School Strategic Plan

2. Developing the key directions for the School Strategic Plan

At the end of a school review, the school review panel draws on the insights gathered to collaboratively develop key directions for the new School Strategic Plan (SSP). Key directions are where schools articulate their improvement focus for the next 4-year SSP cycle and comprise goals, key improvement strategies and targets.

Goals reflect the school’s focus on improving learning and wellbeing outcomes for their students. Key improvement strategies (KIS) are the practices schools implement to achieve the goals and targets. Targets measure improvement of student learning and wellbeing outcomes and the school practices that can influence change in these outcomes.

The goals and targets are aligned to the twin outcomes of learning and wellbeing at the centre of the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) 2.0. The KIS align to the FISO 2.0 core elements of Leadership, Teaching and learning, Assessment, Engagement, and Support and resources.

The school review process and development of SSP key directions align to the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle stages as follows:

• Evaluate and diagnose (school review)
• Prioritise and set goals (school review and development of key directions)
• Develop and plan (development of key directions).

For further information on the school review process, refer to the School Review topic on the Policy and Advisory Library (PAL).

2.1 Develop goals

Developing goals for the School Strategic Plan (SSP) is aligned to the 'Prioritise and set goals' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. The prioritise component is completed through school review activities, before key directions are developed.

Goals are high-level statements that reflect the focus for all schools on improving learning and wellbeing outcomes for their students.

Consistent with FISO 2.0, all schools should set at least one goal to improve student learning and one goal to improve student wellbeing.

Whilst all schools set learning and wellbeing goals, school review panels identify specific student outcomes and related school practices to inform the focus of goals, targets and key improvement strategies (KIS).

It is recommended schools use the standard wording provided below to establish their goals:

• Learning goal – Improve student learning outcomes and/or growth
• Wellbeing goal – Improve student wellbeing outcomes and/or growth.

A third ‘blended’ goal combining learning and wellbeing outcomes may also be developed where there are context-specific priorities related to improvements in both outcomes.

2.2 Develop and plan key improvement strategies

Developing key improvement strategies (KIS) is aligned to the 'Develop and plan' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. KIS are the high-level practices the school will implement to improve the student learning and wellbeing outcomes identified for focus through the school review. KIS should link directly to the practice areas for improvement identified through the review process.

Key question to support KIS development:

• What broad school practices were identified through the review that will have impact on student learning and wellbeing improvement areas?

When developing KIS, consideration should be given to:

• the likely impact on student learning and wellbeing
• rigorous, relevant research-informed practice
• capability and resources to implement the strategies (school context, staffing, funding, readiness for change).

KIS should align to one or more FISO 2.0 core elements: Leadership, Teaching and learning, Assessment, Engagement and Support and resources.

A maximum of 4 KIS for each goal should be developed. Each KIS should take at least 2 years to complete. KIS are implemented through 4 successive Annual Implementation Plans (AIP) that cascade out of a school’s 4-year SSP.

Writing a key improvement strategy

A KIS consists of 3 components, broken down into 2 steps:

• the how (verb) and the what (strategy) – this is how the strategy will be implemented and what the strategy is
• the why (result) – this is the expected change in student or practice outcome that is a result of implementing the KIS. The why should directly relate to the areas of improvement in school practices identified through the review.

To develop the KIS:

1. For each of learning and wellbeing, list 5 to 6 broad strategies that are directly linked to the practice areas for improvement identified through the review process.
2. Review each strategy with consideration of:
   • the expected impact on student learning and wellbeing outcomes
   • rigorous and relevant evidence-informed practice
   • the school’s capability and resourcing to implement the strategies in a staged, sequenced approach (school context, barriers/enablers, staffing, funding, readiness for change)
3. Prioritise 2 to 4 KIS that will improve learning outcomes and 2 to 4 KIS that will improve wellbeing outcomes.
4. Review the KIS developed to ensure they include the 3 required components (how, what and why).

Draft supporting actions

To support implementation of the KIS through the AIP, school review panels are provided time to draft a range of possible AIP actions the school can use to implement the KIS. It is recommended that 2 to 4 possible actions are drafted for each KIS to support successful implementation through the AIP. The draft actions should realistically reflect the school’s context and resourcing ability.

Actions are documented together with the KIS and can be reviewed, modified or adapted when schools develop their AIP.

For further information on how to develop an action, refer to the Annual Implementation Plan policy.

2.3 Develop targets

Developing targets is aligned to the 'Develop and plan' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. Targets measure improvement of student learning and wellbeing outcomes in 2 ways:

• directly measure changes in student learning and wellbeing outcomes
• measure improvement in school practices related to the KIS that can positively impact student outcomes.

Key question to support target development:

• Which valid and reliable measures will assess the identified student learning and wellbeing outcomes?

To develop the targets:

1. Select 3 to 4 data sources to measure improvement in learning outcomes and improvement in wellbeing outcomes. The chosen sources should directly measure the student outcomes and school practices identified for focus through the school review process.
2. Where possible, use the FISO 2.0 system measures (DOCX) to select the data sources. Examples of key data sources include NAPLAN, the Attitudes to School Survey, the School Staff Survey and Victorian Curriculum Teacher Judgement data.
3. Select the measures from each data source that will most effectively assess progress in the identified student outcomes and school practices. For example, NAPLAN uses 3 measures to evaluate student achievement: benchmark growth, relative growth and proficiency levels.
4. Include a small number of components for each target to capture improvements in specific curriculum areas, student cohorts or focus areas, if desired. For example, panels may set a NAPLAN proficiency level target to measure three components: Year 3 reading, Year 3 numeracy and Year 5 numeracy. These components should directly reflect the student outcomes and school practices identified for improvement and maintain a sharp and narrow focus.
5. Identify a baseline percentage for each target, noting the year the data is obtained. This should reflect the most recent data available.
6. Write an improvement target that is both challenging and achievable by the end of the 4-year SSP. When determining the 4-year percentage improvement for each target, consider the school’s available capability and resourcing, the number of students represented by the percentage and comparison data available on Panorama in the ‘highlight’ measures.

Setting maintain targets

Schools with strong learning and wellbeing outcomes data can set ‘maintain’ targets as this reflects the school’s ongoing commitment to sustaining strong performance. The baseline for maintain targets should be set using the school’s own, specific data rather than comparison data, such as similar schools or statewide data.

An additional supporting resource for developing key directions is available on the Resources tab which includes complete worked examples.

Small schools and designated purpose schools for which the system measures are either not accessible or do not apply can adopt a tailored approach to target setting.

Specific advice to support target setting for small schools is available in Chapter 3: Advice on target setting for small schools.

Designated purpose schools’ context and student cohorts can vary significantly. The School Planning, Review and Annual Reporting Unit and the Schools and Regional Evidence Unit will provide individualised support for target setting as needed, via schoolplanning@education.vic.gov.au and school.performance.data@education.vic.gov.au

2.4 Rationale for the School Strategic Plan key directions

To finalise the key directions, school review panels should review the goals, targets and KIS to ensure these clearly reflect the panel’s identified areas for improvement in relation to learning and wellbeing outcomes and school practices.

The school reviewer will, on behalf of the panel, prepare a summary rationale for each goal that explains the relationship between the review’s findings and the key directions developed by the panel. This will include brief detail on the findings related to school’s outcomes data and school practices that informed the key directions.