| Vision
for the Future: The 2003-2008 Strategic Plan
Ursuline Academy’s comprehensive strategic plan provides
for long-term faculty needs, major advances in science, math and technology
programs, and new funding for scholarships. Permeating the plan is the
Academy’s mission to educate young women for leadership and service.
Success in achieving these goals will help ensure the future of the Academy
for generations to come.
The strategic plan was created in 2002-03 through a cohesive,
community-wide process that involved more than 200 individuals –
students, parents, faculty, administrators, alumnae, parents of alumnae,
civic leaders, and other friends of Ursuline. The result is an ambitious
blueprint for the future, placing the Academy on the edge of incredible
growth. The plan is also highly achievable, with the continuing support
of those who believe in its vision.
To fund the plan, the school and its supporters must make
a major commitment to building endowments and planned
giving. Minimizing tuition increases is an ongoing Ursuline objective.
Therefore, auxiliary funding will be vital to offset higher operating
costs in the years ahead, including increases in faculty salary and benefits
and facilities maintenance. The Academy must also expand its scholarship
endowment to meet a growing need for financial assistance among middle-income
families and other diversity goals.
The 2003-2008 Strategic Plan includes 122 separate action
steps in five goal areas. Following is a summary of those goals with highlights
of key strategies:
| Mission Measures Success |
| Goal: |
Ensure that the Ursuline mission
is the standard for the entire Academy educational experience, guiding
all programs for students, faculty, staff, parents, alumnae, and other
friends of Ursuline. |
| • |
Develop a more in-depth understanding
of the mission among current and potential stakeholders. |
| • |
Focus on spiritual growth and
development. |
| • |
Evaluate mission effectiveness
annually. |
| Great Teachers Make a Great
School |
| Goal: |
Attract and retain the
highest quality faculty and staff who live out the school's mission
and philosophy. |
| • |
Strengthen communication by focusing
on team building among administrators, faculty and staff. |
| • |
Provide faculty compensation
consistent with levels offered at other top local private schools. |
| • |
Design the faculty evaluation
process to include both instructional effectiveness and demonstrated
implementation of the school's philosophy. |
| • |
Designate faculty needs as a
priority in fundraising. |
| • |
Develop a mission formation program
for faculty. |
| Excellence in Academics |
| Goal: |
Offer superior college
preparatory curriculum in all academic areas to support the development
of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. |
| • |
Provide a superior counseling
program for college admissions support and personal guidance. |
| • |
Balance academic and life skills
development. |
| • |
Complete "Twenty-First Century"
curriculum design for Science/Math/Technology; build a facility that
optimizes that curriculum. |
| • |
Continue the infusion of technology
into all aspects of the educational process through current and integrated
technological learning tools for teachers and students. |
| • |
Require extensive staff training
and development to support the integration of technology into the
curricular, instructional, and administrative functions of the school. |
| • |
Enable and encourage self-directed
and collaborative learning through connection to and sharing information
and ideas with other learning centers, worldwide educational resources,
and the local and e-Serviam communities. |
| Welcoming Differences |
| Goal: |
Become the secondary
school of choice for Dallas students and families seeking ethnic and
socioeconomic diversity. |
| • |
Increase the ethnic and socioeconomic
diversity of the Ursuline Academy student body to mirror the profile
of the Catholic student population of the Diocese. |
| • |
Eliminate any barriers to increasing
the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the Ursuline Academy student
body. |
| Funding the Future |
| Goal: |
Generate sufficient funds to achieve
the five-year strategic plan. |
| • |
Build a stronger base of support from alumnae,
current parents, parents of alumnae, friends, foundations, and corporations. |
| • |
Through the Ursuline Academy of Dallas Foundation,
Inc., increase endowments to the level necessary to support faculty,
scholarships and building/maintenance needs as outlined in the five-year
plan. |
| • |
Expand and strengthen the Ursuline Academy
Alumnae Association. |
Action steps are now in process in all goal areas. Progress
will be closely monitored by the Ursuline administration, with the support
of the Strategic Planning Implementation Committee.
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