GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The Core Working Group
The CWG is a leadership group that serves as the governance mechanism for the Strategic Visioning process. The Core Group brings optimism, vision, institutional knowledge, wisdom, and helpful diversity to the strategic planning process.
The Steering Committee
The STC is a future-focused group that represents a microcosm of the community including faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and trustees.
Interviews
20-minutes to 1-hour interviews with approximately 20-25 individuals. Subjects typically include: Thought leaders, Community Partners, Alumnae (recent and older), Staff, Parents, Alumnae Parents, and Families who showed interest but chose to go elsewhere.
Community Forum/Focus Group
Forums are open invites to all parents, staff, and alumnae, although our numbers are limited to 16 per session. Focus groups are built around strategic themes or constituencies that have emerged as strategically important through our discovery process (1-1.5 hours each)
Surveys
Surveys will be the largest data set in the “explore” phase of the Strategic Visioning Process and will provide invaluable insight into the strengths, challenges, and opportunities stakeholders identify for the school.
Conference
Participants from every major stakeholder group work together to determine key strategic priorities that will help shape the draft plan.
Conference at a glance:
· Facilitated by Concentrics
· A grand rotation of small and large groups
· 2 days (10-12 hours)
· 70-100 participants
Community Engagement
Strategic Visioning Process Overview
Have a question, a thought, or suggestion about the Strategic Plan process? Email Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School at framingthefuture@gmahs.org.
It is essential that the entire community have several opportunities to provide feedback throughout the process. We accomplish much of this through data gathering -- phone interviews, on-line surveys, forums, focus groups and participation in a Strategic Visioning Conference.
Interviews (January-February)
30- to 60-minute phone interviews with a diverse mix of stakeholders who can provide the institution with invaluable insider and outsider perspectives on the school's strengths, challenges, needs and opportunities.
Open community forums (February)
These sessions are open to all interested community members and will be held at alternative times on February 21, 22 and March 1. Led and facilitated by Concentrics, participants will provide a voice in the development of Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School’s Strategic Plan.
Online Community Surveys (March)
Community surveys gather insight from a broad range of constituents that solicit valued opinions about GMAHS's strengths, challenges, opportunities and possibilities. Surveys are anonymous and typically take 20 minutes to complete.
Focus groups (Late March)
After analyzing survey and interview data, focus groups are formed. Examples of GMAHS focus groups may include current alumni parents, families who live a distance from the school, students who came to Gwynedd from public school, etc.
Visioning Conference (May 3 & 4, 2018)
A 10-hour planning meeting that involves anywhere from 60 to 90 participants, Conference attendees can include Board members, faculty and staff, alumni, students, parents and community partners. Participants engage in small groups with representatives from each GMAHS constituency. Participants examine Gwynedd’s current bedrock strengths, review the social, economic, political and cultural environments in which the school currently resides and generates a vision for an ideal future -- one that be realistically achieved.