Introduction
The Gap Analysis Project you will complete in this course is designed for you to demonstrate your ability to synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills you have learned and practiced throughout the course while demonstrating creativity and innovation to solve a complex, real-world problem. The Gap Analysis project is conducted in a specific educational setting or site and seeks to identify the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational/cultural/contextual, and policy causes for organizational and individual performance problems in achieving the organization’s mission and goal.

You have already accomplished a key first step – defining a measurable performance problem. Make sure that you have amended your problem paragraph based on the instructor’s feedback before this class.

The purpose of Unit 5 is to conduct the next step in effective performance improvement, the formulation of key organizational and stakeholder goals. The most effective performance goals are concrete, challenging and current (Clark & Estes, 2008).

Learning Objectives For This Unit
Recall and explain the different levels of goals
Recall and explain the components of goals
Evaluate effectiveness of goals
Compose performance goals on two levels – organizational/global goal and stakeholder/intermediate goals for an issue related to your work setting.
Apply the following Big Ideas to goal setting:
All goals cascade from the organizational goal (which is derived from the mission).
All goals have to align with the goal above it.
All goals have to be specific and measurable.
Goals are generated based on three dimensions: time (by when?), stakeholder (who?), content (what?), at what level (by how much or how often or to what degree?)

Recommended Reading:
Before class, review Clark, R. & Estes, F. (2008). Chapter 2: Setting performance goals that support organizational goals, in Turning Research into Results, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc., pp. 21-40.

Learning Strategies For This Unit
In order to get ready for the In-class Gap Analysis Goals’ Workshop:
Be sure to bring your laptop to next class with the Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet readily accessible.
Review the Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet posted on BB (both the template and the worked example).
Identify your organization’s mission and include it in the Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet.
Create a draft of the organizational/global goal and include it in the Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet. Remember that a well-stated goal includes the following: By WHEN, WHO will achieve WHAT by HOW MUCH (or TO WHAT DEGREE)? For example,
By September 2014 (WHEN), The University (WHO) will achieve a graduation rate (WHAT) of 91% (HOW MUCH/TO WHAT DEGREE) for first-time fall freshmen.
By 2019, 100% of our high school freshman students Overwill graduate in their senior year by passing all academic requirements.
In six months, the hospital will achieve a goal of zero hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.
By the end of this school year, 100% of ELs will achieve proficiency or above in ELA.

In class, we will:
Identify at least three stakeholders for your organization. A stakeholder is anyone who directly contributes to and benefits from the achievement of the organization’s goal (e.g., at USC the stakeholders include students, teachers, administration, and parents). Include the stakeholders in the Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet.
Identify the proficiencies or competencies required of each stakeholder to achieve the global goal.
Create the stakeholder/intermediate goals for each stakeholder.

Due After Class:
The completed Gap Analysis Goals’ Worksheet is due to Blackboard within 48 hours after class.

Advance Organizer For Next Class
How is the information processing system model of learning similar to and different from behaviorism and social cognitive theory?
What does the information processing system model of learning explain that behaviorism and social cognitive theory do not?
Where does the information processing system model of learning “fail” to explain all forms of learning?
Which features of the information processing system model of learning make it a powerful one in understanding learning and motivation?
How does cognitive load theory help explain the limitations of working memory?