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SDCOE’S NORTH STAR Goal
SDCOE’s North Star goal is to reduce poverty and increase belongingness through public education.
Schools are the heart of the community, bringing together neighbors, business owners, volunteers, different generations with parents and families and school families — all in support of our young people.
We each make up the village it takes to collectively support and care for our students from infants to young adults. It is this responsibility that drives SDCOE’s North Star goal. It seeks to uncover what our region would look like if we listen and learn from the voices of our students and families, partner to address the needs and challenges, and use education to minimize the drivers of poverty.
We are uniquely positioned to make a lasting impact through SDCOE’s programs and services to support high school graduation rates, college and employment readiness and matriculation, and belonging practices to reduce poverty.
SDCOE’s 2025-30 Strategic Plan
In order to achieve our North Star goal, SDCOE commits to focusing on two strategic priorities and seven desired outcomes for the 2025-30 strategic planning cycle.
These priorities were created by an employee-led Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) using feedback from hundreds of our colleagues, an in-depth assessment, and anchored in the foundations of our board goals, North Star goal, Equity Blueprint for Action, and guiding principles.
The plan’s two priorities and seven desired outcomes highlight our organization’s desire to be a valued partner with our region’s districts, schools, and community organizations — together supporting students and families.
Strategic Priority One
Transform SDCOE policies and structures to foster belonging by strengthening trust, collaboration, inclusivity, transparency, equity, and relationships among staff, learners, partners, families, and their communities.
Strategic Priority Two
Champion a collective responsibility to improve student outcomes through transformational experiences.
Desired Outcomes
The desired outcomes specify the intended change, result, or impact of our strategic priorities. They help define whether strategic priorities have been achieved. An organization-wide planning process, beginning upon implementation of the strategic plan, will develop targeted, achievable goals, progress metrics, and work plans to achieve these desired outcomes by December 2030.
- 80% of employees report strong agreement that they feel a sense of belonging at SDCOE and that the organization promotes trust, values employee feedback, and communicates effectively with this percentage maintained or exceeded after 2030.
- 80% of employees report strong agreement that they have access to opportunities for professional growth, co-creation, and collaboration within and across divisions that is supported by managers and SDCOE as a whole.
- 80% of families and partners associated with SDCOE programs and services report strong agreement that SDCOE offers opportunities for co-creation, values feedback, and communicates transparently.
- 80% of employees report strong agreement that hiring and promotion processes are transparent, consistent, impartial, fair, and focused on the requirements of the position.
- All students in San Diego County local educational agencies that receive SDCOE programming will show improvement in outcomes, as indicated by the California School Dashboard, and other relevant local measures.
- San Diego County students will report an annual 5% increase in feeling a sense of belonging at school.
- San Diego County local educational agencies show improvement in college and career readiness based on the College and Career Indicator.
SDCOE Foundations
Our North Star goal and SDCOE’s operations, services, and programs are based on several organizational understandings.
Our board goals focus on the topics of career pathways, equity for our historically underserved students, modeling leadership and innovation, and strengthening our organization’s culture.
In line with our equity focus, we listened to our community members and partners to inform the SDCOE Equity Blueprint for Action, which provides actionable, research-based practices that build equity and encourage belonging for our students.
The SDCOE guiding principles outline how we will operationalize our work to achieve these goals and are a tangible guide to design a culture of belonging.
These foundational understandings have led us to the development of our strategic plan. SDCOE retained Seed Collaborative (Seed) in 2024 to help create an inclusive, co-creative process to create our 2025-30 strategic plan that advances our mission and achieves our North Star.
Our strategic priorities and desired outcomes were co-created through SDCOE’s Strategic Planning Committee (SPC), made up of team members across divisions, locations, and classifications who referenced feedback from hundreds of employees and Seed’s strategic analysis and assessment of our organization.
Our strategic plan represents the voices of our colleagues and the vision of our leaders to uplift the children and families in San Diego County so they can thrive now and in the future.
More to Explore
Learn more about how the strategic plan came to be from feedback and assessments to collaboration and co-creation.
Learn more about how these three concept connect to reducing poverty and building community.
Review Seed’s findings based on its internal and external assessments of SDCOE.
Review Seed’s analysis of various reports on poverty and potential definitions of poverty.
Each priority is closely tied to the board goals, North Star goal, Equity Blueprint for Action, and guiding principles.
Explore how SPC members developed the strategic priorities for the strategic plan.
Seed conducted internal and external assessments to identify necessary changes in structures, systems, and culture, and develop a set of strategic priorities.