Strategic Framework

The Strategic Framework is a professional document meant for educators to use in their daily work and as such it includes some language and concepts that are particular to education and in some cases specific to ISD 192. To help provide a fuller understanding of our Strategic Framework to our families and other community members, below is a brief explanation of words and concepts that you may not be familiar with in the context of education and ISD 192. 

Agency 
Agency, in this context, refers to an individual's influence, responsibility, and accountability in their own learning development, choices and actions.

Belief Statements 
The belief statements represent our shared core beliefs and are the foundation of the organization and its operations. 

Competency-Based Learning
In a competency based system, learners focus on demonstrating skills, articulating what they are learning, and why they are learning it, as opposed to only testing knowledge.

Equity 
In this document, equity is the provision of personalized learning required for all individuals to reach their goals. We must deeply know our learners, their strengths and challenges ensuring barriers are removed and each learner has access to the support they need based on their learning progression. 

Guiding Principles
The term guiding principles refers to ideas which keep us on track, like metaphorical guardrails, and remind us of our strategic intent. Guiding principles are considered often when starting something new or evaluating current practices. 

Learner 
In this document the word learner is often used in place of student to emphasize the active work of learning and the individual’s role in learning rather than passively taking in information.  

Learner Centric Culture 
A learner centric or learner centered culture prioritizes individual aspirations and interests through personalized learning experiences that value agency, foster belonging, and celebrate growth, equipping each learner with the ability to visualize their own future by creating it.

Mission Statement
The mission statement defines the unique identity to which ISD 192 aspires to become, explains our specific purpose and why we exist, and the hallmark attributes by which it will achieve our purpose.

Objectives 
Objectives are similar to goals and are the ISD 192’s commitment to creating the conditions for our students to develop the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to create their own successful futures. These goals require us to make substantial changes, transforming the learning experiences in our school district.

Purpose Statements
Purpose statements serve to inspire the creation of the work to be done.  

Strategic Emergence 
Strategic emergence refers to continuous, purposeful creation. 

Strategies 
Strategies describe starting points for system change and serve as platforms for exploration and discovery. These become focus areas for continuous creation in the ways ISD 192 will achieve its objectives. 

These belief statements are the basis of ISD 192 as an organization and how it operates. They represent our shared core beliefs and have been crafted to reflect our people-first philosophy. We value all people as curious, capable learners and as contributors to the many communities to which they belong. We show this through respect, integrity, trust, understanding, and open communication. 

We believe that:

• Each person has inherent, immeasurable worth. 
• Each person deserves to be treated with respect, dignity, and equity.
• Each person has the capacity and desire to learn.
• Equitable practices are vital for healthy communities. 
• Each person has unique needs that are best met through personalization.
• Curiosity ignites learning.
• Human diversity enriches both the individual and community.
• Integrity is crucial to trust. 
• Mutual understanding and open communication are vital to trusting relationships.
• We are stewards of Earth’s natural resources.
• Communities thrive when individuals are engaged to the best of their ability.
• Each person is capable of and compelled to do one’s best. 
• The wellbeing of future generations depends on us.

The mission statement is what uniquely defines ISD 192 as an organization. It explains why ISD 192 exists (the core purpose) and how it aspires to serve learners and the greater community. Like our belief statements, our mission statement focuses first on our learners as unique, diverse individuals. We are creating an organization that is based upon trust, helps learners grow, acknowledges their responsibility and honors their autonomy.

The mission of Farmington Area Public Schools, a learner centered culture that radiates a dream of an entirely new educational world, is to ensure each learner continuously achieves one’s highest aspirations while demonstrating responsibility to communities through a system distinguished by:

• Passion for continuous growth
• Honor of diverse perspectives
• Personal reflection which gives meaning to learning
• Agency with empathy
• Radical trust in self and others

The purpose of guiding principles is to keep our work on track and remind us of our strategic intent. Guiding principles are formatted as questions. ISD 192 educators are encouraged to ask themselves regularly if their work is supporting the purpose and objectives laid out in this strategic framework. Are we respecting the autonomy, responsibility, and strengths of our learners and staff? Are we providing for learners’ needs with care and ensuring accessibility for all?  

• Does it advance our strategic intent?
• Does it honor agency?
• Does it leverage the strengths of the learner?
• Does it cultivate the learner?
• Does it ignite the application of learning?
• Does it ensure equity?
• Does it protect the wellbeing of the learner?

Objectives are similar to goal statements in that they express our intent and require us to make substantial changes, transforming our school district. Our objectives focus on providing all learners in our community with the tools to continuously grow, achieve, and affect positive change throughout their lives. They are as follows: 

• All learners possess the capacity and resiliency to create opportunities and master challenges.
• All learners continuously achieve their academic and personal goals.  
• Each learner leads beneficial change locally and globally.

These objectives are best measured through observation of and demonstration by learners. To help in this process we have identified indicators of these objectives that apply throughout our system. These are the true skills and dispositions, along with content knowledge, that our learners will need to create their own successful future. The indicators for each objective are outlined in the 3 Profiles of a Lifelong Learner below:

• Profile of a Lifelong Learner - Objective 1: All learners possess the capacity and resiliency to create opportunities and master challenges.  |(Downloadable PDF)
• Profile of a Lifelong Learner - Objective 2 Profile: All learners continuously achieve their academic and personal goals. | (Downloadable PDF)
• Profile of a Lifelong Learner - Objective 3: Each learner leads beneficial change locally and globally. | (Downloadable PDF)