Strategic Planning & Support

Is your school where you thought it would be when you opened 4 years ago? Are you a brand new school and want to make sure you successfully hit the ground running? CSMC can help your school develop the short and long-term plans and strategies for your school to emerge as a leader in the charter school movement.

Strategic planning focuses on where you are as an organization and spells out the overarching strategies and primary action steps that get you where you want to be within a certain planning period.

A strategic plan is not the same thing as an action plan or a workplan; it’s a high-level, goal-oriented plan that includes meaningful progress measures or milestones and is most successfully undertaken by a diverse group of people (even students and family members!) dedicated to the success of the school.

For instance, adding grade levels to your school over time is too important and complex for someone’s “to-do” list; the process takes research, time, collaboration and buy-in, as well as coordination with the other goals of the charter school. Ideally, staff and the board check in on the plan’s progress at least quarterly.

CSMC can help your organization in its strategic planning through three main areas:

  • Strategic Plan Guidance
  • 6 Step Business Plans
  • Leadership Operational Focus

Strategic Plan Guidance

Actually, committing to the research and writing of a strategic plan is often an endeavor in itself. Many schools find challenges in deciding who should be writing which sections, what should be covered, and what the vital areas are of improvement for the school. CSMC can help guide your board and staff on a path of writing a concise and easy-to-follow Strategic Plan. Strategic Plans should not be 100-page documents that take months to draft and then end up on a shelf collecting dust. They should be living guides with clear direction of the short- and long-term operational plans and vision of the school. With years of supporting the growth and development of charters across the country, CSMC will provide your team with strategic expertise to bring together a strategic plan that represents the best of what you will become.

6 Step Business Plans

CSMC can guide your team down the path of planning, researching, and drafting up a sound and functional school business plan. Foundations and significant donors often look to a charter school’s business plan in evaluating whether to fund the operation or not. Your business plan should be clear, concise, and accurately articulate the story and future of your charter school.

Leadership Operational Focus

Many charter leaders get “stuck in the weeds” in dealing with the operational issues of their school. Too often they are not allowed to work on the high-level strategic needs of the organization and are caught “working in business, and not on the business”. CSMC can help evaluate the operational areas of focus within your school and recommend areas of focus that can help to free up vital strategic time of your school leader.