Running Head: BUSINESS PLAN 1

EPA 6155

Noor ul Ain

Business Plan for School

Due Date: 28th May, 2018

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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4

Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 4

Main Aims of School and Strategies to Achieve Them .............................................................. 5

Learning Aims ........................................................................................................................... 6

Aim no. 1: Attendance .......................................................................................................... 6

Aim no 2: Students’ Performance in Standardized Testing ............................................. 7

Teaching Aims ........................................................................................................................... 8

Aim no 3: Professional Learning for Staff .......................................................................... 8

Relationship Aims ..................................................................................................................... 9

Aim no 4: Enhance Cultural Security ................................................................................. 9

Leadership Aims ..................................................................................................................... 11

Aim no 5: School Teachers and Improvements in Aboriginal Education ..................... 11

Resources Aims ....................................................................................................................... 12

Aim no 6: Utilizing Resources to Improve Aboriginal Learning ................................... 12

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 13

References .................................................................................................................................... 15
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Introduction

This document provides a detailed business plan for a hypothetical school discussed in

assignment 1. As it has been stated, the plan presented previously was increasingly successful

and two years have since been completed successfully. Now, the school needs to be turned into

an Independent Public School in order to provide greater benefits to the students and community.

For that purpose, the school would need to take more responsibility upon itself. This document

provides a business plan to ensure that the school’s goals for improvement are realized in order

to help it achieve the status of Independent Public School. This plan discusses the key areas on

which the school will focus upon and how it will improve in those said areas. Different types of

aims have been highlighted. The plan discusses the specific aims, the key strategies that will be

used to achieve them, timeframe needed to complete the aim, and the various milestones and

targets which will signal the aim’s progress and completion. The main purpose of plan is to

improve upon the growth made in the last year and make the improvements sustainable. Special

attention will be given to the aboriginal education.

Literature Review

There is a need for schools to clearly outline their aims and how they plan to get there in

the form of a business plan. Business plans help an organization in outlining its short term goals

and highlights the ways to get there. It summarizes the plan for the upcoming time and forces the

leaders to think realistically about the challenges faced by the business and how to overcome

them. A business plan not only allows the leadership to get a clearer picture of the challenges and

strategies to combat them but also helps them get funds to facilitate their ventures. This is why it
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is important to have a strong business plan that can help you outline your goals in a realistic

manner and help you devise a strategy to achieve them (Ashe-Edmunds, 2018).

It is important for a school to get evaluated and held accountable for progress from time

to time. Studies have shown that accountability of schools result in improving their overall

performance and leads to improvement in the quality of education (Hanushek & Raymond, 2005,

p. 31). The schools that struggle to maintain high levels of attendance and grades for students can

do better through monitoring and accountability. This would push the school toward improving

their performance. The main elements of a school accountability system include students’

performance testing, public reporting, and sanctions and rewards. Other than that, it should be

ensured that the accountability takes a considerable time into account when judging a school

performance instead of drawing inferences on simply a year of performance (Kane & Staiger,

2002, p. 92-102). Research also shows that it is important to study the needs of different racial

and ethnic subgroups so the specific problems of each subgroup’s students can be studied (Kane

& Staiger, 2002).

Main Aims of School and Strategies to Achieve Them

This section will provide the overview of the areas which will constitute the main focus

of the business plan. The primary aim of this business plan is to make the school more culturally

responsive and a number of aims will be outlined, along with the key strategies, targets, and

timeframe to achieve those aims. These aims and priorities of the school business plan will all

help the management in making the school more culturally responsive for the aboriginal

students. The following discussion provides an overview of aims and priorities through which
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the school will be made to be more culturally responsive for the aboriginal students. Aims have

been divided into two distinct categories: learning aims and teaching aims

Learning Aims

Aim no. 1: Attendance

Strategic Direction

As mentioned in the assignment details, one of the biggest problems faced by the school

is that the attendance of students needs to be increased. Those children who do not attend school

regularly face a significant disruption in their education (Purdie & Buckley, 2010). The school’s

leadership will aim to make attendance a top priority.

Timeframe

The timeframe for this aim is 3 years in total.

Key Strategies

The following key strategies will be employed to increase attendance:

1. The school will take measures to ensure that school addresses the root causes of low

attendance such as bullying, poor teaching, and lack of cultural sensitivity (Purdie &

Buckley, 2010, p. 3). These are further discussed in the coming sections.

2. Implementation of “Hooks Incentives and Rewards Program” mentioned in Purdie &

Buckley (2010, p. 9). The program puts a great emphasis on sports based incentives and

participation to improve aboriginal attendance.

3. Follow-up absentees with the parents and care givers.

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Targets and Milestones

M: improving attendance rates by at least 5 percent per year in the next three years.

M: increased attendance rates across all years.

T: attendance data up to par with the similar schools in the state in the next three years.

Aim no 2: Students’ Performance in Standardized Testing

Strategic Direction

In order to ensure that the students are equipped with the basic knowledge required at

their levels in the country, it will be the aim of the school to improve the performance of the

students in standardized testing.

Timeframe

The timeframe to achieve the targets related to this aim is 3 years.

Key Strategies

1. Introduce and implement Explicit Instruction Pedagogy in the school. Such has been

evident in improving NAPLAN scores of schools similar to ours in the past (Archer &

Hughes, 2010; Fogarty Edvance, 2016, p.1).

2. Train teachers to improve reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and numeracy from early

grades.
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3. Teach PRIME Mathematics program from Singapore and ACER Maths Mastery Series

from years 2 and higher. These have also proven to be effective in other schools (Fogarty

Edvance, 2016, p. 2).

4. Special attention and resources should be provided to the students from aboriginal

communities struggling to maintain good scores in standardized testing.

Targets and Milestones

M: Bring NAPLAN score close to Schools with similar students in at least three out of five core

competencies for each grade.

M: Bring NAPLAN score close to schools with similar students in all five core competencies for

each grade.

T: Bring NAPLAN score above schools with similar students in at least 2 core competency for

each grade.

Teaching Aims

Aim no 3: Professional Learning for Staff

Strategic Direction

A culture of self-improvement should be encouraged in which staff would be motivated

to engage in professional learning. Incentivize self-improvement and self-learning for better class

outcomes in staff.

Timeframe
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The time period for this aim is continual throughout the life of the school but

development of framework for incentivizing self-improvement and self-learning among staff

must be completed in one year.

Key Strategies

Following key strategies would be employed to improve help the staff with self-improvement

and self-learning.

1. Technology workshops teaching the use and integration of technology in classroom.

2. Identification of professional learning goals for teachers of both lower and upper grade

levels.

Targets and Milestones

T: All staff members have participated in and fulfilled the requirements of the workshops related

to technology use in classroom.

T: Different grade level staff members have achieved the goals set by the management for their

professional learning and development.

Relationship Aims

Aim no 4: Enhance Cultural Security

Strategic Direction

It is important to ensure that the student belonging to ethnic minorities do not feel

excluded due to cultural barriers. It is a fact that many children belonging to aboriginal

communities face more problems when it comes to bullying and social exclusion (Coffin, Larson
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& Cross, 2010). This is a major reason for their low attendance rates (Purdie & Buckley, 2010, p.

3).

Timeframe

This will be an ongoing process but the key milestones and targets given should be

completed in three years’ time, at the most.

Key Strategies

Following key strategies will be used to achieve this aim.

1. A continual relationship between parents and the school leadership/teachers will be

maintained in order to better understand the cultural sensitive issues as they concern to

education and school environment.

2. Educate the teachers and students about the protocols related to the aboriginal customs

and culture. The knowledge will help them understand the culture better and decrease

bullying.

3. Utilization of knowledge gained from protocols is done through brokerage where the

aboriginal cultural and customs understanding is applied in management and bullying

prevention. This is done through Aboriginal Elders and AIEOs.

4. Implement an approach of development and teaching of emotional and social

competencies at the school level.

5. Develop and maintain positive behaviors through integration programs and in school

framework.

Targets and Milestones

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M: In order to judge the effectiveness of the strategies employed, a Benchmark of Quality must

be developed that can help identify areas of improvement and success.

T: Decreasing the frequency of bullying incidents by half over three years.

T: A clear framework developed by the end of the year that measures and reports the

improvements of better integration of aboriginal communities.

Leadership Aims

Aim no 5: School Teachers and Improvements in Aboriginal Education

Strategic Direction

School management will focus on developing teachers who would help identify the needs

of aboriginal students and facilitate the steps to ensure that their learning is improved. This also

includes building the capability of staff to teach aboriginal students effectively.

Timeframe

The school leadership may require up to one year to train a faculty member to be an

effective teacher for aboriginal community.

Key Strategies

Following strategies will be employed by the school to achieve this aim.

1. Increased participation of parents and family of the aboriginal students into the

learning process and school community.

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2. The school ethos and visions are developed in the presence of aboriginal community

members and students’ parents.

3. Teachers are encouraged to teach aboriginal students in ways on which the aboriginal

students respond to.

4. A school wide system is developed to maintain and monitor the progress of aboriginal

students.

Targets and Milestones

M: Aboriginal students’ progress monitoring system is developed.

T: Teachers have understood and developed techniques to which the aboriginal students respond.

T: Teachers are proficient in the local historical and contemporary cultural contexts and are

responsive towards using these contexts to support better learning for the aboriginal students.

T: School-wide approaches to teach aboriginal students are conducted by the school leadership in

collaboration with the staff.

Resources Aims

Aim no 6: Utilizing Resources to Improve Aboriginal Learning

Strategic Direction

One of the most important parts of enhancing cultural security for aboriginal students in

school is to utilize the resources available to the school leadership in the best way possible.

There are many resources that can contribute to the betterment of aboriginal education in the

school including aboriginal staff and aboriginal community leaders.

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Timeframe

The timeframe needed for the completion of this aim is 2 years.

Key Strategies

The following key strategies will be used in order to complete this unit.

1. The school staff should make use of expertise and knowledge of aboriginal staff.

2. Leadership opportunities should be made available to the aboriginal staff in order

to help them grow.

3. Learning needs of aboriginal students will be addressed in collaboration with

family and local aboriginal leaders.

4. Engage local aboriginal leaders to dedicate funds in right places to help aboriginal

students grow.

Targets and Milestones

M: School leadership will value and acknowledge the expertise provided by aboriginal staff.

T: School leadership will allocate separate staff to research and learn about the specific needs of

every aboriginal student.

T: School leaders will allocate funds for the individual needs of aboriginal students.

T: Aboriginal student engagement is strengthened and learning is facilitated through culturally

appropriate resources for education.

Conclusion
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In conclusion, there are a lot of gaps where the school can improve in delivery of quality

education to the aboriginal students. There are a number of steps that the school can take in order

to ensure that the school is sensitive towards the cultural security of the aboriginal students. One

of the biggest issues of the aboriginal students is that they show consistently poor attendance

rates. The issue is multifaceted and has many reasons behind it. This business plan depicts the

solutions to the problem of aboriginal education. The school will give special attention to the

issue of attendance through a series of reforms involving aboriginal community. Other than that,

the students’ results in standardized tests will also be improved by employing explicit

instructions pedagogy. Teachers will be geared with self-learning and development skills and the

cultural sensitivity will be enhanced through a school-wide reform effort. School teachers will

also be geared to improve aboriginal education with the help of keen understanding of

implications of aboriginal culture through interaction with the community. The school will also

utilize resources such as aboriginal staff and funding in right programs with the help of elders of

aboriginal community in the area. Thus, the school will be made more secure for cultural

heritage of aboriginal community in order to better facilitate learning for aboriginal students in

accordance with The Department of Education’s Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework.

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References

Archer, A., & Hughes, C. (2010). Explicit instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

Ashe-Edmunds, S. (2018). What Are the Benefits of a Business Plan?. Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-business-plan-3245.html

Coffin, J., Larson, A., & Cross, D. (2010). Bullying in an Aboriginal Context. The Australian

Journal Of Indigenous Education, 39(01), 77-87. doi: 10.1375/s1326011100000934

Fogarty Edvance. (2016). A Case Study - Ellenbrook Primary School, Perth WA. Retrieved from

https://www.ellenbrookps.wa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2017-Case-Study-

Ellenbrook-PS-as-received2.pdf

Hanushek, E., & Raymond, M. (2005). Does school accountability lead to improved student

performance?. Journal Of Policy Analysis And Management, 24(2), 297-327. doi:

10.1002/pam.20091

Kane, T., & Staiger, D. (2002). The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School

Accountability Measures. Journal Of Economic Perspectives, 16(4), 91-114. doi:

10.1257/089533002320950993

Purdie, N., & Buckley, S. (2010). School attendance and retention of Indigenous Australian

students. Canberra, A.C.T.: Closing the Gap Clearinghouse.