26 JANUARY 2019
Emkan School Conference
Developing a school strategy
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Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Conducting a school assessment
3. Designing a school strategy
4. Questions & answers
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Introduction
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Introducing the presenters for this session
▪ Managing Director of Strategy @ Emkan
▪ 11 years consulting experience across Middle East
▪ Previously Project Leader at BCG
Mishary Alibraheem
▪ Senior Consultant @ Emkan
▪ Experience in student counselling & consulting
▪ Previously Student Counselor
Nidha N Musliyar
4
▪ Who is aware of the #10 year challenge?
▪ Who has personally participated in this challenge?
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#10 year challenge & its memes have gone viral
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▪ Can we apply this ‘challenge’ to the context of a school?
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Let’s apply the ‘5-year challenge’ to a school…
▪ Gr 9 - 12
▪ Offers international (British) curriculum
▪ 500 students enrolled; at 50% capacity
▪ 30 teachers (16:1) (90% expatriate, 10% Saudi)
▪ 80% students achieved a C or above in A-levels
▪ Gr 4 -12
▪ Offers international & national (dual-language)
curriculum
▪ Cambridge accredited school
▪ 1050 students enrolled; at 110% capacity
▪ 55 teachers (19:1) (70% expatriate, 30% Saudi)
▪ 95% students achieved a C or above in A-levels
▪ Average ranking score of 60 in Tasheeli; ranked
~330 in Qiyas overall
2019
2014
Illustrative
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…was performing
5 years ago?
…is performing
today?
…wants to perform
5 years from now?
…wants to perform
10 years from now?
2014 2019 2024 2029
Do you know how your school…
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Conducting school assessments & designing school strategies will help your school set & succeed in its ‘5-year-challenge’
School assessment Evaluates how your school is performing (annually)
School strategy- Articulates how school can improve its performance
- Is set every 3-5 years and reviewed quarterly/annually for its impact
2014 2019 2024 2029
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Conducting a school assessment
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Definition of ‘school assessment’
It is a collaborative & reflective
process to evaluate a school’s
performance in which all the
school’s stakeholders (i.e. leaders,
teachers, staff, students, parents)
participate
1
12
▪ Excluding assessments for accreditation, how many of
your schools have done a school assessment within the
past 2 years?
▪ Was the assessment relevant & useful in improving
school’s performance?
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Importance of conducting a school assessment periodically
1. Improves school performance based on clear evidence
2. Uses key findings as indicators for the school progress
3. Prioritizes areas of improvements that the school should
address
4. Allows the school to compare its performances against
other schools
5. Emphasizes stakeholders’ ownership in improving the
school performance
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Emkan’s school assessment tool was developed based on extensive research and expertise in three main ways
1
We reviewed 22 school
assessment frameworks
from 9 countries
We leveraged our
experience of working with
24 schools in KSA & UAE
5 international & local
education experts
participated in developing
Emkan assessment tool
1
2
3
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Assessment
1. Professional Growth & Culture
2. Leadership
4. Curriculum, Assessment &
Reporting
3. Teaching
5. Student Care, Development & Guidance
7. Data &
Information Management
8. Operations,
Resources & Facilities
6. Parent & Community
Engagement
There are numerous datapoints
that will be assessed within each domain
Our school assessment framework examines eight main domains
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Designing a school strategy
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Importance of developing a strategic plan
1. Provides a clear, definite ‘road-map’ on what will be
improved at school; and how it will execute it
2. Helps the school prioritize and focus its resources, time
and efforts to areas most-in-need
3. Creates buy-in, ownership and accountability among
staff and stakeholders
4. Enhances stakeholder’s confidence in school
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Design principles of an effective strategic plan
Has buy-in and
involves all
stakeholders
Has school
leaders establish
team(s) to
execute plan and
ensure authentic
participation by
key stakeholders
group
Triangulates
multiple data
points - across
different years &
areas - for
comparison
Monitors,
measures plan’s
progress and
impact1; and
reviewed as
required
Has clear,
aspirational goals
and targets that
can be achieved
within time-frame
specified
Collaborative Led by
Task Forces
Based on
school data
Reviewed
periodically
Clear and
realistic
1 2 3 4 5
1. Progress and impact can be reviewed quarterly, by semester or annually
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Five sections within a strategic plan
Heritage
type
Mission
& Vision
Implementation plan
Financial plan
Organization & Governance
4
Objectives &
Key Results
2
Organizational structure
1
3
5
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Mission and Vision
Definition Mission:
School’s core purpose
of existence
Vision:
Describes desired
future state of school
Strong mission and vision statements are:
✓ Aspirational
✓ Mid to long-term in focus
✓ Easy to understandBest practice
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To provide excellence in teaching &
learning within a well-balanced educational
context involving the academic, cultural,
social, physical, emotional and spiritual
dimensions in life
Mission
To provide the best all-round education it is
possible to obtainVision
Example of Mission & Vision statements
Source: Kings College School New Zealand strategic plan 2016 - 2020
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Objectives & Key Results
Definition Objectives:
Clearly defined goals
that school strives to
achieve
Key Results:
Specific outcomes that
measures achievement of
set goals
Good Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) are:
✓ Specific
✓ Measurable
✓ Achievable
✓ Realistic
✓ Time-boundBest practice
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Activate professional
learning communities
within school
Objective
85% of Gr.10 -12 teachers
participate regularly1 in
professional discussion
circles during academic
year (vs. 65% currently)
Key Result
1. Minimum of once a week
Source: Transformation plan for leading K-12 KSA school
Example of OKR for Secondary school
section
24
▪ Can you come up with a Key Result for a Lower Primary
school section?
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Improve parent
communication &
engagement
Objective
30% of parents participate
in classroom activities at
least once a month
(vs 10% currently)
Key ResultExample of OKR for
Lower Primary school section
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Organization & governance
Definition Org. structure:
Groups different school
sections (typically by
gender & grade) &
support services
Governance:
Clarifies key roles &
responsibilities of Board of
Directors & Leadership team
Good org. structure has:
✓ Limited # of
hierarchical layers
✓ Have functions that
support teaching &
learningBest practice
Good governance has:
✓ External, independent
Board members who have
diverse skill sets &
experience
✓ Clear Terms of Reference
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Reasons why school may restructure &
change its governance
Create/expand departments
that better support teaching
& learning
Ensure leadership positions
assigned manageable number
of staff
Set lean organization
structure with:
- Minimal layers
- No duplication of function,
role & responsibilities
- Clear reporting lines
Reasons why schools restructure; examples of how it was done
Merged school sections to
optimize grade configuration
Established Curriculum & PD
department to be accountable
for curriculum & teaching
standards
Reaso
ns
why
Exam
ple
s Ensured leader’s span of
control is 7-10 direct staff
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Financial plan
Definition Financial plan:
Projects financials for next 5 – 10 years to allow school
better manage, support and fund its growth
Effective financial planning:
✓ Identifies and details key revenue & cost drivers
✓ Based on reasonable assumptions (e.g. # of students)
✓ Incorporates different (future) scenarios
✓ Reviews annual budget quarterlyBest practice
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Reasons why financial plans are vital to school’s strategy
Financial plans
Assigns funding to sections/ departments to
facilitate strategy execution; financially covers
them for next 3-5 years as change happens
Provides Leadership team with an accurate
tool to communicate funding need to Board
Creates long-term financial sustainability
within school
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Implementation plan
Definition Implementation plan:
Sets outs the strategy including initiatives, milestones,
objectives and key results to accomplish in desired
future state
Effective implementation plan:
✓ Assigns responsibility & accountability to designated staff
and/or Task Force team
✓ Has clear timeframes and is resourced effectively
✓ Is reviewed regularly for progress & impactBest practice
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Reasons why detailed implementation
charters & timelines need to be set
Source: Transformation plan for leading K-12 KSA school
Detailed
charters & timelines
Milestones: Helps details
tasks that needs to be
completed & sets it out in
definite timeline for staff
to follow
Lead: Assigns ownership
and accountability to
staff(s). Their buy-in and
capacity is built too
Key results: Illustrates what
success should look like
1
2
3
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A strategic plan would take about…
4 weeks to design
3 – 5 years to implement
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Examples of short-term impact of implementing strategic plan was…
✓ 100% of academic leadership team’s capabilities
reassessed; hired new talent to strengthen team
✓ 100% of school’s policies and procedures revised
&/or designed; activated in all sections/departments
✓ 100% departmental OKRs set
✓ Activated new Performance & Development culture
and processes
Illustrative
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Applying Kotter’s eight-step process to lead change at schools
1
Establish sense of
urgency
> Do school
assessment to
identify areas of
improvement
3
Develop a vision &
strategy
> Set 3-5 year
strategic plan
5
Empower broad
based action
> Give Task Force
authority to lead
& implement
initiatives
7
Sustain
acceleration
> Revise policies &
procedures
4
Communicate the
change vision
> Send out info.
about strategy’s
progress regularly
to all stakeholders
6
Generate short-
term wins
> Celebrate
successes of
Change Champions
& departments
meeting targets
2
Build guiding
coalition
> Select Task Force
members to lead
change
8
Institute
change
> Set, activate &
measure against
aspirational OKRs
Source: John Kotter’s 8-step change model
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So, is your school now prepared for its #5-year-challenge?
2014 2019 2024 2029
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Questions and answers
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Thank you for your time & participation