vision statement that is both exciting and challenging. The current mission statement is being retained as it is meaningful, relevant, and deeply embedded in the culture of the district - to maximize and personalize every student’s learning. We are striving for a focused, memorable, inspiring, and cohesive vision statement that is reflective of our community’s values. This is a challenging task and will take time and many iterations to arrive at something worthy of the Grandview Heights school community.

On November 15, 2022, we launched three Inquiry Teams that will research the priority areas to formulate strategy recommendations for the strategic plan.  The three teams are (1) Learning Experience; 2) Learning Environments; and 3) Learning Resources with six to eight people serving on each team.  Each team is comprised of students, staff, parents/community members, and administrators.

We refined team charters that will guide the teams' work, identified personal passions and biases, set the direction for the work, and engaged in some preliminary analysis. The Inquiry Teams will reconvene on December 12 to analyze the focus group and community engagement data.

On November 2, 2022, the Strategic Planning Core Team launched. This team includes teachers and administrative representatives from each school building, district administrators, and two Board of Education members and is facilitated by our strategic planning consultant from Coach to Lead, Dr. Denise Snowden. 

This team will lead the revisions to select organizational drivers, provide coherence across the three inquiry teams (which will begin their work to develop strategy recommendations later this month), will disseminate regular communication updates to stakeholders, and, most importantly, the Core Team is responsible for finalizing the strategic plan that will be presented to the Board of Education for consideration and adoption in the Spring of 2023. 

At this initial meeting, we established our purpose, and how we would work together toward that purpose. We explored some of the factors that are shaping the future of education (technology, future of work forecasts, neuroscience, etc.) to discern what our students will need to be fully equipped for their future.