CREATING A SHARED VISION GUIDE
A system of fundamental motivating assumptions, principles,
values, and tenets that leads to a tangible vision and plan to implement the vision.
VALUES AND BELIEFS
Values and beliefs are the shaping force behind the shared vision.
Please brainstorm and jot down the first ideas that come to you.
What are the curriculum, instruction, assessment, and environmental factors
that support effective learning for Your School students?
Our Shared Vision
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CORE VALUES AND BELIEFS
CURRICULUM
INSTRUCTION
ASSESSMENT
ENVIRONMENT
What we teach.
How we teach the curriculum.
How we assess learning.
How each person treats
every other person.
Our Shared Vision
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PURPOSE
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Comes out of core values and beliefs.
Needs to be compelling.
Needs to be flexible.
Not a description of what the organization does now.
Broad, fundamental, inspirational, and enduring.
Must grab the “soul” of each organizational member.
To make a contribution to the world
by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer
What is the purpose of Your School?
Why does Your School exist?
MISSION
Mission — a brief, clear, and compelling goal that serves to unify an organization’s
efforts. An effective mission must stretch and challenge the organization, yet be
achievable. It is tangible, value-driven, energizing, highly focused and moves the
organization forward. It is crisp, clear, engaging — it reaches out and grabs people in
the gut. People “get it” right away; it requires little or no explanation. A mission has a
finish line for its achievement and is proactive. A mission should walk the boundary
between the possible and impossible.
Mission statements have three parts:
 Who we are.
 What we do.
 What results we want to achieve.
Google’s Mission:
To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Education for the Future’s Mission:
To build the capacity of learning organizations at all levels to gather, analyze,
and use data to continuously improve teaching and learning.
The mission of Your School is to...
Our Shared Vision
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SHARED VISION
Shared visions emerge from personal visions.
This is how they derive their energy
and how they foster commitment . . .
If people don’t have their own vision,
all they can do is “sign up” for someone else’s.
The result is compliance, never commitment.
Senge, The Fifth Discipline
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Specific description of what it will be like when the mission is achieved.
Provokes emotion and generates excitement.
Transforms the mission from words into pictures.
Brings the mission to life.
What will it look like, feel like, and sound like when the mission of your School is implemented? Think
in terms of—
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Curriculum, what we teach;
Instruction, how we teach the curriculum;
Assessment, how we assess learning; and
Learning Environment, how each person treats every other person.
Your School Vision:
(You might want to use an example vision template.)
Our Shared Vision
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SHARED VISION
CURRICULUM
INSTRUCTION
ASSESSMENT
ENVIRONMENT
What we teach.
How we teach the curriculum.
How we assess learning.
How each person treats
every other person.
Our Shared Vision
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FINAL REFLECTIONS
Now that we have identified a shared vision, please take a moment and reflect on implementing this
vision in your school.
What will the school look like, sound like, and feel like when the vision is implemented?
What do your organization and/or classroom need in order to fully implement the
shared vision?
What do you need to do in order to fully implement the shared vision?
Our Shared Vision
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