November: Education Update

/
 

FORWARD 2030
A Community Driven Blueprint for the Future

The Visalia Unified School Board has made incredible strides in enhancing public education for every student in Visalia. In 2021, our board set a goal to bring leadership and alignment to the families of the 30,000 plus students it serves. Their first task as a governance team was to work with the community to find a Superintendent with experience in building strategic plans for large systems. Next, the Board worked to develop a set of Core Beliefs and Commitments to help center the work of our district. Lastly, our board requested that the work of our district be aligned across all divisions. The work of the VUSD Board over the course of the year is now culminating in our district’s first strategic plan for the next five years. We presented our first draft of the plan called, “VUSD Forward 2030: A Community-Driven Blueprint for the Future” to our board at the October 17th, 2023 school board meeting. The plan consists of themes and focus areas that encompass every aspect of Visalia Unified to help ensure our district’s mission: “Every student engaged every day in high-quality, challenging, and meaningful learning experiences in a safe, supportive, and connected environment.” Building this strategic plan has been an eight month-long process and there is still work to be done to build out our district’s initiatives and actions for the plan. Below is an outline of how the plan will be organized and implemented, including our outlined themes and focus areas: Foundations: Mission & Vision, Core Beliefs & Commitments, and Commitment to Student Learning. Themes: Our intentions for the future based on our Foundations.

  • High Expectations, High Achievement

  • Empower Students

  • Engage the Community Focus Areas: Priorities to realize our intentions aligned to each theme.

  • Academic Achievement and Preparedness: Ensure all students demonstrate consistent academic growth and graduate fully prepared for college and career.

  • Collaboration and Leadership: Cultivate a culture of belonging, collaboration, and leadership to drive positive system transformation.

  • Faculty and Staff Development: Attract, recruit, and retain staff through comprehensive professional development that supports continuous growth and effectiveness.

  • Technology and Innovative Approaches: Incorporate relevant technology and employ data-informed, student-driven methods to enhance academic achievement and prepare students for college and/to career.

    Initiatives: Strategies that will help achieve the focus area and outcomes. Initiatives: Intentional strategies which will help achieve the focus areas and themes.