Strategic Planning

Assess Needs

We begin by conducting a comprehensive needs assessment, gathering both quantitative information as well as qualitative input from the community. Our needs assessment provides a shared understanding from which to launch the planning process.

Codify a Theory of Action

We work with you to codify your district’s theory of action, the fundamental set of core beliefs about the drivers of long-term success. Together, we’ll reflect deeply on the context needed to successfully address the root causes of your district’s challenges. Once developed, your theory of action will guide prioritization of goals, initiatives, and activities in your school district.

Set Priorities and Goals

We help you distill a lengthy list of priorities down to a short, actionable list—five or six broad thematic areas that will propel the district to achieve its vision and mission. For each priority, we’ll articulate measurable goals to define success, so progress can be tracked.

Two-Step Community Engagement

We know that a strategic plan needs broad support to be implemented effectively, but building support is challenging work. We take a two-step approach to community engagement that creates deeper understanding of district needs as well as the trade-offs at hand. We’ll solicit stakeholder input early in the process and facilitate a series of community engagement meetings once the plan is drafted to provide essential insight into different perspectives, identify issues that may have been overlooked, and create an opportunity for feedback and reaction.

Build Buy-In

DMGroup believes it is important broaden the group of stakeholders involved in developing the implementation plan, including many of those who will be charged with executing the plan. We’ll help you identify the right team and a process for working effectively together.

Define Initiatives

We work with you to determine a short list of specific initiatives or projects related to each priority area so that you can focusing your energies on high-impact work. We’ll start by taking stock of existing initiatives, perform a gap analysis to identify additional initiatives needed to achieve your strategic objectives, and deliver a finalized list of initiatives aligned with your strategic plan’s priorities.

Identify Action Steps

For each initiative, we’ll help you develop action steps that provide the details of what must occur, by when, and with whom involved to align all stakeholders in a common process and enable all involved to think in a structured manner about the future of the work.

Measure Progress

So that you can effectively evaluate the success of your district strategy, we’ll craft measurable goals for each initiative. We’ll also help you set up a monitoring system to regularly measure progress so that you can make data-driven adjustments to implementation as needed.