Aligning Goals in an Action Research Plan

Video Transcription

In this tutorial, I'll model for you the development of a SMART goal that is aligned to school goals and district goals. I'll then walk you through how to develop an action plan that is aligned to school goals, and you'll learn how to analyze an existing action plan for alignment to school goals. Let's get started.

Let's begin with a demonstration of the development of a SMART goal that is aligned to both school goals and district goals. I'll use the SMART acronym seen here to develop a SMART goal that is aligned to a district strategic goal. This chart shows the alignment of the district level, school level, and team level visions, missions, and goals. I'll be writing a goal that is aligned with the district-level strategic goal of having all students develop 21st century skills through the use of educational technology and innovative instructional techniques. Feel free to pause the video if you would like to take a closer look at any of the elements in this chart.

Using the SMART acronym, first, what is the specific goal that the team would like to achieve? The team decides that each teacher is going to implement at least two new instructional strategies that make use of classroom technology. Next, how will progress be measured or what data is used to measure the current reality or need? The team decides that they are going to use formative assessments and feedback from teachers and students in order to monitor both the implementation and the impact of these instructional strategies.

Next, is the goal attainable by all of the teachers on the team? Given that this goal is being written collaboratively, the teachers have determined that a goal of implementing two new strategies is indeed attainable. Next, is the goal relevant to curriculum or assessments to school-level or district-level visions and missions and goals or to student needs? We actually can see very high levels of alignment among all levels of visions, missions, and goals in this chart. And so having teachers implement new instructional strategies using classroom technology to enhance instruction and improve student achievement absolutely is in alignment with the district and school-level visions, missions, and goals.

Finally, what is the timeline for monitoring or for the expected date of attainment? In order to stay consistent and aligned with the school-level and district-level goals, this team opts to use the same time frame as just the 2015-2016 school year with the understanding that this will be constantly monitored and adjusted as necessary throughout the school year.

So the SMART goal might look like this. Again, feel free to pause the video if you need more time. After you've written a SMART goal, it's a good idea to review it and consider whether the goal as written is going to help you achieve the larger goals that you have identified through your team mission and through your team vision and perhaps even in any other team goals that you have written. If your answer is yes, the school is going to help us make progress in those areas, then you can continue on. But if you answer no, you are definitely going to want to alter the goal as necessary before continuing on with any additional steps.

Next, let's take a look at developing an action plan that is aligned not only to your team-level goals but also to the school-level goals and, in fact, even to the district-level goals as well. To support continuous improvement, it's really important that the goals of your action plan are aligned with the mission and vision and goals of your team. So it's a good idea to have a chart available like the one that we just saw earlier in this tutorial so that you can easily see the mission and vision and goals at the team level and the school level and the district level.

Your team will want to evaluate whether your goals are going to allow you to fulfill your mission and your vision. If you answer yes, then you're ready to start developing your action plans. But if the answer is no, then it's going to be necessary to go back and adjust your goals before you begin the process of developing action plans. You'll want to start this process systematically by addressing one goal at a time and then breaking that goal down into specific action steps.

Your action plan should always include a review cycle so that the team members can evaluate whether your actions are moving you towards attainment of the identified goal. So after implementation, then, when you come to these various check points in that review cycle, you'll be evaluating as a team whether you are making adequate progress. And if you are, then you can continue to implement the action plan as planned and to continue reviewing and reflecting as originally planned. But if at any time the answer is no, then you'll want to actually make adjustments to the action plan so that it is more effective.

So in regards to the team-level goal that you saw earlier in this tutorial, this might be an action plan that would support attainment of that goal. Once again, feel free to pause the video if you would like to take an even closer look. This action plan outlines the specific steps that teachers will be taking either individually or as a PLC group. It includes information about what types of data and feedback are going to be gathered, and specific dates are given for that review cycle when teams will be evaluating the data to see if they really are making progress towards attainment of the goal.

Finally, let's take a look at the process of analyzing an existing action plan for alignment to school goals. To demonstrate this process, I'll be using a sample school improvement plan. Here you can see the mission, vision, and goals that are identified for the school in the school improvement plan. We'll be taking a closer look at an action plan that addresses the first goal on the list-- to meet AYP in all schools in the areas of math and reading.

So here is the action plan. So when checking the action plan for alignment to the school goals, you first want to determine whether the goal and the outcome that are identified in the action plan are going to address the goals that are identified in the school improvement plan. And we can definitely see alignment here. This goal is written in a more specific manner, but it absolutely is aligned with that overarching school goal of having students maintain or reach AYP in the tested subjects.

Next, you want to consider whether achievement of the goal that is identified in the action plan is going to move your team closer to meeting that goal identified in the school improvement plan, or, alternately, if it's a goal focused on an initiative, is meeting this goal going to move you towards a successful implementation of that initiative? Once again, definitely if we can move students towards this goal, reaching high standards and at a very minimum maintaining proficiency, then that absolutely will move us closer to meeting the larger goal that is identified in the school improvement plan.

Next, you want to consider whether the specific steps in the action plan reflect the overall mission for the school that is identified in that school improvement plan. The mission here is truly pretty broad-- empowering all students to succeed in a changing world.

I'm not sure that there is a high level of alignment here. Certainly, in our action steps, we want to outline the actions that teachers are going to take, but there's no mention here of improving students' self-efficacy or even of that element in the mission of preparing students for a changing world. So I think that this action plan could potentially be improved by creating some better alignment to the school-level mission.

Finally, when checking for alignment, you want to ask yourself whether attaining the goal is going to move you closer to reaching the school-level vision. The vision refers to providing students with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to reach their potential in a global community. The vision mentions high academic expectations, diverse educational opportunities, and community involvement.

I think there's closer alignment here, especially in the steps of identifying content standard weaknesses and using proven successful instructional strategies. But, once again, I think there's room for improvement. Once again, some elements that includes those 21st century skills that students are going to need to thrive in the global community would be really appropriate here and would bring better alignment to the school-level vision.

So now it's your turn to stop and reflect. If you already have action plans in place for your SMART goals, check those action plans for alignment to the school-level goals. For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The Additional Resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.