For many years, the school board has engaged in an annual process of establishing goals and direction for the school district; typically, focusing much of that work around a day-long summer retreat. There are challenges with the process in terms of being able to deeply engage in each goal area; both in the formulation of the goal and in holding the superintendent accountable for work toward achieving these goals.
A proposal to the board would be that the goals be addressed throughtout the year, on a cycle basis.
An example of a schedule would be:
The Action Plan/Activities Months would be dealing with the question: "What would the board like to have happen, in tangable terms." It may involve refining the goal as well as giving clear, measurable outcome expectations to the superintendent.
The Interim Report/Update Months would be focused on the Superintendent giving status reports and metrics on each goal area and asking the question "Are we hitting the targets desired by the school board?"