Strategic Plan
The SCSD Strategic Plan Design Team has developed a draft of the revision of the SCSD Strategic Plan. Using feedback from focus groups, educational partners, stakeholder engagement sessions, staff and a community survey, the team created a first draft to share with the Board of Trustees for reactions and input. The draft includes a Profile of the Learner example, a picture of success for the concentric circles around SCSD Learners (teachers, school, and community), and success indicators that describe the results of the actions that will be developed next in the action plan. Click here to see the Presentation and the SCSD Strategic Plan 2023-28 rough draft shared at the board meeting.
Strategic Plan Refresh 2022-23
Our Strategic Plan was written in 2013. Many elements like Whole Child, Project Based- Learning and the 5 C’s were ahead of their time and continue to inform our teaching and learning. However, much has changed since 2013 and we must evaluate how to educate future-ready learners. Our strategic plan refresh process has involved workshops, surveys, stakeholder meetings and a design team process. Community input has been invaluable to co-creating a resulting roadmap to inform next steps for our learners. Opportunities to share feedback included:
- Completing a strategic planning survey - taken online before December 15 - available in Spanish and English.
- Attending one of our in-person community meetings to learn more about the strategic planning process, receive updates on recently collected input, and real-time brainstorming about future opportunities for SCSD and our students:
- Wednesday, October 26 - 4:00 - 5:30 pm - Arroyo Upper Elementary Learning Commons
- Thursday, November 3 - 8:45 - 10:15 am - Tierra Linda Middle School Multi-Use Room
- Wednesday, November 30 - 6:30 - 8:00 pm - Ravenswood YMCA (550 Bell St., East Palo Alto) **habrá traducción simultánea**
- Tuesday, December 13 - 6:00 - 7:30 pm - Arundel Elementary Elementary Multi-Use Room
All feedback will be considered by a Design Team to represent the thinking across all interested groups, identify themes, and revise the objectives and directions regarding Teaching and Learning, Social Emotional Learning and Learning Spaces.
SCSD Strategic Plan: 3 Main Pillars
- Developing and delivering innovative and engaging curriculum and instruction;
- Leveraging human capital to support staff as 21st century educators;
- Building learning environments that reflect, support, and sustain 21st century learners.
PHASES OF WORK AND TIMELINE
Site and district leaders began the discovery phase in June 2022 |
JUNE – SEPT 2022 |
OCT – MAR 2022 |
APR - JUNE 2023 |
DISCOVERY PHASE |
MAPPING PHASE |
REVIEW PHASE |
|
Review Prior Analysis & Determine Future State |
Define Road Map for Strategic Plan Development |
Review and Refine Strategic Plan for Final Adoption |
Discovery Phase Part 1: What in the 2013-2018 Strategic Plan is Evergreen?
The following are universally relevant for SCSD education:
- Educating the Whole Child
- Personalizing learning
- Staying innovative to create future-ready students
- Implementing the 5 C’s (8 C’s)
- Infusing project-based learning and STEM/STEAM
- Climate readiness
- Incorporating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
Reimagine
What does the future require of us? What are the areas of friction? And how will we close those gaps?

Engagement |
Meeting |
Date |
Engagement - Visioning |
Management Team |
6/13/22 |
Engagement - Visioning |
Management Team |
8/1-2/2022 |
Engagement - Visioning |
Visioning Session 1 - PTACC |
10/5/22 |
Engagement - Visioning |
Staff Intro to Process & Invite to Meetings |
10/13/22 |
Engagement - Visioning |
Staff & Community Survey - English | Spanish |
Oct-Dec |
Engagement - Visioning |
Community Intro to Process & Invite to Meetings |
10/14/22 |
Engagement - Kick Off |
Steering Committee Meeting No. 1 - Kick-Off |
10/19/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 1 - SCEF |
10/25/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 2 - Arroyo Community Meeting |
10/26/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 3 - PTACC |
11/2/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 4 - Tierra Linda Community Meeting |
11/3/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 5 - Ravenswood/East Palo Alto Community Meeting |
11/30/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Session 6 - Arundel Community Meeting |
12/13/22 |
Engagement - Community |
Sessions 7-15 - All School Sites |
Dec |
Engagement |
Meeting |
Date |
Engagement - Community |
Sessions 17-24 - Student Meetings |
Jan |
Engagement - Community |
Session 25 - District Office Staff |
Jan |
Engagement - Community |
Session 26 - DEIB Steering Committee |
Feb |
Engagement - Community |
Sessions 27 - DELAC Committee |
Feb |
__________________________________________
2013-2022 Current Strategic Plan
In June 2013 the San Carlos School Board passed a groundbreaking Strategic Plan that examines how to re-think public education for the 21st Century. This plan outlines the vision, strategy, direction and goals of SCSD and was created over a period of two years in collaboration with District staff and community members. While it is written as a five-year plan, it is intended to be an evolving, living document, and so will be reviewed and altered annually, as appropriate.
- Implementing Common Core standards and leveraging powerful 21st century approaches such as blended learning, technology-infused project based learning, STEM, and design and innovation learning
- Creating greater emphasis on a relevant, real-world, global curriculum with expanded choices and electives, — with a continued emphasis on the arts — integrating environmental stewardship, equity and justice, and related topics into the curriculum and an expansion of physical, social, and emotional wellness programs.
- Focusing on problem-solving, collaboration, critical-thinking skills with a personalized approach to learning that ignites students’ passions.
- Experimenting with “blurring the lines of time and place” so that the community becomes the classroom.
- Pursuing a path to more greatly professionalize the role of the educator by providing a greater level of autonomy, responsibility, and support
- Building robust professional development for staff, creating time for collaboration, using professional learning communities, and having social-based forums for staff collaboration
- Expanding the definition of “educator” to include larger community-based and worldwide resources, including parents, other community members, and experts from afar, all integrated into the curriculum.
- Establishing a new system of evaluation for all staff based on professional growth, coaching and mentoring
- Creating a new system of career paths, roles, and compensation that reflect the professional nature of our staff and the reality of our borderless environment
- Implementing the Facilities Master Plan, which includes the building of two new schools with flexible learning and collaboration spaces for students and educators
- Establishing learning spaces as sustainable and natural environments
- Ensuring spaces have robust technology infrastructure and flexibility to provide capacity for one-to-one computing and a platform for district wide collaboration and sharing
If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call (650) 580-7333.