MESPA`s Strategic Direction - Minnesota Elementary School

MESPA’s Strategic Direction
A message from MESPA’s
Executive Director
O
n behalf of our entire association, I
wish to thank the two-dozen MESPA
members who participated in creating this
articulation of MESPA’s Strategic Direction.
During a two-day gathering of MESPA’s leaders
in October of 2014, Dr. Gary Prest from Ark
Associates expertly guided us on a course to
advance MESPA. The results of this work yielded
two “wildy important goals”: to rebrand MESPA
and to enhance professional development.
The overwhelming commitment of MESPA’s
members to promote, uplift, and support other
principals in the work of serving children, families,
and communities in Minnesota schools is a bridge
to reaching these important goals. MESPA is truly
an association “By Principals, for Principals!”
Thank you,
Executive Director
Jon Millerhagen
Table of Contents
STRUCTURE, MISSION, & PURPOSE
4-5
MESPA MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW
6-7
WILDLY IMPORTANT GOALS
8
STRATEGIC DIRECTION TIME LINE
9
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPED & LED PD
10-11
ACCESSIBLE PROFESSIONAL DEV.
12-13
LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY
14-15
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
16-17
INSTITUTE 2015 CASE STUDY
18-19
3
12 Divisions
Northern
Northeast
Western
Central
Southwest
Southeast
Minneapolis
Saint Paul
North Suburban
East Suburban
West Suburban
South Suburban
Membership
Educational
Advisory
Negotiations
Retirement
8 Committees
Communications
EPAC
Legislative
Resolutions
MN School
of Excellence
Purpose*:
Improve education for Minnesota students through collaboration and advocacy
Unite current, past, and future licensed elementary and middle level principals
Encourage and support a cooperative relationship between MESPA and other
state/national organizations, and
Advocate for the professional, ethical, economic, and social welfare of it members.
*Pending ByLaws change at MESPA Annual Meeting Februray 5, 2016
Mission:
The Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association
strives to be the premier leadership resource for elementary
and middle level principals and a strong leading voice for public
education. MESPA is committed to ensuring a high quality
education for all children through strengthening and enhancing
the principal’s role as educational leader in our schools.
MESPA Strategic Direction
5
The number
of new
members is
increasing
every year:
2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
Percent of membership
MESPA’s membership is
rapidly changing...
New generations in MESPA’s membership
means changing needs and changing
desires that need to be met.
6
MESPA Strategic Direction
57 57 90 104 110
... and growing every year!
Who made
up our Active
members in
2014-2015?
664 Elementary School Principals
124 Assistant Principals
35 Other Administrators
10 K-12 Principals
9 Charter School Principals
2 Middle School Principals
In 2015-2016, MESPA has an
all-time membership high of
845* Active members.
*as of January 15, 2016
MESPA Strategic Direction
7
MESPA’s Strategic Direction
After working together to define the current and future needs of MESPA, a group of
MESPA’s leaders targeted two key areas for MESPA’s Strategic Direction:
Rebranding
MESPA will, of course, continue to reach principals across
MN, but how that looks is changing! MESPA’s rebranding
involves an updated look - with new branded colors &
fonts - but more importantly, rebranding involves new
functionality with a mobile-friendly website, member
forums, and Institute app. All of these innovations will lead
to an improved and more connected member experience.
8
MESPA Strategic Direction
Improved
Professional
Development
MESPA is working to improve our Professional Development
offerings by making them more affordable, accessible, and
relevant. By leveraging the knowledge and talents of MESPA
members, we are able to bring professional development
that meets the specific needs of our members. Three
professional development design teams are working on, or
have created, new PD options: 21st Century School Office,
PreK-3, and Diversity & Inclusion.
Time Line
Collecting Information
Leadership 2014 & Institute 2015
At Leadership 2014 we asked “What would you want MESPA to look like in
a year from now?” and “What would you want MESPA to look like in 2020?”
MESPA’s executive committee then took that information and used it in a
strategic planning session to define the steps that MESPA needs to take to
reach that goal.
Defining Direction
Strategic Planning Session - October 27-28, 2014
MESPA Leaders met with Gary Prest, Senior Associate of Ark Associates, to
identify the “wildly important goals” MESPA wanted to accomplish. The two
goals identified were Rebranding and Improved Professional Development.
The strategic direction team included Becky Pedersen, Billy Chan, Brad
Gustafson, Heather Nelson, Jeffrey Lund, Jen Olson, Joey Page, Liann Hanson,
Mark French, Randy Pauly, Ranae Case Evenson, Stephanie Flickinger, Steven
Geis, Susan Risius, Tim Bell, Michelle Krell, Rae Villebrun, Nancy Antoine, and
Patrick Glynn, as well as the MESPA Staff: Jon Millerhagen, Kelsey Gantzer,
Elise Ogden, and Rosie Mitchell.
Implementing
2015 and Beyond
We have begun implementing elements of rebranding and improved
professional development, but there’s still room to grow! Read on to see what
steps have been taken and where we are going.
MESPA Strategic Direction
9
Principal Developed & Led PD
Division PD Meeting Menu
The Division Professional Development Meeting Menu has been created
to help you bring pre-planned, relevant professional development to your
division meetings. The PD Menu will grow organically as divisions create
and share ideas with each other. It will also help divisions share association
business and address locally identified professional development needs.
PreK-3 Leadership Series
This comprehensive, 5-day series supports elementary level principals in
improving their school’s readiness and the alignment of policies and practices
across the birth-to-age eight learning continuum. Developed in partnership
between MESPA’s PreK-3 Design Team and the Minnesota Department of
Education, this series will cover a range of topics to help principals and their
team members prepare strong PreK-3 programs in their schools.
21st Century School Office
A group of MESPA’s best and brightest principals, in partnership with their
administrative assistants, has come together to develop a training to make
your school office more efficient, organized, and effective so that you
can focus on the work that really matters - children! Both principals and
administrative assistants will benefit from this day long training that will help
you and your school office team run a school office efficiently, proactively
manage crisis response, facilitate free flow decision making, stay organized,
communicate and problem solve effectively as a team, and more!
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MESPA Strategic Direction
Opportunities for Growth
We are
working to
increase the...
connection with and support of new principals.
number of voices involved in selecting, developing,
and leading professional development opportunities.
commitment from principals across the state to
lead and develop professional development.
focus on education equity and diversity training.
Professional
Development
metrics from
2014-2015
19
days of PD
28
speakers &
presenters
750+
MESPA members
attended
Accessible Professional Development
A
ccessibility is an especially important aspect to look at when creating professional development events for
principals. Between limited budgets and limited time in principals’ busy schedules, the more accessible our
PD can be, the greater audience it will reach and greater impact it will have. We are working towards low
cost and physically accessible options by partnering with principals across the state to develop and lead PD.
“[The 21CSO] workship will give my secretary and me a model to follow in creating a system
that will allow us to work the most efficient and effective way possible.”
12
MESPA Strategic Direction
Joint Division Meetings
1/2 Off 21CSO
While high-quality, affordable PD is important for
principals at any stage in their careers, it is especially
important for new principals to understand the
value of investing in themselves. This year we are
offering 1/2 off 21st Century School Office
to any principals who attend the
New Principals’ Seminar.
MN
School of
Excellence
MN School of
Excellence offers a
framework for any
school to go through
a self-paced, selfimprovement process.
Only $100 to apply &
complete the validation
process.
In May 2015, four divisions hosted a joint-division
meeting with keynote Scott McLeod. South
Suburban, West Suburban, Southwest, and
Southeast Divisions collaborated to bring a highquality PD experience to their division members
for only $10! This has set a precedent for more
innovate, division-created events
to come in the future.
Low Cost
Professional
Development
Opportunities
for Growth
MESPA is increasing the amount of PD
opportunities that do not generate a profit for the
association, but simply cover the cost of food and
supplies. Some of these opportunities include:
PreK-3
$325 for five-days for a team of 2-4 people per day
21CSO
$150 for a principal and an administrative
assistance to attend a one-day conference
Continue to create fiscally viable
events for MESPA members and
reach a broad audience in
all divisions.
Find more outlets, to both
physically and digitally
connect with members.
New Principals’ Seminar
$95 for a one-day seminar
plus materials
Legal Seminars
Twitter Chats
By hosting six legal seminars across the
state, the MESPA Legal Seminars are easily
accessible for MESPA members from all
divisions.
Twitter offers a free space for educators
from across MN and across the US
to collaborate for free. In 2014-2015,
MESPA Northern Division even used
Twitter to host division meetings!
Leveraging Technology
Leveraging new technology and further utilizing MESPA’s current technology
is part of improving MESPA’s branding and professional development.
M
ESPA’s new website is the basis for many of the
technological advancements and opportunities to
connect.
The Principal Forums offer a secure area to ask & give advice
with colleagues from around the state: www.mespa.net/forums
The digital Membership Directory provides principals with
access to contact information, including areas of expertise, for
all MESPA members: www.mespa.net/directory
MESPA has transitioned from a printed version of the Advocate
to a digital blog. This will expand the reach of MESPA’s voice
and increase the number of voices representing MESPA.
www.mespa.net/blog
Opportunities for Growth: While MESPA offers many
opportunties to digitally collaborate, many of those digital
tools are under-utilized, including writing and responding
to forum posts, sharing best practices, and joining Twitter
conversations with #MESPAmn.
14
MESPA Strategic Direction
“Challenging. I had not learned some of the techy things prior to Institute.
Thanks for bringing me forward!”
MESPA Strategic Direction
15
Celebrating Excellence: Honors & Awards
Celebrating the positive stories and accomplishments of Minnesota’s principals is an important part of sharing
what MESPA represents. Each honor & award is an opportunity to recognize the hard work and accomplishments
of the individual principal, school, and profession as a whole.
National Outstanding Assistant Principal
National Distinguished Principal
Science and Math Principal of the Year
MESPA Division Leadership Award
16
MESPA Strategic Direction
MN School of Excellence
“The School of Excellence process has brought our school
community together in a way that has allowed us to focus
our attention on what we are doing well and examine what
we can improve on. The process helped us strengthen our
communication with one another and reach out to our
families.”
- John Garcia, Principal, Cedar Park Elementary
2015 School of Excellence
Opportunities for Growth:
Build greater momentum around
all of the awards and obtain a
wider pool of nominees. Create an
expectation to nominate exceptional
colleagues.
MESPA Strategic Direction
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“This was hands down one of the best parts about the
“I left feeling inspired by
new connections with
colleagues! There were
ideas and strategies to
implement immediately! I
brought back ideas to my
admin team and my PLC.
There are big ideas that
are influencing planning
for next year!”
conference. PLEASE do this again next year.”
“Enjoyed how it was truly guided by the questions and
needs and everyone was able to find someone to help
support their walk through new learning.”
“Organic and great.... we got to lead!”
“A chance to learn what I wanted, from folks who
have/are doing it! Not stuck on deciding what is for
me... got to help plan the morning ... what a concept!”
Institute App
14 unconference sessions
90% rated it 4 or 5 (out of 5)
147 attendees
“Loved it! Worked great, wonderful way to have
everything in one place including links and
contacts.”
“Best new concept!!!!!”
“Absolutely the best. Very convenient.”
“Great having it on my phone and not having to
carry around anything. Took notes on it added
pics to it.. Like it!!”
529 installs
2,800 pages of paper saved
9,782 event view
12,378 page views
Institute
2015 Attendance
359 full attendees (a 5 year high)!
Northern Division, Southwest Division, and
South Suburban Division all achieved a 60%
attendance rate at Institute!
Northern Division had a 29% increase in
attendance
West Suburban and Minneapolis Divisions also
increased their division attendance from the
pervious years.
Opportunities
for Growth
New opportunities for a variety of MESPA
members to share their knowledge/expertise
with MESPA Speaks in Institute 2016.
Implement Educational Equity, Leadership
Development, and Technology strands.
Increase MESPA members’ participation in
visiting booths to maintain exhibitor participation
in order to keep Institute costs at the same level.
“Your passion
to create a
memorable,
can’t-miss,
Institute makes
the event worth
the time away
from school. I
learn many new
things each year,
proving you can
teach an old dog
new tricks!”
“Overall it was my best experience yet. I thought the keynotes were great and the breakout
sessions were especially good. Great work. I’m looking forward to next year already.”
MESPA Strategic Direction
19
MESPA’s Strategic
Direction
Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association
1667 Snelling Avenue N., Suite C101
Saint Paul, MN 55108
651.999.7310