In May 2007, the Minneapolis Public Schools, including its Board of Education, began a strategic planning process to address some of our District’s biggest and most complex issues.

A team comprised of representatives from the district’s many stakeholder groups and members of the board, with the donated support of consultants from McKinsey & Company, gained a thorough understanding of the current situation of K-12 public education in Minneapolis by:

• Collecting input from a wide variety of stakeholders including parents, students, teachers, principals, and the community at large.
• Analyzing the district’s financial, student achievement, and student enrollment data and projections.
• Studying reform initiatives undertaken in other districts around the country to learn from their experiences.

Based on the information collected during this phase, the team identified the major issues the district needed to address, and developed options for potential solutions. Input on potential solutions was sought in neighborhood meetings, meetings with teachers, and other conversations throughout the community. The feedback helped shape a set of recommendations that were developed in conjunction with work on initiatives currently in process such as the magnet school study, school closings and program changes.

Every Child College Ready

In November 2007, the team presented nine draft recommendations that the team believed would best address the challenges of the district and put MPS on the path to meeting the overall goal: to ensure that every child in the city is ready for college. The nine recommendations, which will serve as the framework of the strategic plan, are grouped in three broad categories:

1. Increase equity, expectations and achievement
2. Focus resources
3. Strengthen relationships

The Board unanimously approved a final version of the nine recommendations in December. The strategic plan was presented to the Board on March 11, 2008. Detailed action plans will be developed in phases to ensure that each recommendation is well-executed and measured for success over the next several years.We are enthusiastic about undertaking this comprehensive effort to improve the District and are confident that it will lead to increasingly better educational opportunities for the children of Minneapolis.

To learn more about MPS strategic planning process, you can click on the links at the right or contact Meredith Fox, executive director of Planning, Accountability, and Performance Improvement, Meredith.Fox@mpls.k12.mn.us.