The Strategic School

How can schools best use the resources they already have? That question is at the heart of this inspiring book for school and district administrators challenged with increasing student performance without additional funding. Exploring the link between purposeful resource allocation and academic achievement, Karen Hawley Miles and Stephen Frank demonstrate how educational leaders can develop successful and strategic schools by assessing how well they use all available resources—people, time, and money—and by creating effective alternatives to meet goals.

The authors use their extensive research with urban schools and districts to present case studies of schools that successfully reorganized resources to implement the “Big 3 Guiding Resource Strategies”: improving teaching quality, creating individual attention, and maximizing academic time. The Strategic School offers planning guides, checklists, worksheets, and strategies to help leaders:

• Assess current resource use in new ways that go beyond the typical budget review
• Organize resources more creatively and flexibly
• Craft a master schedule that works
• Connect resource allocation to student and school performance

By encouraging school leaders to set clear priorities for student learning, the authors provide the support and strategies that leaders need to make resource decisions and select smart alternatives that best serve their school communities.

Download the following diagnostic tools from the book:

• Strategic School Resource Diagnostic Tool (Word)
• Elementary Grades Resource Management Worksheet (Word)
• Secondary Grades Resource Measurement Worksheet (Word)