Julia Skolnik, CEO and Founder of Professional Learning Partnerships
Comprehensive Planning
The Purpose
Every three years, public school districts are mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to develop a comprehensive plan, which serves as a critical roadmap for future planning and innovation for the subsequent three years. Through this process, a school district creates mission and vision statements, conducts needs assessments, outlines cohesive, long-term goals and action steps, and garners community input. The comprehensive plan positions the district to plan for the continuous improvement of leadership, teaching, and learning and to lead innovative school improvement practices.
The Stakeholders
A comprehensive planning process benefits greatly from the engagement of diverse stakeholders. The Upper Dublin School District's Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee is comprised of faculty and staff, administrators, parents/guardians, board members, students, business partners, and community members. Feedback from our entire school district community is critical to this process. School climate surveys were administered to all faculty and staff, students, and parents/guardians in October and November 2024. The surveys aligned with the U.S. Department of Education Climate Survey from the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, focusing on three key areas: engagement, safety, and environment. All stakeholder were asked questions reflecting on the UDSD educational experience and their perceptions of the school environment.
The Timeline
Comprehensive planning is an extensive process that occurs over the course of one year. UDSD began its process in Spring 2024 to meet the Pennsylvania Department of Education's required submission date of March 2025. See a more detailed timeline in the boxes below.
The Experts
To help guide our comprehensive planning process, our district has welcomed Julia Skolnik, CEO and Founder of Professional Learning Partnerships (PLP). Ms. Skolnik and her team at PLP design innovative, research-based professional learning programs to transform both individual practice and educational systems. Her career as an educator, experience leading professional development programs, and expertise in cognitive neuroscience applications in learning inspire her work helping school districts hone their visions and advance their goals.
Ms. Skolnik has helped facilitate leadership and visioning workshops among the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and Administrative Leadership Team as they collaborated to reflect on our district's strengths, opportunities for growth, and ambitions for students in the future. She lends her background in neuroscience to share research that supports our educators' goals. Ms. Skolnik is also helping to facilitate professional learning workshops to collaboratively develop our district's Portrait of a Graduate, which will outline the qualities and skills we endeavor for students to develop throughout their K-12 experience.
"I have been amazed by the energy and dedication I have seen from the Upper Dublin team members. They approach our sessions with an open mind, a readiness to innovate and grow, and a commitment to building upon the already strong legacy across UD schools."
Portrait of a Graduate
In conjunction with the formation of our comprehensive plan, the district has begun the multi-year development of its first-ever Portrait of a Graduate. A UDSD Think Tank, comprised of educators from across the district, will collaborate to build a shared vision for the skills and qualities students will acquire throughout their K-12 journey.
Superintendent Dr. Laurie Smith leads breakout sessions exploring the district's future mission and vision statements.
Julia Skolnik leads a team workshop laying the foundations for developing the district's Portrait of a Graduate.
The Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee is comprised of a range of stakeholders from across the school community.