Strategic Plan 2020 

Last year, the District ended the 2014-18 Strategic Plan.

As we turn our sights to the future, we are seeking community feedback on the direction of BPS. Our students have achieved great things and continue to astound us as they enter the workforce and positively impact our world. We know that with the support of our community we can create a direction for our District that will raise our students’ achievements to new and exciting heights.

At the Sept. 24, 2019 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Mark Dziatczak presented our intentions to deliver a student-centered, student-led and student-delivered strategic plan for Birmingham Public Schools. This innovative style of strategic planning, when properly facilitated, will ensure that the direction of our District will produce means and ends that are narrowly focused on student learning and development. Throughout the school year, we'll move forward with the following steps as we move toward a new Strategic Plan for BPS.  

Mission and Vision Survey – High-quality strategic planning documents are rooted in the mission and vision of the District. We published a short Mission and Vision survey designed to allow all stakeholders the opportunity to provide input regarding our purpose as a public school district (mission) and our preferred future as a community organization (vision). 
 
Student Strategic Planning Conference – On Thursday, December 5, 2019, the District hosted a one-day student strategic planning conference at the BEAC with student representatives from all secondary schools in BPS. Students were provided data from the mission and vision survey, school strategic planning research and discussion prompts to inspire their creative thoughts about the future of student learning and development in Birmingham. Their feedback on the mission, vision and learning goals serve as the foundation for further data collection. Principals at our schools have been purposeful about recruiting students who are representative of each school’s student bodies.

Staff and Educator Feedback– Following the student session, we will work to collect input from educators across BPS. This feedback will be framed by feedback gleaned from our student planning session on the strategic plan. We want to ensure that our employee groups have ample opportunity to provide feedback as part of the planning process.

Focus Groups with Key Stakeholders – Throughout December 2019 and January 2020 we are hosting focus groups with key stakeholders including PTA, parent networks and community support organizations. We will also be reaching out to recent alumni to solicit their participation in a focus group. Finally, we will be connecting with the local business community to do the same. The focus group scripts will include foundational questions related to the student conference session input while also allowing for open-ended feedback regarding the future of the District.

Parent and Community Feedback – In order to include all interested voices in the strategic planning process, we will be seeking parents and community feedback throughout the process. Our community can expect updates and opportunities for feedback throughout the process. 

Strategic Plan Mission and Vision Session – Once all the data is collected into the next calendar year, we will be inviting representative students, educators and our strategic planning consultant together to reflect on the data and amend and/or confirm the mission and vision of the District. This work must be completed prior to any decisions on the goals in a new strategic plan.

Strategic Planning Goal Development – The final phase will bring students, educators and our strategic planning consultant back together to develop a concise number of goals and critical support strategies. This work will be led by our students and informed by important data including BPS key performance indicators, parent contributions and community feedback. Again, the main goal of this process allows our students to reflect on their own experiences and our community’s input to describe the learning environments and supports in Birmingham’s future.

Please visit this site regularly for updates.