Planning Ahead: Alliance Launches Strategic Planning Process

Four months into my new role as President of the Linked Learning Alliance and, once again, I find myself completely energized by the passion and people that fuel the field’s progress and growth. I am also inspired by our collective effort to expand pathway experiences while holding ourselves to a shared and high standard for quality by using Linked Learning certification and data analytic tools to continuously take stock of how we best support purposeful and positive educational journeys for young people in California – and beyond.

The Alliance is also deeply interested in how we best serve the evolving and exciting needs of the Linked Learning field and, in turn, the community of actors who make it unique, vibrant, and exciting. How do we provide the tools, support, and resources, and strengthen the connective tissue that will amplify our individual efforts – today and into the future? So, to begin to ponder those and many more question, we are launching a strategic planning process.

Here are a few things we wanted to share with you as we get started! First, the process will be short – kicking off this month and going through mid-September. Second, it will be inclusive. Stewarded by a Strategic Planning Working Group of the Board of Directors and supported by consultant partners at the Bridgespan Group, we will seek input and perspectives from diverse stakeholders and constituents across the Linked Learning field to get candid reflections on successes and struggles, as well as thoughts about how the Alliance can best serve expanding interest and needs.

The strategic planning process will inform potential refinement of the Alliance governance structures and engagement, help us institute nonprofit management systems that are appropriate for our organization at this stage of its growth, and ensure that the Alliance remains an asset and advocate for the expanding Linked Learning field.

I will provide updates as this process gets underway and look forward to sharing what we are learning and how it will inform our future plans. Throughout the process, I welcome your input, questions, and observations to help us best serve the interests of young people and positively impact the economy so that all of our young people and communities thrive well into the future.

Anne B. Stanton,
President, Linked Learning Alliance
April 19, 2018