June 6, 2013
Dear SRI Community,
It is with great excitement that I write to inform you that the SRI Board of Directors has finalized and adopted the guiding principles for SRI.
Several years ago, the SRI organizational development work group, working on behalf of the board, facilitated multiple discussions with the members of the SRI community that led to the development of the SRI mission statement: The School Reform Initiative creates transformational learning communities fiercely committed to educational equity and excellence.
Once the mission statement was affirmed, the next step was to develop a set of guiding principles to illustrate or illuminate the mission statement. The purpose of these principles is to reflect current as well as aspirational practices and dispositions. They:
- Align with the mission statement
- Provide examples of the mission in action
- Inspire action toward realizing the mission.
The organizational development work group prepared a draft of these guiding principles, the board of directors spent time further refining them, and committed to using them in a variety of ways during the following year.
At the board of directors retreat in April, the guiding principles were revisited, and further refined. The current version was affirmed and adopted by the board, and we are excited to share them with the SRI community.
Our intention is to use these guiding principles, along with the mission statement of SRI, as a lens for the work we do to support school transformation. With the guiding principles in place, we are currently using them to evaluate our services and develop additional learning opportunities and resources to further support the SRI community as we engage in this powerful work. We invite and encourage you to use them as well, to inform and guide the collaborative work you undertake in support of educational excellence and equity for each of our students and in schools everywhere.
Thank you to the dedication of the organizational development work group members for helping us continue to articulate why SRI is an important organization, and to everyone who has helped us to find our voice as we carry out our deep commitment to transforming schools.
Teri Schrader, Chair
On behalf of the SRI Board of Directors
