2022 - 2027 Strategic Plan
Mission
Vision
and personalized environment.
Our Promise
Our promise is to help you succeed!
Commitment to Innovation
to be creative, agile, and data-driven.
GOAL High School has changed lives in Colorado since 2008. Serving as a safety net school in almost every community of the state, our students are offered the possibility of success through hard work and partnership with their school. GOAL strives to employ the most passionate educators and support staff available to provide a comprehensive system of need assessment, wrap-around services and mentorship. GOAL’s balanced course offerings bridge the present to the future for our students. The pathway to graduation at GOAL is unique for every student ensuring that their engaged young minds stay focused as they develop into productive members of society.
The previous strategic plan was an exercise in success and fundamental change over the past five years at GOAL High School. The momentum of our previous success will empower future improvements. The 2022-2027 GOAL High School Strategic plan is a testament to the mission, vision, and shared beliefs of the school. The graduates of GOAL represent a new hope for the future in communities all over Colorado. As societal changes in economics, culture, and opportunity occur, so also must the secondary education that we provide adapt and remain relevant to the future of our students.
Addressing the opportunity gap for at-risk youth in Colorado will continue to be GOAL High School’s greatest achievement. Over the next five years GOAL will continue to bring efficiency to our fiscal process, consistency to our culture and communication, continue gaining ground on academic growth, and provide new opportunities for our valued staff with advancement and professional growth. Our stakeholders will realize the value our school offers in course diversity preparing students for a broader spectrum of future opportunity in the workforce and postsecondary pathways. These efforts, combined with our proven history of re-engaging students who had previously dropped out, will continue to build on the partnerships we have in each community we serve.
GOAL High School’s leadership team began the process of reviewing the 2017 – 2022 strategic plan during the 2020-2021 school year to determine the driving factors and needed changes for a new strategic plan that would begin in the 2022-2023 school year. During this time, it was decided that a new format was needed that would better reflect the contributions of all departments and staff members and provide a continuous improvement model that addressed the needs of both students and staff.
The first step was the creation of five pillars representing all aspects of our work, followed by the identification of unique goals for each pillar that would determine our priorities and help to focus strategies to meet each of the goals. The Pillars and goals were reviewed by the entire staff through surveys and a presentation/feedback session during the 2021-2022 GOAL Forum. During the annual forum, where all staff convene in one location for two days of training, staff were asked to provide feedback on the relevance of the goals and to suggest strategies to accomplish each goal.
Early in the 2021-2022 school year, the formation of the Chief Executive Officer Cabinet that included the department directors of Exceptional Student Services, Application Services and Technology, Infrastructure Services, Operations, Communications, Student Services, Human Resource, Finance, Curriculum & Instruction, Compliance, in concert with the chief officer team representing Executive, Academic, Finance, and Information Technology began collaborating to design the strategic plan pillar committees. Cabinet members were appointed to be committee chairs of the pillars that represent their departments.
All staff were invited to express their interest in the different pillars and goals. The identified pillar committee chairs invited the staff to join in committee meetings held weekly throughout the school year. As a collaborative whole, these committees identified specific measurable strategies that all staff across the state could utilize over the next five years to fine tune GOAL High School’s processes and procedures.
During the 2022-2023 GOAL Forum, the updated Strategic Plan that contained the Pillars, Goals and Strategies was once again presented in a feedback session so all staff would have the opportunity to provide feedback on the strategies. Staff members were also asked to discuss with their colleagues how they could contribute to the accomplishment of each strategy in their roles in the school.
Each committee is dedicated to the continual work of leveraging the identified strategies to improve the school, developing their message to all stakeholders, and recording the changes made through this powerful continuous improvement process.
Foundations for Students
Show Up – Be ACCOUNTABLE by being present and active in your learning.
Connect – Be HONEST with your support network.
Succeed – GRADUATE with a STRONG plan for a successful future.
Foundations for Staff
• Be ACCOUNTABLE for our students, ourselves, and our team.
• Develop and maintain TRANSPARENT and HONEST relationships with our students and team.
• Become a STRONG unified team providing students an INNOVATIVE environment to become productive members of society.
Shared Beliefs at GOAL High School, We Believe…
• In our students and that all students can learn and experience academic success.
• In providing an education that promotes learning and personal growth, in a welcoming, safe, and healthy environment.
• Student success starts with healthy and dependable relationships while valuing diverse and individual student needs.
• Consistent and reliable systems and structures are necessary to best support students, families, and staff.
• In leading the educational experience through innovation.
Pillar One
Student Growth, Achievement and Success
The measurement of school accountability lies within the measurement of student success. The diligent efforts of every member of faculty answers first to the students’ needs with careful calculation and a focus on the end result of academic growth. The scaffolding of a student’s habitual use of school resources builds on the individual success they experience. With consistent support from staff to build these habits, students will complete courses successfully, progress and grow academically, and graduate to be productive members of society.
Strategies
- Utilize STAR assessment grade level equivalency to measure students’ growth from beginning of year to end of year, combined with helping students to set testing goals.
- Provide separate orientations for new and returning students.
- Differentiate quarter one offerings to address all student readiness levels.
Strategies
- Offer Live Sessions and After Hour Support Programming that focuses on student academic needs and flexible scheduling
- Provide staff training on academic support processes and platforms to increase student success.
- Build success strategies into courses to assist student success level.
- Increase teacher to student contact.
- Implement a class or platform to better inform parents about student success at GOAL.
Strategies
- Provide special orientation and staffing assignment for all senior students nearing graduation.
- Improve communication of graduation progress to all staff and potential graduates.
- Empower parent support and encouragement of senior students.
Strategies
- Create ways to recognize and celebrate students as they graduate.
- Teach time management and life skills that encourage early engagement for students.
- Ensure all students receive concurrent enrollment opportunities.
- Maintain training and processes that support the Academic Coaches’ tracking of student transcripts.
Pillar Two
Student Career Development and Planning
When students are exposed to and instructed on career pathways, it provides opportunities for them to realize and explore their passions. Data has proven time and again that attendance, engagement, and success show monumental gains once a student becomes involved in passion-related opportunities. As educators we have the responsibility to influence students by helping them explore their interests and passions and secondly by providing the direction, information, and pathway to success. Students may choose to join the workforce, join the military, attend a trade school, or enroll in college. GOAL will assist in the planning, pathway, and preparation to be productive members of society, regardless of the student’s choice.
Strategies
- Centralize the collection and storage of THRIVE survey and meeting data, as well as provide reports to the counseling team and students to develop graduation plans effectively and efficiently. Individual class schedules will support post-secondary planning.
- Educate all stakeholders by providing clarity of each stakeholder’s role in ensuring that the THRIVE program
is the foundation of all planning for each student.
Strategies
- Improve messaging to promote pathways for all GOAL students to participate in Concurrent Enrollment and access college credit-bearing opportunities.
- Expand concurrent enrollment course offerings taught by GOAL staff.
- Support special population students that are accessing on-campus support including the Disabilities Access Center and Accessibility Services.
Strategies
- Improve messaging to promote pathways for all GOAL students to participate in Career and Technical
Education, including, but not limited to college credit and/or programs toward professional certifications. - Expand course offerings taught by GOAL staff including courses for college credit, enabling GOAL students to bridge the gap between high school and college or trade school opportunities.
- Utilize the Disabilities Access Center and Accessibility Services as well as other resources in order to serve special population students who are interested in pursuing a CTE pathway.
Pillar Three
Social Emotional Learning and
Self-Awareness for Students
When students are exposed to and instructed on career pathways, it provides opportunities for them to realize and explore their passions. Data has proven time and again that attendance, engagement, and success show monumental gains once a student becomes involved in passion-related opportunities. As educators we have the responsibility to influence students by helping them explore their interests and passions and secondly by providing the direction, information, and pathway to success. Students may choose to join the workforce, join the military, attend a trade school, or enroll in college. GOAL will assist in the planning, pathway, and preparation to be productive members of society, regardless of the student’s choice.
Strategies
- Provide more meaningful orientation with cohorts of students grouped by senior recovery, new students, concurrent enrollment students, returning students, etc.
- Provide students with the opportunity to design a personalized plan of study at the beginning and end of each school year.
- Initiate relationships with students that are enhanced to be more meaningful over time.
Strategies
- Secure, develop, and train staff on a social emotional growth curriculum to help measure and support each student’s soft skills.
- Move from social emotional learning measurement to action by evaluating the impact of interventions with student profiles and reports.
- Continue with the social emotional growth curriculum utilizing survey topics, growth mindset, self-management, emotion regulation, and supportive relationships.
Dropout Definition – Students who are exited from GOAL either as MIA or by failing to enroll in a different school.
Strategies
- Provide Academic Coaches access to plans of study.
- Continue to use and enhance multi-tiered systems of support.
- Increase staff understanding and use of our dashboards.
Pillar four
Staff Success through Social Emotional Wellness and Professional Growth
The positive staff culture of GOAL High School is what continues to set GOAL apart from other schools, online or otherwise. A positive and unified staff with a strong feeling of wellness and job satisfaction is the key to meeting GOAL’s mission and vision. Genuine concern for staff wellness leads naturally to student wellness and provides for the caring, supportive, and personalized environment that remains GOAL’s vision. This environment naturally leads to increased student success.
Strategies
- Improve our New Hire Orientation Process.
- Create and develop a transparent pay structure.
- Create and develop a retention team that focuses on employee engagement and loyalty as a function of mental health to reduce employee stress and burnout.
Strategies
- Create professional growth plans for all staff groups that include, coaching, peer support, and professional learning.
- Provide a year-long training calendar before the school year begins.
- Provide culture programming for all staff that incorporates verbal de-escalation, diversity and inclusion, and positive cultural leadership.
- Provide Microsoft Certification opportunities to all staff with incentives for achievement.
- Develop employees by valuing and subsidizing reasonable internal and external leadership
and growth opportunities
Strategies
- Provide positive school cultural programming to help grow positive relationships with both staff and students.
- Provide school-wide wellness collaboration and enrichment through consistent programming opportunities
- Provide all staff with a departmental or role specific workshop designed to communicate ideas and
process feedback to share best practices - Ensure all supervisors receive feedback in regular cycles from staff they lead.
- Ensure consistency in communications, expectations, and accountability.
Strategies
- Incorporate school wellness experts to provide regular training to staff in each location.
- Provide individual and team wellness collaboration opportunities facilitated by staff.
- Provide opportunities for staff to collaborate in job-alike groups on an annual basis.
Pillar five
Financial Responsibility to Support School Innovation and Student Success
Innovation is the key to transformational education and thrives in a risk-free environment. Providing the funds to initiate and maintain innovative programming must be carefully monitored to ensure effectiveness. Clear communication of the processes and procedures ensures schoolwide fiscal responsibility and efficiency. Financial transparency and communication to all stakeholders are crucial in the process of supporting student success.
Strategies
- Develop and implement proper percentage ratios for funding of each core element: Academics/Student
Support, Operations, Technology, and Human Resources. - Establish a fund balance policy to maintain minimum emergency reserves to ensure sustainability
and fiscal responsibility. - Create a culture of cost optimization and efficiencies through strategic alignment to include reviews, audits,
evaluations, and alternative exploration.
Strategies
- Follow properly established asset lifecycles and replacement strategies to include yearly reviews of current device specifications, so that industry leading technology that empowers a productive and efficient learning environment is available to our students and staff.
- Provide financial resources for program expansion and adoption based on measurable outcomes and driven by
our primary success indicators: Show-Up, Connect, and Succeed. - Acquire, train, develop, and retain highly qualified and successful staff through competitive salaries and benefit
packages, ample professional development, and a winning culture driven by analytical and measurable indicators of success.
Strategies
- Provide clear communication of all statewide inventory to reduce the unnecessary purchasing of items.
Resource allocation of equipment and supplies should be available and prioritized to support individual
geographic sites within each unique region. - Enhance communication practices with site staff when physical assets are being distributed, including all the
details tied to the inventory, estimated dates and times, and locations of deliveries. - Include a Student Advisory Council or student cabinet members in the learning and development processes for
insight into the student perspective of systems, resources, and initiatives being considered. Place high regard on what GOAL students are interested in and embrace to ensure maximum buy-in.
Strategies
- Grow and nurture a positive, accepting, and inclusive culture, wherein staff are comfortable and confident to give feedback.
- Encourage staff to take risks and be innovative by providing resources and opportunities. Establish
methods by which staff can be recognized, rewarded and even memorialized for their ideas and accomplishments. - Implement avenues by which staff and students can submit new ideas and provide feedback on existing
practices or systems. Enhance two-way communication pathways to ensure transparent and inclusive rollouts.
Strategies
Definition of digital security: The collective term that describes the resources employed to protect your online identity, data, and other assets. These tools include web services, antivirus software, smartphone SIM cards, biometrics, and secured personal devices.
- Provide meaningful trainings about cybersecurity in a consistent ongoing schedule.
- Implement and conduct semi-annual testing of staff cybersecurity awareness to measure the effectiveness of training.
- Inform staff regarding the financial decisions for system changes and policies. Gauge staff interest via surveys or meetings regarding decisions in this area with the end result being increased communication and awareness.
- Analyze staff and student check-in data due to its importance, both forensically and financially. Continue to emphasize the importance of staff and student check-in procedures and implement quarterly refreshers.