A short excerpt of a school leader’s comments on goals and the valuable planning methods she had discovered.
All of the leaders articulated the expectation that they follow prescribed planning methods. Carol indicated the expectation had been formalized in her school district. “Once the state department of education started taking about SMART goals, we were supposed to show those in all of our action plans.” When she talked with her superintendent about this project Carol noted, “I got some push back, but assured him that we would be able to report the work as having been SMART, then it ended.” For Carol, this was a very meaningful event, and she indicated she had changed her approach to leadership.
That was a very uncomfortable situation. Now when I ask teachers to participate in projects, I give them permission to be iterative. For me, that is part of my plan, and I try to be a buffer between teachers who are developing plans and improving actions and the administrative rules that can get in the way sometimes.