New Farm State School Strategy Plan - Assignment Example

Running Head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS Critical Analysis [Author’s Name] [Institution’s Name] Critical Analysis Introduction New Farm State School strategy plan, while not well thought out on resource allocation structure, understands the importance of education and that teamwork play a vital role in meeting the objectives and goals that are set by the district (New Farm State School, 2007). The district’s mission statement is to provide quality education to all students and to help each student reach his or her full potential (Rowe, 2000). In order for this to be a reality, each school needs to develop a total quality management program in which to educate, and empower each employee within the district. Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document uses collaboration time for teaching staff one day a week. Collaboration time is once a week, with one week being a grade level collaboration day and another week being a whole staff collaboration day (Queensland State Education, 2008). The purpose of collaboration is to allow teaching and support staff to focus on teaching and learning. (Queensland Studies Authority, 2008) In order for students to achieve high academic standards, the need for teachers to have frequent scheduled times during the week to focus on issues connected to teaching and student learning is important. Some of the focus points include sharing what works best, discussing student work, learning new skills, and analyzing and assessing various data from student work. Another area that the Queensland Education Planning and Accountability document use strategic planning is in including students in the learning process (Mandelbaum, 2008). Teachers and students are teams and working together helps to develop the capabilities, character, and the interests of the students. The student is essentially the customer of the teacher and the job of the teacher is to help the student reach his or her potential through classroom activities, a safe learning environment, and pride in his or her accomplishment. (Merriam, 2008) Compare and Contrast Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document with New Farm State School In comparison to some of the other companies that have perfected the concept, Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document still needs to make improvements (Queensland State Education, 2008). Any company, no matter the size or if the company is for profit or nonprofit can use basic strategic planning practices. Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document needs to make continuous improvements by establishing well-defined goals and empowering teaching staff to reach these goals (Queensland Studies Authority, 2008). While total quality management is used in many manufacturing industries, it also can be used in education. When looking at how other districts use total quality management to enhance educating it students there are very few differences between Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document and Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document (Catholic Education Commission, 2009). According to J. Manley and R. Manley (2006), “the New Farm State School District in Queensland, began its quest for total Quality Management (strategic planning) by formally defining the educational philosophy of continuous improvement and quality” (Manley and Manley, 2006) With this beginning, New Farm State School changed total quality management into total quality education. Queensland school system is committed to creating a team environment for students as well as staff. The school believes strongly in creating team-based brainstorming and empowering teachers to make decisions regarding his or her students. New Farm State School District is committed to team-based strategies as well (Johnson, 2006). Both organizations want to provide quality education to their customers, the students. New Farm State School has created pro-active strategies while Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document take a reactive approach to problems (New Farm State School, 2007). New Farm State School actively involves itself to educate not only the students but also staff members by attending seminars on strategic planning and purchasing training tapes for staff members. (New Farm State School, 2007) Both the colleges and schools use collaboration in order to provide cross-functioning teams to get input from other teachers on what works best in a particular grade level. In the Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document, the support chain seems to stop at the principals in the school (Mauriel, 2009; McCune, 2006). These individuals are middle management, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the school in which he or she works. The Superintendent is the CEO of the schools and is on board with total quality management but once it gets to the principal level there seems to be lack of communication or lack of understanding as how to implement this into the school. (Martisko, 2006) Characteristics of strategic planning Some of the characteristics of the total quality management style at New Farm State School are different from the Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document (McHenry, 2006). New Farm State School has the commitment from administration staff and the board of directors, where there seems to be lack of communication between administration and board of directors within the Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document (Johnson, 2006). New Farm State School also has participation from the stakeholders, which are the parents and community members, as well as providing training and retraining in the areas of total quality management or as strategic planning is known, total quality education (Knight, 2007). Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document has less of a commitment from its stakeholders and needs to create a strategy that will bring these individuals into the process of creating a total quality education strategy (Mandelbaum, 2008). New Farm State School’s supervisors meet with their human resource personnel for continuous training throughout the year, while Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document does not offer this training to the supervisors within the district (Queensland State Education, 2008). New Farm State School has been able to break down barriers between departments within the district, while there is little communication between departments at Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document. (Cook, 2008) Strategies for Staffing The first step in creating a staffing plan is to forecast. According to Noe, et al. (2006) forecasting: "Is the attempt to determine the supply of and demand for various types of human resources to predict areas within the organization where there will be labor shortages or surpluses?" (Noe, 2006) The Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document will forecast enrollment for the following year at the end of a school year to determine its staffing issues (Queensland State Education, 2008). This is usually not set in stone due to enrollment going up or down before the following school year starts, but this gives the district a good idea of where staffing issues may be (Knight, 2007). Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document will utilize a trend analysis to construct a statistical model that will predict enrollment for the fall (Mecca, 2006). This analysis is called a leading indicator, which will allow the district to determine if there should be any staffing changes made for the following school year. If during this analysis it is determined, that enrollment will be up, than the district may need to hire another teacher or more support staff members. (Conley, 2007) After the trend analysis is conducted, the school will utilize what is called a routing slip. This shows each department and who is in the department (Rowe, 2000). On average a school has the office staff, kindergarten through sixth grade teachers, instructional assistants, custodians, speech therapists, occupational therapists, counselor, nurses, kitchen staff, and if applied express program staff (Department of Education, Training and Art, 2008). The school system utilizes a substitute list and places individuals on this list in several areas of the district. One way to recruit for these positions is to advertise these positions on the district web site (Rowe, 2000). Certificated applicants such as teachers and therapists may apply for these positions on line and are then called for an interview and a security clearance check prior to being placed on the substitute list. (Merriam, 2008) Classified staffs such as paraprofessionals and custodians have to go to the district office and apply for these positions and are called for an interview and security clearance. Another recruitment strategy is to recruit from within (Kaufman, 2006). With the abundance of individuals on the substitute list, these individuals will be hired on a seniority basis. This will allow the school to hire those who are familiar with the workings of the school and may have already filled a vacant position as a substitute and would be willing to step in as a full time teacher or paraprofessional. (Johnson, 2006) This could also be done from word-of-mouth where an employee within the district knows there is an opening and encourages another individual to apply for the position. The school district can utilize a recruitment strategy on college campuses (Martisko, 2006). The interviewing process can be done during job fairs. It is not easy to foresee staffing shortages every school year, due to enrollment fluctuations, but the school district can be prepared by utilizing a staffing and recruitment strategy plan. This plan can help to ensure the success of the organization and the best possible outcomes for students and staff members. (Cook, 2008) Public Relations (PR) Campaign Strategy Developing the right Public Relations (PR) strategy will ensure that all issues are communicated to the right publics in the appropriate method and time (Burrill, 2009). The strategy needs to build media relations and generate publicity for the issues at hand and identify how New Farm State School plans to spend a recently approved $2 million bond. Because of the wide variety of issues, New Farm State School has chosen a theme of Preserving the Quality of Education. The four objectives for the PR campaign include (Cook, 2008): 1. Academic and Career Preparedness - Announce plans for advanced testing preparation for students and introduce two new initiatives around academic and career preparedness: Adopt-a-School and School-to-Career Partnerships. 2. Improved Teacher Recruitment and Retention - Announce a new comprehensive benefits program aimed to recruit and retain quality faculty. 3. Improved Security - Announce planned improvements to security technology and community partnership opportunities around anti-drug initiatives. 4. Reduction in Drop-out Rates - Introduce some "early intervention" programs for Kelsey Elementary School to better identify and prevent future drop-outs Organization's Publics While all of the publics were identified earlier in this paper, it is important to distinguish which publics are organizational. PR Implication & Evaluation Implementing New State Farm School’s PR campaign will provide the School District with routine responses to recurring situations while setting in place a mechanism to respond to new situations. These standing plans will be part of the District's policies and procedures (Romney, 2006). Policies will include a standard operating procedure detailing the course of action employees' should take in the case of an emergency or when a coordinated response needs to be made to the public (Burrill, 2009). The PR Department will handle all procedures relating to news releases and web content, as well as all media interviews and press conferences. All staff of New Farm State School will be expected to refer any requests or questions to the PR Department. Any crisis management will be handled within the set standards in order to act accordingly to the situation (Department of Education and Training, 2009). These coordinated plans will minimize any negative business implications from occurring. Globalization Considerations Although New Farm State School does not plan to expand their school district to other cities, states, or countries, there is an existing foreign exchange program setup with schools in Germany and Italy. (Kaufman, 2006) This program, sponsored by Australian Field Services (AFS) International, allows children to travel abroad for up to a year and become immersed into the culture and society in another country (Spikes, 2008). Students stay with a host family and are treated as their own son or daughter for that period of time (D'Amico, 2008). New Farm State School has a total of six high school students currently abroad and three foreign students currently enrolled in New Farm State School (Burrill, 2009). This program not only provides the students in the program with great experiences, but also provides the rest of the students a glimpse into other cultures. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved (Lowry & Kann, 2009). New Farm State School public relations campaign committee has put together an extensive public relations plan, which includes several forms of media to assist with communicating with target publics (Department of Education and Training, 2009). To ensure that the events are executed successfully, each form of media will be researched and evaluated for its technical considerations. This research will include (Lowry & Kann, 2009): Press Conferences - Is there sufficient power and electrical access for size of group attending? Is there a need for video equipment to record the conference? What should the backdrop look like (actual location where the conference will be given)? Newsletter - Who will be doing the printing and mass mailing? Will it be done in house or outsourced to a company? If in-house, is there appropriate printing and mailing equipment? When posted on the Intranet, is it in a software format that will be accessible by all users? Internet/Intranet - Is the hosting web site secure? Is there the ability to expeditiously edit existing documents or post new content? Community Forums - Will presentation equipment be needed such as a projector, screen, video equipment, microphones etc? Is the hosting site able to meet technical needs such as power, lighting, and space? A technology support team will need to be present for the set-up of the press conference and community forum to ensure that all equipment is working properly (Cushman, 2006). This group will respond to any equipment failures or adjustments immediately in the event that a problem occurs during the event. Every effort needs to be taken to ensure that the quality of the technical requirements is being met. Strategic Planning Integration Creating a total quality management style within any organization is time consuming. According to Sutcliffe and Carter (2006): “Implementation of strategic planning will be a long and sometimes difficult process” (Sutcliffe and Carter, 2006) This is especially true for organizations that are not use to change. New Farm State School uses its employees much in the same way the Queensland school district does, to meet the needs of its students (Catholic Education Commission, 2009). The number one goal for both school districts is the quality of education that is received by each student (D'Amico, 2008). New Farm State School has more commitment within its district than the Queensland Education Planning and Accountability Document does. Queensland school district needs to have more participation in problem solving teams, education and training, positive employees and better communication between staff members (Department of Education, Training and Art, 2008). In addition, the need for more team building activities is important to ensuring that all teaching staff and support staff are committed to total quality when it comes to the education of their students. (Conley, 2006) Conclusion The Queensland school District does apply some of the TQM (Total Quality Management) concepts and practices the same. These include, but are not restricted to, collaboration time and team based brainstorming. With encouraging results from the same, more practices can be deployed to the same effect (Rowe, 2000). The goals and actions that will help in improving school security with new technology New programs will be enforced that will assist with understanding of respect and rules, while promoting personal responsibility (Cushman, 2006): Promote and enhance student behavioral expectations based on respect Increased parent and community communication Reduction in Drop-Out Rates After analyzing the collected data, it was determined that early intervention programs were needed to identify potential drop-outs, particularly enhancing the training and education throughout the district with regards to TQM (total quality management) can be accomplished, and its meaningfulness for the students (Department of Education, Training and Art, 2008). The firm can integrate further training and educational activities alongside empowerment and activities pertinent to team building. Along the similar lines as the New Farm State School, motivation of employees to commit towards TQM pertinent to student education, within the district would be critical (Conley, 2007). References Burrill, C.W. & Ledolter, J. (2009). Achieving Quality through Continual Improvement. New York, NY. Catholic Education Commission. 2009. Aboriginal Education Strategic Planning & Policy Framework. NEALS. Conley, D.T. (2006). Strategic planning in America's schools: An exploratory study. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, Division of Educational Policy & Management. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 345 359) Conley, D.T. (2007). Strategic planning in practice: An analysis of purposes, goals, and procedures. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, College of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 358 530) Cook, W.J. (2008). Strategic planning for America's schools, Australian Association of School Administrators. Cooper, H.A. (2008). 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