Goal Drafting from November Data — How to Turn Fall Data into January Goals
November 5, 2027
The October data review produced written decisions. The November data review will confirm or adjust those decisions. And January is eight weeks away — the month when the board adopts goals for the second half of the governance year.
Here is what I have learned about goal-setting from boards that do it well: the quality of January’s goals is determined not by what the board does in January, but by what the board does in November.
November is the data-gathering month. November is the goal-drafting month. November is the month when the board’s fall data review findings become the raw material for the January goal adoption conversation.
Track one: Boards with adopted goals
If your board adopted goals in January 2027 and has been monitoring them through the fall data reviews, November is your drafting window for the second-half goals.
Here is the process:
One. Review the October data review decisions. What trajectories did the board accept? What changes did the board direct? What was the outcome of those directed changes? The October data and the November implementation status give the board the baseline for the next goal cycle.
Two. Identify the goals that are on track and the goals that need adjustment. A goal that has been consistently on track through two data reviews may need a higher target for the next cycle. A goal that has consistently missed the target may need a strategy adjustment rather than a target adjustment — and the board should draft goal language that reflects the adjusted strategy.
Three. Draft the goal language in November, using the same format the board used in January: specific, measurable, outcome-focused, with a clear baseline, target, and timeline. The draft language is reviewed by the full board in November and refined in December. By January, the board is not writing goals from scratch — it is approving language that has been drafted, reviewed, and refined over two months.
Track two: Boards without adopted goals
If your board entered the fall without adopted goals, November is not too late. The September 28 piece covered the October-through-January path for boards without goals. The October data review gave those boards baseline data. November is the month to draft goals from that baseline.
Here is the process:
One. Review the October data review findings. What did the data show about student outcomes? What did the board learn about its district’s performance? The October data is the baseline — the starting point for the goal conversation.
Two. Identify two or three priority areas where the board wants to set goals. The fall data review may have surfaced a reading proficiency gap, a math trajectory concern, a chronic absenteeism trend, or a college readiness indicator that demands board attention. Choose two or three areas — not more — and draft goal language for each.
Three. Draft the goal language in November, using the October baseline data as the starting point. The goal format is the same: specific, measurable, outcome-focused, with a clear baseline, target, and timeline. The superintendent should be involved in the drafting to ensure the targets are ambitious and achievable.
What both tracks share
Whether your board has goals or not, November’s goal-drafting work shares three elements:
Element one: The data is the foundation. Goals that are written from data are goals that the board can monitor. Goals that are written without data are resolutions — aspirational statements that cannot be measured. Every goal drafted in November should start with a data point from the fall data review.
Element two: The board drafts, the superintendent reviews, the board adopts. The board is responsible for the goal framework and the target setting. The superintendent is responsible for the implementation strategy and the feasibility assessment. The board drafts. The superintendent reviews for feasibility. The board adopts.
Element three: The goal language is specific enough to govern from. A goal that says “improve reading proficiency” is not a goal. It is a direction. A goal that says “increase the percentage of third-grade students scoring proficient or above on the spring reading assessment from 52% (October 2027 baseline) to 62% by June 2028” is a goal. The board can monitor it, measure it, and make governance decisions from it.
What the board should do this month
Track one boards: Review the October decisions, identify the goals that need adjustment, and draft the updated language. Circulate the draft to the full board before the November board meeting.
Track two boards: Review the October baseline data, identify two or three priority areas, and draft the initial goal language. Circulate the draft to the superintendent for feasibility review before the November board meeting.
Both tracks: Schedule a thirty-minute goal-drafting discussion at the November board meeting or as a separate work session. The goal is not to adopt goals in November. The goal is to have draft language ready for December refinement and January adoption.
Your free CTA: Reply to this email with the keyword GoalDraft and I’ll send you the Goal Drafting from Data Kit — including the goal language template for track one and track two boards, the baseline data review worksheet, the superintendent feasibility review checklist, and the November goal-drafting work session facilitation guide.
Your paid CTA: I offer a Goal Drafting Facilitation Session — a ninety-minute virtual session with the board and superintendent covering the data review findings, the goal priority identification, the goal language drafting, and the feasibility assessment. Reply to this email for pricing and availability.
This piece continues the November 2027 Governance Execution series. Wednesday’s piece (Nov 3) covered the board meeting culture shift from reports to governance decisions. This piece covers goal drafting from November data — the foundation work for January’s goal adoption. The next piece covers community input for goal-setting — how to gather stakeholder feedback before the board finalizes goal language in December. Subscribe at effectiveschoolboards.com to continue the series.