The Tyrone Area School board has approved the district’s recent mid-point review of its strategic plan.
So, just what is a strategic plan?
Well, according to information on the state’s department of education web site, strategic planning is a process to achieve measurable goals and organizational transformation.
Assistant Superintendent Joann Lang explained a strategic plan drives the vision or mission of the district. What the board approved was a mid-point review of a plan that was first developed in 2002. As a result of the review, the district will be able to revise certain elements of the original plan.
School districts, charter schools and vocational-technical schools are required to file a strategic plan once every six years and review it for possible revision at the mid-point.
Lang said the plan is steered by several committees that had been formed. She said the mid-point review allows the opportunity to “see if you need to add anything or take anything away.”
Lang said there have been steering committees to develop a mission statement and a belief statement. She said there has also been work done regarding graduation requirements.
Lang said the district pinpointed two priority goals when they first developed the plan. Those goals focused on technology and communications. She said another area of focus is academic standards. The district also worked on plan instruction as part of the plan.
Lang noted the district’s assessment plan had been revised recently. She said the revisions were based on No Child Left Behind and state requirements.
Other aspects of the original plan included a professional development plan and an induction plan for new teachers coming into the district. Lang said the plan includes ways to meet that goal by using mentors and workshops.
She noted the plan also included making an assessment of internal with staff and external needs with the public. Lang said 500 to 600 letters were sent out to assess the district’s programs, curriculum, sports and other aspects of the district. She said this was done to “drive our goals of the strategic plan.”
Lang explained, “That’s how we arrived at priority goal one and two: technology and communications.”
According to procedures outlined on the PDE web site, the plan’s mid-point review and revision process is designed to include a compilation of information on the progress/accomplishments of the first three years of the plan.
Districts are also expected to compile information on needs that emerged since the plan was developed. The mid-point process is also to review any recommendation from the Department of Education that was made during the acceptance of the original plan.
All the information gathered during the mid-point review is presented to the strategic planning committee for review and evaluation. The PDE’s Chapter 4 Academic Assessment and Standards regulations requires the district to include parents, students, school directors, administrators, teachers, other school personnel and other community representatives in the process.
After all that work is completed, revisions, additions and deletions are made to the original plan. The revisions then need to be approved by the strategic planning committee and the school board. The mid-point review findings are also shared with the community.
Finally, revisions were required to be submitted to the Division of Professional Education and Planning by Sept. 30 of the third year of the strategic plan. Lang said the district requested an extension from the state’s department of education to allow school directors to approve the review at a meeting last week.
