In the spring of 2022, the Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) in Nebraska’s capital city was in a period of great transition. This high-performing district was preparing to say goodbye to its highly regarded superintendent, Dr. Steve Joel, who was retiring after 12 years at the helm. The district was also reaching the end of its 2017–2022 strategic plan. And while the district was reporting great progress on meeting its strategic goals, it continued to be troubled by the persistent disproportionality in its student outcomes measures.
In recognition of this disproportionality, the All Means All Action Plan had been undertaken during the 2021-22 school year and was just being completed. This formal action plan, firmly rooted in equitable outcomes, addressed goals related to academic success, school culture, honors course enrollment, and hiring staff from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. As LPS leadership put it, “The goal is to ensure that every child experiences success and feels accepted for their authentic self, and this action plan represents the work of LPS staff, students, and community members who are passionate in their pursuit of equitable outcomes for all students.” Resulting from broad community engagement and collaboration with the LPS Board of Education, district leaders, staff, and students, this strategic document was to serve as an articulated commitment to the Lincoln community and provide important direction for LPS.
Meanwhile, Dr. Paul Gausman had been unanimously selected by the LPS Board of Education to serve as the district’s next superintendent. Having successfully led the Sioux City Community School District in Iowa for 14 years, Dr. Gausman was an ideal candidate for the role. Upon his arrival in July 2022, Dr. Gausman was tasked by the Board of Education to engage with the LPS community and develop a transition plan that would define success and chart a course of action for his initial time as superintendent.
With so many transitions afoot, Lincoln was abuzz. Stakeholders from across the community were energized about how the future of LPS should unfold. The district soon had both the All Means All Action Plan as well as what came to be known as the Superintendent’s Transition Plan in hand, but lacked a unifying, comprehensive, longer-term strategy. The LPS Board of Education, Dr. Gausman, and his team decided to turn to District Management Group to help the district forge from the two plans a strategic plan that would help the district chart its course for the next five years.
Lincoln Public Schools: A Diverse, Tightly Knit Community
In many American cities, a divide exists between the urban center and the surrounding suburban areas, creating tensions and inequities in school systems. In Lincoln, this distinction is nonexistent—LPS is the single school district responsible for all students within the boundaries of Nebraska’s capital. When the city grows, so does the district. As a proud resettlement community with refugees who began settling in the area in the 1980s, Lincoln has been growing steadily, and today has nearly 30,000 refugees from roughly 150 countries who call Lincoln home. This growth has led to a rich tapestry of students, communities, and viewpoints.
The school district is also an integral part of its proud, tightly knit Nebraskan community. In the context of a state with notable political differences, Lincolnites find common ground and lean into their similarities, not their differences. This culture has permeated the district, where the focus on strengthening community has resulted in strong outcomes for students and overall success for the district. To continue that proud tradition of educational success, the district felt that incorporating the community’s voice and finding cohesion between the two plans was paramount for the strategic planning process.
Designing a Strategic Plan to Create Cohesion
The Lincoln Public Schools’ All Means All Action Plan and Superintendent’s Transition Plan were robust, thorough, and intentional. Yet, they did not fully detail the operational and systemic requirements that would be needed to bring their visions to fruition. The All Means All Action Plan had a relatively narrow scope, with an intense and appropriate focus on students and staff. The transition plan, as intended, was focused on a smooth transition with a vision for the immediate future. While each document served an important purpose for the district, bringing them into practice would require a unifying strategic plan to guide action over the longer term. Such a strategic plan would provide a unified theory of action to guide decision making and set priorities and measurable goals around operations to focus the district on achieving its objectives.
LPS engaged District Management Group (DMG) to do exactly this work. DMG would leverage the All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan to form the foundation of the strategic planning work and would guide the district through DMG’s strategic planning framework and process to build a unified, long-term strategic plan. The new strategic plan would provide a roadmap to focus and align the work throughout the district for the next five years to help the district realize its stated goals. A key priority for Lincoln Public Schools throughout the strategic planning process was to continue to foster community engagement and cohesion and to create a plan that would truly be seen as a plan seeking to deliver for all. With this consideration at the forefront, the strategic planning work was launched in March 2023, spanning a 10-month period that ended in February 2024.
DMG’s Strategic Planning Framework and Process
District Management Group and the LPS Steering Committee began to work together through DMG’s rigorous and methodical framework and process for developing an actionable, results-focused strategic plan. The framework (Exhibit 1) begins with an articulation of vision and mission and then deconstructs it all the way to action steps to ensure that the district is working with focus and in alignment to achieve its strategic objectives. To create such a strategic plan, DMG has a detailed, methodical process (Exhibit 2).
The situation in LPS was unique given that they had already done extensive stakeholder engagement to create their All Means All Action Plan and Superintendent’s Transition Plan. DMG therefore worked flexibly and in close partnership with the district to adapt the process to build on the work already done and continue to engage stakeholders to forge a unifying strategic plan.
Setting the Stage
Convening a Steering Committee of Champions
For District Management Group, the very first step in launching strategic planning work is to thoughtfully guide the establishment of a Strategic Planning Design Steering Committee to lead the crafting of the strategic plan. DMG typically recommends a group of 10 to 15 members, each bringing a diverse set of perspectives and areas of expertise to the strategic planning process. LPS district leadership understood that this group would need to include a strong balance of district and community leadership to reflect the needs of the community and work toward championing a shared vision for the district.
Much thought and care were taken by the school board, district leadership, and DMG; the committee ultimately was composed of 11 members who represented a mix of senior district leaders across departments as well as members of the LPS Board of Education. The committee showcased an especially strong partnership between district leadership and their board leadership. In particular, Lanny Boswell, president of the Board of Education and Kathy Danek, a long-standing board member who served as the chair of the steering committee, helped to ensure that the needs of the community remained central to strategic planning discussions. This partnership allowed for robust dialogue that sharpened the content and direction of the strategic plan.
The steering committee was charged with supporting the design of the preliminary analysis of district progress, engaging in robust discussions of its findings, and lending key language and feedback to the strategic plan drafting process. The group was also responsible for forging alignment and consensus among themselves and with key stakeholders throughout the process. Ultimately, this group was to act as a lightning rod for the district's change management efforts during the initial drafting and ultimate implementation of the strategic plan.
A Needs Assessment Provides a Foundation
The first phase of work in DMG’s strategic planning process is to conduct a rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis of the district. DMG believes it is essential that all stakeholders involved in the strategic planning process begin with a clear and shared understanding of the district’s current status—both its strengths and its challenges—from which to accurately and effectively plan the path forward. Particularly in a district with diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives, beginning with a fact-based analysis ensures a shared understanding and grounds the conversation.
DMG conducted an extensive quantitative analysis of LPS’s district data, which included an examination of student academic data, enrollment and attendance data, social-emotional learning data, graduation data, district budgets and financial data, family and staff surveys, student climate and culture surveys, and more. In addition to analyzing this district data, DMG benchmarked LPS against other similar districts to provide important context to assess district performance. Gathering qualitative data is an equally important part of this phase of the work for DMG; qualitative data provides essential insights that quantitative data alone cannot capture. Given the robust community-driven process that contributed to LPS’s All Means All Action Plan and Superintendent’s Transition Plan, DMG was able to leverage this work and avoid a duplication of efforts. DMG then compiled and analyzed the quantitative and qualitative data to identify key strengths and challenges—both critical in charting a path forward.
A brief overview of some of the key findings that emerged from the analyses included the following:
- Changing Demographics and Meeting the Diverse Needs of Students
DMG’s analysis highlighted how the city of Lincoln had grown and diversified over the past decade. But while the district managed enrollment fluctuations from the Covid-19 pandemic better than many peer districts, changing student demographics indicated a need to reassess how they were meeting the diverse needs of all students. This finding underscored the importance of the district’s All Means All Action Plan, which ensured students from all backgrounds were supported.
- Student Wellbeing and Disproportionality in Student Outcomes
Broadly speaking, LPS surpasses state performance on state standardized assessments and performs well compared to similar districts nationally. Importantly, while student performance dipped due to pandemic-related learning loss, the district was able to rebound quickly. But as was noted in the All Means All Action Plan, DMG’s analysis confirmed that achievement gaps have persisted for certain student groups. As a university city, Lincoln takes great pride in maintaining rigorous standards for students; however, the district is also committed to providing multiple pathways for students to pursue a host of post-secondary options and ensuring that students have the necessary supports to be successful. Expanding and refining these pathways would prove essential to the district’s approach.
- Staff Wellbeing and District Systems and Operations
Through its last strategic plan, which ended in 2022, LPS invested heavily in upgrading facilities and investing in technology to ensure students have access to first-rate educational programs. The district also invests heavily in its staff and maintains a notably strong community of educators. But similar to staff in peer districts, LPS staff report being weary from supporting evolving student needs related to the pandemic, especially in schools with high numbers of students with high needs. While an overhaul of district systems was not needed because of the consistent and strong investment that had been made, DMG’s preliminary analysis noted how resources may need to be redirected to areas of highest need.
- Family and Community Engagement
DMG’s preliminary analysis also highlighted the rich history of stakeholder engagement in LPS to ensure that all perspectives and voices are heard and acknowledged. Surveys showed that the community had great trust in the district to create strong outcomes for students, but it was clear that parents and families valued consistent opportunities to provide feedback. Naming family and community engagement as a priority would be important to convey the district’s commitment to listening to its constituents in an authentic way. Stakeholder involvement would prove crucial in the strategic planning process, and the strategic plan’s language needed to capture the subtleties of the Lincoln community.
Combining the qualitative community and stakeholder input and the quantitative data, DMG was able to distill a narrative about how LPS was faring that would create a common understanding for steering committee members and community stakeholders. The identification of district systems and operations as well as family and community engagement as important priorities rounded out the district-wide narrative, which would serve as the foundation for developing the strategic plan.
Designing a Strategic Plan at Lincoln Public Schools
With a common understanding of the state of the district and key issues, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee and DMG turned to the work of developing and drafting the strategic plan.
Refining the District’s Mission
LPS had a clear, straightforward vision statement from its last strategic planning effort, and the steering committee agreed that only minor changes were needed to streamline its focus. However, during its discussions, the committee realized that, in fact, a mission statement was more appropriate than a vision statement for this strategic plan, as the committee decided to center the statement on the district’s commitment to prepare students for their lives after graduation.
Lincoln Public Schools Mission Statement
The mission of Lincoln Public Schools is to prepare ALL students for successful careers, lifelong learning, and civic engagement.
Articulating a Unified Theory of Action
Attention then turned to articulating a theory of action that would serve as a framework for decision making and create alignment on how the district intended to achieve results for its students and stakeholders.
The district had an unflagging commitment to maintaining high standards for itself and its students, but through steering committee discussions, it became clear that adjustments to district systems might be needed. In particular, LPS saw the need to refine how it distributes resources to its schools and supports school leaders in customizing their approaches to meet their students’ unique needs. LPS therefore constructed a theory of action that would empower school leaders to identify the unique needs of their students and then allow the district to allocate resources accordingly. This approach would allow LPS to provide assistance to address the pockets of inequity that were identified within the district, as outlined by the All Means All plan.
At its core, the LPS theory of action recognizes that necessary resources and supports must be provided to schools, educators, and students based on unique needs in order to support all students in realizing their potential. It takes a strong community and diverse, high-quality educational programs to achieve systemic, lasting results for students.
Lincoln Public Schools Theory of Action
If the district…
• Implements challenging and appropriate standards of excellence with input from school and community leaders for ALL students and staff in line with national norms and best practices;
• Aligns resources (funding, time, support, etc.) to each school based on the identified needs of students;
• Empowers and supports each school leader to ensure that staff meet the unique needs of students;
• Implements clear, consistent, and timely accountability measures to track progress toward established goals;
• Provides supports to schools, leaders, and staff in response to the measures of progress and needs.
Then…
• ALL students will be able to grow and excel under challenging and appropriate expectations and achieve success in careers, lifelong learning, and beyond;
• The district will develop and maintain engaging and transformative programs that attract and retain students, families, and staff;
• School-based leaders and staff will develop ways to enrich and strengthen their practice to meet the needs of ALL students.
The LPS theory of action proved to be foundational in building cohesion between the All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan because it makes clear how the district will make decisions, utilize its resources, and continue to achieve success for all students.
Cohesive Priorities and Measurable Goals
After identifying a unifying theory of change, the steering committee, in partnership with DMG, set out to identify key priorities for the next five years. While the challenges districts face are many, DMG strongly believes that a powerful strategic plan requires focus. DMG recommends zeroing in on a small handful of key priorities with clear measurable goals so that the district can focus on prioritizing and achieving these goals.
For LPS, the themes outlined in the preliminary analysis were distilled and elevated to create its priorities. Direct language from All Means All Action Plan was used where appropriate, and other stylistic elements were used throughout. Moreover, the focus on diverse pathways to graduation, positive behavior supports, and support for diverse staff are directly aligned to the All Means All Action Plan. Yet, the LPS strategic plan goes beyond All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan by including priority language for family and community engagement and district systems and operations—needs that were identified in the findings presented by DMG. These additions allow the district to expand its focus to think about the broader district ecosystem that will enable students and staff to be successful.
Within each of these priority areas, measurable goals were established to give the district clarity on exactly where to focus their efforts for the next five years and position them well to achieve results. The measurable goals, in particular, are powerful because the specific teams responsible for achieving results set the targets. This approach builds buy-in and ensures that goals are aggressive but achievable.
Below are LPS’s priorities as well as a sample of some of the measurable goals that were articulated for each priority.
Lincoln Public Schools Priorities and Measurable Goals
Challenging and appropriate instruction with a strong foundation in literacy and diverse pathways to graduation
• Sample Measurable Goals:
- By June 2029, raise the LPS district on-time graduation rate to 87.0% with a focus on reducing existing differentials between student groups.
- By June 2029, LPS will see a 3% increase in percentile rank in both Math and ELA for all student groups on nationally normed assessments.
Intentional supports and relationships for ALL students focused on positive behavior to build strong and safe school communities
• Sample Measurable Goals:
- By June 2029, reduce total suspensions for ALL students by 20%.
- By June 2029, reduce suspension disproportionality ratios to 1.2 or less for all student groups.
Support and empowerment for LPS staff who meet the changing needs of ALL students
• Sample Measurable Goals:
- By June 2029, increase the percentage of all employee groups from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to at least 8.5% of the total staff.
- By June 2029, increase the retention rate for LPS certified staff positions by 2%.
Outreach that welcomes families and community members as partners in supporting the success of ALL students
• Sample Measurable Goals:
- By June 2029, parents and families who report having opportunities to be involved in school activities will increase 2%, and the gap in positive perception reported by demographic groups will narrow by 5%.
- By June 2029, parents and families who report that staff builds positive relationships will increase by 2%, and the gap in positive perception reported by demographic groups will narrow by 5%.
District systems that continue to direct resources based on student needs
• Sample Measurable Goals:
- By June 2029, review, analyze, and verify that 100% of schools have resources aligned to identified student need, based on available funding.
- By June 2029, increase the percentage of staff and families who feel that district systems and operations are transparent.
Keeping the Community Engaged
Given the deep relationship between the community and the school district, having the community invested in the strategic plan was critical. Especially given how much time and effort the community had invested in the All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan, the steering committee wanted to ensure that the community continued to feel that their perspectives were heard and felt invested in the district’s plan.
DMG and LPS determined that a phased stakeholder engagement process would be most appropriate. After drafting the theory of action and the preliminary priority areas, DMG designed and led an extensive community engagement effort that included focus groups, community meetings, and two different surveys made available to those who were not able to participate in either of the other two engagements (Exhibit 3). Through these forums, stakeholders could weigh in on preliminary language and share their feelings about where the district should focus.
As was the case with previous efforts, the LPS community showed up. Over 1,700 LPS staff, students, and community members provided feedback on the strategic plan draft, continuing the district’s tradition of community connectedness. The commitment of district leaders to getting this feedback was particularly impressive. Dr. Sarah Salem, the newly appointed associate superintendent for teaching and learning, helped coordinate a small army of LPS in-district facilitators to lead additional focus groups and sessions to listen and learn from stakeholders. These facilitators were aspiring school and district leaders and were ideal ambassadors for the strategic planning process.
DMG synthesized feedback across all modes of engagement and returned to the steering committee with proposed edits to the strategic plan. With careful documentation of feedback themes, the steering committee was able to make intentional shifts to suit the specific needs of the Lincoln community. For example, concern had been expressed about the use of the term “rigorous” when describing educational programs—it was felt this term might be perceived as placing too much emphasis on college-bound tracks and tacitly discouraging alternative pathways. In response, the steering committee adjusted the language to “challenging and appropriate instruction,” which was more inclusive while also maintaining high expectations. Words matter, and stakeholder feedback was key to ensuring that the strategic plan would resonate in the Lincoln community. It was this type of thoughtful, detailed, and intentional work that helped build support, trust, and a feeling of inclusion.
Unanimous Board Approval
In any strategic planning process, the Board of Education must make the final call on whether the draft plan represents an impactful and viable path forward for the district. While school board members often have differing opinions on policy issues, LPS board members clearly understood the importance of building consensus on the strategic plan to make good on their promises to their respective communities and to hold the district accountable to continue achieving strong outcomes. Throughout the strategic planning process, the steering committee, the board president, the district superintendent, and DMG worked with care and intention to ensure that the full board felt included and invested. DMG facilitated listening sessions with each board member to ensure that the feedback from each leader was captured in the final document. LPS board leadership, particularly Board President Lanny Boswell and Steering Committee Chair Kathy Danek, were instrumental in building consensus with their colleagues to allow for successful passage of the strategic plan. This commitment to bridge-building and consensus resulted in the board unanimously approving the Lincoln Public Schools 2024-2029 strategic plan in April 2024 and deciding, unequivocally, that this was the district’s path forward.
Moving Forward
With an approved strategic plan in place, focus shifts to implementation. In District Management Group’s framework, the design of the strategic plan is the joint work of the board and district leadership; the implementation planning, however, must be the responsibility of the superintendent and the district teams, which must carry out the work over the course of the next five years to deliver results.
In some districts, DMG provides support for this implementation phase, but given LPS’s capabilities, the LPS team was well positioned to take on the critical work of implementation themselves.
Upon approval of the strategic plan, LPS began the process of developing its implementation plan. The district team is currently strengthening current initiatives and adding new initiatives where necessary to align with the priorities specified in the strategic plan. The district is also setting data targets and milestones to monitor progress on each of its measurable goals to ensure an outcomes-oriented approach.
For many districts, the end of a five-year strategic plan can cause uncertainty and ambiguity. In Lincoln Public Schools, it was viewed as an invitation—an invitation to meaningfully engage a community and city that care deeply for its students and the success of the district. Integrating the All Means All Action Plan as a foundational element of the strategic plan demonstrated that the community input that had gone into the All Means All Action Plan was preserved; and continued efforts to keep the community engaged in the development of the strategic plan helped to foster cohesion and support for the five-year plan. The strategic plan process not only built cohesion between the All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan, but it broadened the scope of the district’s objectives, outlining a strategic theory of action and aligning priorities and measurable goals to guide district operations for the next five years. This approach positions this proud, diverse, and community-rooted district to continue its success for years to come.