Strategic plan example

Strategic plan example for a public school district

An education strategic plan sets out the few results a school system will improve for its students over the next three to five years, how money and staff will be moved to reach them, and how progress will be measured. It is owned by the superintendent and agreed with the school board, principals, teachers and the families the district serves.

This is the Education version of the strategic plan template.

Horizon: 3 years5 priorities · 15 outcomes

Use this template

What this strategic plan template includes

ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
Mission, vision and valuesThe purpose the plan serves and the future it is aiming for.
SWOT summaryThe few internal and external facts that shaped the priorities.
Strategic choicesWhere the organization will compete and how it expects to win.
ResourcingThe budget and people committed to each priority.
Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Worked example

A complete strategic plan for a fictional organization: public school district with seven schools serving 4,180 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12.

Worked exampleStrategic plan

Organization	Public school district with seven schools serving 4,180 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 (500 staff)
Ambition	By June 2029, six in ten third graders read at grade level, chronic absence is cut by half, and the district lives within its funding with three full elementary schools.
Horizon	3 years

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

Enrollment has fallen from 4,750 in 2019 to 4,180, and 310 resident children attend charter schools or neighboring districts. This year's kindergarten class is 265; the senior class is 355. Each student carries about $11,400 in formula funding, so the $68 million budget has a $2.3 million structural gap now that one-time relief money has ended. Results have not recovered: 41% of third graders read at grade level, 29% of eighth graders are proficient in math and 27% of students are chronically absent. Teacher turnover is 17%, and the four elementary schools are 61% full.

Challenges

Four reading programs are in use across four elementary schools, and kindergarten to grade 2 teachers have had no shared training in foundational skills since 2018.
Fixed costs are built for 4,750 students. One elementary school built for 450 enrolls 240, and every small school still needs a principal, a nurse, a kitchen and a bus run.
Families who leave name two things in exit surveys: no full-day pre-kindergarten, and too few career programs at the high school.

We will focus on

Early literacy, kindergarten to grade 3, with one curriculum and coaching in every classroom.
Attendance, because no change in teaching reaches a student who misses 18 days a year.
A smaller, fully used set of buildings that frees money for classrooms.

We will not

Keeping all four elementary schools open. The board will consolidate to three for fall 2028, knowing the decision will be unpopular in one neighborhood.
Replacing every student device on the three-year cycle. Devices move to a five-year cycle.
Launching a virtual academy or a magnet school to compete for enrollment. Pre-kindergarten and career pathways come first.

Mission, vision and values

Mission	Every student leaves our schools able to read, reason and work with others, and with a next step already in hand.
Vision	By 2029 a child who starts pre-kindergarten with us reads at grade level by third grade, comes to school nearly every day, and graduates with a credential or college credit. Families who left have a reason to come back.
Values	Every student, by name. Evidence before habit. Adults keep learning too. Public money goes where students can feel it. Families hear the truth early.

SWOT summary

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
Four-year graduation rate of 86% and a stable high school staff	41% of third graders reading at grade level	State career and technical grant that covers 60% of new lab costs	Kindergarten classes 25% smaller than graduating classes
Voters renewed the operating levy in 2025 with 58% support	27% of students chronically absent	310 resident students enrolled elsewhere, worth $3.5 million a year in formula funding	A nearby charter school adding grades 6 to 8 next year
Two elementary schools with strong reading results and principals able to coach others	Special education teacher turnover of 31%	The regional hospital and two manufacturers asking for student apprentices	$2.3 million structural gap after relief funding ended
Buildings in good repair and no debt beyond 2031	Elementary schools 61% full	Community college willing to teach dual credit courses on our campus	Pay on salary steps 1 to 8 is $3,800 behind neighboring districts

Strategic choices

Put the first dollar into kindergarten to grade 3 reading: one curriculum, one screener and a literacy coach in each elementary school.
Treat attendance as a family relationship problem, not a discipline problem. Contact comes after the third absence, from a person the family knows.
Compete for families with the two things they have asked for: full-day pre-kindergarten and career pathways with employers attached.
Run three full elementary schools in place of four half-empty ones, and move the savings to literacy and teacher pay.
Raise pay where we lose teachers, in the first eight years and in special education, in place of an equal raise for everyone.

Resourcing

Priority	Investment	Lead team
Every child reading by the end of third grade	$1.1 million for curriculum and training, then $560,000 a year for four literacy coaches and tutoring	Teaching and learning
Students in school every day	$480,000 a year for four family liaisons and two added bus runs	Student services
A diploma that leads somewhere	$2.4 million for health science and manufacturing labs, 60% from a state grant	High school and career education
Keep the teachers we develop	$900,000 a year for early-career pay, special education stipends and mentors	Human resources
Fit the district to its enrollment	$900,000 once to consolidate, saving $1.6 million a year in building costs from fall 2028; 24 positions closed through attrition save $2 million; pre-kindergarten adds $650,000 a year	Finance and operations

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning

Every child reading by the end of third grade

Six in ten third graders are not reading at grade level, and four different programs make it impossible to coach teachers or compare results. Everything after third grade depends on this.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Third graders reading at grade level on the state assessmentMilestones: 44% by June 2027 · 52% by June 2028	41%	60%	June 2029
Kindergarten to grade 2 students at benchmark on the foundational skills screenerMilestones: 55% by June 2027 · 66% by June 2028	48%	75%	June 2029
Third graders in the lowest reading band on the state assessmentMilestones: 26% by June 2027 · 21% by June 2028	28%	15%	June 2029

Initiatives

Adopt one evidence-based reading curriculum for kindergarten to grade 3 and retire the other three
Train all 62 kindergarten to grade 3 teachers in foundational reading instruction over two summers
Screen every kindergarten to grade 3 student three times a year and start small-group tutoring within two weeks
Have each principal observe reading lessons with the literacy coach every month, using one shared checklist

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Director of Student Services

Students in school every day

More than a quarter of students miss at least 18 days a year, and the rate is highest in ninth grade. Reading and graduation targets cannot be met by students who are not there.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Students chronically absentMilestones: 23% by June 2027 · 18% by June 2028	27%	14%	June 2029
Ninth graders chronically absentMilestones: 31% by June 2027 · 25% by June 2028	36%	20%	June 2029
School days lost to out-of-school suspension per yearMilestones: 1,500 days by June 2027 · 1,150 days by June 2028	1,850 days	900 days	June 2029

Initiatives

Call home after the third absence and visit after the sixth, through a family liaison at each school level
Add two bus runs for the neighborhoods with the longest walks to school
Review attendance student by student every two weeks in each school's support team
Replace out-of-school suspension for non-violent incidents with supervised in-school sessions

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Director of Secondary Education

A diploma that leads somewhere

Most students graduate, but only 38% leave with a credential, a completed pathway or college credit. Families who move their children to other schools say this is one of the two reasons.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Graduates with an industry credential, a completed career pathway or six college creditsMilestones: 43% by June 2027 · 54% by June 2028	38%	65%	June 2029
Ninth graders on track to graduate at the end of the yearMilestones: 78% by June 2027 · 83% by June 2028	74%	88%	June 2029
Four-year graduation rateMilestones: 87.5% by June 2027 · 90% by June 2028	86%	92%	June 2029

Initiatives

Open health science and advanced manufacturing pathways, with labs at the high school
Sign apprenticeship and internship agreements with the hospital and two manufacturers for 60 students a year
Offer eight dual credit courses on campus, taught with the community college
Give every ninth grader a named adult who reviews grades and attendance every three weeks

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Director of Human Resources

Keep the teachers we develop

One teacher in six leaves each year, and nearly one in three in special education. Training teachers in a new reading curriculum is wasted if they take it to the district next door.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Teacher turnoverMilestones: 15% by June 2027 · 12% by June 2028	17%	10%	June 2029
Special education teacher turnoverMilestones: 26% by June 2027 · 20% by June 2028	31%	15%	June 2029
Teaching positions filled by a certified teacher on the first day of schoolMilestones: 92% by Fall 2027 · 95% by Fall 2028	89%	98%	Fall 2029

Initiatives

Raise salary steps 1 to 8 by $3,800 over two years
Add a $5,000 stipend and a smaller caseload for special education teachers
Pair every first-year and second-year teacher with a paid mentor
Pay for paraprofessionals to earn a teaching license in return for three years of service

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 5Owner: Chief Financial and Operations Officer

Fit the district to its enrollment and win families back

The district is paying for buildings and positions sized for 570 students it no longer has. Consolidating and matching positions to enrollment closes the gap and pays for the other four priorities.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Structural budget gapMilestones: $1.9M by June 2027 · $1.2M by June 2028	$2.3M	$0	June 2029
Elementary school capacity in useMilestones: 63% by June 2028 · 77% by December 2028	61%	80%	June 2029
Resident students enrolled in charter schools or other districtsMilestones: 295 students by Fall 2027 · 255 students by Fall 2028	310 students	220 students	Fall 2029

Initiatives

Consolidate four elementary schools into three for fall 2028, with new boundaries published a year ahead
Open four full-day pre-kindergarten classrooms in the space that is freed
Reduce 24 positions through retirement and attrition as class sections shrink, without layoffs
Contact every family that left in the past three years with the pre-kindergarten and pathway offer

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Blank strategic plan template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planStrategic plan

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

[A problem the strategy has to solve]
[A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

[Something you are deliberately leaving out]
[Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Mission, vision and values

Mission	[Your mission]
Vision	[Your vision]
Values	[Your values]

SWOT summary

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats
[Strengths]	[Weaknesses]	[Opportunities]	[Threats]
[Strengths]	[Weaknesses]	[Opportunities]	[Threats]
[Strengths]	[Weaknesses]	[Opportunities]	[Threats]

Strategic choices

[A choice about where to play or how to win]
[A choice about where to play or how to win]
[A choice about where to play or how to win]

Resourcing

Priority	Investment	Lead team
[Priority]	[Investment]	[Lead team]
[Priority]	[Investment]	[Lead team]
[Priority]	[Investment]	[Lead team]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]