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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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