Austin Public Schools administrators are busy finalizing the district’s lesson plan to improve the quality of the education system.

District officials met Wednesday to finalize goals for the strategic roadmap they’ve been working towards this year. They will also start work on measurements and strategies to reach those goals.

“We’re putting the smaller pieces together,” said Superintendent David Krenz. “We’re just getting down to the more detailed, minute (goals).”

The school board approved a strategic roadmap in December, which outlined six general areas district officials will concentrate on for the next five years, from college readiness to effective lessons, cultural understanding, technological awareness, more community partnerships and using resources effectively.

While these general areas sound more like a business textbook than a day at school, these goals are what district officials will have to look at when considering future initiatives, programs and lessons. What makes the latest round of strategic planning different from previous rounds is its flexibility, according to John Alberts, the district’s educational director.

The planning process won’t stop after this year, as administrators will hold smaller, annual planning meetings to map out the district’s programs and goals for three years into the future. The process will begin again on a larger scale five years from now, while district officials will be able to measure how effective their strategies were in reaching and improving the goals they set.

“It’s a living document,” Alberts said.

District officials are currently reviewing what programs and initiatives now in place will be continued, such as Ellis Middle School’s grading for learning and the district’s various college readiness programs. Nothing is set in stone, however, as administrators will have to make sure district programs follow the strategic roadmap’s six general areas.

“That really is what a strategic plan is about, is to make sure … your resources are focused in the areas you believe are your priorities,” Krenz said.

Once district goals are set, school officials will then begin to outline district and building strategies to achieve those goals. This means district officials will create measurements to see whether goals are being reached over a five year period. The next two meetings will be focused on specific building strategies and goals.