DAVID M.

PALMER and WILLIAM ALLAN KRITSONIS

Introduction

The Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning (Kritsonis, 2007) is a

philosophy for selecting the curriculum for general education. The organizational core
of any school is its instruction. The curriculum and its broader objectives is a critical
topic in every planning cycle or strategic performance system. Long term strategic
plans, action plans, strategic thinking or SWOT analysis must have issues of
curriculum and instruction Planning is reflexive and implies that schools are more
than just inert pawns in the hands of socioeconomic forces (Holmes, Wootten,
Motion, Zorn, & Roper, 2005). Strategic planning in education must have as its
primary goal student achievements. If this is so the approach in any strategic plan will
be a unitary philosophy of the curriculum with a strategy for reference to the
meaningful relationships to the other components of the curriculum. When this is the
case, we right away have a postmodern understanding of what it means to give
meaning to the human experience through a solid foundation established by the six
patterns in the realms of meaning namely symbolics, empirics, esthetics, synnoetics,
ethics and synoptics (Kritsonis & Watkins, 2007).
Since strategic planning in schools should command the attention of the
curriculum then the strategic planning of the curriculum requires strategic and tactical
decision making. With regard to the ordering of content, the relevant teaching
materials should simplify learners’ task. The thinking should make their modes of
thought less transient while at the same time allowing them to actively assimilate
pragmatically and constructively throughout their student centered adventure
(Dolence, 2004).

Purpose of the Article

The purpose of this article is to show the linkage between the realms of
meaning and strategic planning. The article will show how symbolics, empirics,
esthetics, synnoetics, ethics, and synoptics has an under pinning value to the planning
that is required for successful schools.

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is a management instrument. As with any executive tool, it

is used to help an institution do an improved job - to concentrate its energy; ensure
that members of the organization are working toward the same goals; and to appraise
and direct the organization in a changing environment. Strategic planning is a
disciplined effort to produce decisions and actions that shape and guide what a school
is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Strategic planning has
its complexities in terms of what it requires. It is aimed at an overall focus of the
organization's resources on mutually preset planned quantifiable outcomes. Useful
plans include an organization's entire resources and purpose so it must be developed
calculatingly and attentively (McNamara, 2008).
Strategic planning begins with strategic thinking. The difference is one is
analysis and the other is synthesis. It is a constant, methodical thinking process that
identifies a preferred future and strategies to bring it about by linking deliberate plans
with medium and short term operating programs and budgeting controls. Planning is

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getting people involved in collecting high-quality information and using it to make

intelligent decisions about the future. It is the navigator and roadmap to guide a team
and board to make use of an assessable plan that will bring together the priorities and
maximize the performance of the school. Basically, a school undertakes strategic
planning to reiterate or fine-tune its mission – why it exists, what is its rationale, what
it achieves now– and to concur on its vision – what it needs to be and achieve in the
future. The reason is not to decide what ought to be done in the years ahead but to
decide what must be done presently to make you the most excellent school.
The real value of a strategic planning blueprint is more than just having an
outline that guides prospective decisions although that is extremely important on its
own. It is an effective all-inclusive approach to building harmony and inspiring
support, laying out critical priorities for the board and school head who are charged
with the execution of the plan, and channeling all your energies in one agreed path.
Strategic planning is a continuous, organized practice that helps schools and districts
to foresee and chart their annual and multi-year goals and activities by analyzing their
system-specific strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, as well as those of
their community (Anderson & Kumari, 2008).
Strategic planning should be designed to enhance organizational and staff
competences, capability and resources while facilitating results. Strategic planning
involves ongoing activities whereby schools and districts: develop, implement, and
evaluate programs and activities designed to meet their charge, goals, and student-
related outcomes; track their needs, plans, and progress over time. Strategic planning
should analyzes what programs, curricula, or interventions to add, remove, replace, or
add-on to existing programs, while shaping when and how to make the mid-course
changes to take full advantage of these programs. It anticipates and reacts as needs
arise.
Strategic planning uses a systems approach to impact the educational process
emphasizing valuable and efficient data-based forecast and decision-making,
personnel and resource development and management, monetary and technological
reliability, and school and community integration. Plainly put, strategic planning
determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's going
to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. The hub of a strategic plan is
usually on the whole organization, while the focal point of a business plan is more
often than not on a particular service or program (Gregory, 2007).
There are a diversity of perspectives, models and contemporary advancements
used in strategic planning. The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the
nature of the organization's leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the
organization's climate, size of the organization, and proficiency of the planners. Case
in point, there are a variety of strategic planning models. Goals-based planning is
maybe the most common and begins with focusing on the organization's mission (and
vision and/or values), objectives to work toward the mission, strategies to achieve the
objectives or goals, and action planning who will do what and by when (McNamara,
2008). Issues-based strategic planning begins by probing issues facing the
organization, strategies to address those concerns, and action plans. Organic strategic
planning might start by articulating the organization's vision and ideals and then
action plans to accomplish the vision while adhering to those values. Various planners
have a preference for a particular approach to planning, e.g., appreciative inquiry.
Plans are scoped to a year, three years, or five to ten years into the future. Some plans
include only executive information and no action plans. Lastly, strategic planning is a

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school’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on

allocating its resources to pursue its strategies, including its staff and students
(McNamara, 2008).
The best curriculum and the best staff development and campus safety
programs is a must. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic
planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats ) and in the wider educational business circle PEST analysis (Political,
Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis (Socio-cultural,
Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors) and EPISTEL -
Environment, Political, Informatics, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal
( Ronco, 2007).

What are the Benefits of Strategic Planning

Strategic planning enables people to manipulate the future. A number of

trends that already strongly affect schools include; an aging population, an increasing
proportion of minority students, and growing numbers of special interest groups
competing for scarce public resources (Wirth, 2009). School officials must plan for
shortages of teachers, particularly in math, science, and bilingual education, and they
must prepare to accommodate rising numbers of Hispanic students, many of whom
will not speak English. More students of all types will keep on coming from low socio
economic status. These profound demographic changes will continue to reshape the
nation and its schools in the coming decades. They make strategic planning
particularly important and show why it must be done in unison with a strategy, plan
and policy. Change is taking place at an extraordinary pace. Era and remoteness
continue to be less and less significant due to fast growth of technological tools
including the Internet. With no strategic planning, schools just drift, and are always
reactive other than deliberate (Gregory, 2007). The benefit of creating vision and
direction that is simple and clear gets your primary targets, the students, closer to the
achievement outcomes you seek for them. That plan in essence is a good plan for it
challenges assumptions, and is created with input from sources inside and outside the
school. It attracts commitment and accountability and it becomes part of the culture to
reflect changes in the environment. It allows effective communication using a
different medium. Too often communication is done half way. We tell and ask and
suggest and advise but don’t test for understanding. To close the loop, build in
ways to test at every level and area within an organization, along with an
understanding of the vision. (Mogavero, & Lake, 2006).
At some point in the strategic planning process (sometimes in the activity of
setting the strategic direction), planners usually identify or update what might be
called the strategic philosophy. This includes identifying or updating the
organization's mission, vision and/or values statements. Mission statements are brief
written descriptions of the purpose of the organization. Mission statements vary in
nature from brief to quite comprehensive, and including having a specific purpose
statement that is part of the overall mission statement. A campus improvement plan
must include specifying responsibilities and timelines with each objective, or who
needs to do what and by when. It should also include methods to monitor and evaluate
the plan, mainly student progress which includes knowing how the organization will
know who has done what and by when.

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How are the Realms of Meaning Relevant and Applicable to Strategic Planning?

Symbolics

The first realm symbolics consists of ordinary language, mathematics, and

non-discursive symbolic forms. The underpinning of education can be found in the
symbolics realm. Reason and reality concerning all things is defined by and has its
essence in Language. Effective communication is most critical to strategic planning
because since it focuses on the curriculum as being the inner hub of the instructional
core, and since the curriculum is subject to being and rightly so a unitary philosophy
within the strategic plan then symbolics represent a very fundamental foundation
underpinning the path to every thing else. Symbolics is even postmodern in its
congruency to planning cycle, strategic performance system, long range strategic
plan, action plan, strategic thinking and SWOT analysis, these issues being critical to
the success of the process. Symbolics encompasses the other constructs included in
empirics, esthetics, synnoetics, and ethics and synoptic so we get analytic abstraction,
comprehensive integrativeness and reinforcement from multiple interpretations in
looking at the contributions, data and ideas that you get from your staff in developing
it using the all inclusive approach. The integrity and moral meanings of the strategic
plan is also revealed (Kritsonis, 2007).
The realms of meaning can assess the planning, implementation and
amendments of the strategic plan right along the continuum for the life cycle of that
plan. Language allows knowledge to be conveyed and received. Non discursive
ordinary language is one of the building blocks of the educational process. Strategic
planning is a management tool. The language of the strategic plan and its components
sharpens this tool expressly to produce disciplined effort towards decisions and
actions that shape what a school is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on
the future.

Empirics

Empirics are the second realm of meaning, dealing with facts. This realm
includes the sciences of the physical world, of living things, and of man (Kritsonis
2007, p. 12). Empirics describe factual descriptions, mathematical generalizations,
and theoretical formulations and explanations (Kritsonis 2007, p. 12). “The theoretical
formulations and explanations are based upon observation and testing in the world of
matter, life, mind and society” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 12). Strategic planning begins with
strategic thinking. In that statement lays both analysis and synthesis. The methodical
thinking process required for strategic planning therefore is grounded in empirics.
The linking of deliberate plans with medium and short term operating
programs, budgeting controls, and fiscal prudence has deep empirical meanings
requiring mathematics for their expression. To know a skill is to be able to put
together valid general description of matters of fact (Kritsonis, 2006), but a meta
analytic process is needed to communicate rationales, vision and goals at the
leadership level since outcomes are directly tied to tax-based resources. Fiscal
management requires disciplined logical thought. “The facts of empirics are framed
in accordance with rules of evidence and verification” (Kritsonis, 2007, p.12).

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Esthetics

In all things demonstrate the beauty and usefulness of esthetics. Esthetics

appeals to knowledge of a singular particular form (Kritsonis 2007, p 273). A
beautiful vision that inspires a flawless inclusion climate, enhanced organizational
and staff competences, programs and activities designed to meet their charge, goals,
and student-related outcome, valuable and efficient data-based forecast and decision-
making; personnel and resource development and management, monetary and
technological reliability, and good school and community integration are all beautiful
enrichments like music to the ear that deepens esthetic insight.
“Synnoetics signifies relational insight or direct awareness” (Kritsonis, 2007,
p. 12). Strategic planning uses a systems approach to affecting the educational process
emphasizing valuable and efficient data-based forecast and decision-making. That
awareness sets the stage for us of a diversity of perspectives, models and
contemporary advancements used in strategic planning. The way that a strategic plan
is developed depends on the nature of the organization's leadership, culture
proficiency of the organization and the complexity of the school as social system
(Gregory, 2007).

Ethics

The relationship between individuals and conflict resolution in school is a sore

point in many schools. Ethics is the fifth realm, and should be the foundation of our
personal conduct and free conscience. Professionals and leaders often resort solutions
inconsistent with integrity, professionalism ethics and dignity as exampled by the
rubber room experiences of hundreds of New York teachers. Without strategic
planning, schools just drift. When that happens and with the subsequent potential
effect on the learners, it becomes unethical. An internal code of conduct, not
explicitly written in a strategic plan should always guide operational plan.
Professional development for staff should be reflected in the strategic plan.

Synoptics

Synoptics is a term that comprises meanings having an integrative function,

uniting meanings from all the realms into a unified perspective (Kritsonis, 2007, p.
479). Faith can be a reservoir of strength to draw upon when difficulties arise.
Strategic planning is also about essential decisions and actions, but it does not make
future decisions. Strategic planning involves anticipating the eventual environment,
but the decisions are made in the now. This means that over time, the school must stay
abreast of changes in order to make the best decisions it can at any time.

Concluding Remarks

In conclusion, strategic planning through the lens of the realms of meaning

can be used to determine mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, roles,
responsibilities and timelines. Strategic planning has also been described as a tool –

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but it is not a substitute for the exercise of judgment by leaders. Strategic planning,
though described as disciplined, does not typically flow smoothly from one step to the
next. It is a creative process, and the fresh insight arrived at today might very well
alter the decisions made previously. Symbolics empowers to communicate
effectively. Empirics provides mathematical soundness to decisions. Esthetics
promotes the beauty in accuracy. Synnoetics, embraces relational knowledge. Ethics
gives moral meaning that expresses awareness of fairness and success without
question. This means we self evaluate honestly and we evaluate our strategic plan
outcomes truthfully. The final realm, synoptics, refers to meanings that are
comprehensively integrative. All these are relevant to a successful strategic plan.

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