Bill Cook's Strategic Planning for America's Schools

Leadership that plans strategically can initiate the changes most likely to improve public education. The first section of this book is an introduction focusing on the need for leadership and a statement of philosophy on educational change. The next section discusses the four kinds of change affecting public education: (1) the upheaval in the demographics of this country; (2) implications of the transition in the economic base of the United States; (3) the transformation of mainstream values; and (4) competition in the free market worldwide. The third section defines strategic planning as the total concentration of the organization's resources on mutually predetermined measurable outcomes. In the fourth section the stretegic planning discipline model is described. Lastly, an analysis of the methods and the sequence of planning activities is provided. Appended is a list of roles people play, a cost-benefit analysis guide, a job performance standards chart, and an author profile. (SI)