Many school districts in recent years have chosen, or have been mandated, to initiate planning process components identical, or closely akin, to those found in strategic planning models designed for educational organizations. Several model components and concepts are universal to the planning models, while other components and concepts are exclusive to particular models yet warrant consideration for their viability, even though they are not generally recognized across the literature. The following is a content analysis of the educational strategic planning literature detailing the critical attributes of various planning models designed specifically for K-12 educational entities. The study focuses on the issues related to K-12 strategic planning. A purposive sampling of selected literature sources was conducted. The authors analyzed 66 books, 29 journal articles, 28 research presentations from national conferences and the ERIC data base, 6 doctoral dissertations and several additional miscellaneous sources. Each evidence piece was interpreted through documentary analysis and a constant comparative approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, Strauss and Corbin, 1990, and Merriam, 1998). The elements of strategic planning (eight critical steps emerged) were extracted, explored, and compared.