Just prior to the passing of the LEARNS Act, some of the Catholic schools struggled with student enrollment numbers and with being able to provide scholarship support for the families that qualified for financial assistance.
The Office of Catholic Schools spent time exploring what it could look like if the act passed. It was both exciting and a little scary at the same time. We needed to be ready to capitalize on the opportunities that the LEARNS Act might bring.
A strategic plan was needed. A strategic plan is a document that summarizes goals and action plans for an organization based on its mission and vision. It is developed by stakeholders that are invested in the success of the organization. It is a live document that might need revisions, modifications and/or additions based on the success of the plan.
With funding from the Walmart Foundation, a team from Bellwether Education Partners was in place to assist the Office of Catholic Schools with creating a strategic plan.
They began by investigating the current responsibilities and the services that the Office of Catholic Schools provides for the 26 schools in our diocese. Then a steering committee was formed representing both large and small schools, pastors and school boards throughout the state. The committee spearheaded the planning process by submitting names that were key stakeholders, both past and present. The Bellwether team interviewed the stakeholders, surveyed the school principals, and visited six schools throughout the state.
With the responses and data received, Bellwether created a summary of strengths including:
- Schools’ strong academic reputation
- Families, staff and alumni valued Catholic identity
- Religious formation and character development appeal to both Catholic and non-Catholic families
- Families value schools’ culture of kindness and focus on safety
- Strong alumni, parent, and staff communities
The needs or improvements desired summary from Bellwether included:
- Schools not having access to forecast enrollment based on changing demographic data
- Assistance needed to inform families of the Educational Freedom Account (EFAs) from the LEARNS Act
- Teacher recruitment and retention
- Goal-setting and monitoring curriculum and assessments
- Staff professional development
With the assistance of the steering committee and utilizing the needs and improvements list, the following five impact goals were created.
1. Help schools set appropriate annual enrollment goals and determine the criteria they will use to determine how fast to grow
2. Identify and invest in public messaging, cross-parish communication and outreach to new populations of Catholic students
3. Build schools’ talent networks and help schools pool and coordinate recruitment and teacher professional development efforts
4. Codify and share rigorous standards for the shared curriculum and tracking performance on assessments
5. Invest in staff professional development, data analysis systems and communities of practice
Bellwether and the Catholic Schools Office continued to meet by Zoom every week to establish the action plans, a timeline, who would be responsible for the actions and how to gauge the achievement of the goals.
With the strategic plan in place, the school’s office has begun with its mission in mind to continue to provide direction, services, and leadership to the schools in our diocese.
