The mission statement defines the purpose and direction of the organization. The mission statement is usually defined by the Superintendent and the Board of Education with input from the learning community. The vision (read NCREL piece on vision and technology) should be created with representative input from all of the players involved in the plan.
Things are changing. There is a new model for education that removes bureaucratic barriers to learning and allows professional decisions to be made not in isolation but in collaboration. The vision for education cannot be business as usual. Clinging to the past will not bring the vision that will meet the demands of the next century. The organization of schools must be restructured to adapt to change. The truly successful educational organizations will be those in which change has been "systemically embedded." The organizations that sense that change is the key to survival will be the ones who flourish. The new structures, like the old, will have organizational cultures that provide ceremony and tradition but the traditions and ceremonies will facilitate change. With media and information flooding the homeplace, it will not be long until students will lose a good education by going to school unless the same opportunities provided at home are provided at school.
This is often a difficult reality to face because it seems to negate our careers and educational experience. To seek a better way does not mean past practices were inappropriate (for the past). Past practices may, however, be inappropriate for the present and the future. It is imperative to learn from past practices and constantly improve.
Vision building gets better with experience. The more experience a person has with technology, the more insightful they become in finding innovative ways to use technology. The real question to be answered is: What educationally do we want to accomplish? For example, the authors of the improvement plan may envision students and teachers who are active in their own learning using a variety of tools to find, evaluate, and assemble information in a meaningful way. The educational results are envisioned first -- technology is then applied to help bring about the results. The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) supports the need for a vision: "without a vision and goals for learning, there are not criteria for evaluating technology effectiveness or cost."
There should be a statement prepared by the superintendent and the board of education, with input from the learning community, that outlines the basic purpose for the district's existence. The mission should not be ambiguous and full of glittering generalities like, "we will prepare students to move forth into the 21st Century." The mission statement should be a short definition of your business.
The samples provided here are not recommendations. You will be making a
mistake by adopting these statements without going through the process of
reflection and introspection that is needed to arrive at your own
statements. The committee will have to eventually own this vision and be
able to communicate the vision to the rest of the organization.
The vision should concentrate on what it will take to reach the mission. The more experience you have, the easier it will be to plan. If this is your first attempt at planning, you may want to visit some sites that will help create a vision of effective education for your building or district.
Creating a vision for the future of your district can be an exciting and rejuvenating process. Often the creation of a vision comes as a result of answering three questions: 1) If there weren't any restrictions, what could be done to improve student learning? 2) What restrictions keep us from the improvements? 3) How can we go up, over, around, under, or eliminate the obstacles to improvement?
A recommendation for a starting spot in creating a vision is to explore the literature. Refer to the reference section in this document for a starting point in finding national and state trends. For example, support for an information superhighway exists at the national level and at the state level in Ohio. Keep in mind that there is no single document that has all the answers. You will find that varying and diverse opinions are important because they often provide the spark for the formation of the district/building vision.
Set aside some time to discuss and clarify your beliefs about education. Discussions about educational beliefs will lead to an understanding of the diversity and similarities in your district. Beliefs will provide the philosophical foundation for educational improvement. In such discussions it is advisable to set some ground rules because beliefs are embedded with emotion. Establish a willingness to listen to all opinions. A summary of the discussion should be recorded to determine which ideas are in agreement and which are not in agreement.
Use the discussion of educational beliefs as a springboard to brainstorming and envisioning activities. In addition to brainstorming, write paragraphs that describe what a visitor to your school would see if they entered your school building with the improvement in place. Describe not only equipment that would be seen, but more importantly describe the activities of the students.
After a formative vision has been developed, decide what types of things you would like to see if you were to make a site visitation. Then find the sites that are doing what you want to see and arrange visitations. While what you see at any site will probably not replicate your vision exactly, you should be able to see portions of your vision in action. Ask open and honest questions about benefits and barriers that the districts have found in enacting their programs.
After visitations have been made, collect data, write a draft of the vision and compare the draft to the data collected. After the vision has been drafted, share it with key individuals in the organization and ask for feedback.
Focus on a vision of the future
The biggest challenge to planning is deciding what you want to do. Educators tend to focus on obstacles instead possibilities. We are prone to the "yes, but. . ." syndrome. When approached with a new idea, we can usually list a dozen reasons why a new idea won't work and very few reasons why it will. Gaining a vision will be an ongoing process. As your experience grows, the picture you envision for your district/school will become clearer.
Advice:
Your plan should concisely state the consensus developed by the planning group about what schools and learning in your district /school should look like in the future. The plan should broadly describe the learning environment, expectations of what the school and learners will do and how technology fits in.
Questions:
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