Creating Your School’s Mission Statement

As leaders in education, we know that a crucial first step when setting out to accomplish a big goal is to establish our “why” or mission with the group we are working with.

“When we are clear on our ‘why,’ we are better able to focus on what matters most,” says Simon Sinek in Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Only after solidifying “why” should we shift to considering our “how” or what we are going to do. We need to resist the urgency-fed temptation to skip the “why” and get right to the gritty work.

As leaders, we are aware that any time we are working toward a lofty goal, we will hit roadblocks and find ourselves searching for a tool to get us back on track. Slowing down to work on writing a mission statement can feel uncomfortable with so much on our educator plates, but when we connect our staff to the impact their work will have on students, they gain fuel for the work ahead.

Our colleagues need a succinct and clear process for establishing the “why” of their work. The process below can get your committee or group on the same page to establish what exactly it is you are trying to accomplish so you can stay grounded in your “why” as you tackle the hard work ahead.

Open with a values-driven activity

Begin by asking participants to connect their values to your bigger goal via an icebreaker or opener. For example, when beginning this process with a group of student services leaders working to define their mission for their work, you might ask them to look at a list of values and choose 10 values, narrowing to five, then eventually landing on three core values and share out why they chose the values as important to themselves as leaders in their particular role.

You might ask a group of educators whose focus is on the science of reading to individually consider what they would want from a literacy classroom experience for their child (or future child/niece or nephew, etc. ) using a Post-it Note. This would be followed by a table share where participants are asked to come up with common ideas, followed by a whole group share-out. By starting with asking your group to connect to their values, you’re grounding them in their personal “why” and reminding them of their own purpose, which will help the group toward naming their purpose as a whole.

Set up the ‘why’ of a mission statement

The next step is to introduce the reason for spending time on a mission. As Simon Sinek states in his book, “A clear sense of purpose enables us to focus our efforts on what matters most, compelling us to take risks and push forward.”

Utilize this advice and take the time to explain to your committee how you’ll use this mission to guide the way, that you’ll return to it each meeting, and that you’ll use it as a lighthouse when you have lost your way or need to make core decisions. A good mission statement will remind everyone of how this work will impact students and teachers.

Provide Examples

Offering examples will help your team understand what it is they are striving for. You may have your own, but feel free to use these examples:

Science of Reading Committee: With a committee of approximately 20 administrators, general ed teachers, reading specialists, and instructional coaches, a mission statement might be the following:

“We will research, analyze, and prioritize evidence-based literacy practices in order to guide and inspire our English language arts committee, staff, and community to make decisions that grow strong, lifelong readers, writers, and communicators.”

Student Services Leadership Team: A group of special education administrators working to reenvision their processes and leadership responsibilities might have a mission statement something like this:

“Establish and maintain a collaborative, transparent, and equitable system so that teams are empowered to make student-centered decisions resulting in student growth.”

Think, Pair, Share with a Sentence Frame

Once you have shown the group examples, provide the sentence frame below and sticky notes and ask individuals to think on their own, partner with someone next to them, and then work as a table group to come up with a draft of a mission statement. Remind your group to refer back to the values exercise you started the meeting with to guide them.

Ask tables to share their draft while you take notes with the whole group to go over at the next meeting. If you have a smaller group, spend more time individually, and then take notes using this sentence frame, not worrying about perfection: _____ (what needs to happen, or the “how”) so that (or) in order to _____ (what will happen with students and/or teachers, or the hoped-for result).

Behind-the-scenes drafting

In a best-case scenario, you’d have a few days or weeks to take the drafts from the table groups or individuals and create a more polished version behind the scenes. The advantage of this approach is that you can take the best pieces of the notes and drafts, find patterns or repetitions, and do the wordsmithing solo.

Additionally, you provide space and time for your committee or group to reflect and gain perspective to fuel the final draft at the next meeting.

Polish as a group

After a few days or weeks, you will bring back the mission draft to your committee. Start with reminding the group of the process you followed, the reasoning behind drafting a mission statement, and a reminder of how your work will impact students.

Share the draft of the mission, and give time for participants to discuss any shifts in wording with a small group and then the group as a whole. Adjust wording in real time, or take notes if significant changes are suggested to return to next time.

Reflect, refer, and use the mission statement

Start each meeting with a review of the mission. In addition, use the mission to reflect and name the progress that’s been made and the impact you’re seeing on students. Use the “why” to figure out the next steps and goal set. As you conclude your work, pause to celebrate how the efforts made by the group led to the accomplishment and final product of the group.

As educators, we have so many priorities and so little time, so pausing to set a mission statement will ensure that your group is reminded of why you chose to set out to work on your goal. You’ll have a tool for reflection for your group to notice that their work has made an impact on students. With your eyes on what matters most, you’ll stay focused and grounded to take risks and push forward through difficult times.