Mission+Dialouge

Team, can we discuss in this area which approach/definition of mission we are going to follow. Review Jim's comments.

Did you notice the conflict in terms? Farmer and Gabriel define vision as a short statement, maybe just a phrase and mission as a detailed plan for school improvement. At the same time DuFour and Eaker define mission as a short statement of purpose...Why does a school exist?...We all have the same basic mission or purpose in their model. Vision is a longer statement of our future desired state, somthing we persue. If we go further into their model mission and vision are followed by a school improvement plan that includes values and goals,ie a Professional Leraning Community. The majority of literature on organizational devlopment reflects to the DuFour/Eaher defintions.

For you analysis assignment use whatever terms you wish, just be consistent. If you have any questions post them in Polzin's Office. Jim

I believe in our group discussion Wednesday we were leaning toward DuFour/Eaker strategy, but were a little confused if it can be applied to developing a mission statement.~ Fawn

I actually think we decided to go with the Farmer/Gabriel definition which was outlined in chapter 2: developing a vision and a mission(How to help your school thrive without breaking the bank) where(accoding to scribbled notes I took during our Skype) the Vision statement comes first and is short and concise and the mission statement is more detailed leading to goals. My district seems to follow Dufour/Eaker model the assignment is relating to mission statements which I'm interpreting as the longer more detailed portion. I think the strategy outlined in DuFour/Eaker can be followed but it's the terminology that you change.- Karen

After completing my evals using the rubric, still not sure about #4. I think a mission statement should be motivating but the inspirational and memorable part seems to lead more to writing something lofty that doesn't help to drive decisions. -Karen