The holiday season is a natural time for reflection. For organizations like ours, it’s a chance to assess progress, refine approaches and pursue new opportunities for innovation.
With 2024 coming to a close, and as I near the six-month mark as county superintendent, this feels like an opportune moment to share where the Orange County Department of Education is headed — and how we plan to get there.
Recently, we introduced a roadmap designed to guide our work, build on our strengths and set a unified vision for the future. Shaped through active collaboration with educational leaders and community partners, it’s called the 5-3-1 Strategic Plan because it’s built around five key initiatives, three objectives to support our districts, and one bold goal.
So, what exactly is in our 5-3-1 Strategic Plan? Let’s take a look.
Five key initiatives
Five forward-thinking initiatives anchor this plan, targeting areas where innovation can have the most significant impact on students and schools. These include:
- Expanding career technical education. Along with broadening and enhancing CTE programs, we are looking to sharpen our focus on inclusivity, ensuring that these opportunities are accessible to all students.
- Fostering emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, or EQ, refers to the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. These skills are essential for educators, administrators, support staff and students to build strong relationships and healthy learning environments.
- Integrating artificial intelligence. We are actively exploring and pursuing advanced AI technologies that will enhance learning experiences and streamline administrative processes.
- Ensuring school safety. Our commitment to creating secure educational environments will be stronger than ever, supported by comprehensive safety measures and processes.
- Providing innovative funding opportunities. We are looking to create new funding opportunities to back innovative educational projects that can transform learning environments — and ideally be replicated elsewhere.
Three support objectives
Next are three objectives that are specific to the support we provide for our 28 local school districts. These are:
- Legal, legislative and fiscal support. We will equip districts with the tools and training they need to manage complex educational policies and fiscal challenges.
- Academic focus. We remain committed to educational excellence through targeted instructional services and programs that support student success.
- Local superintendent needs. We’re providing customized resources to address the unique challenges faced by Orange County’s superintendents in service of their districts.
Finally, we come to the last part of our plan.
One big audacious goal
Our big audacious goal refers to the work we are doing to improve outcomes and opportunities for all students enrolled in OCDE’s Alternative Education program, known as ACCESS. This involves actively soliciting feedback from staff, local superintendents and other key partners to craft a comprehensive vision for ACCESS, which provides a wide range of educational opportunities to students, including many who face unique challenges and are at risk academically.
As part of this effort, we aim to improve mechanisms for measuring progress and ensuring continuous improvement across all student programs under the ACCESS umbrella. We are also moving forward with plans to develop an ethnic studies curriculum for ACCESS that uplifts our communities and enhances cultural awareness.
OCDE’s 5-3-1 Strategic Plan reflects not only our collective aspirations but also our county’s shared commitment to innovation and continuous improvement in support of students, families and schools. Think of it as a roadmap that draws on the strengths of our educators as well as the voices of our communities.
Six months into this role, I feel deeply honored to be on this journey with you. I am also confident that we have the people and resources to drive transformative, lasting change. Together, we can create a future where every student thrives, every school becomes a place of possibility, and every community benefits from a strong, cohesive educational system.
Thank you for your trust and partnership. Now let’s make this vision a reality.