Does the School Growth innovation and design method really work? Can you transform a school with tactical planning and disciplined talent development? Here's one example from an early adopter that proves the answer is "Yes!" This school achieved 65% higher enrollment in 5 years by using the School Growth Method.
Lee Taylor, the chief administrator at Claiborne Christian School, was at a crossroads. The school had survived the economic downturn of 2007-2012, and a renewed vision and plan was needed to grow. Louisiana had passed some new school choice legislation to spur more competitive education options, and the local schools around Claiborne were 
beginning to make some moves.
Marketing and enrollment advice was helpful in updating the admission materials and key messages, but how could Lee improve the quality and capacity of their leadership team to gain greater focus and produce better, more rapid results?
We had recently completed the creation of a new method for school leadership planning that was designed to teach administrators how to utilize the best practices of very successful innovators like Google, Zappos, and Uber. The School Growth Innovation Lab combines decades of successful experience from our team with proven research from entrepreneurial and learning organizations.
Lee decided to take a chance on our new program by bringing his leadership team to Atlanta to participate in the first School Growth Innovation Lab. Through this professional development they created a Strategy Canvas and a 90-Day Plan to begin producing faster results and accelerating their organizational learning. This plan included the establishment of a Talent Quotient (TQ) to define, communicate, and measure the quality and performance of their employees.
Fast forward three years and Lee's school will open 2016-17 having achieved 65% enrollment growth, more than 100% improvement in CCS's Talent Quotient, and the highest level of student growth among schools in Louisiana. That's School Growth!
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Interview with Lee Taylor: Achieving School Growth through Innovation Planning & Remarkable Talent
Summary Learning Points
* Your strategic plan helps cast the vision, but growth happens through short-term, tactical planning and execution, expanding the leadership capacity of the school.
* Schools that are most successful are learning faster and more effectively--they can adapt more rapidly to new opportunities and respond better to competitive pressures.
* Disciplined leadership is still the path to greatness, especially when it comes to recruiting, selecting, developing, and evaluating personnel.
* "As our commitment to [TQ] happened, our teaching staff has become stronger and stronger. We have less problems, less issues, less parent frustrations, less [administration] frustrations, less student frustrations. Everybody is working together. It's made a big difference!"
* As a direct result of implementing the tactical planning and talent strategies of the School Growth Method, Claiborne Christian School has added more than 100 students (65% growth) and has a much higher quality faculty. TQ is a mission driver that directly impacts the school's results.
* With the focus of a 90-Day Plan and clarity about their Talent Quotient, Lee's administrators have greater confidence and more accurate results.
Lee and Claiborne accomplised these results by investing in School Growth's Innovation Lab, the Talent & Team Workshop, and Leadership Coaching. For more information about using the School Growth Method on your campus and to schedule an assessment of your professional development plans, give us a call at (855) 444-7698 or email Innovate@SchoolGrowth.com.
