แปลภาษาอังกฤษบทที่ 4 การวางแผนเชิงกลยุทธ์และการบริหารจัดการโดยยึดที่ตั้งเป็นฐาน

Strategic Planning and Site-Based Management

Strategic planning is the means by which the central office can define the overall direction of school district. Providing an overall direction is appropriate given the legal structure of public education, the fact that there are common needs among schools, the similar external demands that apply to all schools in a school district, and the similarity in the nature of teaching and learning demands across schools.

The key component of strategic planning is a vision of the future. It is targeted to the basic mission of the school district to provide the appropriate educational programs and services required to meet the needs of its clients. Being able to create a vision of the future and to develop a shared commitment to its attainment is critical to the organizational effectiveness of the school district. It is the common thread that holds the school district together.

The vision at the central office level must be, at the minimum, shared with all of the school in the district. It is recommended that school-level representatives (staff, parents, and students) be involved in generating the vision to provide a district wide perspective and to help foster a shared commitment to its attainment.

One of the major problems of organizations, including schools and school districts, is that different members have different visions of what the organization should be and should do, For example, consider the following two pairs of statements.

School A: The purpose of schools is teach basic skills.

School B: The purpose of schools is to prepare students for life.

School A: Schools should teach responsibility through a strict adherence to rules and regulations.

School B: Schools should teach responsibility through student decision making and self-directed learning.

 These separate and different visions are frequently not shared or communicated between different members of the organization. Instead, they become the "silent criteria: we use in making requests, recommendations, and decisions regarding budget, program, and staff in the schools. As a result, a lot of time and effort is wasted in the organization as people pursue their own priorities and reject the priorities of others. Teachers deny the requests of students, principals and so on.

It is important to note that not everyone may agree with or heartily embrace all components of any shared vision. But it is essential for them to know "what the ballgame is." This is especially critical when schools are changing in response to the demands from their environment, new teaching and learning priorities are being adopted, and new norms and values are being established within the larger professional community. Communicating the vision is essential to the establishment of credibility and the evolution of trust, two of the core dimensions of leadership.

 The Strategic Planning Model

Given the goal to decentralize decision making through site-based management, we have made changes in the general strategic planning model we presented in Chapter 2. Under site-based management, the strategic planning model is different for the central office than it is for individual schools. In this chapter, the first four steps in strategic planning for the central office are examined. These steps are diagrammed in Figure 4.1.

Identifying the external forces acting on the district and its schools
Defining the nature of the client population and its current and future needs		Creating a shared vision of the future
Clarifying the values and beliefs of participants about education

Figure 4.1. First Four Steps in District-Level Strategic Planning

External Forces

The first step in strategic planning is to identify the external forces (current and future)
that will influence the range and nature of programs, services, and clients that will be included in the district’s educational program. The vision of the school district should be idealistic, optimistic, and ambitious, but it must also be grounded in reality. In short, the vision must be responsive to external forces.

External forces can emanate from a variety of source. The categories listed in Table 4.1 may be helpful to use as you list your own categories. A slightly different set of categories has been developed by Mauriel (1989) and is an excellent reference for thinking about external forces.

Worksheet 8 is provided to serve as a guide in the analysis of your own situation.

Table 4.1 Categories of External forces

Financial trends	The economic decline, stability, or growth of the district; changes in the tax base; status of excess levies; types and levels of state funding; and so on
Community values and demands	Attitudes toward athletics, gifted and talented programs, minority-group needs, community education, basic-skills instruction, child-care programs, discipline, college preparation, and so on
Federal and state funding and programs	Changes in programs such as parent education, nutrition, child care, length of the school year, health care, graduation requirements, teacher training, multicultural programs, and drug and tobacco education
Demographics and enrollment trends	Changes in the demographics of the community such as growth, move-in and move-out rates, family values, education levels and aspirations, and distributions of school-age students
Professional standards and recommendations	Current position of professional and curriculum-centered groups on educational practices such as site-based management, outcomes-bases education, cooperative learning, math and science guidelines, and so on

 

Worksheet 8
External Forces: Current and future

List below the major conditions, decisions, and trends that have a high probability of influencing the educational programs, services, and clients of the school district.

Financial trends	---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community values and demands	---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal and state funding and programs	---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demographics and enrollment	---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Needs of students (Current and Future)

The second step in strategic planning is to examine both the current and future needs of students. First, the vision of the school needs to meet the current needs of students while they are attending the schools of the district. If the nature of the student body is changing, then these needs will be different than they have been in the part and different than we may either be comfortable with or prepared for. For example, children entering kindergarten may not have the level of development or language skills that has existed previously in the district.

Second, the nature of our society and the world of work is changing, and the knowledge and skills students must acquire to be successful in the future are different than they have been in the past. Again, our own knowledge, skills, teaching strategies, and comfort level may not be consistent with the new knowledge and skills we must now focus on. For example, our familiarity with technology or teaching higher-level thinking skills as well as our program materials may be limited. We will need to examine not only the nature of these needs but also the implications for teachers and programs.

Worksheet 9 and 10 are provided to examine the current and future needs of students in your setting.

Worksheet 9
Students' Current Needs and Implications

List the characteristics of the students and their current needs when entering and attending district schools.

Characteristics of Students		Needs of Students

 What are the implications of these needs for teachers in the classroom and the educational programs and services provided by the schools?

Implications for Teachers		Implications for Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worksheet 10
Students' Future Needs and Implications

List the types of knowledge and skills students will require when they graduate from district schools.