Vision and Mission

Key Elements of School

Culture
 Creating a Shared Vision
 A system of fundamental motivating
assumptions, principles, values, and
tenets that leads to a tangible vision
 Role of educational leaders is “to take

input of the entire vision community,

focus it and bring it into a coherent,
powerful vision” – Futurist Joel Barker
 Values and Beliefs
 Values and beliefs are the shaping force
behind the shared vision.
 Represent the core priorities in the school
culture
 What are the personal attributes we
promote?
 What are our operating principles?
 Beliefs and values create realities
 What are the curriculum, instruction,
assessment and environmental factors
that support effective learning for our
students?
 What are the values and beliefs that
undergird these factors?
 What do we believe and value about
good teaching and learning?
 Vision and Mission
 What is the purpose of our school?
 Why does our school exist?
 Purpose
• Comes out of core values and beliefs
• Needs to be compelling
• Needs to be flexible
• Not a description of what the school does now
• Broad, fundamental, inspirational and enduring
• Must grab the “soul” of each school member
 Mission
 Describes the overall purpose of the school
 A brief, clear, and compelling goal that serves to
unify the school community
 An effective mission must stretch and challenge
the organization, yet be achievable
 Is tangible, value-driven, energizing, highly
focused and moves the organization forward.
 Is crisp, clear and engaging
 Mission
 What you are in business to
accomplish; the long-term
goals that, if met, signify
success; the purpose of
school
 Some examples
 To make a contribution to the world
by making tools for the mind that
advance humankind. Apple Computer
 The role of SAI (School
Administrators of Iowa) is to
support, encourage and develop
Iowa’s educational leaders and
learners.
 The mission of the Galena Park
Independent School District is to prepare
students to become productive citizens
and lifelong learners.

 Kinkaid's mission is to promote

educational excellence, personal
responsibility, and balanced growth, and
thereby to help its students to discover
and develop their talents and to fulfill their
best potential.
 Mission
Must be part of daily operations
 Helps guide decisions and practices

throughout the school

 Does curriculum reflect the mission

 Do community relations reflect the

mission
 Look at “The School Profile:

Writing/Revising the Mission Statement”

 Thoughts on Mission

“The first job of the leaders in a non-

profit institution is to turn the
organization’s mission statement into
specifics.”
- Peter Drucker
 Thoughts on Mission

“In the social sectors, the critical

question is not ‘How much money do
we make per dollar of invested
capital?’ but ‘How effectively do we
deliver on our mission and make a
distinctive impact, relative to our
resources?’ ”
-Jim Collins, Good to Great
 Leadership goal: alignment of
practices to mission
4 “brutal facts” about Mission
Many Mission statements are vapid platitudes,
not a statement of purpose.

Mission statements are ignored in day to day

schooling - there are no structures and policies
to ensure that they are honored.

Few teachers have designed their courses and

teaching strategies to deliberately honor long-
term goals (e.g. critical thinking).

Curriculum writing and local assessment

ensure that Mission and other long-term goals
are ignored and lost.
 To what extent does our Mission directly
influence our planning and actions?
 To what extent do staff, students and parents
know our school Mission?
 Where do we most honor Mission in day to day
schooling? Why there, and how has Mission
been embedded in planning and action?
 Where are we least honoring Mission?
 Why do we lose our way there or systematically
ignore Mission without realizing it?
 To what extent do our Programs and their Goals
derive from Mission AND directly influence our
lesson planning?
 To what extent do staff, students and parents
know our Program Goals?
 Where do we most honor Program Goals in day to
day schooling? Why there, and how has Mission
been embedded in planning and action?
 Where are we least honoring Program Goals?
 Why do we lose our way there or systematically
ignore Mission without realizing it?
 Same logic applies to programs
• What is the ‘mission’ of the math,
language arts, science, arts, history,
phys ed. Programs?
• How does long-term mission affect
short-term planning?
• How must syllabi, units, and lessons be
designed to reflect program mission and
shorter-term performance goals?
• What’s the current reality?
• What therefore needs changing?
 Shared Vision
“Shared visions emerge from personal
visions. This is how they derive their
energy and how they foster
commitment…
If people don’t have their own vision,
all they can do is “sign up” for
someone else’s. The result is
compliance, never commitment.”
- Senge, The Fifth Discipline
 Vision
 Statement needs to be vibrant,
engaging
 Specific description of what it will be like
when the mission is achieved
 Provokes emotion and generates
excitement
 Transforms the mission from words into
pictures
 Brings the mission to life
 What is your desired vision for the
school?
 What would it look like, feel like,
sound like when the mission of our
school is implemented?
 The vision must be compelling and a
part of daily operation.
 Vision
 What we would see IF
mission were accomplished
 A real and detailed picture of

exemplary performance
 School visions have several
components:
 A vision features a compelling picture
or image of what the school can
become in the future.
 A vision is feasible and attainable.
 A vision is connected to and
articulates deeper values and hopes
for the future.
 A vision will die if it is not regularly
communicated. Putting a mission statement
into a drawer will achieve nothing and
might be counterproductive.
 A vision needs to be translated into actions
and plans that can be and are implemented.
 Goals
 School goals are the intended
outcomes of the vision.
 What would you say are the
outcomes of the vision?
 Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Specific

Measurable

Attainable (Agreeable)

Realistic

Timely
 Making the vision real…
 What do you need in order to transform
your classroom into the shared vision?
 What kind of support would you like to
have to implement this vision in your
classroom?
 How do your unit/lesson plans reflect
the mission and vision of the school?
The key to lasting change: intrinsic
incentives
• A powerful vision in relation to
mission - worthy, rich, valued, specific
images of our aim
• Credible, timely, and useful
information about how we are doing
against our goals - constant feedback
• Owning the gap - acting on the
(inevitable) discrepancy between
vision and reality.
 On the other hand: a “humility
axiom”
 We must plan to adjust - our initial
plan will never adequately predict
the complex reality
 Like the coach, we must perfect the
art of timely & ongoing adjustments,
based on feedback against our long-
term core goals (not just short-term
results)
 From Good to Great, by Jim
Collins
 “All good-to-great organizations began the process
of finding a path to greatness by confronting the
brutal facts of their current reality.”
 “When you start with an honest and diligent effort
to determine the truth of your situations, the right
decisions often become self-evident.”
 “A primary task in taking an organization from
good to great is to create a culture wherein people
have a tremendous opportunity to be heard and,
ultimately, for the truth to be heard.”
 Some Resources
 http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/
issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le100.htm
• Critical Issue:
Building a Collective Vision

• “Developing a Vision and Mission”

– Gabriel & Farmer
 Department of Educational
Leadership Mission
Through its Catholic and Marianist traditions and principles,
the mission of the Department of Educational Leadership
at the University of Dayton has three primary purposes.

The first charge is to prepare scholar-practitioners to serve

effectively in administrative roles and other leadership
positions in PK-12 public, Catholic, and other non-public
schools.

The second task is to contribute to the knowledge base in

school administration.

The third responsibility is to provide service and continuing

education to PK-12 public, Catholic, and other non-public
schools.
 Department of Educational
Leadership Philosophy
Departmental practices reflect our
aspirations to educate for the
formation of faith; to provide an
integral and quality education,
education in the family spirit; to
educate for service, justice, and
peace; and educate for adaptation
and change.
 To this end,
we believe in the need to:
 Advocate practices of social justice.
 Place the needs of our students as a
primary concern.
 Build respect for differences in a
pluralistic society.
 Utilize the professional knowledge
base in decision-making for school
communities.
 Develop learning communities in which
students construct frameworks of
knowledge that enable them to think
critically.
 Recognize that effective leaders
acknowledge the need for change.
 Facilitate collaborative efforts to ensure
that educational leaders meet the evolving
needs of students and their school
communities.
 Engage in life long learning.
 Department of Educational
Leadership Vision
The vision of the Department of
Educational Leadership is to prepare
educators who are committed to
effective leadership practices that
move school communities toward
educational excellence.
 By 2015:
1. We will prepare educational leaders to engage
in evidence-based practice as a process of
integrating empirical research, other forms of
data, tacit knowledge, and professional and
social values.

2. We will continue to contribute to the knowledge

base in educational administration by
disseminating our research and other forms of
scholarship through publications and
presentations.

3. We will continue to develop and maintain

flexible instructional approaches while
maintaining program integrity.
4. We will explore ways to better serve
highly diverse and low performing
school districts.

5. We will develop a closer relationship

with the Doctoral Program in Educational
Leadership.

6. We will maintain selected off campus

sites and cohorts in central and western
Ohio.
7. We will maintain a mix of clinical,
adjunct, and tenured/tenure track faculty.

8. We will continue to meet the NCATE

standard on sufficient full time faculty.

9. We will have ample instructional spaces

that are suitable for adult learners as well
as sufficient work space for faculty and
staff.
 Department of Educational
Leadership within the University of
Dayton
The Department of Educational Leadership
(EDA) is a part of the School of Education
and Allied Professions’ institutional
community. As a community partner
within the school and also as a part
of the University of Dayton, EDA plays a
role in carrying out the mission and vision
of the larger institution.
The Marianist tradition and foundation of the
University of Dayton obligates EDA to embed
the distinctive characteristics of the Society of
Mary in our teaching, research, and service.

Those five distinctive characteristics define the

role of education and they should be visible and
tangible to you in all that we do in EDA
classrooms.

We aspire to educate for the formation of faith,

provide an integral and quality education, educate
in the family spirit, educate for service, justice,
and peace, and educate for adaptation and
change.
Within the School of Education and
Allied Professions, we join with our
colleagues in the other departments to
engage you and all of our students in
accomplishing goals that are related to
the school’s conceptual framework and
goals in the four areas of: embracing
diversity, scholarly practice, building
community, and critical reflection.
 Department of Educational
Leadership within Professional
Organizational Communities
The Department of Educational Leadership (EDA) is
a part of the wider community of educational and
professional organizations. As a part of the
University of Dayton, we comply with the
standards of the Higher Learning Commission
(HLC) of the North Central Association (NCA). As
a community partner within the University Council
for Educational Administration (UCEA), we value and
support research, aspire to professional excellence,
and advocate for improved schools. As a constituent
with The Educational Leadership Constituent Council
(ELCC), we have aligned our programs with the high
standards of this council as part of our
membership in the National Council for
Accrediting Teacher Education (NCATE).
We adhere to the ELCC standards which obligate us
to this vision of school leadership:
“Principals, supervisors, curriculum directors,
and superintendents need increasingly to take
initiative and manage change. They must build a
group vision, develop quality educational
programs, provide a positive instructional
environment, apply evaluation processes, analyze
data and interpret results, and maximize human
and physical resources. They also must
generate public support, engage various
constituencies, and mitigate value conflicts and
political pressures.” (National Policy Board for
Educational Administration, 2002, p. 8)
 Our goals are grounded in the Ohio
Standards for Principals. These five
standards include:
1. Principals help create a shared vision
and clear goals for their schools and
ensure continuous progress toward
achieving their
goals.

2. Principals support the implementation

of high quality standards based
instruction that results in higher levels
of achievement for all students.
3. Principals allocate resources and manage school
operations in order to ensure a safe and
productive learning environment.

4. Principals establish and sustain collaborative

learning and shared leadership to promote
learning and achievement of all students.

5. Principals engage parents and community

members in the educational process and
create an environment where community
resources support student learning,
achievement and well-being.
Principles of academic practice form
the structure of all EDA programs
aligned with these professional
standards. First, the pedagogical goals
for you and all students in EDA include
planned growth in your knowledge,
performance, and dispositions, the
constructs of our professional affiliation
with ELCC.
Second, a “knowledge” base of effective school
leadership exists and is the foundation of what
you as a potential school leader need to
master to be effective in producing improved
student learning outcomes. “Performance” is
defined by ELCC as those proficiencies in subject,
professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills,
and dispositions that benefit student learning.
“Performance” is also described as related to
the quality of institutional practice, in addition
to individual practice. “Dispositions” are
defined as those values, commitments, and
professional ethics that influence your behaviors
toward students, families, colleagues, and
communities and affect student learning.
These principles include a heavy emphasis on
pedagogy that is practice-related, problem-
based, i.e., “field” related. In EDA courses
you will be continually engaged in building
your knowledge - knowledge that is based in
research and applied to practice in real schools.
Throughout each EDA program, you will apply
sound leadership knowledge to problems of
contemporary PK-12 public, Catholic and other
non-public schools.
Department of Educational Leadership
Practices of Assessment toward
Accountability

EDA faculty takes seriously their

obligation to be accountable. We are
accountable, first of all, to meeting
your needs. We are accountable to the
School of Education and Allied Professions,
to the University, to the accrediting
agencies of which we are members,
and to the State of Ohio licensure
requirements.
Our accountability goals in the EDA
Department are that all assessments
are consistently planned, valid, reliable,
comprehensive, based on multiple
measures, based on both insider and
outsider perspectives, ethical, fair,
standards-based, linked to program
goals, systematic, and provide results
that are used in formative ways for
student, faculty, and program
improvement.
To show evidence of the quality of EDA programs,
courses, and faculty, we regularly assess the
results of our work. In our assessment
procedures, we value multiple measures for
each outcome objective and we include both
qualitative and quantitative evidence. The
Department Chair reports the Praxis II scores to
the faculty on a quarterly basis. At one
department meeting each year the faculty
reviews the EDA strategic plan, including the
assessment results for all programs. Areas of
strength and areas of needed improvement are
identified and discussed. The EDA Futures
Committee is responsible for proposing
program changes to the EDA faculty.