NASJE 2003 Strategic Plan
Adopted by the NASJE Board on July 22, 2003
Submitted by the NASJE Strategic Planning Committee

Introduction
NASJE has engaged in strategic planning for many years. Strategic plans have generally had a life span of several years and were updated during that time to reflect achievement of identified initiatives. Over time, as an existing strategic plan became less reflective of the current needs of the organization and its members, NASJE would develop a new strategic plan with initiatives to address the changed environment. NASJE’s last strategic plan was developed in 1997. Some of the initiatives identified in that plan have been achieved, some have become less important, and some remain relevant.

The current approach to a strategic plan for NASJE focuses on “preferred future statements.” The Strategic Planning Committee has organized members’ ideas and contributions into seven (7) statements, each followed with examples of strategies that could be employed to achieve the preferred future. These examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, and are intended only to provide concreteness to the preferred future statements they support.

As with any such undertaking, the organization of this strategic plan could take many forms. Many of the preferred future statements and strategies are interdependent and sometimes overlap.

As the Strategic Planning Committee talked about “preferred futures” statements, members also discussed the issue of a new mission or vision statement for the association. Although not offered here, the committee recommends a revision that would address/encompass the concept of NASJE’s role in developing its members for the important work they perform to establish and maintain judicial branch education as both a system of preservation (assuring the continued life of valued and relevant tradition) and a system of transformation (facilitating the end goal of a continuously improving justice system warranting the trust and respect of society). Whether this revision is crafted by the Board or by the Strategic Planning Committee, a new mission or vision statement seems to be an important part of the evolution of the association.

Preferred Future Statements and Action Steps

1. NASJE as a PRINCIPAL PARTNER in enhancing the growth and development of the judicial branch.
   1. Develop firm, institutionalized relationships with other organizations involved with the judicial branch.
      • Identify all organizations that share NASJE’s goals and values related to the judicial branch.
      • Determine a coordinated strategy for contact and relationship-building that would include who from NASJE should initiate and maintain contact and manage the subsequent activities that would likely result from such contact.
   2. Develop firm, institutionalized relationships with organizations working internationally in judicial branch education.
      • Identify all international organizations that share NASJE’s goals and values related to the judicial process.
      • Determine a coordinated strategy for contact and relationship-building that would include who from NASJE should initiate and maintain contact and manage the subsequent activities that would result from such contact.
      • Determine whether the work of NASJE’s international committee is aligned with this preferred future statement.
2. NASJE as the PRIME resource for the professional development of judicial branch educators.
   1. Define professional practice parameters for judicial branch education.
      • Research the required expert knowledge, specialized education, and skill development required to treat and solve the problems of the courts and develop the court employees.
      • Develop knowledge and skill applications that result in commonly understood practices, terms, and processes so that judicial branch educators can maintain power and control over the development of their profession and professional practice.
      • Develop and/or propose mechanisms such as licensing, ethics code, court order, statute, and/or acknowledgment of a judicial branch education profession so that judicial branch educators can maintain power and control over the development of their profession and professional practice.
      • Develop professional standards associated with the application of expert knowledge and specialized skill, which results in status and prestige that brings additional recognition.
      • Develop networks and avenues that allow judicial branch educators to develop their careers, enhance their earning potential, and advance within their organizations or other organizations.
   2. Develop core competencies for judicial branch educators.
      • Audit existing research on judicial branch education to determine major competency categories and associated KSA.
      • Research the primary environments within which judicial branch educators do their work and determine the competencies to excel within those environments.
      • Determine the roles and responsibilities that judicial branch educators fill within judicial branch education and within the parent organization.
      • Establish focus groups to review, revise, and approve competency categories and associated KSA and associate both with the research results on environments, roles, and responsibilities.
      • Seek approval of NASJE Board and/or membership.
      • Post on NASJE and JERITT Websites and publish.
      • Base future NASJE conferences on core competencies.
      • Adjust NASJE mentoring program to reflect core competencies.
      • Use core competencies to develop a certificate program and master’s degree specialization.
   3. Develop a certification program for judicial branch educators.
      • Ask MSU to establish a certificate program for judicial branch education based on core competencies.
      • Ask MSU to establish a specialization in judicial branch education in a master’s degree program.
   4. Develop a knowledge management system to capture “effective practice” strategies.
      • Research practice strategies via surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
      • Code practice strategies for indexing and retrieval in a database or matrix.
      • Place on NASJE and JERITT Websites and publish.
      • Integrate practice strategies into core competencies, NASJE conferences, NASJE mentoring, and judicial branch education certificate program and master’s degree specialization.
3. NASJE as the PRIME resource for standards, measures, and evaluation strategies that address judicial education work.
   1. Develop standards regarding infrastructure.
      • Research existing judicial branch education infrastructures in the courts and education and training organizations in other professions/fields.
      • Research variables including budget, salaries, reporting lines, staffing patterns, job positions/descriptions, audience numbers and composition, facilities, technologies, committee structures.
      • Develop infrastructure models based on variables and critical decision factors related to infrastructure research.
   2. Develop standards regarding core content to be addressed in new and mature judicial branch education entities.
      • Review literature of professional/organizational development theory and practice in the courts and other professions.
      • Research existing judicial branch education career-stage curricula and individualized development plans.
      • Assess findings to determine trends.
      • Establish career-stage categories and minimum subject matter requirements.
      • Post and publish on NASJE and JERITT Websites.
      • Conduct scheduled updates to the standards.
   3. Develop standards regarding the responsibilities and function of judicial branch educators.
      • Conduct a job analysis of judicial branch education positions.
      • Correlate the findings with organizational infrastructure; audience size and composition; organizational affiliation; whether the judicial branch education program is for a state court system, local trial court system, not for profit, for profit, college/university/law school, etc.
      • Develop profiles depending on correlation results.
      • Conduct focus groups on profiles with members from NASJE, COSCA, NACM, and others as appropriate.
      • Post and publish on NASJE and JERITT Websites.
      • Conduct scheduled updates to the standards.
   4. Develop and promote standards for education content development processes and new forms of content delivery.
      • Research, analyze data and publish standards or best practices on content development, to include developmental processes such as core competencies, curriculum-based planning, and other.
      • Research, analyze data and publish standards or best practices on new forms of content delivery to include on-line courses, videoconferencing, and broadcasting.
   5. Develop standards or strategies for evaluation of and use in judicial branch education work.
      • Research evaluation practices, including but not limited to impact and outcome evaluation, in judicial branch education and other educational environments.
      • Define potential scope and use of evaluations, including evaluation of course/faculty by participants, evaluation of course/faculty by informed observer(s), evaluation of impact of education (evaluation of participant learning).
      • Determine and adopt “effective practice models” to address full scope of evaluations.
      • Post and publish on NASJE and JERITT Websites.
4. NASJE as the PRIME resource for innovative, original research, design, and model development for judicial branch education.
   1. Develop a system to foster innovative, original research.
      • Establish a NASJE structure that would allow NASJE to seek research money that would advance judicial branch education and its relationship to the administration of justice.
      • Appoint an individual or a committee to establish a think tank on judicial branch education.
   2. Assess the viability of publishing innovative, original work.
      • Research the management structure of juried journals and determine the cost and effort involved in publishing a journal.
      • Research publication options for books and monographs related to judicial branch education.
      • Conduct a cost benefit analysis, which would include both determining monetary and professional growth and development return.
   3. Develop a system to encourage development and formal sharing of
      models in judicial branch education work.
      • Research the variety of models in use in judicial branch education and other educational environments.
      • Define the scope of models in use, including department organization, content development, faculty development, course development, organizational change, training and performance management, evaluation, and more.
      • Determine areas in which no applicable models are available.
      • Encourage development of original models in areas with limited or no models.
      • Establish a system to share existing and new models (monographs, website, courses).
5. NASJE as the PRIME resource to immerse, acculturate, and acclimate people into the judicial branch education profession.
   1. Develop a standard approach to orientation for new judicial branch educators.
      • Use the results of the research and activities associated with 1 through 3 to determine content for the orientation.
      • Explore offering the orientation utilizing distance education application and live programs.
   2. Manage an effective mentoring program for new members.
      • Develop a mentoring program that compliments the orientation and is immediately activated when a new member joins the profession.
      • Establish feedback, evaluation, and assessment loops to ensure that the mentoring program is beneficial to the new member and so that the ideas the new member has is relayed to the education committee, the board, and other appropriate committees/groups.
   3. Develop and offer a standard set of resources for new members.
      • Review current resources and determine their effectiveness and efficiency, adjust where needed.
      • Fill the gaps.
      • Establish a mechanism to ensure that the resources are uniformly distributed.
6. NASJE as a MODEL of effective organizational structure and function, reflective of the new and ever-changing environment and of evolving judicial branch education needs.
   1. Assess current organizational models for associations.
      • Research other court organizations and other education and training associations to look at how their structure represents their memberships through board positions, committee assignments, and association products and services.
      • Determine costs and associated benefits.
      • Correlate these activities with the needs of the courts and judicial branch education as they change over time.
   2. Assess the current board composition.
      • Develop a membership profile to determine where the members work, how they work, what they do, what their continuing professional needs are then evaluate the profile against the board structure to determine whether the current board structure fits the profile.
      • Develop board composition alternatives to fit the profile.
   3. Assess the relationship between the board and committees.
      • Assess the communication process between the board and the committees to determine whether goals, objectives, activities, philosophies, etc. are conveyed to the committees.
      • Establish a chair and committee orientation package which includes description of responsibilities, goals, objectives, deadlines, and resources to support the committees such as NASJE Website, JERITT Website and, JERITT electronic communications.
   4. Assess the viability of an association office.
      • As a result of the strategic and futures planning, determine whether NASJE can continue as a volunteer organization or whether it needs a permanent structure with an executive director who could write and receive grants, conduct fund raising, implement the strategic and future plan, and grow the profession in accordance with the members wishes.
      • Conduct a cost benefit analysis to determine the feasibility of such an office.
   5. Assess the viability of an executive director.
      • As a result of the strategic and futures planning, determine whether NASJE can continue as a volunteer organization or whether it needs a permanent structure with an executive director who could write and receive grants, conduct fund raising, implement the strategic and future plan, and grow the profession in accordance with the members wishes.
      • Conduct a cost benefit analysis to determine the feasibility of such a position.
   6. Develop firm financial support to ensure the longevity of the organization and the fulfillment of its mission.
7. NASJE as a FULLY ACCESSIBLE resource for all members.
   1. Establish on-demand resources for members.
      • Conduct a market analysis of the desire for on-demand resources for members.
      • Determine the level of technology available to NASJE members.
      • Research on-demand resources to determine whether the desire can be met with the technology available to the members.
      • When completed, evaluate the NHTSA web-based resource library for its suitability as a resource for judicial branch educators and their audiences in terms of content development, format, compatibility with user software, and potential to serve as a model for future online resources.
   2. Establish technology-based meetings.
      • See 7 a.
      • Establish a pilot program in one of the regions to use technology for regional meetings.
      • Evaluate the level of success with various media used in the regional pilot.
      • Educate regional directors on the possibilities of using technology (e.g. available commercial videoconferencing facilities; online meeting software; etc.).
   3. Develop online education content for members.
      • See 7 a.
      • Identify one or two courses/sessions from conferences that could be piloted online or via CD Rom – or determine a new area of content that would have immediate need and lend itself to online delivery (e.g. basic orientation to judicial branch education).
      • Seek support from the/a faculty member and a state judicial branch education department to develop an online course from the content.
      • Pilot the course and evaluate the results.