Washington International School Washington, D.C. Head of School July 1, 2018 www.wis.edu
Mission The mission of Washington International School is to provide a demanding international education that will challenge students to become responsible and effective world citizens.
The Position Washington International School (WIS) seeks a dynamic and globally-minded Head of School to begin July 1, 2018. In addition to serving as chief executive officer of the school, the new Head will supervise all educational and operational affairs, working with the Board and the administration to lead this unique institution. Current Head of School Clayton W. Lewis will retire at the end of the 2017-2018 school year, after 11 years of dedicated service. During Clayton’s tenure, WIS has achieved global recognition, attracted record enrollment, enhanced teacher development, and benefitted from greatly increased philanthropic giving. The new Head will be charged with continuing the School’s development as one of the premiere independent schools in the nation’s capital and a pioneering leader in a full curriculum International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program.
School History Washington International School was founded in 1966 by educator Dorothy Goodman in order to offer a robust dual language education with an international perspective. Goodman envisioned WIS as “a pilot school for the planet” long before most schools began to emphasize the importance of global competencies. Since its founding, WIS has grown steadily, maintaining its position as a leader in international education. In 1977, WIS became the 21st school in the world authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. In the spring of 2016, WIS celebrated its 50th anniversary, reflecting on the legacy of Goodman and co-founder Cathya Stephenson, and looking forward to many more years of growth.
The School Today, Washington International School is an independent, coeducational day school serving approximately 900 students in Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. Centered on the core values of international education, world citizenship, and individual integrity, WIS offers a robust college preparatory curriculum enhanced by language learning. As one of the first schools to offer the International Baccalaureate program, WIS has long cultivated in its graduates a dedication to critical and creative thinking, along with language as an essential tool for cross-cultural understanding.
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
1
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
WIS is proud to serve a diverse international and American community: the current student body and their families represent more than 70 countries of citizenship. Faculty and staff members hail from more than 30 countries, including the U.S., France, Argentina, and the U.K. This means that life at WIS is multicultural and multilingual in both theory and practice. Approximately 14% of students receive financial aid, which amounts to 10% of the school’s $33 million in annual revenue. The parent body is equally diverse, professionally and culturally, and parents are involved in daily life at WIS in a variety of ways. There are opportunities to volunteer at the School that fit each parent’s personal schedule and passions, including through the WIS Parent Association, which holds regular meetings and provides a number of chances for involvement with the School. WIS is distinguished by a number of unique affiliations, most notably, its decade-long relationship with Project Zero, a research group at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. As the co-host of the group’s first conference to take place away from Harvard, WIS has benefited from the opportunity to have faculty members both learn from Project Zero consultants and lead workshops for colleagues and parents. The Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers is a week-long professional development course in which public and private educators come together at WIS to learn more about implementing the pedagogical tools and frameworks of Project Zero in their own classrooms. In 2010, WIS was selected as one of 20 pilot schools in the Hanban Asian Society Confucius Classrooms Network, which has supported the school’s Mandarin language program through virtual and student/teacher exchanges with a Chinese partner school. The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
2
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Core Beliefs About Learning 1. We believe that humans want to learn, and that learning is an essential, innate, ongoing, and lifelong process. 2. We believe that learning is a process of making meaning of the world. 3. We believe that learners are unique and they are responsible for their own learning. 4. We believe that learning depends on being able to connect prior knowledge, perceptions, or patterns of experience to new experiences, new information, and contexts. 5. We believe that learning is profoundly influenced by social relationships. 6. We believe that learning is significantly affected by emotions. 7. We believe that self-perception directly affects motivation and learning. 8. We believe that learning is more effective when information is embedded in purposeful and meaningful experiences and interactions. 9. We believe that learning is contextual. 10. We believe that learning is enhanced when learners are aware of how thinking and learning occur (meta-cognition), which gives learners increased control over their learning. 11. We believe that learning is demonstrated when learners can apply their understandings in new situations in flexible and thought-provoking ways. 12. We believe that learning is complex and non-linear.
Academics The WIS academic program is truly international, drawing on global best practices in pedagogy and curriculum design. Guided by the standards set by the International Baccalaureate Organization, WIS offers an inquiry-based experience that encourages students to make connections across disciplines, building the breadth and depth of knowledge necessary to become informed world citizens. Sixty-six percent of WIS faculty hold advanced degrees, and small class sizes facilitate individual growth and close bonds between students and teachers.
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
3
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Primary School Language learning is a defining feature of the WIS Primary School: in Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten, students experience total immersion in Spanish or French. This shifts, in 1st through 5th grades, to a dual-language experience, in which half of students’ learning takes place in English with the other half in Spanish or French. Regardless of language, all learning is framed by the structured inquiries of IB’s Primary Years Program (PYP), which provides students with a strong academic foundation in language, mathematics, social studies, science and technology, arts, and physical education. PYP aims to cultivate a passion for lifelong learning. To cap off their PYP experience, 5th graders design and execute a whole class project, analyzing and proposing a solution to a real-world problem, then use writing, speech, art, and technology to present their work. In the Primary School at WIS, weekly morning meetings offer the opportunity to emphasize community values such as respect, tolerance, confidence, and integrity. In all aspects of students’ WIS experience, a whole-child approach couples personal and social education with academic and intellectual growth.
Middle School In 6th through 8th grades, multidisciplinary learning and inquiry-based activity continue to offer a framework through which students deepen their understanding and develop their skills. In studying core subjects including English, language, mathematics, science, humanities, physical education, and the arts, Middle School students engage in a child-centered, global-minded curriculum that cultivates creativity, discipline, and flexibility. The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
4
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Beginning in 6th grade, students have the opportunity to study Mandarin in addition to Spanish and French, and students with sufficient language proficiency may pursue a dual-language program, taking literature and humanities classes in Spanish or French to complement their English studies. With elective options in technology, digital media, and study skills, students explore new areas and grow a sense of self-awareness and independence as they prepare to enter the Upper School.
Upper School In the 9th and 10th grades, students continue to grow as critical thinkers, communicators, and creators, taking classes in six core subjects and two electives. In the Upper School, WIS offers French, Spanish, and Mandarin. In 9th through 12th grade, all WIS students take English as well as at least one other language, and one half of graduates earn a bilingual IB diploma. The Grade 10 Project, an independent exploration of a topic of individual interest, allows students to practice self-guided learning. Students work with faculty members to set learning goals, develop plans, and produce an artistic work, original design, or other form of expression as a means of preparation for more advanced IB work. All 11th and 12th graders at WIS are enrolled in the International Baccalaureate diploma program, a challenging university preparatory program recognized around the world for its high level of intellectual rigor. Diploma program students select six areas of study, take a critical thinking and philosophy seminar called Theory of Knowledge, and complete an intensive research investigation culminating in a 4,000-word essay. At the end of their WIS careers, students complete three-weeks of IB tests. WIS’s high scores and 97% pass rate are a testament to the work WIS does to prepare students for these assessments and a lifetime of learning to follow.
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
5
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
College Placement The following are a selection of colleges and universities attended by the Classes of 2013-2016: U.S. and Canada • American University • Bard College • Barnard College • Berklee College of Music • Boston College • Boston University • Bowdoin College • Brown University • Carleton College • Carnegie Mellon University • Case Western Reserve University • Claremont McKenna College • College of William and Mary • Colorado University • Columbia University • Cornell University • Dartmouth College • Drexel University • Emerson College • Emory University • Fordham University • Georgetown University • Georgia Institute of Technology • George Mason University • Haverford College • Indiana University at Bloomington • James Madison University • Johns Hopkins University • Massachusetts Institute of Technology • McGill University • Middelbury College • New York Institute of Technology • New York University • Northeastern University • Northwestern University • Pennsylvania State University (all campuses) • Pomona College • Princeton University • Purdue University • Rhode Island School of Design • Rollins College • Salisbury University • Santa Clara University • Sheperd University • Smith College
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Spelman College Stanford University Swarthmore College Syracuse University The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art The New School (all divisions) The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Towson University Tufts University Tulane University University of British Columbia University of California, Berkeley University of California, Davis University of California, Los Angeles University of California, San Diego University of California, Santa Barbara University of Chicago University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Maryland, College Park University of Michigan University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Richmond University of Southern California University of Toronto University of Vermont University of Virginia University of Wisconsin, Madison Vassar College Virginia Tech Wake Forest University Washington University in St. Louis Wesleyan University Western Carolina University Williams College Yale University
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
6
U.K. • Bath Spa University • Durham University • Imperial College London • King’s College London • Lancaster University • London School of Economics and Political Science • School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London • University College London • University of Bristol • University of Cambridge • University of Edinburgh • University of Glasgow • University of Manchester • University of Sheffield • University of Southampton • University of Oxford • University of St. Andrews • University of Surrey • University of Sussex • University of Warwick • University of Westminster • University of York Europe (non-UK) and South America • Leiden University, Netherlands • Lund University, Sweden • Pontificia Universided Catolica de Chile, Chile • RWTH Aachen University, Germany • Sciences Po- Columbia University Dual BA Program, France/U.S. • Trinity College Dublin, Ireland • University of Amsterdam, Netherlands • University College Maastricht, Netherlands • University College Utrecht, Netherlands • University of Gothenburg, Sweden
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
University Counseling and Alumni The goal of the university counseling office is for students to apply, be accepted, and ultimately attend a college or university where they will be both academically successful and socially happy. Counseling begins in grade 9, and dedicated university counselors work with students to plan their transition to higher education. WIS embeds in its alumni the ability and desire to go out and change the world with a global perspective. Many attend schools outside of the United States, and continue to live in a range of countries working in a broad spectrum of fascinating careers in the public and private sectors.
Arts and Athletics From Pre-Kindergarten onward, students at WIS are immersed in the arts, taking classes in music and visual art that foster skill-building and aesthetic appreciation. In the upper Primary grades, students may join chorus and band, and by Middle School, opportunities abound for participation in music, theater, and visual arts. In 9th and 10th grade, students must take at least two semesters of art. Interested 11th and 12th graders may pursue visual art, music, or theater arts as one of their IB subjects. In addition to numerous concerts and art exhibitions, WIS typically produces four dramatic productions each year, including Middle School and Upper School musicals and an Upper School play produced by IB theater students. Physical education is also an integral part of the WIS experience. In the Primary School, PE classes begin with movement and motor skills, then build agility and coordination. In Middle and Upper The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
7
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
School, PE offers the opportunity for students to build strength, flexibility, and endurance. Beginning in Middle School, 60% of WIS students join at least one athletic team, competing in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference. Teams include tennis, volleyball, lacrosse, track and field, softball, golf, basketball, swimming, cross country, and soccer. The sports program at WIS teaches life skills, sportsmanship, and teamwork, in addition to cultivating skilled athletes who win games and titles. The fall 2016 boys’ varsity soccer team won the state championship, with coverage of the team’s victories appearing in The Washington Post.
School Life WIS’s rigorous academics, arts, and athletics offerings are complemented by a host of other programs that provide each student with a rich and well-rounded experience. In interacting with their peers and teachers in and out of the classroom, students come to value all kinds of diversity and thrive in a rich and multifaceted environment in which they learn to excel on the page, the stage, and the sports fields. In keeping with WIS’s mission to prepare students for responsible and effective world citizenship, service is a key part of the school program. In Primary and Middle School, service learning is incorporated into the curriculum, with students volunteering at food banks, hosting “Play-a-thons,” and working as a class to organize projects. In Upper School, students are required to complete a minimum of 80 hours of volunteering over the course of 9th through 12th grade, with students serving the local, national, and international communities. Past placements have included everything from ESL and academic tutoring to volunteering at Georgetown Hospital, as students gain exposure, perspective, and the experience of making a difference in others’ lives. Extracurricular activities provide yet another avenue toward student growth. Primary, Middle, and The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
8
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Upper School students may practice their leadership skills in Student Council, and from 6th grade on, a wide variety of clubs allow students to share long-standing passions and develop new ones. From chess to microfinance to a historical society and literary magazine, there are clubs for practically every interest, as well as a wide variety of organizations centered on social justice and identity including the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Pride Club, and Student Diversity Leadership.
Physical Campus WIS occupies two beautiful campuses in Northwest D.C. The Primary School is located in Georgetown, and the Middle and Upper Schools’ Tregaron Campus is a former residential estate in Cleveland Park. The Primary School facility, which was expanded in 2011, occupies a full city block and features light-filled classrooms, a library, art rooms, and a gymnasium, as well as outdoor spaces for movement and play. The Tregaron Campus, a short bus ride away, is composed of seven buildings on six wooded acres, including classrooms, science labs, an auditorium, black-box theater, and full library with numerous multilingual resources. Among the athletic facilities on the Middle and Upper School campus are a soccer field and outdoor basketball court. Recent capital improvements include 2011’s substantial Primary School expansion and, on the Tregaron Campus, the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system along with extensive indoor renovations, which took place in the spring and summer of 2014.
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. is a city of 680,000, with a vast metropolitan area that includes over 6 million residents. As the nation’s capital and the sixth-largest urban area in the country, D.C. is a diverse metropolis with vast cultural resources. An extensive public transportation system connects the city’s The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
9
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
many neighborhoods, most of which are safe, clean, and dotted with parks and green spaces. While many associate the city primarily with politics and government, D.C. also boasts incredible access to history, including the many landmarks on and around the National Mall, the Library of Congress, and the myriad of offerings of the Smithsonian Institutions, with its 19 museums, all free and open to the public. D.C. is similarly rich in the performing arts, home to the Kennedy Center, National Opera and Ballet, and the Folger Shakespeare Library and Theater. In 2016, U.S. News and World Report ranked D.C. as 4th on their “Best Place to Live” list, based on criteria such as quality of life, value, and desirability.
Opportunities and Challenges Washington International School enjoys a distinct identity in the D.C. metropolitan region as a unique international school. The students are culturally aware and embody the world citizen ethos. Its graduates are generally bilingual and leave WIS with an ingrained ability to understand others’ beliefs and opinions. Opportunities for the next Head of School include: • Leading a vibrant, truly international school in Washington, D.C. • Promoting and advancing WIS as a unique school in the D.C. region • Building upon well-defined and forward-looking educational programs (the Primary Years Program and Diploma Program of the International Baccalaureate) • Partnering with a dedicated Board of Trustees in planning for the school’s future • Leading a strong, caring, and professional faculty
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
10
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Challenges for the next Head of School include: • Continuing to build upon the strengths of a school that is both international and independent, as it confronts the challenges facing all U.S. independent schools • Effectively articulating WIS’s strengths in the context of admissions, advancement, and the community • Ensuring long-run financial sustainability through prudent management of expenditures as WIS looks to diversify revenue sources • Exploring options for further enhancing diversity in its many manifestations at WIS • Continuing to build upon the excellence of the faculty and staff through professional development, support, and recruiting • Ensuring a successful completion of the ongoing project to upgrade the Tregaron campus, including construction of a SciencePlus building that will enhance the school’s science and technology programs • Continuing to align and connect the two school campuses and three divisions
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
11
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com
Desired Qualities of the Next Head of School Given Washington International School’s unique nature, there is no single required qualification or quality. Rather, the next Head of School will have strengths in the following areas: • Cultural fluency derived from international experience • Visionary, action-oriented leadership, particularly the ability to lead and empower others • Passion for WIS’s mission of transforming children and young adults into thoughtful, responsible, and engaged world citizens • Ability to promote WIS’s place in the D.C. educational community • Willingness to engage constructively with neighbors in the surrounding community • Familiarity with current ideas in education and with the International Baccalaureate program • Strong communication skills needed to be a visible and accessible figure in the school community • Commitment to diversity and inclusion • Appreciation of and aptitude for institutional advancement and fundraising; willing to be an active participant in the school’s development program • Understanding of school finances and budget management • Fluency in a language in addition to English would be an asset, but is not required
To Apply Interested and qualified candidates should submit electronically in one email and as separate documents (preferably PDFs) the following materials: • • • •
A cover letter expressing interest in this particular position A current résumé/CV A one-page statement of educational philosophy and practice A list of five (5) professional references with name, phone number, and email address of each to:
John Chandler Senior Search Consultant john.chandler@carneysandoe.com Art Charles Managing Associate, International Search art.charles@carneysandoe.com Fred Wesson Senior Search Consultant fred.wesson@carneysandoe.com
The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
12
search@carneysandoe.com | www.carneysandoe.com