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Visioning Onward
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Visioning Onward
A Guide for All Schools

Foreword by Daniel A. Domenech, Executive Director of AASA

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May 2020 | 264 pages | Corwin

The step-by-step guide to defining your vision—and making it reality

As a leader, it’s your job to look beyond the present and envision a brighter future for your school. Choosing the right path, however, can be a challenge.

This inspirational resource is your guide. By following its one-of-a-kind iterative visioning process, you’ll sharpen your vision into a road map for transformative change—tailored to the needs of your learning community. Features include: 

  • Key strategies and tools for building a shared vision
  • Practical implementation ideas
  • Case studies from exemplary schools
  • Common trends at the heart of impactful, positive change
  • Thought-provoking vignettes 

Turn vision into reality, possibilities into plans, and create an environment that strengthens engagement, provides safe and nurturing learning opportunities, and produces students with the skills, knowledge, and disposition to be successful in life.

 
List of Online Resources
 
Foreword by Daniel A. Domenech
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
PART I: HISTORICAL AND 21st CENTURY CONSIDERATIONS FOR VISIONING ONWARD
 
1. The Art of Seeing
How Leaders of Learning Transition From Believing It to Seeing It

 
Visioning Onward: Preparing for Challenges

 
What Is the Role of Schools Today?

 
The Opportunity That Is Opening for Schools

 
Why Visioning?

 
The Powerful Impact of Visioning

 
Visioning—Permission to Thrive and Change

 
Some Additional Considerations—In the Long Term

 
Conclusions—Visions and Our Day-to-Day Reality

 
 
2. Believe It to See It: Creating a Vision
Ancient Visions—Burning Cities and Prophecies

 
Visioning in Modern Times—Dewey to Today

 
Is Visioning Still Relevant in 2020?

 
Why Do We Encourage Schools to Embrace Visioning?

 
Visioning—One Secret of Uncommon Leadership

 
It Takes a Team

 
Community Building: How Much Involvement Do You Anticipate?

 
Factors to Consider for Visioning at Your School or District

 
How Do Visions Relate to a School’s Purpose?

 
Visioning and ESSA

 
Visioning in Schools—Opportunities Today to Recreate Education

 
Where Is Your School (Or District) Headed?

 
Conclusions—Visioning in a Time of Uncertainty and Implications for Schools

 
 
3. 21st Century Concerns—Food for Thought
Dreams, Visioning Onward, and Changes in Schools

 
Do Visions Make a Difference?

 
Five Great Companies

 
Comparing Visions

 
Visions as Disruptions

 
Visions, Missions, and Successful Ventures

 
How Innovations Have Disrupted Our Lives

 
Visioning—Various Lenses

 
Holistic Understanding

 
Group Effort

 
Knowledge and Values

 
Visions That Incorporate Many Perspectives

 
Visioning Is Not Missioning

 
Visioning Onward for School Improvement

 
Dreams, Visioning Onward, and Changes in Schools

 
Conclusions—Collectively Visioning Outside the Box

 
 
PART II: PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND STEPS TO VISIONING IN SCHOOLS
 
4. Visioning: Steps 1–4
Doing the Work

 
So How Will You Proceed With Visioning at Your School?

 
Some Prerequisites—Biding Time, Building Trust

 
An Example of Where Visions Might Take You—Green Schools

 
Visioning—Light-Years Beyond Ordinary (Path 1)

 
Another Need—Visioning to Handle a Crisis (Path 2)

 
Considerations for the Visioning Process

 
A Recommended Eight-Step Visioning Process

 
Step 1—Form a Vision Steering Team, and Develop a Visioning Process Blueprint

 
Before the Visioning Process Begins

 
Step 2—Identify Participants for the Visioning Process

 
Step 3—Develop the First Draft of Your Vision, and Imagine Your School the Way You Would Like It to Be

 
Step 4—Research Exemplars and Options

 
Conclusions—Borrowing From the Greats

 
Resources and Ideas to Support the How of Visioning

 
Iterative Visioning

 
 
5. Visioning Case Study
The Opening of a New School—Upper Providence Elementary School (UPES)

 
Visioning Questions for UPES

 
Key Questions for Parents

 
Thirteen Years Later—Refreshing Our Vision

 
Staf-faculty Focus Group Questions

 
UPE 5

 
Pro-Social Pledge

 
An Existing School With New Leadership at Spring City Elementary School

 
Spring City Staff Entry Plan Questions

 
Vision Questions for Spring City Staff

 
Conclusions—Collaboration Is Key

 
 
6. Visioning Steps 5–8
Steps 5–8

 
Step 5—Refine Your Vision Using an Iterative Visioning Process

 
Step 6—Develop Mission and Goal Statements, and Determine How to Measure Progress

 
Mission Statements and the Strategic Planning Process

 
Goals

 
Measuring Progress

 
Step 7—Secure Consensus. Ensure That You Are Communicating With Those Who Didn’t Participate or Who Have a Different Vision

 
Step 8—Develop an Action Plan to Implement Your Vision

 
How to Develop an Action Plan

 
Conclusions—Developing an Action Plan as a Team

 
 
7. Barriers and Sustainability
Vision, Mission, and Goals—Implementation

 
Lead the Visioning Journey

 
Obstacles on the Path

 
What Processes Will Be Affected?

 
Challenges in Implementing Heart Centered Learning

 
Promoting Heart Centered Learning

 
Implementing Visions Requires Change

 
You’re Not Operating in a Vacuum

 
Sustainability

 
Focus, Priorities, and Goal Setting

 
When Leadership Changes

 
Conclusions—Leveraging Communities Near and Far to Overcome Barriers to Sustainability

 
 
PART III: VISIONING AT THE MACRO LEVEL
 
8. Future Visioning—Here and Across the Globe
Trends in Education Affecting How Schools Operate

 
Change and Its Drivers

 
Technology and Our Way of Being and Doing

 
Unwanted Side Effects of Too Much Technology

 
Change Driver 1—Automating Choices

 
Change Driver 2—Civic Superpowers

 
Change Driver 3—Accelerating Brains

 
Mindfulness and Executive Functioning

 
Change Driver 4—Toxic Narratives

 
Stress

 
The Future of Employment

 
Change Driver 5—Remaking Geographies

 
Change Driver 6—Social Emotional and Heart Centered Learning

 
Heart Centered Learning

 
Implementing Heart Centered Learning

 
International Concerns and Children’s Well-Being

 
An Entrepreneurial Vision for Education on a Global Scale

 
 
9. Conclusion
Leadership for Tomorrow

 
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Visioning Onward is the right book for any leader who aims to be a visionary champion for their school or organization and bring about transformational change. Co-authors Christine Mason, Paul Liabe­now, and Melissa Patschke challenge readers through a series of critical questions, activities, examples, resources, and authentic voices to help us establish a sense of purpose in the way we lead and learn on a daily basis. Each chapter reminds us that it is more than just seeing the vision but doing the work in a way that helps us achieve that vision. This book provides a blueprint to do just that.

Jimmy Casas
Educator, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach

Visioning Onward outlines the process and action steps for school leaders to create, share, and implement their vision for a school rather than adopting or adapting someone else’s vision. This practical guide is a must-read for all school leaders interested in creating and sustain­ing a school culture that continues to thrive and responds to changing times and one in which its stakeholders grow. The processes outlined in the book along with the case study examples make this a desk reference for every principal.

Paul M. Healey
Executive Director, PA Principals Association

After reading Visioning Onward, I feel inspired and compelled to share the thoughtful approach to building a collaborative shared vision with colleagues and graduate students. An essential for every principal’s desk, this is a practical, purposeful, and action-oriented guide for leaders. Embedded in the context of the book are valuable resources, exercises, and vignettes to aid leadership teams in devel­oping a vision that is encouraging, innovative, and empathetic.

Robyn Conrad Hansen
NAU Assistant Professor of Practice, National Distinguished Principal, NAESP President 2015-2016

The most successful leaders don’t get to where they are by accident. They are strategic, purposeful, and visionary. Do you want these characteristics in your repertoire of leadership qualities? Then, grab a cup of coffee and a highlighter, and dig in to this invaluable resource. These three brilliant educators have built a step-by-step process to build, plan, and execute your vision. You won’t be disappointed.

Adam D. Drummond
Author and Thought Leader with the International Center for Leadership in Education

What a well-conceived book that recognizes how an organized approach to developing a school’s vision will work! The authors emphasize the need to allow each school team the freedom to design their own vision. The value of a school’s shared vision is stressed, and a systematic process is explained in detail.

Visioning Onward demonstrates the critical need for each stakehold­er’s voice and the importance this voice is to the acceptance of the developing vision. Included in the book are the potential barriers and a process to ensure sustainability. The authors have devoted an enor­mous amount of time collecting and creating a wealth of resources, examples, and exemplars. As a career veteran in public education and school leadership, I wish I could have read this before my first prin­cipalship! This book is truly an excellent resource.

Rich Barbacane
Office of Overseas Schools, RavenTek, State Department Liaison for NAESP, Co-Originator of the World Education Forum, USA, Past President of NAESP

Sample Materials & Chapters

Preface

Chapter 1


For instructors

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ISBN: 9781071800157
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