Strategic planning is a process designed to move an educational organization through the steps of understanding changes in the external environment, assessing organizational strengths and weaknesses, developing a vision of a desired future and ways to achieve that mission, developing and implementing specific plans, and motivating that implementation so that necessary changes can be made. This paper examines strategic planning, differentiates it from traditional planning, and explains why it is necessary. Strategic planning does not eliminate the need for traditional planning functions; instead, it provides a planning framework and requires more time for planners or stakeholders to become part of the process so the resulting plan will be theirs and the potential for conflict is reduced. Strategic planning must also consider demographic, educational, economic, political, and social issues affecting a particular school district. For example, in California, the ethnic, aging, and poverty-level populations are growing, and traditional family structure is changing dramatically. Redwood City Elementary School faces a dropout problem that will require reducing class size, developing early intervention programs, expanding cooperative learning, providing special staff development, and creating latchkey and extended day programs. Each of these responses requires an action plan, a specific timetable, and a responsible person to carry it out. Strategic planning's five phases are summarized and a rationale for faithfully proceeding through all phases is provided. (MLH)