Strategic Planning Process

During the 2020-21 school year, PGCPS partnered with Hanover Research (Hanover), an independent K-12 research organization, to support the district’s strategic planning work. The process maintained a dual focus on equity and cultural responsiveness to guide the district’s short- and long-term priorities.

PGCPS acknowledges the vital role of equity and cultural responsiveness in education and is committed to ensuring a healthy environment and culture that reflects these principles.

To this end, planning efforts sought to answer the following questions:

• Why does PGCPS exist? Is our mission and vision relevant to the needs of the environment?
• How does the culture of the organizational environment in which we operate enable the mission to be carried out?
• What does our diverse community of stakeholders expect from the district?
• How does the organization envision its future?
• What specific goals and strategies will guide objectives and action plans necessary for the district to achieve its desired future?

The Board of Education engaged in the work of equity strategic planning by reflecting on the current state of the district and the environment in which it operates. Informed by internal data and external environment analyses, this reflection enabled the re-examination of the district’s vision and mission. Facilitated visioning sessions revealed areas

of strength, opportunities for continued success, as well as areas of weakness, underperformance and pressing needs among various stakeholder groups. These insights informed the foundation of PGCPS’ vision, mission and alignment of the strategic plan to the desired state.

The planning process (FIGURE 1) was research-based and informed an iterative process of data collection, analysis, interpretation and validation. Over an eight-month period, PGCPS gathered perspectives and feedback from thousands of parents, students, school and central office staff, district leaders, and community members to inform the development of its systemic strategic framework. Research activities solicited perceptions of PGCPS’ internal and external stakeholder communities, supported analysis of student academic and behavioral outcome five-year trend data, aided in identifying outcome goals and critical success indicators (CSIs) (formerly referred to as key performance indicators or KPIs), and, most importantly, sustained the engagement of diverse stakeholders throughout the planning process.

PGCPS Strategic Planning Process

1 - Secondary Benchmarking KPIs of Equity

Goal: Identify KPIs to prioritize in developing strategic plan and monitoring progress

2 - Equity Scorecard Data Analysis

GOAL: Use student data to identify disproportionalities in academic and incident and resolution outcomes by student subgroup

3 - Strategic Planning & Equity Diagnostic Tool Survey

GOAL: Understand how current strategic plan aligns with stakeholder priorities and determine long-term goals.

4 - Culture & Climate Survey

GOAL: Gather stakeholder perceptions of overall school and district culture and climate and understand differences across groups

5 - Strategic Planning Focus Groups

GOAL: Determine stakeholder priorities and unmet

6 - Facilitated Discussions with School Leaders

GOAL: Explore and understand results of prior surveys and analyses and discuss strategic imperatives

7 - KPI Metric Identification & Finalization

GOAL: Establish baseline Year 1 metrics for strategic plan progress monitoring in place

8 - Development of Strategic Plan Framework

GOAL: Use stakeholder feedback to create equity-focused mission, vision, goals and strategic imperatives

9 - PGCPS Annual Report

GOAL: Communicate district’s progress towards strategic needs and gather KPIs, ensure data-driven plan goals to all stakeholders feedback on perceptions of district on an annual basis