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ACTIVITY: Reflect on the Work

Impact: Did you achieve or make progress towards the goals identified in your strategic plan? What evidence/data do you have?

Implementation: Did you do (with fidelity) what you said you were going to do in your strategic plan?

What evidence/data do you have?

Reflection: If you did not have the impact expected or implement with fidelity, why? What should you be aware of in this planning process?

Review what you said you were going to do in your previous strategic plan and reflect on whether you achieved the impact you expected. These guiding questions will help set that stage for the rest of the needs assessment.

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BREAK OUT & NEXT STEPS

Principals and GO Teams should review their Mission & Vision Statements using the following rubrics.

Document(s) Needed to Complete this Step:

Previous Strategic Plan

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Review School Mission & Vision

The mission is a high level statement that describes who the school is, what they are about, or their purpose; it is what you do every day.

Guiding Questions

Does your mission clearly outline what you provide to whom for what benefit?
What is the purpose of your cluster, and what does it hope to accomplish?
How does it go about accomplishing its purpose for being?
What values or beliefs guide the cluster?

4. Exemplary Mission	3. Fully Articulated Mission	2. Developing Mission	1. Undeveloped Mission
The mission statement is clear, informative, concise and articulates what you provide to whom for what benefit. The mission statement is verifiable and is feasible.	The mission statement articulates your core purpose. The mission statement is verifiable and is feasible.	The mission statement partially describes your core purpose. The mission statement is not verifiable and/or feasible.	The mission statement is unclear, wordy and does not articulate your core purpose. The mission statement is not verifiable and is not feasible.

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Review School Mission & Vision

The vision is a high level statement that describes what the school wants to accomplish in the future (typically several years); it is a picture of the future. The vision is inspirational.

Guiding Questions

Does your vision clearly outline where you will be in three to five years?
Is your vision inspirational for stakeholders?
What would the world look like if the mission of the school were achieved?

4. Exemplary Vision	3. Fully Articulated Vision	2. Developing Vision	1. Undeveloped Vision
The vision statement is clear, concise and articulates what success will look like in the future. The vision statement is verifiable and is feasible. The vision statement is inspirational to stakeholders.	The vision statement articulates what success will look like in the future. The vision statement is verifiable and is feasible.	The vision statement partially describes what success will look like in the future for the organization. The vision statement is not verifiable and/or feasible.	The vision statement is unclear, wordy and does not articulate what success will look like in the future. The vision statement is not verifiable and is not feasible.

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The school’s reviewed, updated and/or finalized mission and vision should be added to the top of the new Strategic Plan template.

Review School Mission & Vision

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Needs Assessment

A needs assessment is the first step in developing a school strategic plan. It is a process of looking at data and information about the school to develop a clear picture and understanding of what is and has been occurring at the school.

Strategies

Priorities & Goals

A needs assessment is a process to help GO Teams learn about the areas in which they are doing well (strengths) and the areas in need of improving (opportunities).

Needs Assessment

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Needs Assessment

Strategies

Priorities & Goals

BREAK OUT

Principals share the overarching needs assessment from their School Improvement Plan.

Document(s) Needed to Complete this Step:

Needs Assessment from School Improvement Plan

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Insert Current Needs Assessment from School Improvement Plan

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Needs Assessment

ACTIVITY: Strengths & Opportunities

School Leadership Teams were asked to outline strengths and opportunities based on the available data.

Strengths (Based on 2019 Data)	Opportunities
59.5% of our total student population is performing at Developing Learner or above in ELA	Content grade level collaborative planning that includes time to review and disaggregate data in core content areas.
62.5% of our total student population is performing at Developing Learner or above in Mathematics.	Data shows that students with disabilities are still struggling across content areas.
67.3% of our 8th graders are performing at Developing Learner or above in Social Studies	Professional learning to support teachers with writing across the curriculum in an effort to provide rigorous and engaging instruction across content areas.
The school has built strong partnerships with students, parents, and the community.	47.8% of our 8th graders are performing at Developing Learner or above in Science.
We are a certified IB school with five core classes and opportunities for students to earn high school credit in World Languages.	Continue to increase rigor across all content areas through the IB framework in order to increase global mindedness and personal responsibility.

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Needs Assessment

ACTIVITY: Identify Overarching Needs

After reviewing the data, points of strengths, and opportunities for improvement, School Leadership Teams identified overarching needs the school must address .

Guiding Questions

What needs were identified during the data analysis process?
What specific data supports the identification of the overarching need?
Which needs are the most urgent?
Is the need trending better or worse over time?
What do our students need to be successful?
Is this an equity gap?

	Our Overarching Needs
1	Focus on increasing subgroups at Proficient Learner or above on the GMAS EOG in in ELA, Reading, and Math
2	Develop tools to assist teachers with analyzing student data as they plan lessons and activities to address student needs.
3	Continue to develop a positive, and collaborative environment for teachers, students, and staff.

Elementary & Middle School

Literacy Proficiency
Numeracy Proficiency
Whole Child /Student Support

High School

Post-graduation Preparedness
College & Career Readiness
Whole Child /Student Support

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Needs Assessment

ACTIVITY: Root Cause Analysis

	Our Overarching Needs	The Root Cause
1	Focus on increasing subgroups at Proficient Learner or above on the GMAS EOG in in ELA, Reading, and Math.	Content and Special Education Teachers’ lack content expertise and research-based appropriate instructional practice, which prevents them from addressing the instructional needs of Special Education students.
2	Develop tools and systems to assist teachers with analyzing student data as they plan lessons and activities to address student needs.	Teachers inconsistently analyze and disaggregate formative and summative data to address the needs of all students.
3	Continue to develop a positive, and collaborative environment for teachers, students, and staff by incorporating systems to identify and address academic and social/emotional concerns.	Students have been in virtual/hybrid learning during a global pandemic. Social and mental mores need extra support systems.

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Strategies

Priorities & Goals

Next Steps

Principals and GO Teams should review/discuss:

Guiding questions around data
Identify additional strengths & opportunities
Identify any potential new overarching needs/root causes

Document(s) Needed to Complete this Step:

School Data

Needs Assessment

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Needs Assessment

What is our data telling us?
Are all subgroups of students, including cohorts, performing at the proficient level?
What trends and patterns are observed for all students and each sub-group? Be specific.
Are there any extraordinary or external factors impacting student learning (i.e., digital learning due to the pandemic)?
What are the important trends and patterns that will support the identification of student, teacher, and leader needs?

Data to Review

Guiding Questions for Discussion

Elementary and Middle Schools:

MAPS
BASC-3 (October/November)
Enrollment Trends
Milestones Results, including student participation rates
Additional data

High Schools:

MAPS
BASC-3 (October/November)
Enrollment Trends
Milestones Results, including student participation rates
Graduation Rates

(October/November)

Additional data

Next Steps

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Needs Assessment

SCHOOL NAME

Strengths	Opportunities

Outline and additional strengths and opportunities that GO Team members have identified based on the available data.

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Needs Assessment

ACTIVITY: Identify Overarching Needs

After reviewing the data, points of strengths, and opportunities for improvement, discuss and identify and additional overarching needs the school must address .

Guiding Questions

What needs were identified during the data analysis process?
What specific data supports the identification of the overarching need?
Which needs are the most urgent?
Is the need trending better or worse over time?
What do our students need to be successful?
Is this an equity gap?

	Our Overarching Needs
1
2
3

Elementary & Middle School

Literacy Proficiency
Numeracy Proficiency
Whole Child /Student Support

High School

Post-graduation Preparedness
College & Career Readiness
Whole Child /Student Support

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Needs Assessment

Why do teachers lack time to research differentiated

instructional strategies?

The school has not scheduled common planning time or PLCs for all teachers.

Why have subgroups not received differentiated instruction?

Teachers do not have dedicated time to research differentiated instructional strategies for subgroups.

Why do subgroups struggle with prerequisite skills?

Subgroups have not received differentiated instruction to meet specific needs.

Why are your subgroups not making growth?

The subgroups lack prerequisite skills.

Why is the ELA data continuously declining?

Our subgroups are not making growth.

You can use the 5 why protocol to

identify the probable causes

Ask why (eliminate symptoms

that are either tied to a specific person or something out of your control.

Select a symptom, then ask why
Continue until you’ve identified

your root cause(s)

Tip: If you can’t change the root cause identified, then you need to go up one level.

ACTIVITY: Root Cause Analysis

Discuss the factors that are impacting the school’s ability to improve, specifically the “why” for the observed data outcomes. You may wish to analyze an area of strength as it may provide insight into the factor(s) contributing to the opportunities for improvement.

List the factors (probable causes) to which the team attributes each overarching need. Select one probable cause as your root cause. The root cause should be foundational, actionable, wide-reaching, and alterable.

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Needs Assessment

SCHOOL NAME

Our Overarching Needs

Root Cause

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

ACTIVITY: Root Cause Analysis

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Needs Assessment

ACTIVITY: Root Cause Analysis

	Our Overarching Needs	The Root Cause
1
2
3

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Goals & Priorities

Needs Assessment

Strategies

Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound

Priority defines the one thing you are dedicating the majority of your time to. Your priority is the thing you do prior to working on other tasks.

Two types of goals: Process Goals that drive the implementation of school improvement efforts and Performance Goals that advance the mission of schools and districts by defining achievement benchmarks.

Goals & Priorities

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Goals & Priorities

SMART Goal Identification

In order to align with the APS Strategic Plan and APS Board’s Student-focused Outcomes, the unit of measure and target for some of your SMART Goals are already identified.
GO Teams should review the additional “overarching needs” identified to draft additional SMART Goals, if needed. We recommend between three and five SMART Goals. Additional measures that may be important could be identified as progress monitoring indicators.

SMART Goals
Increase the % of grades 6-8 students scoring proficient or above in reading	Increase the % of grades 6-8 students scoring proficient or above in math	Increase the amount of time that counselors spend with students in small group and individualized settings.

Additional SMART Goals

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Needs Assessment

Strategies

BREAKOUT

Principals should share their current SMART Goals from their School Improvement Plans.

Documents Needed to Complete this Step:

Current SMART Goals from School Improvement Plan

Goals & Priorities

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Insert Current SMART GOALS from School Improvement Plan

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Needs Assessment

Strategies

NEXT STEPS

GO Teams should discuss whether additional goals are needed based on their needs assessment.

Goals & Priorities

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APS Strategic Priorities & Initiatives

1A. tbd

1B. tbd

1C. tbd

TBD: tbd

School Name

SMART Goals

School Strategies

TBD

School Strategic Priorities

Mission

Vision

Fostering Academic Excellence for All Data

Curriculum & Instruction Signature Program

Building a Culture of Student Support

Whole Child & Intervention Personalized Learning

Equipping & Empowering Leaders & Staff

Strategic Staff Support Equitable Resource Allocation

Creating a System of School Support

Strategic Staff Support

Equitable Resource Allocation

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Priority Identification

Review your overarching needs and root causes.
Craft priorities based on addressing your root causes in order to achieve your SMART Goals.

Reminders

Key focus areas to address your school needs.
Led with a “continuous improvement” verb
Clear, concise, compelling
Measurable
Provides direction to stakeholders (students,

staff, families, community)

High-level (vs. actions)

Always remember,

your focus determines your reality.

George Lucas

Goals & Priorities

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BREAKOUT & NEXT STEPS

Needs Assessment

Strategies

Principals and GO Teams should begin crafting School Strategic Priorities aligned to the APS 5, overarching needs, and root causes identified during the School Improvement Plan process.

Schools can pull from their School Improvement Plan, previous School Strategic Plan, and/or craft new priorities.

Goals & Priorities

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School Strategic Priorities 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.	School Strategies
	1A. tbd 1B. tbd 1C. tbd

	TBD: tbd TBD: tbd

	TBD: tbd

	TBD: tbd

APS Strategic Priorities & Initiatives

School Name

SMART Goals

TBD

Mission

Vision

Fostering Academic Excellence for All Data

Curriculum & Instruction Signature Program

Building a Culture of Student Support

Whole Child & Intervention Personalized Learning

Equipping & Empowering Leaders & Staff

Strategic Staff Support Equitable Resource Allocation

Creating a System of School Support

Strategic Staff Support

Equitable Resource Allocation

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NEXT STEPS

As a GO Team, complete a draft strategic plan (Mission/Vision, SMART Goals, and Priorities)
School leadership team should build out high-level strategies and share with GO Team
GO Teams must approve the strategic plan before the FY2023 School Budget Process begins (approximately mid-January 2022)

For any questions, please reach out:

Travis Norvell Carolyn Barnett

tnorvell@atlanta.k12.ga.us cbarnett@atlanta.k12.ga.us

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APS Strategic Priorities & Initiatives

1A. tbd

1B. tbd

1C. tbd

TBD: tbd

School Name

SMART Goals

School Strategies

TBD

School Strategic Priorities

Mission

Vision

Fostering Academic Excellence for All Data

Curriculum & Instruction Signature Program

Building a Culture of Student Support

Whole Child & Intervention Personalized Learning

Equipping & Empowering Leaders & Staff

Strategic Staff Support Equitable Resource Allocation

Creating a System of School Support

Strategic Staff Support

Equitable Resource Allocation