It’s an interesting time in education. Tight budgets have forced cuts and reductions in personnel and programs to levels unseen in most of our careers. As districts look to the future, the role of planning and executing becomes even more critical. To facilitate advancement forward most have adopted some sort of ‘smart goal’ process. Smart goals have five basic parts: strategic/specific; measurable; attainable; results-based; and time-bound. However, during these difficult and uncertain economic times, some have started moving away from ‘smart goals’ due to the budget demands created by the goals on personnel, training, materials, substitutes, etc. In moving away from ‘smart goals’, they have adopted a ‘strategic direction’ approach to moving forward. Strategic directions are simply very broad-based, generalized pathways in-which the organization commits to moving, perhaps resembling more of a ‘vision’. The budgetary advantage to strategic directions is likely found in the flexibility the general pathway allows as the organization moves forward, whereas smart goals seem to be less flexible and demand specific resources at specific times in-order to advance. Here at ESSDACK, we’re moving forward via ‘strategic direction’ more so than through smart goals. What’s your organization doing to continue to move forward during these economic times? – Mike Cook