One Measure, Ten Months
One strategic plan measure, ninth graders on track to graduate, followed from the September baseline to the June decision.
Quick insights for busy district leaders.
Making district progress visible.
Keep, Move, or Cut
Twenty measures that show up on district dashboards, sorted into three piles: keep for the board, move to the cabinet, or cut.
One Dashboard, Two Jobs
A K-12 executive dashboard helps the cabinet run the district. A public dashboard helps the board govern. One screen can’t do both jobs.
Up Three Points, on Average
An average can rise while a school or a group of students falls behind. Boards need the breakouts, decided in advance.
The Day After the Board Adopts the Plan
Adopting the plan takes one vote. Keeping it alive takes measures, a monitoring calendar, honest status rules, and board time set aside to use them.
The Dashboard That’s Always Green
When every goal on the dashboard is green, nobody believes it. Define what each color means before the data comes in, and let yellow be normal.
A Goal Without a Budget Line
If a goal in the strategic plan has no line in the budget, it’s a wish. Three questions to ask before budget season starts.
Five Minutes Before the Meeting
A good school board dashboard lets any trustee understand the strategic plan in the five minutes before the meeting starts.
Is 87 Percent Good?
A number in a strategic plan update can't tell the board anything on its own. It needs a baseline, a trend, a target, and a deadline.
The Scoreboard That Updates Once a Year
State test results tell the board how last year went. Boards need measures that move while there's still time to act.
What an AI Should Never Say About Your Strategic Plan
Getting an AI to answer questions about a strategic plan is easy. Teaching it what not to say is the actual work.
Adjectives Aren't Evidence
"Ongoing." "Robust." "Significant growth." Those are the words you write when the proof lives somewhere else.
You're Asking Three Years Too Late
A referendum campaign is a withdrawal from an account your district either funded, or didn't, over the three years before the vote.
The Plan That Outlived the Superintendent
Strategic plans rarely fail on the merits. They end when the leadership that wrote them leaves.
Forty Slides and No Decisions
When the board meeting is the only place to see progress on the strategic plan, the meeting becomes a status report. Show the progress beforehand, and the board can finally decide something.
A Board Member Without Data Goes Fishing
A trustee with a question and nowhere sanctioned to take it doesn't stop asking. The fix isn't less access; it's a narrower window you build.