The False Premises of 'Strategic Planning'

By Richard Sagor

An innovative planning technique is blowing through school districts with the speed and force of a tornado crossing the plains. The words "strategic planning'' have entered the lexicon of nearly every school board and superintendent as this "cutting edge'' management technique becomes a growth industry saving countless educational consultants from the bite of recession.

Yet the "strategic-planning movement'' is not simply another example of public education's infatuation with modern business concepts. It is, more importantly, an illustration of larger, more ominous problems with our educational system.

In recent years it has become vogue for public-school superintendents to outfit themselves with the rhetoric and style of corporate executives. I'm not sure if this trend had its origins with the proliferation of popular business treatises like In Search of Excellence and The One-Minute Manager, or if it was an outgrowth of the Reagan era with its discrediting of public administration and glorification of corporate magnates. What I do know is that the techniques of the "one-minute reprimand,'' the habits of "managing by walking around,'' and "quality circles'' have invaded most school...