Mission, vision, values, and change
Are clear and compelling mission and vision statements necessary for an organization (school, business, non-profit) to be highly successful? Why or why not? If possible, cite non-anecdotal evidence to support your position.
53 comments:
Just as simple comment to this, I do think that mission and vision statements are necessary. I think that for a few reasons:
1. Having a mission and vision makes the school one community with an overall goal in mind. It's what you and your organization stand for.
2. Hopefully, if people did not agree with the mission and vision of the organization they would not join the organization - eliminating people who might drag you down.
3. When issues arise, you can collaborate and align things to follow the mission and vision of the organization to make sure you stay on track and keep in mind the goals your organization has.
Without a mission I think that you don't have the glue that puts your organization together and people may have differing opinions of what the organization stands for - creating an unstable organization.
Haven't done the readings yet but that is my initial response to this.
Yes I believe that having a mission statement and vision in place in any organization is essential to achieving success. Aside from just having it, it's important to discuss, break down, and "get to know" the mission and vision of the organization. An employee who knows, understands, and can represent the values and ideals within a mission statement and vision will be a more effective partner in that organization. I agree with Arpita, you need to always revisit these two components to make sure everyone is on the same track.
Mission and vision statements are necessary. A mission statement states what the organization is focused upon and the vision statement provides the road map for where the organization is headed. Without these pieces, the organization has no purpose. Without purpose, employees/members are not focused nor striving towards a common goal.
David makes a good point. I do think that many schools have mission and vision statements and many of the staff do not know them. However, from my experience it was a bit different. Because I worked with such a young age group in two different counties, I knew or statements. We used them as guiding tools for all staff meetings. We used them when parents would bring issues to the table and would talk about if what the parent wanted aligned with what our vision was for children. Every time we wanted to change a certain aspect of the program we would bring up the mission. This was our tool.
On the flip side, the last two years, I worked for Head Start. We were supervised by both the elementary principal and by the Head Start staff. We were an entity of itself as well as part of the elementary school. We had to take part in the elementary school staff meetings and whatever else the school did. In those staff meetings, we never really brought up the mission to use it as a tool. I think I remember talking about it once during our school improvement planning and that was it. I don't even remember what the mission was there. We were a school of excellence many years in a row as well. So I guess you could say we were highly successful, but others might say that was due to the population we were serving.
I agree with David, that you can be successful without these statements but I also think that these statements can be very useful.
Clear and concise mission and vision statements are necessary for organizational success in education and non-profit sectors. However, it is not the statements that generate successful implementation of the mission or vision, but the people employed to work for the organization. The statements merely provide reference points for employees to ensure that their daily work is aligned with the mission and vision of the organization. This is why it is necessary for mission and vision statements to be realistic, concise, and specific to the organization.
Clear mission and vision statements are necessary to the success of a school and non-profit organizations because they help to define the culture of the organization. Any organization that does not have a clear mission has no direction and therefore cannot be successful. Therefore the leader has to be intentional about constantly reminding the organization about their mission because many times an organization does have a mission but the mission is not used as a reference to align the organizations decisions to the mission.
In my experience, it has been very difficult to identify mission and vision statements that are unique to individual school communities. Many seem to provide very few distinguishing characteristics that differentiate one learning community from another.
Matt,
I agree with your statement that it takes the people who are a part of the organization to implement the mission and vision statements. It's the human factor! An organization can have the most clear statements, but without the people doing the work of those statements, the organization only has a bunch of words that look good on paper. For some leaders, this is satisfactory. Does anyone believe that mission and vision statements are hard to fully implement?
One problem with mission and vision statements is how they are implemented and subsequently discarded. I agree they are necessary to direct an organization, provide clarity as to what is the purpose of the organization and hold members accountable. However I feel that mission and vision statements can be wordy, complicated and confusing leaving members little time to focus on them with all of their other duties. In order for them to be effective I think the statements need to be concise and to the point.
I think mission and vision statements can be hard to implement especially if it is for a different organization then school, and if the mission is kind of vague and the big picture. I think it definitely helps though to have a goal to work towards. As Susan said, "Therefore the leader has to be intentional about constantly reminding the organization about their mission". It is up to the leader to constantly remind others of the mission and align it's activities and progress towards the mission.
I'm reading a lot of "Absolutely it's important" comments. But how many of you have worked in organizations that did not have clearly defined mission and vision statements? Or, it those statements were clearly defined, they were not actually used in decision-making? Were those organizations complete failures?
How many of you carefully went through your last school's mission and vision statements before you applied to the school? How much of a factor were they in your decision to apply for a job at that organization?
Dr. G
I feel that mission statements and visions have their place in both schools and corporate America--they serve to keep the organization (and the employees and clients) cognizant of the foundational beliefs and goals of the organization. Though I concede that they do serve a role, I agree that the degree to which they play a role is dependent on the extent to which employees defend it. If presented with a vague mission statement that does not reflect the true direction of the organization and is obviously a means to save face, employees will go out of their way to ignore any mention of organizational direction by the management. As such, in order to be successful, mission statements and visions must encompass the goals of the organization in a detailed and simplistic manner that ensures that all stakeholders can buy into it.
Dr. Graham,
My school's mission statement and vision had no bearing on my decision to accept my job. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even aware of the fact that we had a mission statement and vision until well after the school year had started. The lack of emphasis was deserved as they simply reflected a vague banner under which the school--a low performing school--sought to climb out of the pits of county disdain. Despite our pointless mission and vision statements, we were able to shed our low performing status. In my opinion, we were able to do so because the majority of teachers bought into their own individual mission statements and visions for student achievement. Because of this, I feel that these statements should be initiated from the bottom up instead of from the top down as it reflects the true direction of the organization, and employees are more likely to buy into it since they were allowed agency in its creation.
While I feel as though clear and compelling vision and mission statements are important, I think they are only worthwhile to the extent that the employees in that organization are aware of them and that they inform the goals and decisions of the organization. In reading 'The Vision-less Learning Community' I was intrigued by the notion that organizations exist that are working (successfully) toward the same goals without the presence of clearly defined vision or mission statements. This being said I think while it is ideal for organizations to have clearly defined vision and mission statements, success is obviously possible without them (if only for a short time). Additionally, I think it is increasingly important for organizations to update their statements frequently to adjust to the changing demands of their environments. Finally, in order for statements to be as effective as possible, they must also be realistic and meaningful to employees so as not to become worthless (as mentioned in Rozycki, 2004).
Dr. Graham,
My previous school had a clear mission statement, vision and values. Each year, the staff reviewed it and we discussed what these "words" meant for us. From there, our principal outlined our theme for the year which always tied into some aspect of the mission, vision or values. Our job was to go over the mission statement in kid-friendly language with our students. Every morning our school recited the mission statement, and we revisited it numerous times, not only in the classroom but also as a staff. As a staff we had the same expectations of our students and it showed across all grade levels. When the school opened 13 years ago these 3 things were created, and year after year we reviewed them. The top down model worked- it was a clear and consistent message to all stakeholders. Currently, I am at a school that has been around for many years, and last year they asked the staff to help create a mission statement. The bottom up model as Craig referred to might have worked, if the A-team would have followed up with the suggestions given and presented the new and improved mission statement to the school at the beginning of this year. If I was an administrator in this current setting I would use it to help organize our current structure and define programs that will be set in place, therefore leading us up to the mission statement, vision and values. Courtnee, yes I think they are hard to implement when the people involved do not understand the difference between mission statements and vision statements.
This here is my initial post to the question.
I feel that clearly defined mission and vision statements do help promote a successful entity. In my opinion, it is the mission statement that helps establish the identity and culture of a particular organization. The mission statement expresses the values that the organization should live up to. The problem that organizations can run into is whether the mission and vision statements hold weight or are just a series of nice sounding words. I say this because I felt that this is what happened in my last school. A mission statement was in place but it held little weight. Teachers did not know what it was and the actions taken but all involved did not really promote what the mission statement said. It became a statement that sounded good but had no real meaning. If it, the mission statement, had been carefully crafted to meet the identity and culture of the school it could have promoted success.
Dr. G,
When I applied to my previous school I did not research their mission and vision. I did not research the mission and vision of any school that I applied to. However, I feel that if I did try to research the mission I would not have been successful in finding it. When I first started working at my former school the mission and vision were not clearly defined and the organization did not have any clue what the mission of the school was. However, last year a new principal was hired and the first thing he did in our staff meeting was to ask the teachers what they thought the mission of the school was. Not a single employee could tell him what it was. It was very clear that there was no way that we could increase success as a school because we had no real way of defining it. I do not think that our school was a complete failure but we did not have a sense of cohesiveness. Everyone in the organization was defining success as something different and we were not working together to achieve common goals.
Sorry meant to say Dr. Graham.
After reading the assigned material, I realized the mission statement is worthless unless the process of creating that statement has meaning behind it. In order for the mission statement to be a guiding tool for success, those for whom it is supposed to guide have to have a sense of connection to the statement itself. I guess this falls in line with those on here who have advocated a bottom-up system in creating mission and vision statements. Also, the process of creating the mission statement not only must make it meaningful to the individuals of the school, but must have mechanisms to ensure that the mission statement is living up to its mission.
This is in response to Dr. Graham's questions.
When I was hired to teach in Wake County I did not look at North Carolina’s State Board of Education Goals. I did, however, spend quite a bit of time looking at the variety of schools in the county. It seemed that many of the schools were implementing magnet programs or were focusing on a specific concept (internationalism.) To me a school’s mission statement was reflected in the program they were running. If a school was focusing on internationalism I expected all the teachers and staff to believe in this concept. I understand this can be dangerous because it leads to assumptions, assumptions about the staff and mission of the school. I feel though, with the turnover of teachers and administration, a mission statement or ethos of a school, must be part of the hiring process (of any school member.) To me this helps sustain the culture of the school and provide continuity for all the hard work that previous staff have done to ensure a shared vision is in place.
Like many others, I did not even realize that there was a school mission and vision when I was applying to and accepting my current position. Quite honestly, I couldn't say that the presence or absence of one would have made a huge difference at that point as it was more about simply getting a job than assuring that the job lined up to my personal philosophy and goals. The vision and mission at my school are antiquated and have not been revisited since I began working here. Despite the fact that a clear mission has existed at my school since the beginning of time, I have never heard it referenced in any decision making process I have been a part of, so it is essentially a worthless mission. Going back to the original question then, just because they exist doesn't mean that clear vision and mission statements are the sole indicator of a successful organization. In fact, I think there can exist unspoken goals which drive an organization to success, goals which are never specifically verbalized but which all employees work toward and which inform decisions and practice.
Okay Dr. Graham, you got me! I never read the mission and vision statements closely. I only knew that our focus was "be a globally connected school". As a staff, we kept that focus and our school received local and world recognition. So, did our success come from having clear mission and vision statements that were known by the staff? Not one bit. It came from teachers working together toward a common goal. I like Craig's idea of bottom up leadership because that's how my school was able to get our global connections program up and running.
I think there is truth in the way people are differentiating between a written mission and vision, and an unspoken mission and vision. In Maria's former school, it sounds as though those two things were aligned: the written and the unwritten. But in many other schools, it sounds as though there are degrees of disparity between what is explicitly stated and what is implicitly understood.
Think about your own schools. How might you verbalize the unwritten mission and vision of those schools? Do you think that different people in the building would identify different mission and vision statements, or would there be close to unanimous agreement? Does it matter if people are on the same page, or if there are different conceptions of a school's or organization's mission?
Dr. G
I think an organization has to have a common mission and vision or it will be susceptible to be pulled in many directions and people taking stances for things that don't necessarily agree with another. I think the best solution for this is to have school-wide or encourage all stake holders to take part in developing these statements.
Dr. Graham,
I feel that all individuals need to have some connection into the creation of a vision statement for the school in order to buy into that vision. Although, all may agree on the vision of the school, I find it hard to believe that everyone will agree on how to get there. This is just my opinion, but I think that while everyone contributes to the overarching vision of the school, each teacher should develop a personalized mission statement that correlates with the vision statement and gives guidance on how that instructor will work towards the vision of the school. I feel personalizing the process of reaching for your school's vision will act as an catalyst to move in that direction.
My overarching thoughts...
No. Clear mission/vision statements are not necessarily required for businesses or non-profits to be successful, or rather, to merely achieve some level of "success".
Yes. Clear mission/vision statements are critical to successfully achieve Significant, Equitable, Lasting, and Systematic improvements within school systems.
Why?
What's the difference between mission/vision/values for businesses/non-profits vs. schools?
I'll address in next post.
Dr. Graham,
You make an excellent point about verbalizing unspoken/unwritten mission and vision statements. I wonder about the feasibility of teachers each identifying what they see as the mission/vision of the school (whether spoken or unspoken) and sharing those with the administration so that the administration can get an idea of where everyone stands. The administrative team could also use these to identify areas of importance for their staff as a starting point for mission/vision creation. I know at my school the chance of getting a unanimous agreement is highly unlikely due to the differences in the personality and experience of the teachers. I think Trea had a great solution to this issue with each teacher having a personalized mission statement which supports the overall goals of the school. If each teacher is able to stand behind a mission that they take personal responsibility for creating I think they may take greater pride in assuring progress toward this vision.
I have never reviewed the mission or vision statements of an organization before applying for or accepting a position. Although, once I accepted the position I was introduced to the mission and vision of the organization within the first week of employment. Reflecting back on these experiences, I believe I should have reviewed the statements before accepting the positions. If my mission and vision for advancement and improvement is not aligned with that of the school or organization, it may lead to an issue of "fit" within the school community.
To elaborate on my earlier post, the difference is...
In business, mission and vision statements for a company often happen as a byproduct of having great ideas for products or services. While having a vision for their offerings is important, it's less critical for leaders to articulate that to employees/customers from Day 1.
In business, the reality is that few people actually care about a company's vision/mission until after it becomes successful.
In schools on the other hand, mission and vision statements are predetermined and have a direct impact on the "products or services" provided. Whether school leaders actually articulate and reinforce the mission to employees/customers(as expressed by their State Boards of Education) is another issue entirely.
In schools, the reality is that most people know beforehand what the mission/vision are, they're just waiting to actually achieve success toward that goal...
It sounds like we generally agree that "the school system" benefits from an inherent framework of a mission, vision, and values; whether clearly articulated or intuitive/self-learned.
Even in saying that though, I agree with Trea that "the mission statement is worthless unless the process of creating that statement has meaning behind it."
As Heidi points out, "just because they exist doesn't mean that clear vision and mission statements are the sole indicator of a successful organization."
While I agree with them, I'll go a step farther. My guess is that, at the end of the day, whether it's called a "vision", "mission", or "value statement", we all want to know that we are not alone in our efforts to educate these children. The burden is too big for any single parent, teacher, principal, or school to solve alone. I don't think we really care to "label" our shared ideals, we just want to know that a sincere, coordinated, attainable game plan exists to fulfill our duties.
As Courtnee suggests, success ultimately "came from teachers (people) working together toward a common goal."
Simply, I'd take that as my mission and vision for the school system any day of the week!
As we all share our collective perceptions and views regarding mission and vision statements, we can begin to identify what we generally see as foundational staples of leadership with respect to collective visions as it related to performance. As mentioned in my earlier posts, mission statements alone will not lead to success. It takes the implementation of a diverse plan that is delivered in an efficient and effective manner.
I do agree that there are written and unwritten directives in most schools that foster success. In my school, we all had basic visions for each grade level. With this, we were able to vertically align these visions throughout the school. In addition to the teachers, we included expectations and the visions of all other staff, including specialists, resource, cafeteria and office staff. We assessed our growth and effectiveness of our given plans/visions on a rolling basis. This allowed for adjustments and improvements along the way which helped us measure our success in our school regardless of external opinions.
It takes the efforts and ideas from everyone in a school building to achieve success consistently, whether in the form of a generalized statement or in a detailed plan. The principal is responsible for understanding and implementing what this means in his or her school.
I enjoyed reading Cierre la Boca's posts (great name). He clearly defines the business vs. school, but I would debate the fact that in a business people don't care about the mission until after it becomes successful. I would say that in a business you have to care about the mission in order to be successful. My fiance just finished a day long "welcome back to business school" workshop. The focus of today - the importance of setting mission statements to ensure success. ( I promise we talked about this at the dinner table) In the book Good to Great by Jim Collins it clearly points out that in order to be a successful business one must have a clear vision and mission in mind. Take Johnson & Johnson for example, world known for not only it's products, but also its credo. J&J's credo, as stated on their website, "challenges us to put the needs and well being of the people we serve first." Created in 1943, it is what guides J&J to be one of the top companies in the world, it did in 1943, it's doing it now, and it will probably still be there 50 years from now.
Taking this back to the business of schools ...wouldn't J&J's credo fit perfectly in a school? To answer Dr. Graham's questions - I do not think unwritten statements would be the same for every one involved, and I experienced this last year. Our staff was asked to help "revamp" our mission and vision. We were placed in 12 groups, and an hour later, we had 12 mission and vision statements. How would an administrator go about choosing 1, better yet, how do you combine 12 to make 1? We didn't, a team of 3 decided on the "key words" and pulled it together.
A successful school has to have one mission and one vision, it has to be clear, concise, and consistent. It aligns with the SIP and guides a team of people to make programmatic decisions for the betterment of the school. From there, teachers are free to have their own philosophy of teaching.
Sorry I am a little late to the party. This blog is an absolute first in my lifetime.
I am a little on the fence about this one. I definitely believe it is critical for effective school leaders to begin formulating their vision for how they will run "their school" early in the MSA experience. I have long been famous with colleagues for saying (when something went wrong at our school) "if I ran a school, this is what I would do..."
So, yes, I have begun to formulate my vision for many aspects of the job- how I will most effectively handle personnel issues, support new teachers, organize a counseling department, boost staff morale, loop in disenfranchized parents, strive to reach students who seem unreachable, etc. Without such forethought prior to assuming the helm of a school, a principal would in a sense be psychologically unprepared for the job. I have a burdgeoning personal vision for my role in my future school.
But I also have found most Mission Statements to be a bit hollow, lip service if you will. I have worked for some lackluster leaders as well as some that can motivate the most apathetic teacher in a building with fire and brimstone. But I cannot remember one of my principals ever emphasizing a Mission Statement to the faculty as a valuable unifying force. Mission Statements in a busy school can become afterthoughts when the organized chaos of a school year begins. Any principal of mine that had a mission statement, seemingly had one to placate district leaders or to put out a little window dressing.
So I may be too cynical (and I look forward to unburdening myself of this cynicism during my MSA experience), but thus far I have not seen many Mission Statements effectively implemented as something to rally behind. I do however think that when conveyed with sincerity and passion, the mission of an effective leader becomes the mission of all his or her school's stakeholders. I will strive to that ideal with my own vision.
I apologize for the tardiness of my initial response and for not yet directly responding to the evolving conversation. As someone who is not a true believer in the omnipotence of mission statements, I tend to concur with the whole of this (how do you link on blogger?) Richard Chait critique that concludes: "The best way to survive, even flourish, may be to worry a little less about mission statements and a little more about actions. Of course the two are related,but we have overworked the former, perhaps because it is not as easy to attend to the latter." (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/issue_pdf/edboard_pdf/205/4410.pdf)
In looking back at some of the earlier posts after my initial one, I wanted to jump back in and address a couple of Dr. Graham's questions and points. I have never researched a school's mission statement in advance of seeking a job- at the job-seeking moment, I just needed the job! Of course, I am more selective than that- I would not ever seek a job without at least a minimum level of comfort forged with my future principal, but mission statements did not enter the picture.
Nor have any mission statements ever been mentioned TO me as the job-seeker when i have been interviewed. Never have I been engaged in a dialogue along the lines of "Spencer, this is our Mission Statement, can you identify? What are your thoughts/impressions?" I would think as important as it should be for me as the job-seeker to care about a school's Mission Statement, it should be even more important to that school's leader to ensure he/she is securing educators with profiles that support the school's mission statement or the principal's personal vision.
Having considered this a little more closely than truly I ever have before, as a future leader of schools, I will look much more closely at a district Board's Mission Statement, as I expect that Board and any potential Superintendent will expect me to seriously adhere to the collective Mission.
I went to work today at my school like I always do, but today I went with the intent of purposefully seeking out the presence of our school's mission or vision statement. I did so by talking with several different employees (eight teachers, two support staff, and even one administrator) and only one had a vague understanding of our mission and vision as a school. I took these findings in comparison to our double digit growth on the EOCs last year (highest in school history), and I'm starting to think that the link between a mission and vision statement and success may be purely situational; certain situations may warrant a mission statement in order to ensure success, while other situations suggest that a group of employees that work toward a common goal--in our case, education children--can achieve success in the absence of an official mission and vision statement.
Reviewing the NC State Board of Education Goals after reading "Mission, Vision & Delusion in Schooling" was rather hilarious!
Dr. Rozycki would certainly highlight the NCSBE's mission as examples of "delusion in schooling" and "education dementation".
I'm not as cynical as the good Dr., but every bit the critic when it comes to assessing federal and state-level policies (and now, their core missions). Across the country, from state to state, there exists a glaring disconnect between the policies/goals for the school system vs. the realities within the system.
Principals and teachers know this better than anyone. They are often, as an entire profession, left out to dry by a bureaucratic culture that simply does not consider "education" a top priority. This makes the role of principals in America much more complex--they're asked to both champion 'the banner of delusion' AND carry the cross of unrealistic expectations. Wow!
If I may paraphrase a core conclusion from the National Study on Principalship..."a principal's gotta figure out what the hell is going on in their specific community and based on what/who they've got to work with, figure out how to address those specific problems."
Spencer, any thoughts on the study's results saying that, above all else, to be successful, principals must be diagnosticians?
Yes, I think “clear” and “compelling” mission statements are necessary for an organization to be highly effective. I think the first purpose of a mission statement is to have a common aim for all employees and stakeholders; the second purpose is to communicate to the consumer what the organization offers and why one will find it favorable to do business with the respective organization. I placed the words ‘clear’ and ‘compelling’ in quotation marks because if the mission is not easily understood and overwhelmingly convincing (that it is feasible and logical) then there is no purpose for a mission at all.
I've enjoyed reading the past couple of posts. I think Maria brings up a good point with Johnson and Johnson's mission statement. It's one statement. That's it! I'm sure their success does not rely on this statement alone but it proves Dr. Rozycki's point. The most powerful statements can be those that are simply defined and set up for success.
I also can't believe that when the hiring process occurs principals are not asking candidates how they feel about the school's mission statement. In my opinion this tells me these statements are only there for "show" and that they have no bearing on who is hired. I could be assuming this but if these mission and value statements are so important why aren't they being imbedded with everything the school does?
I don’t think I’ve ever worked in an environment that had a clearly articulated mission statement. My experiences have primarily been in nonprofits and small, startup for-profits where goals developed organically and in a very reactionary way based on the changing circumstances of clients and the communities we served. While working in this type of environment can be very stressful for employees (particularly those who like structure and predictability), an organization that is flexible, adaptable and unafraid to develop organically is well-suited to serve very challenged/challenging communities. Will’s cite to the Richard Chait critique (on being focused more on actions rather than mission statements) summarizes the philosophy of most of the organizations for which I’ve worked. (Or maybe that philosophy is a mission statement within itself?)
After achieving a few years of success without a mission statement, two organizations I have worked with began strategic planning and attempted to develop clear goals and mission statements “midstream”, usually in an attempt to fit into criteria for a grant proposal or to seem more attractive to funders and foundations. The mission statements developed because of these outside pressures only seemed to complicate our work and forced us into false rubrics to measure outcomes and successes. My experiences reflect Spencer’s first comment that mission statements can be quite “hollow” and often become an afterthought in the “organized chaos” inherent in most service professions. Like many nonprofits, it seems that schools and districts are revamping mission statements to appease outside funders (i.e. North Carolina’s legislative changes and application revisions that led to the recent Race to the Top funding award) rather than focusing on adapting actions to the needs of the children and families they serve.
Craig's experience of his school's double digit EOC growth despite the staff's vague knowledge of the mission plan truly resonates. Our school's mission plan, although I can't recall the specifics, was similar in nature to that of Spencer's former school, Jordan High School: "The mission of Jordan High School is to provide students with the opportunity to explore a body of knowledge; to develop academic, physical and social skills; and to practice thinking and decision-making processes in an open and orderly environment." However, as in most low-performing schools, our primary focus was increased test scores and graduation rates, which, in my opinion, frequently ran contrary to the educational and wholistic ideals presented in typical school mission statements.
In the private sector this debate rages on. Some companies view that a mission statement is neccesary to ensure that all employees are moving in the same direction and towards the same goals. In education I feel that this is less important sense the goal of most schools is relatively the same. I feel the only time a mission statement is neccesary is if the school has a specific goal besides the obvious. A mission statement may also be used to make a statement about a new direction or to reaffirm the direction of the school.
Arpita's original point is a good one. It is the glue, but one thing that differs in a school is if someone its not onboard it is not always easy to remove them like it is in the private sector. That makes a mission statement more important to let that person know the direction of the school and for them to make a decision of whether to move with the school or jump ship.
The thought of a mission statement and reading Cierra la boca's comment makes me look at what we discussed in Dr. Marshall's class differently. In Dr. Marshall's class we discussed the situation of when a community has some strong views and values that may differ from what is legal or accepted outside of the community. As a principal we must determine the pulse of the community and try to improve where we can. A mission statement can be used as a statement of purpose and intent. This could be a wake up call to the community that change is coming or it could be a wake up call to the school board that they need to make a change in firing the principal. This is a thin line when talking about vision and purpose that may differ from the already accepted.
Excellent conversation!
Let me throw in one last thought. Multiple people mentioned the importance of having a schoolwide conversation about mission, vision, etc.
I don't disagree, but one thing I always have in the back of my mind is a sense of the finite time available to me as principal. For every schoolwide conversation we have about mission, that is one chunk of time that we no longer have available to work on anything else. This begs the question of priorities: is it more important to talk about mission, or is more important to have a workshop on a new reading program?
I don't have an answer to that question -- it most likely depends on the individual school -- but time is always a constraint when talking about what a school "needs" to do.
Dr. G
Hello all!
Cierre, I completely agree that one of our critical roles as school executives will be diagnosing the ills, culture, non-negotiables, etc. of our school. We must not only have our finger on the pulse of a school community the first day on the job, we'd better make a darn good attempt to read the pulse before or AT the first interview!
I have thought more about this throughout the day (and I must say I am impressed that Will quoted my former school's Mission Statement- with a choice of two, I am not sure I could pick it out of a line-up and I was highly active and engaged at JHS for 8 years) and I really believe that a Mission Statement is not much different than almost any other task with which we will undertake as school executives:
If we are effective, passionate leaders who are able to motivate our students to accomplish amazing things and our teachers to leap tall buildings in a single bound, then my guess is we will also convey a thoughtful, comprehensive and appropriate vision and Mission Statement which will actually matter, and which will be followed. Or, if we lack that passion, effective managerial skills, or the ability to inspire, then the Mission Statement will not be the only item in our schools which will fail.
Crafting a valuable Mission Statement, hiring the best custodian or AP Chemistry teacher, stocking the supply closet and elevating test scores are all just some of what will be on our plates-my guess is that if we're pretty solid on the other items, we will also have a pretty sound Mission Statement and personal vision to share. On the other hand...
Dr. Graham - That is a very interesting concept. When you were reading your notecards the other day, all I was thinking to myself is how? How do you get all that done, and how do you prioritize all of that to make a working school. It must take a lot of practice and a lot of work. I think for me it would depend on what time of year it is. Talking about the mission and vision would be a great topic for School Improvement meetings, and especially at the beginning of the year kick off for school. I don't know that I would make it an issue anywhere in the middle of the year. Even right at the end of a school year for the next year would be a good time for stakeholders that really care about the school and where it is going.
As I said before, I think it's definitely important to use it once you have developed it in making decisions or it is useless. It must be brought up when you talk about all kinds of issues that effect the children and staff of your school. If it's not used in this matter, then I think there is no point wasting time in developing one at all.
I like Maria's point about the continuity of Johnson and Johnson's mission statement. It would seem common sense that a well-written mission statement could continue unchanged annually, despite changes in leadership or faddish educational priorities. Thus leaving more time for principals to handle the more important matters of reading programs and cafeteria set-up strife.
Also, more importantly, the NC Board of Ed's mission statement is horribly written and should be covered with a teacher's red pen: "The guiding mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century." Seriously.
I agree with Arpita that timing is very important when discussing the mission and vision of a school. In the beginning of the year it is especially important to discuss the mission in detail. Yes, initially it would take frontloading a lot of time but it is similar to a teacher spending a lot of time teaching the routines in the classroom. Once the students know the routines then time is not wasted throughout the year on discipline problems. In the same way, once the teachers are "trained" in the mission and vision and in always referring back to the mission when making decisions, further time will not have to be spent on it.
However everything I just said is null and void if the mission is not clear and concise. If the mission is not clear then everything is just a big waste of time!
After reading all of the materials for Class 2 and reading over the blog dialogue, I still stand strong that clear and compelling mission and vision statements are very important to have in place. Although, they are only useful when the faculty and staff refer to them at all times when school related decisions are being made and they are only useful when they are communicated to all stakeholders.
For those of you who stated that your school did well on standardized test despite the fact that the majority of your faculty and staff did not know the school’s mission and vision statements; are you implying that the mission and vision of the school was fulfilled? I have yet to see a mission or vision statement that states: “The mission of XYZ School is to have ALL students score a 3 or a 4 with academic change on their End-of-Course Test”. Was there 100% passing scores across the board? What about the courses where kids did not have to take a standardized test, how do we asses that they have met this hypothetical mission? My point is, schools should not merely focus on “the test” as a means to say the school is successful and has complied with the purpose of the school.
Students must be approached by teachers holistically. If there is not an articulated common goal that all are aware of and that can be used as a guide in making all decisions, one will have a schoolhouse of parallel play where everyone is merely ensuring that “their” kids pass a test so that one looks good as an individual in hopes that all teachers (who have a test at the end of their course) will have the same “unwritten” mission which in turn will bring the school out of or keep the school from falling into a low performing school.
Dr. G,
In the article by Roland S. Barth, “Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse”, Barth discussed the collegial relationship as being optimal for a schoolhouse. I think the best way to handle an issue such as this is to form an ad hoc committee. Be sure that every stakeholder is represented i.e. parents, students, teachers from various grade levels and/or departments, community members. Allow them to meet and come up with a mission that is realistic and measurable. By doing this, a task that is important gets done with the contribution form all parties involved and without placing one more item on the principal’s index card. If the mission is well written with not only the present, but the future in mind, it is very possible that it will be timeless and may not need revision for sometime.
Great discussions everyone,
So here is a sample mission statement: “The mission of Mountain Gap Middle School is to provide each student a diverse education in a safe, supportive environment that promotes self-discipline, motivation, and excellence in learning. The Mountain Gap team joins the parents and community to assist the students in developing skills to become independent and self-sufficient adults who will succeed and contribute responsibly in a global community.”
Sounds like a great mission statement. . .does it sound familiar? Then here is a conundrum: we are all teaching in Mountain Gap Middle School or as mentioned earlier or we ( as children) recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but it has no implications for our daily lives.
Here is another Mission statement: “The Freeport Middle School exists to serve the unique academic, physical, social, and emotional needs of students who are in a special and critical period of their lives as they change from childhood to adolescence. The staff of Freeport Middle School is committed to creating and maintaining an orderly, trusting, and caring environment where teaching and learning are exciting and students are assisted as they develop responsibility. All aspects of the school's organization, curricular, and co curricular activities are child centered and designed to accommodate individual learning styles so that all may experience success”.
Now, I had to ponder on this one. .. specially the part: “students are assisted as they develop responsibility”
What do you all think?
I agree with Susan in her statement: " However everything I just said is null and void if the mission is not clear and concise. If the mission is not clear then everything is just a big waste of time!".
Coherence is the key here: a definition of coherence is, orderly, logical and aesthetically consistent relation of parts.
If what we say we do is not coherent with what we DO . . .then it is a waste of time.
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