Strategic Plan Creation
Over the 2018-2019 school year, Boulder Valley School District engaged in an intensive strategic planning process, which culminated into a comprehensive plan - The All Together for All Students Strategic Plan.
There were four initiatives used to start building the plan:
1. Building From Where We Are, Instead of Starting Over
BVSD's previous strategic plan, The Success Effect, has already accomplished much in the Boulder Valley School District. As we move the district forward, we will build upon this strong foundation, while still looking for ways to continuously improve.
2. Student First, Always
All of our efforts in the Boulder Valley School District are focused on the 31,000 students we serve and ensuring that they succeed not only today, but in the college and career pathway of their choice. As a result, this strategic plan will be focused on the students and how we can significantly improve student outcomes.
3. Data Driven
We will develop measures that will help drive our work. We will focus on Return on Investment (ROI) so that we can stop doing what is not working; benchmark our performance both locally and nationally with similar, high performing districts; and develop targets that will allow us to focus our efforts on student outcomes. In order to establish a baseline, BVSD worked with Greenway Strategy Solutions to pull together as much data as possible regarding the state of the school district, including state assessment results, district culture and climate surveys and much, much more.
4. Feedback Focused
All of this work is built upon the feedback of hundreds of BVSD parents, employees and community members. During his 100-Day Plan, Superintendent Rob Anderson met with the faculty at all 56 BVSD schools, as well as parents and community members at a number of Meet & Greet Sessions held regionally across Boulder Valley. During all of these sessions, participants provided direct feedback to the superintendent regarding the state of the district and areas they wanted improved. This feedback, along with all of the public engagement that led up to the Success Effect, has helped to inform and shape the new strategic plan.
Creation of Long Term Outcomes and Themes
Staff
District employees representing schools and departments gathered to brainstorm possible long term outcomes and strategic themes. The conversation focused on the district's data and what can be done to improve outcomes for students.
Families and Community
With draft long term outcomes and strategic themes in hand, BVSD held 7 community input sessions, including one for Spanish speakers, across the different regions of Boulder Valley. The feedback from both staff and community members helped shape the language and finalize the long term outcomes and themes. For families unable to attend in person, an online feedback form gathered input from over 150 participants.
Creation of Strategic Objectives and Initiatives
Staff
With the long term outcomes and strategic themes finalized, Strategic Theme teams were formed, comprised of district staff, school leaders, and teachers. These teams were charged with creating objectives, which narrowed the focus of the themes, and strategic initiatives, significant projects to implement the objectives. School leaders gave feedback on the draft strategic objectives and initiatives.
Families and Community
BVSD hosted a community wide equity summit in April 2019 attended by over 100 participants. At this summit participants were asked to evaluate the strategic plan framework through an equity lens and give suggestions on action items that would evolve from the initiatives.
