We all have a reason compelling us to get up and go to work in the morning. Our personal purpose plays a big role in how engaged we are in the work we do. Defining your why is a hot topic of conversation these days, and it’s an important thing to do. Equally important is defining your school’s organizational purpose, but it’s not something we talk as much about.

In today’s episode of Expert Instruction, we’re answering the questions:

• What is a school-wide purpose statement?
• Why is a purpose statement important?
• How do you co-create a purpose statement with your larger school-wide community?

Our guest is Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims. Nikole is an educational consultant, strategist, and most recently, technical assistance coordinator with the Midwest PBIS Network. Prior to joining up with the Midwest PBIS team, she served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education as well as an educational consultant working for the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network. Nikole is a systems-level thinker who finds transforming educational ecosystems to be some of the most rewarding work she can do.

For more information about some of the resources mentioned in this episode, check out these links:

• Midwest PBIS Network Homepage
• Feedback and Input Survey Manual
• The 5 Whys (The article is about staff buy-in and the 5 Whys are described under the “Keep It Simple” header.)