It is with excitement and pride we present to you “Ready. Set. Go!”, Marburn Academy’s next three-year strategic plan. Influenced by a global pandemic and aware we are in transitionary point in our history, our community has created a plan that is shaped by our mission, as well as a great deal of compassion, empathy, courage, and belief.
The culmination of the community’s collective efforts and voice, the plan reflects two key themes. First, Marburn Academy has sound underpinnings to build upon as we look to continuously improve in every respect. Second, our ambition and belief in our mission drives us to reach, support, and serve even more students, families, and educators in the future.
These themes ring true to the very spirit of Marburn—a community that believes deeply in the power of education and the potential of every child.
Important to any bold endeavor, this plan will only succeed if we are committed, deliberate in our approach, and flexible enough to meet the challenges of an everchanging world. In this regard, we hope you will join us in making this plan a success. If we do so, we can be confident, that three years from now, each of us will look back with optimism and gratitude.
As Marburn Academy entered into its 40th Anniversary year, and with new leadership at the helm, the Board of Trustees engaged consulting firm, Mission Matters Group (MMG), to lead the organization through a strategic planning process.
MMG’s charge was to lead a collaborative and engaging process that would lead to a plan that reaffirmed organizational identity, clarified direction, and aligned stakeholders on where we are going and why over the next three years. The result is a plan that is designed to be a working, dynamic tool, road-map, and strategic guide that equips the Executive Team and Board of Trustees to lead the organization into our future.
The engagement process launched in the summer of 2021 when a core team made up of Marburn executive team members and MMG began meeting to design the process for engaging Marburn’s community of stakeholders and developing the plan. From the onset, engaging a broad and diverse group of stakeholders in the discovery and planning process was a top priority of Marburn’s leadership team to ensure a holistic
perspective and understanding of the community’s vision for the future. To support this effort, a Steering Committee was formed, comprised of internal faculty and staff members, along with several board members.
Through several months of discovery interviews, faculty, staff and community input surveys, an on-site school visit, and Board retreat, a key set of findings were identified and shared with Core Planning Group members and the Steering Committee. The discovery process helped to develop the plan’s Strategic Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) which serve as the foundation to Marburn’s 3-year vision.
Through a series of planning meetings, the Steering Committee weighed in on elements of Marburn’s organizational identity by defining a core set of beliefs that drive the organization’s “why” and a key set of performance indicators that measure success year over year. In addition, the Steering Committee helped to define and refine the 3year Strategic Objectives and an accompanying set of Key Results for each objective. The outcome of this process enabled the drafting of "Ready. Set. Go!"
At the heart of the strategic plan is Marburn Academy’s organizational Compass, a strategic orientation tool that defines Marburn’s core identity and direction. Through the development of the Compass, we clarify who we are, what we believe, where we are going, and the
2shared rules of engagement to be used as a guide. It allows us to simply and effectively define our true north.
Our identity has been defined using the four components outlined below.
We believe strategy begins with an understanding of organizational identity. By rigorously reflecting on questions like “why do we exist?” and “what do we value?”, we not only clarify critical elements of our mission, we also honor Marburn’s true identity and create the opportunity for our mission and beliefs to steer our strategy.
At Marburn Academy, we celebrate students who
learn differently, empowering them to awaken their potential, to achieve success in school and life, and to drive positive change in our communities.
We believe in a world where every child may learn.
We achieve our mission by championing our students, delivering state-of-the art programming, and advancing educational outcomes beyond our walls through thought leadership, advocacy, and community engagement.
• All students can learn.
• Students learn differently.
• Every child deserves access to educational services that meets their unique learning needs.
• Proactive intervention and differentiated instruction is essential to our academic model.
• Creating a safe learning environment that recognizes the strengths of our students is key to the success of our students.
Growth. Everyone is capable of growing and learning and that learning is a lifelong process.
Community. Every individual deserves a community where they feel valued and accepted, where their strengths are acknowledged and leveraged.
Communication. All communication should be open, honest, inclusive, clear, timely, recursive, and direct. Communication strengthens and supports our continued growth and our sense of community.
Innovation. Being on the cutting edge of research, best practices, and technology is who we are. Innovation requires creativity, commitment, and a clear vision for the future.
Sustainability. Marburn Academy is a standard bearer for the education of students with learning differences in Central Ohio. Therefore, we strive to expand our footprint within the community-atlarge, while maintaining a strong, cohesive culture and high-quality programs for our children and families.
The strategic planning process has provided our entire stakeholder community the opportunity to reflect on an essential question: How do we know, year over year, if we are successful? Through this process, we have clarified our response by developing organizational Vitals. These core metrics serve as a “pulse check” on our progress and our success year over year.
We also recognize that measuring certain elements of our mission, like student success
and community engagement, will take further examination by additional groups. As a result, we will prioritize the development of an additional five Vitals during the first phase of this plan’s implementation. They are:
Student Success
Program Accessibility
Marburn Community Engagement
Columbus Community Engagement
Marburn Community Diversity
Marburn
% growth in the number of students, families, and educators served through Marburn EC directly and indirectly
% of students who reenroll year over year Faculty
% of faculty and staff members engaged per annual survey
Overall net promoter score (NPS) of faculty and staff
% of faculty and staff returning year over year
Cash reserve equals six months of operating expenses
Organizations are able to achieve clarity of vision and alignment when they understand where they are going and how they will know when they have successfully arrived. At Marburn Academy, our strategic Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) point to our destination and define the criteria of a successful journey. By defining success with meaningful and measurable objectives, we enable the reverse engineering of strategy and equip our entire stakeholder community with a navigational tool to guide decision making along the way.
Our strategic Objectives and Key Results outline the aspirational and yet realistic goals that we believe are critical to achieve in the next three years.
Each objective is supported by a set of Key Results that will be used to measure whether or not we have achieved the objective. These KRs become the definition of success of each objective. The specific and actionable strategies that Marburn decides to prioritize in pursuit of each KR will be identified on an annual and quarterly basis. This allows the organization to respond to what it is learning throughout the plan’s implementation and adapt to our ever-changing world. We will revisit our OKRs annually, modifying as necessary in order to ensure focus on the highest priority work. In the Strategic Implementation section of this plan we outline how we approach this with discipline, integrity, and purpose.
Wmore students, families, and educators, while sustaining programmatic excellence, we must invest in and strengthen our foundation. For years, Marburn has seen accelerated enrollment growth which has been both thrilling and rewarding, but that has also taxed the infrastructures that support it. It is important to mention that during the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen lower enrollment figures and it remains to be seen what a "rebound" may look like. As excited as everyone is about pursuing growth goals we must first be honest about what it will take to grow intentionally in the future. We plan to take the time to be introspective, codify our core processes, and invest in our people. All elements that will be required for organizational health and
The heart of this objective is about continuing to engage and align with our stakeholders. We will focus on recommitting to our operational processes which will help us to execute in a consistent and disciplined way. Lastly, we believe that the long-term viability of our mission will require a deeper look at our growth and impact trajectory. As a result, we will take the necessary steps to complete a long-term planning process that includes the completion of a feasibility study and informs the development of a master plan (innovative, long-term vision for the future). The following key results will determine if we have successfully achieved this objective:
Refine and recommit to Marburn Academy’s core operational tenets and processes throughout the organization, ensuring clarity and consistency over time.
We see excellence in action every day. Now, let's showcase it.
As any Marburn stakeholder would say, excellence is central to our identity; a unique differentiator that has driven the impact and success we’ve had since our inception. Our vision for the future must continue to prioritize this key characteristic by creating the space for our team to further commit to and nurture excellence throughout the work we do. Given the reputation Marburn has had since its beginning as offering the best education available for students who learn differently, we will prioritize working with the academic teams to determine how we define and measure student success. Once a meaningful definition is in place, we will then set annual targets that can be monitored and used to inform learning and continuous improvement practices. Our goal is to build upon our strong community reputation by sharing consistent and measurable results.
In addition to driving excellence inside the hallways of Marburn’s day school, we also endeavor to further our reputation as leaders in the field, especially with educators.
We will do this by continuing to offer innovative
community and educator programs, seminars, and conferences. Our vision to serve peer educators and researchers is rooted in our core conviction that students are capable of learning and excelling when educators provide best practices to meet students where they are academically, socially, and emotionally. As we equip more educators, our impact will spread exponentially, reaching far beyond our own programs.
In order for us to ensure we are offering the best education available, we must prioritize our own continued learning. One way we will nurture a culture of excellence is to continue to provide Marburn Academy’s faculty with professional development opportunities. Similarly, as we seek to increase our position as a leader in our field, we must intentionally document our findings so strategies can be replicated with fidelity. Our teachers, tutors and other academic leaders will ensure alignment between all academic programs, certifying a similar, impactful educational experience that is consistent whenever and wherever working within the Marburn Academy community.
Develop
Through
Continue to deliver excellence through an academic program rooted in evidence-based curriculum and pedagogy, in order to produce qualitative and quantitative successes for our students and families.
Marburn Academy’s programs, seminars, and conferences, continue to be a leader in the field of learning differences as evidenced by our reputation amongst fellow educators and researchers.
We have a gift. Now, let's share it through focused growth.
AAs we look to the future, our aim is to increase our impact by making the entirety of what Marburn has to offer more accessible to the students, families, and educators who seek our unique set of services. In order to make measurable progress towards increasing accessibility, we first need to establish a way to measure it. With an aligned way to measure accessibility, we will focus on offering outreach programs in a second location that make our unique approach available to students that haven’t historically been afforded access. Our goal is to use the next three years to pilot a program near downtown Columbus to determine whether a satellite location of this type is financially feasible in the future.
We will also prioritize maximizing our impact within the existing day school program, increasing enrollment by a measured 3-4% year
over year with the goal of reaching 275 students by the 2024-2025 school year. There will be an increased effort on expanding community awareness for the purpose of both increasing enrollment in the day school as well as increasing awareness about the Marburn Education Collaborative (MEC) services and programs. Our outreach efforts will be focused on reaching new partners and constituents with the goal of building a student makeup that reflects the demographics of the community and surrounding communities Marburn operates in.
In tandem with exploring feasibility for a permanent second location for outreach services, there is a desire to maximize the potential of the existing facilities that a master plan will help to resolve.
The following Key Results will determine if we have successfully achieved this objective:
Increase enrollment at Day School to 275 during 2024-2025 school year - with each grade level achieving at least 85% of its annual enrollment target.
Determine if Marburn Academy can develop, implement, and sustain a secondary location for auxiliary programming that supports a wider geographic and demographic range of students, families, and educators based on key performance indicators established by the Marburn Education Collaborative.
Develop a “diversity” metric that measures Marburn Academy’s growth in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and adopt it as a vital for Marburn Academy within one year.
Heighten the community’s understanding of Marburn Academy by continuing to hone and share our brand, resulting in a 10% increase per year in the number of inquiries that match the student profile.
As Thomas Edison famously said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” A new strategic plan and its resulting core identity and priorities should filter down into every aspect of the organization. All programs, projects, technology and ways of working are aligned and moving in the same direction. Strategic goals must be paired with supporting operational tenets and agreements and a clear meeting rhythm to monitor priorities and measure progress toward our goals.
Realizing the vision of Marburn Academy and achieving the strategic OKRs outlined in this plan will require a disciplined and systematic approach to execution. We plan to track and monitor the implementation of the Strategic Plan using a set of processes to bring clarity, alignment, and accountability to our organization.
When implemented with fidelity, we will create ongoing organization-wide focus required to achieve transformational results. Central to the implementation plan is setting and monitoring Vitals Targets, Annual Goals, and Quarterly Priorities.
In summer of 2022, internal stakeholder groups will develop annual goals for the 2022–2023 school year as well as create a timeline for tackling the vitals that were identified.
The annual plan will be shared with internal and external constituency groups and progress will be monitored by the Board of Trustees.
In addition to setting our 2022-2025 OKRs, Marburn Academy has defined the top Vitals that demonstrate the impact we are seeing. Just like physical health indicators, these Vitals will always be worthy of being monitored and are the strongest indicators of organizational health. Strategic objectives have end dates usually three to five years — but these Vitals will always define the organization’s success and sustainability. Claiming these metrics as the top Vitals will drive clarity and align efforts, making it clear to everyone what measurable impact we are
aiming for. Defining Vitals creates a lens for the department to filter new opportunities. As we consider new opportunities, we will weigh them according to how they positively impact our Vitals. If they don’t refer back to our Vitals, we run the risk of getting off course and diluting the impact of our efforts. While we are tracking additional metrics to those below, these represent the few that are most important to Marburn Academy. With these Vitals in place, the next step will be to set targets for each one at the annual and quarterly level.
Enrollment Growth
Day School Retention Rate
MEC Impact
Marburn Academy will increase enrollment each year by no less than 3% and no more than 4%.
Marburn Academy’s day school program will aim to have a yearly retention rate of 88% or greater per year.
Marburn Academy’s Education Collaborative will aim to increase the direct impact on the local community by 5% and indirect impact within the field of learning disabilities by 7% each year.
Faculty/Staff Engagement
Faculty/Staff Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Faculty/Staff Retention
Financial Sustainability
Five New Vitals
Over the course of three years, our average Engagement Score will be 85% or higher.
Over the course of three years, our average Faculty/Staff Net Promoter score will be 30 or higher.
Marburn Academy will aim to have a yearly retention rate for the faculty and staff of 90% or greater.
On a rolling three-year average, Marburn Academy’s cash reserve equals six months of operating expenses
To be determined.
Eldrich Carr, Head of School
Lucy Godman, Chief Advancement Committee
Leigh Hill, Executive Assistant to the Head of School and Office Manager
Jennifer Martin-Gledhill, Associate Head of School
Tim Martin, Board Chair & Steering Committee Co-chair
Eldrich Carr, Head of School & Steering Committee Co-chair
Erin Barr, Director of Marketing and Communications
Laura Schmidt Brady, Chief Human Resources Officer
Lisa Edwards, Board Member
Lucy Godman, Chief Advancement Officer
Kelly Gratz, Board Member
Karen Heiser, Board Member
Leigh Hill, Executive Assistant to the Head of School and Office Manager
Kristen Huenemann, Head of Middle Division
Liesl Huenemann, Academic Dean
Tim Johnson, Board Member
Jennifer Martin-Gledhill, Associate Head of School
Shetal Parikh, Director of Admission
Jim Perry, Board Member
Rebecca Skinner, Middle Division Faculty
Amber Williams, Board Member
Sharon Wolfe, Board Member
Led by:
Shaun Lee, Mission Matters Group
Joe Olwig, Mission Matters Group
Tim Martin, Chair
Carolyn White, Vice-Chair
Jessica Ditullio, Secretary
Tim Johnson, Treasurer
Brian Carey
Lisa Edwards
Erin Fiorito
Kelly Gratz
Steven Guy, Ph.D.
Karen Heiser, Ph.D.
Jay Jadwin
Jason Judd
Steve Miggo
Michael Parkes
Jim Perry
Tony White
Tim White
Amber Williams
Sharon Wolfe
Marburn Academy 9555 Johnstown Rd.
New Albany, OH 43054
614 433 0822
MarburnAcademy.org
