Identifying Goals for OI

As you go about selecting potential goals, be sure to give all stakeholders a voice in suggesting these potential goals.  Your Steering Committee will have final decision-making power over which goals actually move forward.  This group will also exercise its power to consolidate two or more like goals into one.  Don't try to be too selective because the process will take care of that!  The Steering Committee also has the obligation to use the results from the various surveys to add potential goals to the list.  The Forced Choice Grid described and shown below will narrow down and rank the goals for you if you choose to use it and will not carry the stigma of having only one or a few people make the decision.  NOTE:  Using this process and this tool is a choice.  No one has to use it.

Step 1
Listing the possibilities

The document at right is an actual list of potential goals with which a Steering Committee began to wrestle after they solicited suggestions from stakeholders and added some of their own based on the survey results.
initial_goal_list.pdf
File Size: 28 kb
File Type: pdf
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Step 2
Narrowing the List - Design the Tool

It is now the task of the Steering Committee to consolidate those items that are similar and can be put into one potential goal.  You want to get the total number of choices down to a manageable level, but it is much better to include all the possibilities rather than to be concerned with the number of choices.  The order in which you place these is not important.  In fact, it probably is wise to spread around those which you "think" may end up being selected.
sample_voting_grid.pdf
File Size: 48 kb
File Type: pdf
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Step 3
Voting Instructions

The file at the right is a page designed to give instructions for completing the Forced Choice Grid above.  When you duplicate this page be sure to customize it for both your school and your number of goals represented in the Forced Choice Grid.
voting_instructions.pdf
File Size: 47 kb
File Type: pdf
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Step 4
Tabulating Results

Refer to the document at right for directions about how to tabulate the results of each "ballot."  
tabulating_results.pdf
File Size: 76 kb
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Step 5
Reporting Results

The file to the right is an actual tabulation of voting results.  In order to understand "Who feels how" the suggestion is to report each group separately before compiling the results for a FINAL decision.  At this point the only decision that will be needed by the Steering Committee is how deep to go into the list.  In other words, is the fourth choice close enough to number three to justify including four goals instead of only three.
sample_grid_results.pdf
File Size: 64 kb
File Type: pdf
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