About ACRES

Strategic Plan

Strategic Goal 1:

Provide service to Rural American Special Educators, human service providers, and students and individuals with exceptional needs.

Strategies

1. Increase membership
1. Increase membership of individuals at Colleges and Universities
2. Increase state memberships and memberships of individuals at State Departments
3. Increase memberships of service providers
4. Increase memberships of Parents
5. Increase memberships of Other Related Organizations and of individuals in other related organizations.
6. Increase memberships of teachers
2. Increase and enhance relationships with other organizations
1. Identify and codify these organizations by type and extent
2. Develop policies for joint efforts
3. Review need for expertise listing by state
4. Review potential for consultants/speakers bureau
3. Consider establishment of marketing and external committees
4. Consider multi-year and life memberships

Strategic Goal 2:

Provide services to ACRES individual and organizational members.

Strategies

1. Provide effective services to members
1. Strive for timely/regular publications
2. Recommend an immediate benefit
3. Develop SIGs with a benefit to members
2. Plan and conduct ACRES annual conference and business meeting.
1. Seek strong local support (committees, universities, state government)
2. Review program focus to seek new audiences
3. Cross-sell all ACRES resources
4. Broaden conference session topics and expertise strands
5. Review strategies to increase responses
6. Consider proposals on disk for uniform look to proceedings
7. Consider less expensive proceedings production method
8. Review conference budgeting options/fee structure
9. Develop conference programming shell
3. Determine need for development and distribution of additional ACRES publications.
1. Review target audiences for current publications
2. Develop methods for adaptations of current publications to serve additional audiences - e.g. Classroom Clips from Journal articles
3. Consider new publications to meet audience needs
4. Develop ways to increase submissions to publications
5. Best practices monograph of Award winning programs
4. Conduct needs assessment with membership confirmations

Strategic Goal 3:

Assure ACRES fiscal and organizational stability so as to meet the other goals.

Strategies

1. Review publications policies and procedures
1. Set regular items/columns for newsletter
2. Review ERIC policy
3. Purge old papers
4. Develop marketing plan
5. Consider publications as “immediate benefit” for paid membership
2. Be conscious of cross selling opportunities
3. Expand use of web site for all purposes
4. Establish functioning full members for committees
5. Institute written Board reports prior to meetings (on web)
6. Review tasks handled by volunteers that may be transferred to HQ staff
7. Provide training to ACRES Board members and mentoring of prospective board members.
1. Establish annual Board orientation
2. Enhance communication via listserv
8. Expand efforts to increase Board nominations and diverse representation
1. Seek ways to identify prospective members
2. Review board member position descriptions and state responsibilities
3. Develop plans for increasing involvement of new and past board members
4. Develop guidelines for HQ role vs. Board role (recommend Board policy)
9. Increase committee effectiveness
1. Appoint full committees
2. Delineate roles within committees
3. Spread responsibilities to involve more people
4. Set guidelines for committee appointments
10. Assure liability coverage - summarize risk and devise management plan
11. Accept and maintain a fluid strategic plan
1. Assign to immediate past chair
2. Develop method for annual update
3. Set meeting times pre/post conference

© 2006, American Council on Rural Special Education