Principals and superintendents are regularly required to write improvement plans. These are typically derided as being "left on the shelf" when they are supposed to be "living documents". The implication is that educational leaders are not working on their plans the way they are supposed to. Isobel Stevenson suggests that the format of the plan itself is the reason for its lack of utility; instead, we should be less concerned about action steps and deadlines and more concerned about putting serious thought into designing a strategy that has the power to meet its student achievement goals.