Ethical Culture Fieldston School Decennial NYSAIS Accreditation Self-Study

SELF-STUDY NYSAIS

Prepared for the decennial accreditation of Ethical Culture Fieldston School

2023–2024 Academic Year

The principles that define us

Our academic program is built around 10 core tenets of progressive education developed by our own faculty and staff to guide us in all grades and in all areas of our curriculum.

Ethical

We nurture our students’ capacity for morality and empathy, providing the framework and knowledge necessary to live an ethical life.

Challenging

At every age, our educational program not only serves students’ growth as citizens but also strengthens their skills as scholars.

Experiential

Our curriculum is built with hands-on, project-based approaches. We want our students not just to see, hear, and think, but also to make, do, and feel.

Relevant

Our teachers are constantly updating their courses to reflect the most pressing issues of the day.

Healthy

We work diligently to ensure a safe physical environment, robust opportunities for movement, and abundant support for social and emotional health.

Playful

Play and movement are vital to our work at all ages — for us, rigor and laughter go hand in hand.

Inclusive

We seek out new voices, identify hidden assumptions, and reshape our norms accordingly in order to create a school that truly belongs to all of us.

Responsive

We design courses around the changing needs of students, their reactions to world events, and new passions they might bring to light.

Empowering

We celebrate the process more than the product so our students can repeat their achievements again and again.

Interdependent

Our academic program is infused with an insistence that we care for and engage our neighbors, both in and around our campuses.

Felix Adler’s educational vision is as important today as it was when the Ethical Culture Fieldston School was founded in 1878. We continue to realize that vision as we embrace these ideals:

Ethical learning Academic excellence Progressive education

Dear Visiting Committee,

Those raising children often refer to them as the light of their lives. They do so with good reason, knowing that raising a child is a collision between excitement spurred by seeing incredible growth and development while simultaneously letting go of the child you already know so well. Educators at ECFS similarly share that our students are the light in their day and, for many, the light in their own lives. Our educators see the same light in children and encourage them to share their burgeoning discoveries, experiences, talents, and love with the rest of the world.

We have long been believers that the world needs more light. The School’s motto, as shown on our historical seal, reads Fiat Lux, translated literally from Latin, meaning “let light be made.” As you will read in this self-study, the School tirelessly pursues the ambitious purpose of creating more light for our world. This purpose grounds us in a mission that is distinctively ours.

The heart of our educational program is the study and practice of ethics, which prepares us — and compels us — to take care of our world, ourselves, and each other. Look no further than the minds of our students to see why this is important. Views and perspectives in the world today sometimes feel austerely further apart than ever before. Teaching students to not only view the world as it is but to also actively shape their new version of the world through an ethical lens allows their light to shine.

We are incredibly proud to introduce the Ethical Culture Fieldston School’s 2024 NYSAIS Decennial Self-Study. This self-study is the culminating centerpiece of more than 18 months of analysis by countless members of our community. Collaborative efforts like this are a touchstone of progressive philosophy and a hallmark of the ECFS community.

Sincerely,

Joe Algrant Head of School

Kyle Wilkie-Glass Chief Executive Officer

Section 1

Mission and Culture

Through an examination of our culture, we provide an introspective assessment of the School’s mission statement as well as our unique philosophy, history, and culture. Reflective of our identity, especially the beliefs, values, and norms that shape our individual and collective decisions, this section will also showcase how the School embraces belonging.

SECTION CHAPTERS

History of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School

Our Mission and Values

Embodying Our Mission Belonging A Culture of Respect

History of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School was founded by the humanitarian leader Felix Adler in 1878 to ensure that all children would have access to a quality education. Then known as the Workingman’s School, it emphasized moral education, psychological development, and integration of the creative and manual arts with academics — key components of what we now know as progressive education.

In 1895, the Workingman’s School became the Ethical Culture School, and its management passed to the governing board of the Ethical Culture Society. In 1899, the School established a secondary school.

In 1904, the Ethical Culture School constructed a new building at 33 Central Park West, which currently houses the Ethical Culture division, one of our two elementary schools. By the mid-1920s, the School had outgrown its quarters and sought to expand its vision for both primary and secondary education. In 1928, the School opened a beautiful wooded campus in the Bronx. A second elementary school, Fieldston Lower, followed on the Bronx campus in 1932.

In 1995, the New York Society for Ethical Culture voted to set up the School as its own legal entity with a self-governing board of trustees.

During the School’s more modern history, the program expanded when Fieldston Middle opened in 2007. The past 10 years have been significant as the School has embarked on ambitious capital campaigns and continued to be a beacon of progressive education nationally.

Progressive ideals remain the touchstone of an ECFS education. These progressive ideals are held in deeply rooted ways by members of our unique and distinguished community who make the decision, with intention, to devote their careers and their children’s education to ECFS.

In his founding address on May 15, 1876, Adler described the community and intentionality in a way that resounds today:

You do not build your own houses, nor make your own garments, nor bake your own bread, simply because you know that if you were to attempt all these things they would all be more or less ill done. But you go to the builder to build your house, to the baker to bake your bread, because you know that in limitation there is power, that limitation and combinations are the essentials of success. On this account, you limit your own energies to some one of the many callings which society has marked out, and by combination with your fellows, are certain that in proportion as your own part is well performed, you may command the best services in every department in exchange for what you offer. What is true of material wants is also pertinent in the case of intellectual needs. If you desire information on some point of law, you are

not likely to ponder over the ponderous tomes of legal writers in order to obtain the knowledge you seek, by your own unaided efforts. But you apply to some one in the profession in whose abilities you see reason to confide. The same holds good in every department of knowledge. In every case you turn to the specialist, trusting that, if from any source at all, you will obtain from him the best of what you need. Nor is it otherwise in education. For though you possess a sufficient knowledge of the branches taught in our schools, yet you are well aware that it is one thing to know, and quite another to impart knowledge. And so again you step aside in your own persons to entrust the office of training your children in the arts and sciences to an instructor, to a specialist. And if all this be true, then it follows that, if the moral elevation of ourselves, the moral training of our children, be also an object worth achieving, ay, if it be the highest object of our life on earth, then we dare not trust for its accomplishment to the sparse and meager hours which the busy world leaves us. Then, here as elsewhere, society must set apart some who shall be specialists in this, who shall throw all the energy of temper, all the ardor of aspiration, all the force of heart and intellect, into this difficult but ever glorious work.1

Our Mission and Values

Adler’s educational vision is as important today as it was when ECFS was founded in 1878. To continue to realize that vision, we embrace the following ideals:

Ethical learning

The exploration of what it means to be an ethical and responsible member of society forms the core of our curriculum and our school community. We value inclusion as well as economic and racial diversity. We honor all of our students for their unique contributions, cultural backgrounds, and beliefs. As we consider service to be critical to the development of character, we incorporate community service into our students’ school experiences from the earliest grades.

Academic excellence

Our School achieves academic excellence by challenging students to reach their highest potential in body, mind, and spirit through the humanities, the sciences, the arts, and physical education. Students become active learners and engage in vital discourse in an atmosphere of intellectual discipline and creativity fostered by a community of dedicated teachers.

Progressive education

Through a curriculum rooted in our tenets of progressive education, students become independent thinkers as they learn that asking their own questions and seeking their own answers are key to the deepest kind of understanding. Cooperative, studentcentered, discussion-based learning and the freedom to make mistakes are part of our students’ everyday lives.

Review of the School’s mission statement is a critical and duly assigned function of the Board of Trustees. On November 11, 2023, during the annual retreat for the Board, the mission statement was reviewed and analyzed in order to develop a contemporary sense of how it continues to serve the needs of the School. Board members explored themes related to top-line sources of success and challenge and performed a root cause analysis to drill further down on why our mission matters, to identify the ways in which an ECFS education prepares graduates to be global citizens, and to craft solutions to the most pressing issues in the world they will inherit.

The School’s mission serves as an aspirational vision for the ideal expectations of a contemporary progressive education. Cultivating critical skills like the development of compassion, knowledge, duty, listening, critical thinking, and empathy are all wellunderstood ethical ideals. Educating students to recognize and hone these skills within their educational journey leads to a deeper ability to think, feel, and act as ethical leaders.

That said, our community also recognizes that living an ethical life is an ever-evolving work in progress. While there are considerable pieces of the work that are established during the early development of an ethical framework, the frequent critical assessment of both the institution and oneself is necessary. Ever-changing contemporary culture requires frequent reexamination; while our mission is fundamental and lasting, the pursuit of an ethical life and an ethical institution is never complete.

Embodying Our Mission

The School’s mission continues to shape our academic and professional programs and remains central to the culture of our institution. We do this in every facet of our teaching, learning, and operations by cultivating a community that values community engagement and participation.

By fostering a sense of collective responsibility and ownership, ECFS ensures that every individual plays a role in upholding the School’s values and mission. This inclusive approach reflects the School’s commitment to ethical learning and the belief in interrelatedness, as advocated by Adler. We do this by creating new courses, cocurricular activities, and affinity groups as a direct response to the feedback of our students. We see this reflected in the governance structure of our Board of Trustees, where parents/guardians, alumni, and faculty hold constituency membership. We realize this in our campus services, which conduct regular surveys, listening sessions, and advisory committee meetings.

Our mission is reflected in our pedagogy, valuing the holistic development of students through a lens of critical thinking and social responsibility. The School’s culture

emphasizes the importance of cultivating well-rounded individuals who are equipped with the skills and values needed to thrive in a diverse and rapidly changing world. This holistic approach resonates with the School’s mission of academic excellence and progressive education, as it aims to challenge students to reach their highest potential in body, mind, and emotion. This is seen in our unique program offerings like City Semester, our ethics programming, and the Adler Requirement, as well as the myriad programs that directly engage our local, regional, and international communities. We practice this in our operations through our student-led pre-consumer composting program, by keeping with green energy standards in our construction, and by implementing equitable hiring policies.

We value continuous learning and growth, both for individuals and the institution as a whole. Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and constantly strive for improvement. This culture of lifelong learning reflects the School’s mission of continuous improvement and adaptation as it seeks to evolve and innovate in response to the changing needs of its community and the world at large. We do this by investing in our professional development programs, by providing students with the opportunity to be change agents both inside and outside of the classroom, and through our domestic and international travel programs.

Students support our mission not only through their passionate engagement with our coursework and co-curricular programs but also through community service, shared governance, and collective action.

Faculty embody our mission through a curricular development process that remains highly responsive to the needs of our students. Their genuine commitment to ethical learning, advocacy, and mentorship are the driving factors behind the success of our educational programming. Administrators support this mission beyond academics by ensuring that regional and national third-party vendors are oriented to the mission and culture of our community and building systems to protect sustainability and ethical procurement. Parents/guardians give back through volunteering and philanthropy to further support our institution and remain actively engaged in the provision of feedback and critical inquiry. Our Trustees embody our mission through the development of policies and practices that ensure our institution is accountable and able to continue this important work for years to come.

ECFS serves as a powerful manifestation of its mission, embodying the values of ethical learning; academic excellence; progressive education; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and continuous growth in every aspect of its operations and interactions.

Belonging

Adler believed in interrelatedness and that each person impacts the lives of those around them. Our ethics and DEI curricula and programming affirm this belief. Students are taught how to recognize inequity, be an ally to others, and understand both their privileges and differences. These are life lessons that we hope will develop critical thinkers and active participants in the world around them.

At ECFS, DEI is a lens through which we consider our practice, our curriculum, and the experiences of our students. This work is closely linked to both social emotional learning (SEL) and ethics, and all are important aspects of progressive teaching and healthy identity development.

Diversity is the presence of differences among the people in a community. Those differences reflect aspects of identity that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, ability, or language.

Equity is when everyone gets what they need rather than giving everyone the same thing. Equity promotes justice by meeting the needs of all people and recognizing that treating all people “the same” generally favors those people who are in the majority. It also involves considering the inherent biases and advantages that exist in institutional systems, including procedures, processes, programming, and the distribution of resources, and working to change those systems to better meet the needs of a diverse community.

Inclusion is the act of creating environments in which any individual or group is and feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate. An inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences and offers respect in words, policies, and actions for all people. It’s important to note that while an inclusive group is by definition diverse, a diverse group isn’t always inclusive.

Taking our commitment to DEI a step further, we emphasize the principle of belonging. Belonging goes beyond mere representation or accommodation; it’s about fostering an environment where every individual feels a deep sense of connection, acceptance, and value within our community. Through our DEI initiatives, we strive not only to recognize and honor differences but also to actively cultivate a culture where everyone feels they belong, regardless of their background or identity. By promoting belonging alongside DEI, we aspire to create a school community where every individual can thrive, contribute meaningfully, and truly feel at home.

[ Data

Student demographic data is collected during the admissions application process, and employee demographic data is collected during the routine employee information update process. The Department of Belonging and Social Impact, along with the Technology Department and the Human Resources Department, has contributed

this data to a dashboard that explores racial and ethnic identity for students and employees over a multiyear period. This information provides a useful base when inputting data into NAIS Data and Analysis for School Leadership (DASL) or other independent school data-sharing environments.

A Culture of Respect

In March 2019, Fieldston Upper students engaged in collective action to protest the climate and decision-making processes that impacted students of color at the School. The group of students took on the name Students of Color Matter (SoCM) and made demands of the School. The three-day lockout was a painful moment of growth for the School and led to widespread introspection and examination of climate, policies, and practices. These demands were codified into an action plan by a group of students, administrators, trustees, and three leaders of the lockout that occurred in 1970.

While the events surrounding this lockout were difficult for our community to grapple with, the dialogue and progress that have followed are remarkable. These events took place well in advance of summer 2020, which is widely understood as the summer of racial reckoning in the United States. The examination and transformation that many independent schools undertook starting that summer was already well underway at ECFS given the 2019 collective action by SoCM.

At ECFS, we are committed to creating and maintaining a respectful environment for all members by actively engaging in cross-cultural conversations and fostering a culture of belonging. These dialogues serve as platforms for sharing insights, addressing concerns, and building bridges between home and school. We recognize the importance of navigating the intersections of cultural diversity, understanding the unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of all members of our community.

Two years ago, in keeping with our mission, ECFS began to recognize a more inclusive set of holidays by celebrating Lunar New Year, Diwali, and Eid al-Fitr, reflecting our commitment to honoring and embracing the cultural richness of our community. By establishing open communication channels and involving affinity groups, we aim to foster an inclusive environment where every member feels heard, valued, and understood.

Our commitment extends to various initiatives, including restorative justice and anti-bias training and all school multicultural parent/guardian groups celebrating heritage months. Through these efforts, we strive to ensure that our community embraces and celebrates its cultural richness while promoting a sense of belonging for all.

Further examples of this include Fieldston Lower’s 3rd Grade, which began the year with an exploration of culture. The students initially focused on their own cultural identities through a drama activity, creating a Culture Museum. They focused on the word “perspective” and studied the meaning of this word through a variety of modalities. Through this work, children developed skills around points of view and empathy for both individuals and larger communities. Students put these skills to use as they looked for evidence of culture and cultural preservation on trips to Arthur Avenue and the Lower East Side. Other neighborhoods will be studied and explored through a cultural lens in the winter and spring. The children also participated in a drama-integrated social studies unit where they used note taking, read-alouds, dramatic play, and essay writing to advocate for preserving unique and historical communities. Children used their understanding of culture and perspective to advocate for ideas of cultural preservation around New York City.

This spring at Fieldston Lower, students will begin learning more about pre-Columbian life in the Eastern woodland by reading historical fiction. The stories will lay the groundwork for an understanding of culture, practices, and beliefs. The students have also explored how geography, climate, and human and natural resources influence the adaptation and survival of people. One goal throughout is to develop an understanding of how the values, traditions, and ways of life from the past inform the lives of Indigenous people today. In social studies, the children further develop the research skills they worked on in prior years. They undertake a research project about New York State during which they practice note taking and engage in the formal process of research using library materials such as books, videos, websites, and online encyclopedias. Children make connections between the areas they study in New York State, the places Indigenous people lived in the past, and where reservations exist today.

As part of our routine engagement within the community, the Communications Office has captured beautiful moments that reflect upon the ideals of academic excellence, belonging, ethics, experiential learning, and joy. We are proud to share 10 photos with you that we believe authentically represent the mission of ECFS.

Our faculty are the cornerstone of our progressive academic program. Moments like this, featuring Dr. Alwin A.D. Jones, Ph.D., Chair of the Fieldston Upper English Department, are not uncommon, as our approach to differentiated instruction emphasizes student-led inquiry and research. At every age, in developmentally appropriate ways, our educational program not only serves our students’ growth as citizens but also strengthens their skills as scholars.

From table tennis to quiet study, the Fieldston Middle/ Fieldston Upper Student Commons has become a place where students are able to reflect upon both community and academics. Our physical environment and technological infrastructure has been intentionally designed to center around students, providing them with the opportunity to focus on rigorous coursework and social-emotional engagement.

Community and celebration go hand in hand. Finding moments to build community following the COVID-19 pandemic was a top priority in recent years. All school events, such as the Back to School Celebration, are the perfect way to celebrate our mission. We live as part of a community, and we recognize the responsibility each of us has to the whole.

Learning such skills as teamwork, discipline, and selfconfidence, our girls varsity volleyball team celebrates their win at Homecoming 2023. The mind operates as part of the body, so a commitment to ensuring our students are healthy socially and emotionally includes a commitment to keeping their bodies healthy as well. The team later went on to win the NYSAIS 2023 State Championship!

As part of a global movement to end hunger by empowering communities, our students partnered with Rise Against Hunger for community service learning. Our goal is to create a comprehensive experience for students to engage in activism, centered around raising awareness, advocating for social issues, participating in service projects, and supporting causes within the surrounding community and beyond.

Teaching students to observe their world through an ethical lens starts in our elementary school divisions, including Min Young Song’s 1st Grade class at Fieldston Lower. A yearlong study of birds connects our students to the other living creatures in their world. The interdisciplinary curriculum encourages empathy and care for our environment and connects the human experience to the experiences of birds, encouraging students to appreciate the interconnectedness of our ecosystems.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a classroom at ECFS in which students sit silently, taking notes as they listen to a teacher. That’s because our curriculum is rooted in lessons and projects that engage their hands and bodies as much as they engage their minds. We want our students not only to see, hear, and think but also to make, do, and feel.

We offer an academic experience that is demanding and challenging — yet at the same time, we understand that joy, laughter, play, and movement are integral to our development as humans. Whether it’s visiting the Hudson River to study its ecosystem or enjoying the beautiful and bountiful outdoor space on our Bronx campus, our students take full advantage of our programs and spaces that value the environment.

From the earliest music classes in Pre-K to electives in photography, graphic communications, stagecraft, and more at Fieldston Upper, ECFS weaves artistic practice into our students’ education. Our robust arts program emphasizes technical skill and creative expression, developing students who feel confident in their chosen art form. Play and movement are vital to our work at all ages. For us, challenge and laughter are often complementary.

Our libraries constitute an indispensable part of our curriculum. Elementary school students visit the library each week to familiarize themselves with reading for pleasure and for learning. At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, students use the Tate Library in all their subjects, whether they’re gathering primary sources for a history paper or delving into peer-reviewed articles for a lab report. In our spaces, reading is joy.

[ Since Our Latest Accreditation

Significant changes in the School’s governance structure and operations have occurred since the 2012 accreditation. First, the School’s Board of Trustees shifted away from a co-chair model and has relied upon a model whereby the Officers of the Board include the Chair, Vice-Chair(s), Treasurer, and Secretary since 2015.

Second, the School’s Board of Trustees has modified the operational model of management of the corporation in several ways. The most significant was the recent transition to a leadership structure that includes two leaders in roles defined as Head of School and Chief Executive Officer. This transition placed the academic program, the Belonging and Social Impact Department, and the Student Support and Wellness Department within the Head of School’s portfolio of responsibilities. The four Divisional Principals and two Executive Directors report directly to the Head of School.

The Chief Executive Officer oversees the performance and operation of the School. The School’s Finance, Human Resources, Advancement, Communications, Alumni Relations, Events, Campus Safety, Board Relations, Technology, and Athletics Offices/ Departments, as well as legal affairs, dining services, transportation services, health services, third-party merchants, maintenance and custodial services, and capital planning, are within the Chief Executive Officer’s portfolio of responsibilities. Three C-suite leaders, five Directors, and two Managers report directly to the Chief Executive Officer.

Since our School’s founding, our leadership configurations have shifted to best support our community and respond to organizational needs. These recent changes are representative of such shifts.

Third, the COVID-19 pandemic brought extraordinary disruption to the education industry as a whole. ECFS was not immune to this disruption and led public and independent schools in the tri-state area in implementing provisions to safely return our community to our campuses in fall 2020. These efforts required something of every member of the community and largely represented a level of partnership that was admirable. As a result of the physical distancing and other early-pandemic measures, many individuals and families chose to move out of New York City. According to Census Bureau data2, New York City’s population has decreased from 8.40 million to 8.34 million, a decrease of roughly 468,000 (5.3%). Early indications were that some families enrolled at ECFS were leaving for suburbs in Westchester County within New York State or suburbs in New Jersey or Connecticut. During this transition, families planned to have their children attend either public schools or independent schools closer to their new homes.

For the past several enrollment seasons, ECFS has had the ambitious goal of returning to enrollments neutral to or in excess of 1,700. Affordability represented the main detractor in achieving this goals. As the School’s financial aid demand is already significant, further discounting was not perceived to be an option. At the time this report is being composed, the School’s admissions inquiry and application data supports such a change in the near term.

The School’s mission serves a central purpose in all decision-making at the School.

We hear frequently from students, parents/guardians, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees that the mission is the primary reason for which they chose ECFS. Unlike religious schools whose mission is widely understood and rooted in moral or religious teaching, many within the ECFS community take license in personalizing the mission to their work and discovering meaningful ways to live out the mission.

The School’s strong working relationship with the New York Society for Ethical Culture is a further touchstone of our shared founder and deeply rooted beliefs. This personalized implementation of our mission can lead to some misinterpretation or lack of consonance, but such individualization is necessary when operating in a dynamic, progressive educational environment.

The mission is the guiding force within any consequential institutional process at ECFS. Since the last accreditation, we have completed one capital campaign and are embarking on another — and our mission has served as the guiding force when prioritizing funding needs. Additionally, mission-centric signature programming, like the Fieldston Upper City Semester program, received a doubling of program resources in the 2023 fiscal year in order to be offered during both the fall and spring semesters.

1Adler, Felix. “Founding Address,” 15 May 1876. New York Society for Ethical Culture. 2United States Census Bureau. City and Town Population Totals 2020–2022. 2023.

*The responses in the Mission and Culture section of this report were largely derived from a Board of Trustees retreat held in fall 2023 and individual meetings that followed that retreat.

MISSION AND CULTURE REPORT SUBMITTED BY*:

Ethan Binder

Juan Botella

Margot Bridger

Eunu Chun

Anand Desai

Akin Dorsett ’88

Sharan Gill

Pooja Goyal

Andrew Holm ’01, Treasurer

Atif Khawaja, Secretary

Rob Lewin

Vivian Lin

Seth Meisel

Patty Moreno-Fletcher

Jo Natauri

Kathleen O’Connell

Jon Roure

Jonathan M. Rozoff

Carline Samson

Dana Sirota

Min Young Song

Kimberly Smith Spacek ’91, Board Chair

Lance Taubin ’06

Krishna Veeraraghavan, Vice-Chair

Rielly Vlassis

Josh Vlasto ’00

Stephanie Wagner

Jeff Walker, Vice-Chair

Joe Algrant, Head of School, Ex-Officio

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, CEO, Ex-Officio

Liz Singer, President, Society Board, Ex-Officio

Section 2

The principles of teaching and learning at ECFS align with our mission and culture, and guiding these practices are the School’s 10 core tenets. This section demonstrates how ECFS supports students’ appropriate intellectual, social, physical, artistic, and ethical development in all aspects of school and student life. ECFS’s educational program consists of a well-planned and implemented curriculum based on research, best practices, subject knowledge, and assessment. Policies and procedures have been established to support teaching and learning, and sufficient instructional materials and facilities are provided. Additionally, professional support for learning and evaluation contributes to creating a positive educational program.

SECTION CHAPTERS

Curricular Tenets

Mission Alignment

Curriculum Design

Current Research and Recent Trends

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Strategic Initiatives

Special Subjects and Co-Curricular Programming

Assessment, Progress Monitoring, and Differentiation

Professional Development

Faculty Evaluation

Curricular Tenets

ECFS’s mission is rooted in our founding ideals: academic excellence, progressive education, and ethical learning. Faculty from both elementary school divisions met in departmental and grade-level groups to report on how they reached decisions about curricula development and teaching. Common themes that emerged from faculty reflections were a commitment to student-centered design; a focus on hands-on, experiential learning; the importance of achieving depth of learning in content areas; and the inclusion of comprehensive assessment structures to monitor learning and gauge instructional effectiveness. Central to many faculty reports was the School’s emphasis on collaborative learning and a focus on ethical living, with the objective of helping students build empathy and the capacity to respect their surroundings and better understand the perspectives of others.

Our strategic divisional goals inform the curricular choices we make. Our educators dedicate themselves to recognizing each student’s strengths, which form the basis for personalized learning plans geared toward success. We believe academic excellence lies in helping every child discover their strengths in a nurturing academic setting and identifying concrete goals through a combination of inventory measures, benchmark assessments, and standardized tests. Valid, evidence-based assessments bridge teaching and learning, enabling us to maintain a connection with our students’ existing knowledge. They also help us determine whether our instructional methods align with the desired outcomes for our students. While our elementary school divisions share similar strategic goals, our faculty recognize that our goals must reflect the student body of each division; thus, implementation sometimes varies between divisions.

Academic Equity and Excellence

At Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower, we have teams of specialists and coordinators that support and augment the School’s curricular needs while monitoring student outcomes. Academic teams at each grade level devote time at the beginning, middle, and end of each year to assess student reading, writing, and math development. The data yielded from these assessments is crucial for setting short- and long-term instructional goals, tracking individual progress, identifying grade-level and school-wide trends, and making curricular decisions. We use this data to ensure that instruction is robust, rigorous, equitable, and accessible to diverse learners.

The data collected from observations and assessments has led to necessary adjustments in instruction and our respective programs and models. For example, Fieldston Lower began exploring how dynamic grouping models can support individual student needs. Beginning in Kindergarten, grade level teachers and multigrade specialists in math and literacy work together to group students according to their academic needs. Faculty members co-teach lessons and often meet students in abilitybased groupings to teach reading and/or writing. Reading and learning specialists

Ethical

teach classes using a grouping structure that supports effective and efficient learning growth. Students demonstrating the most vulnerability are supported by reading specialists, while homeroom teachers support the balance of students. We consider flexible groupings for projects and commit to shifting groupings for activities to allow all students to experience learning with different peers. A similar approach exists at Ethical Culture: With the support of grade level reading and learning specialists, literacy instruction is delivered in ability-based groups in Kindergarten–2nd Grade and through co-teaching/“push in” models in 3rd–5th Grade.

Math classes in both of the elementary school divisions are co-taught with a math specialist. Teachers co-teach lessons and use flexible grouping models to support students. Each division uses a different program as a backbone of its math curriculum (Ethical Culture uses TERC Investigations, and Fieldston Lower uses Math in Focus). For students seeking an advanced, challenging mathematics experience, Fieldston Lower provides opportunities for competition through a Mathematical Olympiad team, which meets in the morning before school. Likewise, Ethical Culture provides opportunities for more challenging math in organized morning groups and math clubs.

We value equitable access to learning and understand that some students benefit from additional time and support that is impossible within a typical school day. Language Arts and Math Program Support (LAMPS) is an after school program that the School offers free of charge to students who may benefit from additional support in small groups to develop and progress. In line with our steadfast commitment to equitable access to learning, the School invests considerable resources to implement this added support program.

Progressive Education

Our academic program is designed around 10 core tenets of progressive education: ethical, challenging, relevant, playful, inclusive, responsive, experiential, healthy, empowering, and interdependent. Developed by our ECFS faculty and staff, these tenets guide our academic programming in all grades and all areas of our curriculum. The needs of our students are at the heart of our academic programming, and a student-centered approach is adhered to when teaching every subject, from science to woodshop. We give students agency and choice and involve them in the decisionmaking process as is appropriate for their age groups. Through hands-on experiences, we engage their senses, hearts, and minds as they explore topics ranging from community jobs to bird migration to peoples of the First Nations. We encourage their curiosity and respond by designing units of study that reflect student inquiries. Play is equally important to children, and to honor and acknowledge its value, our youngest students have access to outdoor time multiple times daily. We also prioritize play by offering students organized physical education classes four to five times weekly. This programming offers students various opportunities to express themselves and learn teamwork skills.

As a progressive institution, our educational program goes well beyond the traditional academic offerings of many independent schools; we see the intrinsic value of

developing the whole range of intellectual, cultural, and artistic abilities that our students demonstrate. “Special subjects” are not simply elective offerings or perfunctory additions to the schedule in the elementary school divisions. Rather, subjects like Spanish, art, music, woodshop, innovation, science, and physical education are integral to our program.

Ethical Learning

Ethics is defined by the study and practice of how people make choices about how they care for themselves, each other, their communities, and the world around them. Adler prioritized teaching ethics to young students as a subject separate from religious morality. Therefore, we are one of the few elementary school programs in the country that teaches ethics based on the aforementioned ethical values. Our unique program prepares ECFS students to actively understand and uphold these values within themselves, their community, and the world.

Our comprehensive social studies and ethics curricula demonstrate our commitment to ethical learning. In both elementary school divisions, we begin this learning with cultivating a positive self-image and identity before broadening that knowledge to understanding empathy for others and taking responsibility for our social and physical environments. As we foster our students’ growth into global citizens, we regularly facilitate difficult conversations about topics through multiple perspectives. For example, Ethical Culture has been engaged in ongoing social studies curriculum development in collaboration with the ethics teachers, classroom teachers, administrators, students, and parents/guardians to ensure that our social studies curriculum is relevant, inclusive, responsive, challenging, and in keeping with our progressive values. Once static and compartmentalized, our social studies projects have now evolved into explorations of ourselves, our community, and the world at large and include how our students can become agents of change.

Areas for Growth

• We would benefit from more time devoted to discussing and analyzing the results of our assessments to better inform our teaching practices. More cross-curricular development with specialist instructors would help coordinate core curriculum themes with auxiliary programming such as ethics, social studies workshop, woodshop, art, library, and math. In addition, we hope to find more opportunities for collaboration between the two elementary school divisions.

The organization of Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper is rooted in progressive, multicultural pedagogies and inquiry-based learning. Classes are learner-centered and focus on helping students master concepts and skills in a variety of ways. Learners engage in project-based learning, collaboration, individual and group activities, research projects, writing, journaling, and discussions. Students are encouraged to take risks, be curious, and think critically, with an emphasis on the presentation of ideas. There are particular connections between the curriculum and the School’s tenets of

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

progressive education. Both divisions aim to foster a safe and inclusive environment in which students are free to make mistakes through the practice of responsive teaching, student-centered projects, and SEL approaches. Teachers are in constant dialogue with each other and consistently ask for feedback from students. Teachers have autonomy within individual classrooms that allows for flexibility and adaptability to address student needs and concerns.

For instance, the theatre program at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper is rooted in identity development; social justice; empathy building; and building brave, creative spaces. In this process-oriented program, theatre artists work as thoughtful, collaborative storytellers to purposefully create a space for intersectionality, with a consistent acknowledgment of the many voices needed to make a vibrant work of art. At Fieldston Middle, the mathematics curriculum prioritizes, centers, and promotes teaching approaches that cater to diverse learning styles and are inclusive of various identities and proficiency levels. This approach includes fostering collaborative work, allowing retesting and correction of assignments, engaging in one-on-one sessions with students, refining protocols for support opportunities, integrating projects with a social justice perspective, offering student-based options for presenting information, adopting a flipped classroom model, providing differentiated classwork and assessments, implementing inquiry-based projects, utilizing clear rubrics, emphasizing the comprehension of the underlying concepts in mathematics, and incorporating openended questions that gauge students’ understanding of the material by showcasing their learning processes. Math classes in the upper division are tailored to be learner-centered and provide students with a challenging and rigorous experience that is appropriate for each student. Using course design and the classroom environment, the Fieldston Upper Math Department endeavors to engage with and develop supportive relationships with our students and model that it is okay to make mistakes, empowering students to learn from them.

The Ethics Department and Department of Belonging and Social Impact engage with and enact ECFS’s mission, which forms the core of our curriculum and our School community: to explore what it means to be an ethical and responsible member of society. The Ethics Department and Department of Belonging and Social Impact value inclusion as well as economic and racial diversity and seek to honor all students for their unique contributions, cultural backgrounds, and beliefs. Community service is critical to the development of character and is incorporated into our students’ school experiences from the earliest grades.

Curricular Needs

Each division has slightly different systems to respond to curricular needs. Fieldston Middle’s structure includes academic departments, grade level coordinators, and grade deans, who, along with administrative partners, meet to review and update curricula. Fieldston Upper utilizes specialized cohorts of faculty members to identify, prioritize, and implement curricula in response to needs raised by students, faculty, administrators, and parents/guardians; those changes or addendums then go to the Curriculum Committee for assessment and further refinement.

Successful examples of Fieldston Upper’s process include the creation and subsequent adoption of the Adler Requirement in response to the SoCM demands. The Fieldston Upper English Department brought together 9th–10th Grade teachers to revise and reorganize the curricula in response to concerns about scope and sequences; the department has organized and led curriculum for school wide community reads that bridge current events, curricular themes, and DEI, in addition to providing supplementary materials for the summer read and uncoupling courses such as Women and Literature and Literature of War to promote more gender parity across electives.

Additionally, the DEI Leads; Ethics, History, and English Department faculty and chairs; student representatives; and the Fieldston Upper administrative team collaborated to institute the Adler Requirement in the History and English Departments, beginning with the Class of 2023. The purpose of the Adler Requirement is to advance progressive ethics; center pluralistic narratives versus solely majoritarian ones; and examine multiple discourses addressing issues of social identity, inclusion, and marginalization. The Adler Requirement also aims to equip students to navigate an increasingly divided, diverse, and politicized landscape with the language, knowledge, and awareness to become critical thinkers and leaders.

To fulfill the criteria, 11th–12th Grade students need to earn two major credits — one in English and one in history — by taking specific semester-long Adler Requirementapproved elective courses that concentrate on the histories and writings of individuals from marginalized identities.

In the Fieldston Middle Science Department, each grade has an existing curriculum map that is used to guide the year’s content. Formative assessments occur throughout the year, which empower teachers to adapt as needed. Teachers meet with their team partner(s) regularly to check in about their progress, teaching materials, and whether they are on track or if change is warranted.

There are several course offerings in Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper that are considered unique and not offered by peer schools. These offerings reflect the mission and philosophy of the School, such as to “study and practice ethics, which prepares and compels us to take care of our world, ourselves, and each other,” as well as not to “teach students what to think, what to question, or what to explore — but how to think, how to question, and how to explore.” Many of the differentiating course offerings make use of our unique facilities and faculties and incorporate the core tenets of the mission statement.

Interdependent, Challenging, and Experiential

Fieldston Middle students have several unique learning opportunities, including interdisciplinary offerings such as Science and the Ethics of Sexuality and our Green Roof courses. In the former, students learn about puberty, the endocrine system, and the structure and function of human reproductive systems. Working with the Ethics Department, students also explore the social and emotional dimensions of puberty by engaging in activities and discussions about making healthy decisions, the importance of communication and consent, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. This course challenges our students to relate their personal growth and achievements to the growth and achievements of others and, in doing so, encourages them to see our inherent interdependence within our own school community and beyond. Since 2007, Fieldston Middle has utilized its Green Roof as a platform for teaching students about a variety of topics, including native and invasive plants. These classes also explore the role of plants in mitigating the heating effects of global warming on buildings, engage in nature observation and sketching, and delve into the principles of landscape design.

Empowering, Relevant, Playful, and Inclusive

At Fieldston Upper, the opportunities to explore unique courses consonant with ECFS’s core tenets are varied and extend to many departments and interdisciplinary spaces. Examples include the City Semester program, interdisciplinary courses of study, science and language courses, and the approach taken by our Learning Center. Specifically, City Semester is a selective, interdisciplinary, experiential program offered to students in 11th Grade. The program integrates all disciplines (English, history, languages, science, math, ethics, arts, and physical education) into a dynamic, cohesive, and comprehensive study of New York City — and the Bronx in particular.

Students spend at least two days each week off campus researching, exploring neighborhoods, interviewing residents, working with community organizations, collecting data, presenting in the field, and speaking to policymakers. The academic work is rigorous and challenging, with veteran teachers instructing in their own disciplines and collaborating across disciplines. City Semester students experience and build upon a program that is at once empowering, responsive, relevant, playful, and inclusive and teaches students that “ethics is a verb.”

Additionally, there are interdisciplinary offerings such as Silence and Noise (English and ethics), Ethics and Technology, Media and Culture: The New Yorker, and 10th Grade Humanities. Humanities is a yearlong course for 10th Graders that combines English, history, and ethics into a single class that meets eight times per week. The curriculum, assessments, and projects combine the three disciplines into a single, integrated learning experience, thereby enriching the student’s experience of all subjects.

In the Fieldston Upper Science Department, a number of offerings are unique and directly align with our School’s mission. No longer limited to the set curriculum of AP courses, the Science Department offers more progressive, rigorous courses that enable students to dive much deeper into topics in each of these areas. Our courses also cover a large catalog of electives that are not commonly available to high school students,

including Astronomy, Pharmacology, Science of Climate Change, Scientific American, Engineering, and Neuroscience.

Through our independent studies offerings, for example, in the Fieldston Upper Language Department, students have pursued independent study of Arabic, German, and Wolof. Independent studies and City Semester programming demonstrate our commitment to a progressive education that gives our teachers the freedom to tailor their curricula to the needs and curiosity of their students. We also offer two classes for heritage speakers of the Spanish language. These choices inevitably empower students who ultimately leave these courses equipped with knowledge and theory as well as a set of translatable skills they will use throughout their lives.

The Ethics Department at Fieldston Upper offers courses such as Soundtrack for a Revolution, which examines the cultural, social, political, and economic dimensions of genres like blues, jazz, rock, disco, and hip-hop and their impact on culture in the United States, and Gender and Power, which invites students to examine their gender identity and socialization, critically analyze works from a cross-section of gender/feminist theorists and educators, and participate in advocacy and activism aimed at increasing gender inclusivity at ECFS and beyond. These courses are just a few of many offerings that embody our core tenets of an education that is responsive, relevant, experiential, and playful.

Areas for Growth

• A recurring theme identified in our self-study was the desire to enhance alignment within grade levels, across grades, and across divisions. Additionally, there was a recognized need for sustained or improved formal collaboration among these specific constituencies.

Mission Alignment

The ECFS mission is at the heart of our curricular planning. We use an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based approach, and our curriculum integrates ethical learning, academic excellence, and a student-centered progressive framework. Class placement in each grade is an extremely involved process that engages teachers across all disciplines and aims to create classes that are balanced in terms of students’ academic and socialemotional needs and represent diverse identities. Specials at our School — including art, music, science, library, social studies workshop, Spanish, ethics, innovation, and physical education — are integrated with each grade’s core social studies curriculum. Our students’ experiential learning is supported by our campus in Riverdale and the proximity of our Manhattan locations to Central Park and other cultural institutions.

Promoting the Mission in Pre-K–2nd Grade

The elementary school divisions are committed to ensuring that our teaching and learning are playful and responsive, building a sense of interdependence among our students. This is exemplified by our play-based Pre-K and Kindergarten programs, where students explore the tenets of progressive education by engaging in student-led projects.

In Ethical Culture’s classrooms, you will consistently find students solving problems, asking questions, and searching for answers. Understanding student interest and designing a unit of study with the class allows for creative problem-solving and experiential learning and encourages students to take ownership of their space and learning. Teachers observe the play and behaviors of our youngest students in Pre-K and use play as a means of self-exploration and discovery. A great example of this is the Kindergarten post office study, during which students open and operate their own post office for an entire week — allowing students to become active learners; brings the whole Ethical Culture community together; and incorporates math, literacy, writing, and social interactions in a real-world context. Students transform their classrooms into a post office and work together to ensure the school community receives mail. Students engage as ethical learners by understanding who makes up their community and how to show appreciation for all they do. This beloved unit allows for inclusion because every community member is able and excited to participate.

At Fieldston Lower, Kindergarten science, math, literacy, Spanish, and library are interwoven and integrated into the butterfly project. This special curricula allows students to engage with many disciplines, including graphing, storytelling, life cycle observational journals, and looking at seasons and migration patterns. The students’ observations drive this unit of study, the questions they ask, and the conclusions they draw.

As students progress through the elementary grades, this inquiry-based approach is integrated into the explicit, evidenced-based instruction of core academic subjects, including reading, writing, math, and social studies. In 1st and 2nd Grade classrooms, math and reading instruction build on foundational skills developed in Pre-K and Kindergarten. Students learn important mathematical concepts through discovery, and ideas from Jo Boaler’s “Mindset Mathematics” and Graham Fletcher’s “Foundations in Numerical Reasoning” are incorporated into our curricula. We employ turnand-talk routines, gallery walks, and math talks and congresses to foster a math community centered on creating meaning and engaging in reasoned discussions about mathematics. Likewise, our reading program aligns with our School’s quest for equity and inclusion by allowing all students equal opportunities to become proficient readers. Developing basic reading skills helps students achieve academic excellence, and our multisensory explicit approach (Fundations) promotes empowerment. Our instruction is playful, engaging, relevant, and aligned with the School’s curriculum and current research in each designated field. Our students feel successful and are often reminded of their growth and academic progress.

Academic and special subjects have become increasingly connected to our ethics

Ethical

and social studies curricula. The 1st Grade bird study at Fieldston Lower is a yearlong social studies project integrating all subject areas and creating connections among students. Students begin by learning about and connecting nests with their homes and associating migration with how our families can come from all over the world. After learning about birds and themselves, each student chooses a bird to research and becomes a bird “expert,” and the class works together to build the Bird Museum. The research and learning process is an empowering experience for the 1st Graders as they take full ownership of presenting their birds. The bird study curriculum also contains units on threatened, endangered, and extinct birds. Through this project, students become social activists, advocating for the preservation of bird habitats and communities. Building on this advocacy work, the 2nd Grade study of changemakers exposes students to many contemporary and historical figures who model the power each person has to advocate for change at the school and community levels and within their greater world.

Ethical Culture covers similar territory through units of study exploring identity, culture, and community. In 2nd Grade, students engage in a deep exploration of neighborhoods in Manhattan and how identity and culture are reflected in these communities. Teachers have sought to deepen our study of “needs and wants” to include an understanding of what it means to thrive. This study culminates in a final project that transforms the project room into a replica of New York City using wooden blocks. The project was revised last year to use reusable, sustainable materials. These projects mirror the work occurring in our ethics classes, where students study how we take care of ourselves, each other, our community, and our world. Students are empowered to develop selfcompassion and a deeper understanding of themselves and others by studying how our brains work.

Promoting the Mission in 3rd–5th Grade

Curricula in 3rd–5th Grade expand on developmentally appropriate discussions of identity and community and begin to engage students in more challenging ideas around DEI and justice. Students learn to formulate questions on topics of interest and develop their research and analysis skills. As they read and write about these topics, they use what they learn to examine ethical issues related to these topics. The family project in 3rd Grade at Fieldston Lower invites students to share parts of their cultural identity while learning about the cultures of their peers. The 3rd Graders at Ethical Culture form Social Justice Action Groups (SJAG), which are cross-grade groups that incorporate community service and ethical learning. Students complete projects in their SJAG that stem from the interests and causes that they care about. For example, students in the environmental justice group created sustainable games, snack packaging, and inventions that reduce the use of single-use plastics. 3rd Grade students begin to consider which values guide them when facing ethical dilemmas, making ethical choices, solving problems, and dealing with the consequences of their decisions. By the time they reach 4th Grade, students have learned that the academic skills and knowledge they acquire can be used to implement change in our community and our world. They discover how to become upstanders and allies who celebrate and affirm

individuals and communities that historically have been underrepresented. Fieldston Lower’s 4th Grade language arts program recently added a unit on neurodiversity. Using three texts — “Rules” by Cynthia Lord, “Superstar” by Mandy Davis, and “Rain Reign” by Ann M. Martin — students learn about neurodiversity as a concept and autism spectrum disorder in particular. In reading groups, students are assigned a text and, through guided reading, develop comprehension and discussion skills like “accountable talk.” In harmony with our belief that learning should be interdependent, collaboration is a critical component of teaching and learning. 4th Graders at Ethical Culture work in partnership with the Brooklyn Arts Exchange to write, workshop, and produce an original musical based on themes students have identified as important in their lives. Last year, the play’s title was “Come on In: The Mind of a Fourth Grader.” It was composed of vignettes that explored various “rooms” within the typical 4th Grader ’s mind. Themes included the students’ relationship to technology, kindness, and empathy; the silliness of memes; growing awareness of the world’s problems as students get older; and handling conflict in relationships. In turn, each vignette also focused on a specific brain function, connecting to their science lessons. Nearly every school subject was incorporated into either the play itself or in the creation of the play.

The 5th Grade curricula at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower is the culmination of our students’ growing sense of ethical responsibility. Teachers at Ethical Culture incorporate gallery walks as a form of communication, acknowledgment, and idea-building, followed by discussions where students can speak about each other’s work. Math study underscores the importance of reasoning, collaboration, and written and verbal communication. These skills are foundational to exploring ethics and aligning students’ environment more closely with their moral beliefs. In 5th Grade, ethics classes center around social justice themes, including power, courage, and change. As school leaders, 5th Graders explore leadership within social movements and activist groups to find ways to use their power to create change for the greater good. Service learning in the elementary school divisions is built around the United Nations’ Global Goals. Students research and choose a local organization to partner with for the academic year while examining the power structures and systems that have created and sustained the issue. 5th Grade students also study the way social movements begin and how change is created by activism within communities. As the year ends, our students also examine themes of power, change, growth, and courage within themselves as they transition to middle school.

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper are deeply committed to ensuring that our pedagogy, content, and learning remain responsive, relevant, experiential, healthy, interdependent, and inclusive. Ethical learning remains at the heart of both divisions across the scope and breadth of all programs. In both divisions, curricula and practices are geared toward creating a student-driven, collaborative learning environment. Our curricula also place a strong emphasis on inclusivity, mirroring the School’s commitment to providing an education that is accessible to all. Our instructional strategies are tailored to accommodate diverse learning styles and abilities, such as differentiated assignments and lessons to ensure every student can engage meaningfully with the material. The purpose is to help students see that the subjects they are studying are constantly growing and evolving and that meaningful work is being done by various ages, genders, races, and ethnicities. We offer many rigorous courses that push students to challenge themselves and expand their intellectual capabilities. Our ultimate aim is for our students to take the things they learn from “in here” (ECFS) to “out there” (the world). While not every student will pursue a career in one specific discipline, our goal remains that every student should have a certain level of literacy in each particular subject area so that they can contribute to society and make informed decisions effectively.

Subsequently, discussions within departments and grade levels in Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper continuously catalyze department-wide, grade-wide, and division-wide changes in pedagogy and instruction. The Science Departments in both divisions have completed revisions to better incorporate sustainability and climate change into their curricula. Ethical learning is at the heart of our DEI work and climate change initiatives. For example, the timely topic of climate change is discussed in all grades, starting in 6th Grade when students learn about sustainability, ecosystems, water, and food. In 2019, 7th Grade teachers received a grant to facilitate the integration of lessons about global climate change into the curriculum. In 8th Grade, students explore renewable energy sources such as wind turbines.

This interdisciplinary work continues as students progress to Fieldston Upper. Each of our science courses addresses the issue of how the scientific community has acted as both a mechanism of perpetuating and a means of eradicating inequality and discrimination. We also believe that the human impact on climate change is one of our time’s most critical ethical and scientific issues. Therefore, we have created curriculum in each science course to address this issue and developed a stand-alone elective dedicated to the topic.

Significant changes have been made in the History and English Departments of Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper to ensure the curricula aligns with the School’s mission. A seminal moment in the School’s history was incorporating the goals that resulted from the 2019 SoCM movement, which built upon a similar movement in 1970, into our mission. The History Department has embraced these goals by restructuring the 10th Grade United States History course and incorporating an ethnic studies framework. The 9th Grade Modern World History survey course has also undergone significant revision by dismantling the previous Eurocentric focus and expanding our study of the world. The robust offerings include American Radicalism; History of the Criminal

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

Legal System in the U.S.; Reconstruction, Removal, and Revolt; American Immigration History; American Women’s History; Indigenous History; Contemporary Black Society; Asian American History; Student Movements: Local and Global; Latin American Studies; and Food and Power. The 7th Grade history curriculum has focused on “decentering whiteness” and responding to calls from the SoCM to expand the scope of the human geography curriculum. The unit on movement focuses on the global refugee crisis, and the broader-themes approach of each unit enables the often seamless integration of current events into the existing curriculum. Whenever possible, we aim for our curricular content to remain current and relevant to the world’s changing needs.

The Fieldston Middle English Department designed a responsive and growth-oriented system that coaches, supports, and empowers students throughout the writing process. As a department, we collaborated to learn about and share best practices for teaching writing and created our own process for assessing students’ writing and providing feedback that is used across all English classes. The 7th Grade teachers recently revised the “Lord of the Flies” unit/project; the unit moved from a competitive mock trial project to a more collaborative “inquest” project in which each student pair explores, analyzes, and defends multiple perspectives through lenses of ethics, power, and responsibility.

The Fieldston Upper English Department has recently worked to revise and further develop foundational, yearlong courses in 9th and 10th Grade to fully reflect missiondriven teaching. For example, the faculty evaluated 9th Grade text selections to better balance a sense of intersectionality and equity that will challenge our students while helping them feel seen, moving the classic text “The Odyssey” out of the curriculum and introducing it as part of an elective for older students. This change created space for other texts that more adequately reflect our diverse student body. In 10th Grade, teachers continue to develop a responsive curriculum that moves away from a chronological approach that privileges periodization and white voices toward more inclusive, thematic units of instruction that promote marginalized groups. As curators of a responsive curriculum, the Fieldston Upper English Department continues researching, developing, and evaluating semester-long elective offerings available to 11th–12th Grade students. This includes evaluating classes that have not been as successful in terms of student enrollment and evaluations. Recent new electives include Jewish American Literature, Introduction to Queer Literature, Epic Tradition, People and the Planet, and Literature and Lyricism: Reading Hip-Hop. Significant revisions have been enacted to include widespread cultural backgrounds and beliefs in order to continue the departmental and institutional charge to become even more missionaligned in terms of honoring all students for their unique contributions. The Fieldston Upper English Department fosters skills, pedagogical approaches, and topical fellowship across all grades within the department, aligning lessons in the classroom and the realities of the broader world. Examples of authors and works introduced include James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” (AY 2020–2021), Cathy Park Hong’s “Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning” (AY 2021–2022), Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Trayvon Generation” (AY 2022–2023), and Valeria Luiselli’s “Tell Me How It Ends” (AY 2023–2024).

The curricula and practices of the Theatre and Dance Department are geared toward creating a student-driven and collaborative learning environment. The Student Advisory Board creates leadership opportunities within the department as they actively participate in season planning and collaborate closely with the faculty to determine the department’s direction.

The department’s classes and co-curricular activities are also hands-on and incorporate experiential learning whenever possible. Students have opportunities to expand their performance and production skills while developing the confidence to use their voices and lift and value the voices of their peers. In all aspects of our productions, students are asked to learn from and teach each other and work collaboratively to achieve the production’s goals. The department actively seeks to present works of art that are informed by DEI practices and that take into account the health and wellness of the student body, often working in direct communication with the learning and student support experts at the School. Our classes also present opportunities for crosscurricular learning, such as engaging with geometry and physics concepts while building scenery and creating lighting designs or viewing texts they analyzed in class through the lens of a performer. This interdisciplinary foundation encourages students to draw connections between their studies and the practical applications they are actively engaged in.

The performances also allow the greater student community, not just participants, to engage with the department as learners. As spectators, students can explore the essence of art, influencing their lifelong enthusiasm for and comprehension of the creative process.

Curriculum Design

Designing, evaluating, and revising curricula and instructional practice at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower is a continuous, intentional, data-driven process that occurs at multiple levels. Classroom teachers, learning specialists, and math specialists meet with coordinators and administrators weekly to discuss what, how, and when we teach. These meetings are opportunities to assess specific curriculum components, determine a developmentally appropriate scope and instruction sequence, and establish benchmarks for student outcomes.

At Ethical Culture, when major shifts in the curriculum are being considered in response to student data and/or current research, administrators or coordinators may schedule a daylong summit. These summits are held to review evidence-based best practices and map out long-term curricular changes. In addition to grade-level meetings and summits, biweekly team meetings between classroom teachers and special subject teachers occur to share information about students and ideas for collaboration and integrated projects. Faculty meetings often serve as an opportunity to discuss schoolwide initiatives. We collectively respond to the needs of students, current events, and changing understanding of how students learn best.

Curriculum Revisions

The discussions occurring at the grade level often spur division-wide change in instructional goals and practices. The elementary school divisions have significantly changed how reading and math are taught in recent years. Faculty members were surveyed on the strengths and challenges of the current math curriculum/system to address recognized gaps in instruction from grade to grade. Using information collected from the surveys, the administrative team researched various options for other math programs and ultimately decided on Math and Focus as the program that best matched our philosophy and pedagogy. The new curriculum is still being rolled out and was introduced to two grades last year and two this year. Outcomes are being assessed using school-wide screeners aligned with the Common Core Benchmarks to observe progress over time and how our students meet grade-level benchmarks. Considerations of cognitive development and research in learning theory are used to inform what, when, and how various concepts in mathematics are taught. The Math Department at Ethical Culture has also engaged in professional development (PD), assessment, and revision of the curriculum to better support students. The current math curriculum provides hands-on exploration and multiple entry points — all based on current learning/neurodevelopmental research. Math specialists and classroom teachers have developed a scope and sequence that pulls from several well-researched programs, including Contexts for Learning, Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (TERC) assessments, Jo Boaler’s “Mindset Mathematics,” and Graham Fletcher’s “3-Act Tasks” and “Foundations in Numerical Reasoning”.

The literacy programs in the elementary school divisions have also undergone significant revision in the past five years in response to the extensive body of critical research on the science of reading. Teachers and learning specialists have participated in PD around reading instruction. Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture adopted Wilson Fundations, an Orton Gillingham-based program, to ensure students receive explicit phonological awareness and decoding instruction. In addition to all school programmatic shifts, smaller curricular changes were made at the individual grade levels. The 1st Grade educators at Fieldston Lower worked together to incorporate a unit on pourquoi tales. This collaboration aimed to enhance their capacity for making connections within the core curriculum and provide an additional avenue for students to develop into proficient writers. The 2nd and 3rd Grade teachers at Ethical Culture attended professional training on The Writing Revolution, an explicit approach to teaching writing that can be embedded into content areas. In both divisions, discussions around research-based best practices have been central to language and literacy planning. Phonics is becoming a consistent presence in Kindergarten–3rd Grade, as research shows it is the basis for a strong literacy foundation. As students move to 4th and 5th Grade, we are shifting some of our language focus toward morphology and vocabulary acquisition, skills that, according to research, students at these grade levels need in order to build greater reading comprehension.

Both elementary school divisions have substantially changed their social studies curricula across all grades to be responsive to current events, the environment, our community, and changing understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for students to learn. The 4th and 5th Grade teams at Fieldston Lower, with the support of the Department of Belonging and Social Impact and Assistant Principal of Academic Life, sought to transition from a focus on colonial America to human migration. Likewise, the 5th Grade team at Ethical Culture revised the social studies scope and sequence in response to student requests for multiple critical perspectives, especially African and First Nations cultures. Informed by Gholdy Mohammad’s work from her text “Unearthing Joy,” teachers collaborated with the Social Studies Coordinator and DEI Lead to increase student engagement by eliciting joy — a core tenet of progressive education. The civil rights study moved away from focusing on oppression to highlight the excellence and contributions of Black communities.

Although there is currently no formal process for designing curriculum for special subjects (art, music, library, Spanish, etc.), these departments are still engaged in meaningful curriculum development. For example, the Spanish Department at Fieldston Lower has incorporated the latest research on second language acquisition and the importance of hearing or reading, called comprehensible input. The program focuses on acquiring, not learning, a new language. Ethical Culture’s physical education curriculum underwent a comprehensive evaluation over 17 years ago. The curriculum is periodically reviewed and assessed annually to determine if students are learning, acquiring, and redefining skills. All activities and instruction use “Graham’s Movement Wheel” as a framework for understanding and assessing motor skills and movement concepts. The visual arts and music teachers are attuned to cultural trends and artistic movements and regularly incorporate these into their curricula. Student reflections and assessments play an important role as well.

New York State Education Department Guidelines for Independent Schools

The program offerings at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower meet the Pre-K–5th Grade requirements as mandated by New York State law. The core curricula of the elementary school divisions of ECFS are substantially equivalent to the curricula of public schools and, in some cases, exceed the standards outlined by the New York State Department of Education. At a minimum, classroom teachers and administrators hold a baccalaureate degree, and a substantial number of teachers hold graduate and postgraduate degrees in education and related fields. Although not required for nonpublic schools, many teachers in the elementary school divisions have worked in public education and hold state certifications.

Areas for Growth

• A common theme that emerged from our self-study was the need for a formal curriculum review and design process. There is a desire to achieve greater alignment within grades, across grades, and across divisions. Special subjects teachers are also seeking greater involvement in curriculum planning and design. While we eschew a one-size-fits-all approach, a unified framework would be useful in developing curricula that ensure all our students receive a comparable educational experience.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, faculty and staff approach designing, evaluating, and revising curricula with intentional, progressive, student-driven, and mission-aligned processes. Teachers, specialists, deans, coordinators, and administrators meet in different alignments — by department, division, or grade — to discuss what, who, how, and when we teach. The meetings are regarded as touch points to assess and coordinate curriculum components; content scope, sequence, and pedagogy; and decisions regarding teaching and learning informed by hard and soft data. These meetings allow different teams to converse with one another regarding student needs, best practices, and current and relevant educational research/data. This ensures that we continue to be student-centered in our responses and progressive in understanding the best practices inside and outside the classroom.

Formally and informally, in classrooms and scheduled meetings, faculty constantly review and examine what and how we teach. Adjustments are made based on student performance, feedback, and current events to ensure we are always supporting DEI and SEL initiatives, and every department is committed to presenting material in the best way possible. The curricula are often revised and iterated from year to year. Teachers continually look for areas that can be developed more deeply and areas where inter- and intra-curricular connections can be made across divisions, grades, and departments.

For example, the Fieldston Middle Science Department meetings offer time to evaluate the curriculum and the science program overall. Recently, faculty members collectively developed a draft of the Science Department mission by engaging in conversations

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

around reviewing and integrating next-generation science standards. Teachers within the same grade level regularly meet to discuss the curriculum, and the department chair works closely with each department member and each grade level partnership to support them in meeting their instructional and PD goals. Members continue to foster open lines of communication between the divisions in order to identify connections to their curricula and ensure a seamless transition.

This work also is evident in the Music Department (6th–12th Grade) and the Visual Arts Department (6th–12th Grade). In the Music Department, decisions are made through analyzing recruiting and retention data. Through that work, the department can adjust program goals to meet students’ needs and expectations. The teachers constantly restructure class design and pedagogical approaches to best engage our students and evaluate performance, adjusting curriculum to improve outcomes. In the Visual Arts Department, through constant dialogue and engagement with pedagogical practices rooted in individual teachers’ classrooms, faculty consistently revise and consider what and how they do what they do. Department faculty are always in dialogue about how learning is scaffolded and designed across multiple grade levels and disciplines. Interdisciplinary discussions across departments inform pedagogy, and success is determined via student engagement, feedback, and teacher reflection.

In the Fieldston Middle English Department, teachers observe each other’s classrooms and share best practices throughout the year. Faculty also observe and record patterns and trends in student performance to collect data. For instance, teachers use a collaborative assessment protocol to discuss student work on particular assignments, which allows them to enhance their understanding of how the assignment works for students, adjust approaches, and better support student work. Faculty also use assessments of student writing to analyze and make changes to the curricular design.

In the Fieldston Upper Math Department, weekly course meetings give teachers time to discuss and modify the curriculum to meet the needs of students and the changing world. The department members have recently implemented longitudinal meetings to allow faculty who teach all course levels to compare how the same topic is tackled differently in the different course levels. Adjustments have been made to some parts of math classes due to current education literature, such as giving shorter exams and more frequent short quizzes. Assessments are also varied to allow students to demonstrate different areas of strength.

Current Research and Recent Trends

Faculty and administrators consult with, refer to, and participate in PD and organizations. Faculty also participate in division-wide, departmental-wide, and institution-wide discussions of texts, thinkers, and research that reflect current educational trends and questions. Our institution’s commitment to DEI informs our approach to education on a daily basis, and we are consistently self-evaluating and making changes as appropriate. The School approaches integrating research and best practices in two substantial ways. The first is through large-scale dissemination.

Recently, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s address to the full faculty and staff during a PD event influenced and informed discussions around pedagogical approaches to incorporate into everyday practice. Curriculum development in the following semesters specifically focused on incorporating “criticality” and “joy” in classroom teaching.

To improve student learning in the Fieldston Upper Math Department, we collaborate regularly with the Learning Center and student support counselors to provide an understanding of individual students and navigate post-COVID-19 learning. Our collaboration with school support teams has allowed us to tailor teaching and learning to meet individual student needs and maximize each student’s mathematical potential.

The Math Department attends PD opportunities such as National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conferences, the (Anja Greer) Exeter Math Conference, and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Conference. These conferences have led to improvements and implementation of project-based learning, the use of online utilities such as Desmos, and in-class exhibits powered by Geogebra.

Fieldston Upper’s English Department sequences the study of literature through surveys in 9th–10th Grade and elective options in 10th–11th Grade. Teachers also offer a yearlong seminar for advanced students interested in pursuing literature beyond their secondary education careers. The department uses research to inform the construction of a new curriculum, best exemplified by the department’s creation of the Adler Requirement; a combination of department chairs and DEI practitioners brought research and expertise together to initiate the program.

Any course designed for the Adler Requirement must center the voices or experiences of systematically marginalized peoples across at least two intersecting social identifiers. The process for approval for Adler-designated electives requires teachers to submit a detailed Adler course proposal that identifies learning outcomes, explains how teaching methods will shape learning experiences, and lists planned course materials and assessments. Teachers appear before the Adler Committee, which consists of teachers and representatives of the Department of Belonging and Social Impact and SoCM, to present the course for approval. Additionally, the Fieldston Upper English Department’s curriculum expands upon the expectations outlined in the New York State Learning Standards for Literacy for 6th–12th Grade students. Students develop reading and analytical skills for literary and informational texts in addressing key ideas, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge. They engage with the writing process alongside critical reading by acquiring proficiency and fluency in discipline-specific arguments, informational and explanatory writing, personal narratives, and research.

Additionally, the departments remain cognizant of the rising presence of ChatGPT and its ramifications. In consideration, many departments continue to emphasize prewriting skills: meetings with the teacher about drafts, labs, and tests; the peer-to-peer workshopping process; and the presentation of ideas to classmates.

New York State Education Department Guidelines for Independent Schools

The Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper program offerings meet the 6th–12th Grade requirements as mandated by New York State law. The core curricula are substantially equivalent to the curricula of public schools and, in some cases, exceed the standards outlined by the New York State Department of Education. At a minimum, classroom teachers and administrators hold a baccalaureate degree, and a substantial number of teachers hold graduate and postgraduate degrees in education and related fields. While ECFS does not use standardized testing as a direct comparison for “substantial equivalence” to New York State public school standards, our students’ results when taking these particular tests help confirm and reinforce our commitment to state educational standards.

Areas for Growth

• One of the common themes that emerged from our self-study was the continued need to work toward even better alignment within grades, across grades, and across divisions.

• There was also a desire to strike a balance in the questions emerging from these alignment discussions. This involves preserving space for teacher interests rooted in curricular expertise while prioritizing accountability to grade, department, division, or institutional interests. This will ensure that all students benefit from a comparable educational experience. We also need to continue to explore our delivery and assessment, given the development of accessible artificial intelligence (AI) and its ramifications on the learning process.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower use a similar approach to the design and implementation of curricula, instructional practices, and activities outside of the classroom that addresses the needs of their diverse student populations. Culturally Responsive Education (CRE), problem-based/experiential learning frameworks, and

student demographic data, especially in gender, ethnicity, race, language, and religious and cultural practices, drive curricular and instructional choices.

The CRE and anti-bias “windows and mirrors” framework popularized by Rudine Sims Bishop helps faculty and staff determine what learning experiences can provide mirrors for students’ identities and what experiences can provide windows to other identities. In the early grades, we focus on positive and joyful examples of identity, such as curated read-alouds, “mystery readers,” self-portraits, the celebration of various holidays, and “all about me” posters that allow students and families “mirrors” in which to explore their identities and share important aspects of their culture with others. Teachers of special subjects reinforce positive identity development by exposing students to diverse ranges of experiences in their respective fields. Positive examples of identity are especially important for minoritized identities that are often only depicted through a deficit or stereotypical lens.

As students age, they develop more knowledge and skills to engage with difficult topics of DEI, especially concerning their social identities. In addition to focused curricular units such as the 3rd Grade Indigenous peoples study, 4th Grade immigration unit, and 5th Grade Civil Rights Movement project, faculty employ problem-based and hands-on learning to address the needs of diverse students. Some of this learning incorporates field trips and/or service learning (e.g., terracycling, neighborhood food pantries, soup kitchens). 3rd–5th Grade students also engage in affinity group programming, specifically the Conversations About Race, Ethnicity, etc. (CARe) Program. CARe is a racial and ethnic affinity program that supports positive racial identity development, cross-racial communication skill-building, and majority group experiences.

In addition to student demographic data, faculty and staff use various assessment data metrics to inform programming and anticipate necessary changes. Some of the data includes pre- and post-unit assessments, observations of student learning as aligned with Louise Derman-Sparks’ “Social Justice Standards”, student feedback, family surveys, and internal and external assessments (external assessment includes items like the recent assessment of belonging completed by Anthem of Us).

Neurodiversity and Social Emotional Learning

Data on academic achievement and SEL also informs decision-making at ECFS. As our understanding of neurodiversity has shifted in the past decade, so has our programming. For example, a recent review of students at Ethical Culture revealed that approximately 20–22% of our students received external and in-school academic support; about 10% have a formal learning plan outlining specific instructional recommendations and accommodations. Students with learning plans typically have a documented learning difference or social-emotional challenge identified after a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. These learning plans are analogous to 504 plans in public school settings.

In an effort to develop a safe, productive, and supportive learning environment for diverse learners, we spend a significant amount of time collaboratively establishing community norms and routines aligned with responsive classrooms — social and emotional approaches to learning and teaching so that students can thrive academically

and socially. Developing classroom community norms and routines provides the building blocks for all aspects of learning throughout the year.

Areas for Growth

• Teachers and administrators noted the importance of increasing enrollment of underrepresented groups, particularly Black and Latine students. Emphasizing the value of community outreach and engagement and, when necessary for students in need of support, optimizing financial and academic support are considered crucial for attaining this goal.

Across both divisions, our curricula, instructional practices, and activities are informed by our mission to create an environment that is inclusive of individuals of diverse backgrounds; many of our projects incorporate questions about identity, environmental sustainability, and social justice. Every department and faculty member at ECFS is committed to maintaining an awareness of and response to incorporating the rich diversity of our students. Therefore, in departments across both divisions, a considerable amount of work was done to incorporate DEI initiatives into all of our courses and practices. Faculty members from various disciplines and divisions integrated projects and content related to DEI practices into their curricula. Work in our auxiliary programs also ensured that our programming outside the classroom addressed DEI, environmental sustainability, and belonging.

The Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper Physical Education Department is committed to including all students, regardless of race, gender, ability, or economic status, to participate in all activities fully. Initiatives include incorporating differing-gender sports and gender-neutral locker rooms, and providing sports equipment to neutralize economic differences. Choices are made to accommodate various learning styles, such as independent, team-oriented, and competitive, to make each student feel comfortable owning their role as a lifelong learner through movement.

The Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper Science Departments remain committed to curating an inclusive classroom that aligns with DEI, sustainability, and belonging. Specifically, teachers have access to the School’s “Checking Curriculum for Equity and Inclusion” document. Teachers guarantee that the curriculum’s representation includes diverse identities (regarding race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, and physical ability) in depictions of scientists and the history of science. By helping students see their identities reflected within the scientific community, they gain a greater sense of investment in becoming student scientists and seeing each other as fellow scientists. When looking at civic and environmental sustainability in 6th Grade, students engage in activities that identify their personal roles, local community roles, roles as they relate to broader global issues, and their responsibilities toward sustainable change. The foundation of the entire 6th Grade science curriculum is environmental responsibility, and we balance the importance of caring for the environment with the feelings of hope and agency to affect change; this is touched on again in 8th Grade. In the 7th Grade unit on the ethics of human sexuality, diverse representation includes varied gender

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

identities, sexualities, and assigned sexes at birth. Because teachers in this division can get to know their students well, faculty can often tailor lessons to include students’ particular interests.

For example, knowing a student struggles to stay engaged in the curriculum but loves to play baseball, a teacher might include more baseball-based examples and ideas. When a student is more excited by space travel and the enormous size of the universe, faculty are empowered to incorporate space themes in their curriculum, in turn energizing the students when these themes are integrated. To that end, there is a continued effort to foster open lines of communication between the divisions to identify connections to their curricula and ensure a seamless transition. Through additional collaboration with the Fieldston Upper team, the Fieldston Middle Science Department participates in discussions around the Fieldston Upper student placement process and the sharing/ discussion of instructional practices.

Data informs decisions at ECFS, and individual teachers routinely survey their classrooms. In 2018, we ran a climate survey distributed to the entire Fieldston Middle student, parent/guardian, and faculty body and uncovered the ideas students were struggling with the most.

In 2019, it was determined that the Fieldston Upper Science Department would benefit from a more systematic approach to DEI work in lab classes. To that end, a Venture Grant was applied for and awarded, running over two years (2020–2022). The grant enabled the Science Department to generate a DEI curriculum that could be standardized, both within a subject area and throughout the entire sequence of lab classes that a student might experience in their science career at Fieldston Upper. In collaboration with the Department of Belonging and Social Impact, the Science Department created an adaptable unit to be used early in the year across all three science lab classes to establish that DEI are integral to the sciences.

This DEI framework examines equity with a specific focus on the relevant science to create a foundation for further conversations throughout the rest of the academic year. The lessons developed through the Venture Grant represent a variety of approaches to DEI and environmental sustainability work. In all lessons, the Fieldston Upper Science Department aims to feature the voices and contributions of groups typically underrepresented in traditional science curricula.

Some lessons examine how science has supported or continues to support the systemic oppression of various groups. Other lessons address how science can and has been used to disrupt oppression or demonstrate how to fight for environmental sustainability and belonging. Statistics from the National Science Foundation were used to develop this curriculum and inform a deeper understanding of the lack of diverse representation in various fields of science. This data was used not only to inform the Science Department’s own curricular development, but also as a teaching tool to help students identify trends in “who does science” at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels.

The Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper cross-divisional Ethics Department course offerings are vast and varied and offer students a rich window/mirror/prism/sliding

glass door into DEI, and accessibility. We have varied modes of instruction, including readings, podcasts, speakers, student leaders teaching younger students, Socratic seminars, discussions guided by student inquiry, and more. The department also has many people of color — including many Black faculty from various backgrounds — and often collaborates with non-Black POC in other departments who help assist the department as needed (e.g., racial affinity groups on the Fieldston Upper Montgomery, Alabama Civil Rights field trip). Several queer and nonbinary faculty also comprise the department. The department’s complex social identities inform the team’s teaching and learning processes and their development as colleagues and collaborators.

The Ethics Department champions civic sustainability outside of the classroom through different community service-focused classes and trips. Throughout their study and practice in ethics, students build a foundation for active citizenship and democratic participation by learning how moral theories affect our thinking and public life and develop group decision-making skills using consensus. Students also develop language to discuss ethics, moral and political philosophy, service, equity, community, anti-racism, and intersections of identity and social justice. One set of data the Ethics Department utilizes includes the number of applications to some of our signature service- and ethicscentered programs.

The numbers tell the story of a steady and increasing number, which demonstrates that students remain interested in our programmatic offerings. The department’s thinking around gender inclusion stems from having more gender-expansive faculty in the program. The department’s data, such as observing that more students use different pronouns in PowerSchool, indicates that the Ethics Department is creating a safe space for students to be themselves at our School and in our courses. Students gain outside classroom experiences through courses such as the Community Service Advisory Board (CSAB). In this course, students research and select an organization with a social justice mission to serve for the remainder of the academic year. Teachers encourage and motivate each student to understand and acknowledge the cracks in society as they examine their chosen cause. Students also learn in the field by serving independently outside the classroom; students can either work with a chosen organization independently or work with their classmates toward a determined project goal with an organization needing food, shelter, or clothing.

In Fieldston Middle’s English Department, the selection of core texts reflects diverse experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. The department teaches students the “mirrors and windows” structure so that they can see themselves and others in all of the texts we study. The classroom libraries reflect various experiences, identities, genres, and styles, including graphic novels, stories in verse, memoirs, and nonfiction titles. Most writing assignments encourage and allow students to write about aspects of their identity that are important to them. The department regularly asks students to reflect on the curricular components. Students are asked to be metacognitive about their reading experiences. The department gives students informal reflective feedback forms and uses these to think about how to make changes. As students evolve, the curriculum also evolves.

In Fieldston Upper’s English Department, the 9th–10th Grade foundational courses and the 11th–12th Grade electives are constructed around themes of identity as well as the interrogation of power, authority, and nationalisms. For example, the 10th Grade interdisciplinary class Humanities combines English, history, and ethics to encourage students to think critically about DEI, civic and environmental sustainability, and belonging, while always being aware of how their intersectional identities impact their metacognition inside and outside of the classroom.

Most decisions are based on what might best be described as “soft data” (stories, narratives, informal student feedback, etc.) mixed with further investigation and incorporation of “hard data” (numbers, facts, quantifiable surveys, etc). A great example is the placement of certain electives, such as the decision to move African American Literature from a biannual offering to an annual offering based on a discrepancy between the number of students who signed up for it and those accepted. Another example is the decision to not offer the Women and Literature and Literature of War electives in the same semester. Anecdotally, teachers noticed how, at times, the gender dynamics created difficult spaces for teaching and did not reflect the diversity of voices sought in the class. They used to be taught concurrently, causing a feedback loop in gender dynamics. As a result, the gender dynamics in each class were extremely unbalanced. In order to not have classes be >90% single-gender, they were separated with the goal of more gender diversity.

Additionally, the department made the decision to decouple Latin American and Caribbean Literature based on student and faculty feedback that it was impossible to teach both areas of study in a single course offered every four semesters. The department now offers two separate courses titled Caribbean Literature and Latin American Literature. The department also offered Jewish American Literature for the first time this fall as a response to student and parent/guardian feedback.

Finally, Climate Literature for Climate Action, the course formerly titled People and the Planet, combines science and English in an interdisciplinary study of climate change and its unequal impact across different communities in the United States and abroad. Recent changes in response to student interest include changing the curriculum to Climate Literature for Climate Action, while highlighting humanities and environmental justice in our communities. Using literature as a primary guide and source, the course encourages students to become active citizens and participants in the fight for climate justice, while also demanding that students examine their own positionality — deepening their understanding of equity, inclusion, sustainability, and belonging.

Areas for Growth

• Teachers and administrators remain committed to the continued increase in enrollment of underrepresented groups. Work should continue across divisions and within departments to better understand what has been accomplished in all spaces in terms of addressing DEI, civic and environmental sustainability, and belonging, and what work remains.

Strategic Initiatives

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower are equally committed to providing their students with a dynamic and engaging educational experience. To achieve this goal, the elementary school divisions routinely reflect upon the effectiveness of their respective programs. During this process, teachers and administrators work both collaboratively and independently to improve the curricula and approaches to teaching and learning.

Specialist teachers tend to have more independence in their review process and have greater autonomy in making changes to their programs. Classroom teachers in both divisions have more autonomy in curriculum review and changes related to their core curriculum and social studies units of study. Language arts and mathematics have more administrative oversight and are subjects that classroom teachers do not r eview independently.

Throughout the past six years, both Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower have taken a closer look at their curricula and materials related to DEI. Both schools have worked to ensure that students see themselves reflected in the curricula, and the divisions have spent significant time updating social studies curricula to incorporate multiple perspectives and anti-bias lessons.

Assessment of curricula happens individually and in group discussions, as well as through data analysis. Both Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower have adopted Fundations for phonics instruction and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) for assessment. In mathematics, Ethical Culture has implemented the TERC Investigations curriculum, and Fieldston Lower has implemented Math in Focus. Both of these programs provide a more structured and explicit approach to math instruction. Once an initiative has been prioritized, a plan is developed for implementation. This plan includes specific goals, timelines, and budgets. For example, when Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower decided to adopt Fundations for phonics instruction, each division developed a plan for implementing the program that included training for teachers, purchasing new materials, and developing new lesson plans. Another strategic goal of ECFS as of 2019 is to “review curriculum through a DEI lens and explore

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower

interdisciplinary collaborations from social studies to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math).” Teachers audited their lessons and curricula to find ways to ensure that students’ identities are authentically represented and that students learn about identities that are underrepresented. Ethical Culture has developed a more robust STEAM program that is integrated with the social studies curriculum.

Throughout the self-study process, it is clear that faculty feel strongly that they should be part of every step of the process whenever curricular changes are necessary. Both administrators and teachers are in agreement that more time is needed for the community to review and implement curricular changes. At this time, Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower operate independently of each other, but there has been expressed interest for more time dedicated to curricular and programmatic alignment discussions between the two divisions.

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper aim to curate educational programs that ensure our students have the most intellectually stimulating, personally engaging, and relevant experience as we prepare them for the world beyond ECFS. Given our commitment to being progressive educators, we continuously reflect on the efficacy of our programming and its outcomes. To that end, faculty work collaboratively and independently within their departments, across other departments, and across divisions when possible to make curricular improvements and seek out best practices for delivering pedagogy effectively. Teachers in both divisions remain committed to these processes and continue to advocate to be a seminal part of any curriculum changes and to enact any initiatives. Teachers in both divisions have autonomy in reviewing and delivering the curricula and continue to work to ensure that changes remain departmentally, divisionally, and mission aligned. Summer grants have been awarded to department members to reinvigorate the curricula and add meaningful special units. Southwind grants and curriculum development grants fund teacher ingenuity tied to curriculum and pedagogical development.

In the Fieldston Middle English Department, strategic initiatives include a campaign for diversifying classroom libraries. The department met with their DEI Leads and librarians to conduct an audit of our classroom libraries and to ensure they are relevant, inclusive, and empowering. Additionally, we launched a strategic initiative and developed a policy for assessing and responding to student writing. Finally, we have made numerous changes to the core texts read so they more accurately reflect the landscape of contemporary issues and literature. At Fieldston Upper, the English Department (as well as the History, Math, and Science Departments and the Learning Center) has used the Fieldston Summer Academic Program (FSAP) to pilot initiatives, such as the English Department Community Read, in order to construct lesson plans for the following fall semesters. The program offers professional and pedagogical development for teachers alongside collaborative opportunities between departments. The experimental nature of the program allows us to assess student needs, particularly for students transitioning from Fieldston Middle to Fieldston Upper, and calibrate assignments for rising 10th Grade students. The department also collaborated with the Belonging and Social Impact

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

team to create the first Identity Epithet Policy and Guidelines in fall 2020, which has since been adapted and adopted in other departments and divisions.

The Fieldston Middle Math Department instituted a math lab to provide student support and enrichment. The proposed after school math support is modeled on an immensely improved after school academic program (ASAP). One recent departmental focus has been revisiting the nature of assessments. After listening to feedback from students, counselors, and learning specialists, the department decided to offer a greater variety of assessments and in-class activities. As part of its reexamination of the purpose of semester exams, some courses no longer require cumulative exams.

In the Theatre and Dance Department (6th–12th Grade), the Student Advisory Board was created in response to departmental needs and goals. This student cohort consistently reflects, plans, advocates, and offers feedback and guidance. The department often brings into their classroom spaces a broad range of guest artists/ working artists who are relevant to students in terms of identity and more. This crossdivisional department believes that bringing in artists with these voices will propel our students forward and reflect their values and identities in meaningful ways.

In order to identify strategic initiatives in the program for teaching and learning, the Ethics Department (6th–12th Grade) engaged with an outside expert, Dr. Jay McTighe, with funding support from the Head of School’s office and in consultation with Fieldston Middle’s Assistant Principal of Academic Life and Fieldston Upper’s Assistant Principal of Academic Life. They met for two full days as a Pre-K–12th Grade department to examine our current work and to envision the future of the ethics program. Dr. McTighe is an expert in deep learning, and with his guidance, they collaborated to identify and refine the most important learning transfer goals associated with their curricular work and the entire program for teaching and learning in ethics. Smaller teams within the department have received recent curricular grants to examine and augment their course offerings as well as the Ethics III and 6th Grade ethics curricula and the Community Service Learning (CSL) independent service requirement. Some new and impacted courses as a result of this work are Soundtrack for a Revolution; The Politics and Ethics of Black Aesthetics: Culture as Resistance; Silence & Noise: The Politics of Storytelling; Democracy, Disaster, and Opportunity; Freedom, Justice, Equality, and You: An Introduction to Political Philosophy; Philosophies of the Americas; and Whose Planet Is It Anyways: An Introduction to Environmental Ethics.

Areas for Growth

• At Fieldston Middle, student math performance is the product of input from the two elementary school divisions, input from external elementary schools from students newly arriving to Fieldston Middle, input from external math programs, and output to Fieldston Upper in the form of placement. These complex factors make differentiation all that more important. Planning for more sections per grade to create smaller classes would allow for more differentiated curricula and individual support. Math classes have been up to 21 students, but the rooms are too small for classes of that size. Having dedicated math classrooms with many of the materials required for successful math instruction would avoid the difficulty posed by transporting these materials from class to class.

• At Fieldston Upper, we recommend a clearly communicated preferred class size number, as our high school population has grown to a new normal. This will allow for planning, the assessment of faculty and student needs, and new initiatives.

Special Subjects and Co-Curricular Programming

Our co-curricular programming and special subjects are essential to supporting the School’s mission by facilitating the goals and objectives of the core curriculum and ensuring that students have a full, diverse experience.

Ethics

Ethics is the study and practice of how we utilize different ethical lenses and perspectives to see and understand ourselves, each other, our communities, and the world around us. Ethics is both a discipline and a medium in which to study other subjects. Our program pedagogy is anchored in a developmentally appropriate critical inquiry and reflective self-examination that builds ethical reasoning and interrogates social and moral interactions and intersections while engaging with issues of identity and equity that lead to collective action and social change. Our program is literacybased, and student reflections are expressed during discussions, storytelling, reading, drawing, writing, role playing, and cooperative games. We encourage each other to become agents of change as we reflect on the tenets of identity, responsibility, justice, and relationships.

As students progress through the grades and we discuss how individuals may have different interpretations of the rules, they begin to explore a new ethical value: integrity. They learn how each person makes choices based on their ethical values. By 5th

Ethical

Grade, ethics classes are centered around social justice themes such as power, courage, and change. As leaders of their school, 5th Graders explore leadership within social movements and activist groups to find ways in which they can use their power to create change for the greater good.

Library

The Library Departments in the elementary school divisions offer comprehensive access to a wide range of physical books, audiobooks, and research databases. A full complement of online resources at age-appropriate levels are easily accessed through our comprehensive library websites. This allows students to research topics in classroom settings, in the library, at home with their families, or while on vacation. In addition to providing one-on-one recommendations to students, the librarians provide recommendations directly within our online catalog. To do this, we adopted an open-source integrated library system catalog; this is an example of the depth of our commitment to meeting students’ interests and needs.

At Fieldston Lower, the department has created a book exchange program that allows families to request books from our online catalog, and librarians will deliver those books the next day directly to the student’s locker. There are also numerous areas in the School where library books can be returned. This system makes the borrowing of library materials feel seamless. The library also periodically donates additional books to classroom libraries, which has helped us build robust book collections in every classroom.

Students can choose to either delve deeply into subjects of interest or explore widely and try new topics, formats, and subjects. Checkout time at the end of each class is one of the core features of our program; it is self-directed and honors children’s choices and interests above everything else. Whenever possible, we respond to children’s interests by buying specific titles. In addition, the unique Ethical Culture summer loan program provides up to 25 books for student use over Summer Recess; we believe it promotes reading and skills retention. It also specifically supports equity, as it is aimed at children who remain in New York City over the summer.

Music

To accomplish our goals as ethical and inclusive music teachers, it is imperative for our lessons to be connected to the School’s mission, philosophy, and culture. Examples of our mission are particularly evident in the music program at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower. In 1st Grade at Ethical Culture, we have a unit on Elizabeth Cotten, who taught herself how to play guitar and developed her own style. Students learn about finding one’s own way of making music and having the courage to express oneself creatively despite barriers. It’s a great lesson for students that it is okay to “think outside the box.” In Kindergarten, we have a unit on timbre. We play and explore instruments of varying timbres that are made of different materials, such as metal, skin, wood, gourd, plastic, and other materials. We also make the connection to ourselves in discovering the unique timbre of our own individual voices through songs and games where individual students have an opportunity to sing alone. This leads us to explore

texture in music, as seen in examples such as the difference between solo singing and community singing and how there is beauty in each.

It is hard to escape the connections students make to the School’s mission, philosophy, and culture when one looks at the 4th Grade Play at Ethical Culture. The spring 2023 production was the first time the grade created their own concept and performance from beginning to end — writing the script and music, creating the sets, engaging in choreography, and performing the piece for their parents/guardians and the school community. The title of this play was “Come on In: The Mind of a 4th Grader,” and it was composed of vignettes that explored various “rooms” within the typical 4th Grader’s mind.

At Fieldston Lower, students also participate in music composition in the early grades. In preparation for our Spring Festival, 2nd Graders prepare original songs. Students learn song structure, how lyrics fit with a melody, and how to make artistic decisions democratically to craft the song. Music composition continues through the upper grades, as students regularly practice improvising using pitched percussion instruments.

In 5th Grade at Ethical Culture, music students take part in a music technology unit. In this unit, students learn how to use the music program Soundtrap, where they use musical loops to compose their own music and build instruments using conductive materials that reflect their identity. Students spend time learning about Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, an orchestra of children whose instruments are made from materials from their local garbage dump, and they find inspiration for their own instruments through the inspiration of the Cateura musicians. When their own instruments are complete, students give presentations to their classmates, informing them how their instrument works and how it connects to their own personal identity, and then they improvise on their instrument along with a piece of music they have composed on Soundtrap. They not only connect with the stories of children their own age from around the world, they also explore their own identity, which they share in a final project that is both visual/artistic and musical.

Art

The art curricula in the elementary school divisions are never stagnant; teachers are always changing and adjusting projects and goals based on students’ interests, current events, and local museum exhibitions. We are always looking for new and diverse artists to use as inspiration and make connections with our students. Art teachers prioritize student exposure to different mediums (e.g., watercolor, mixed media, collage, weaving, stamp making, painting, clay work), and all art projects serve as complements to the studies being conducted in students’ classrooms. Teachers teach and develop students’ art vocabulary and the application of new techniques through exposure to different materials, processes, and techniques so that students can express their creative thoughts and feelings within the art studio.

Social Studies Workshop

Shop programs offer hands-on, experiential learning that is integrated with our social studies curricula. 3rd Grade students at Fieldston Lower learn about the “three sisters”

growing method and cook several recipes related to these vegetables. As students study trees on our Bronx campus, they collect and identify leaves from various tree species to create a pattern design and create leaf-inspired designs on fabric.

At Ethical Culture, we focus on interdependence through our 4th Grade Empathetic Design service learning project. In this project, we connect students with faculty and staff who share problems that are keeping them from doing their jobs effectively. Students are given a chance to utilize their creativity and building skills to help solve the problem for their fellow school community members.

At Fieldston Lower, 4th Grade students examine human movement and how plurality impacts culture in positive ways. Students participate in a focused look into art mediums across cultures. For instance, students may examine mosaics in Middle Eastern art, Gaudi’s architecture, and New York City subways. We encourage students to be more inclusive through the 1st Grade playground design project, in which students assess how inclusive playgrounds in the neighborhood are to people who are disabled and design new possibilities. We also strive toward ethical responsiveness through our 5th Grade STEAM project, in which students select one of the United Nations Global Goal Initiatives as the basis for an interdisciplinary, real-world problem-solving challenge.

At Fieldston Lower, 5th Grade students complete a redesign of our campus garden by making a 3D rendering of a garden of the future that is eco-friendly and optimally designed for use as a classroom. Students present their designs and proposals at the end of the project.

Woodshop

Woodshop is a unique course at Fieldston Lower. Students first participate in the class in Kindergarten, when they begin building fine motor skills through direct instruction on the safe usage of tools and an introduction to the design thinking process. As students construct block neighborhoods in classrooms, they build cars, boats, trains, and bridges to be included in their larger imagining of a neighborhood. As the 1st Graders conduct their yearlong study of birds, they create nesting boxes, bird feeders, and bird masks in woodshop, offering a powerful, handson enrichment of their classroom study. In 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade, projects begin to incorporate more sophisticated tools and complex design elements (e.g., making a hidden compartment in an animal design) that grow their problem-solving skills. Each program deepens students’ understanding of the design thinking process, where students thoroughly research and plan designs, create prototypes, and engage in inquiry to make a specific idea a reality.

Science

Science teachers at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower developed spiraling and scaffolded Kindergarten–5th Grade curricula that are developmentally appropriate. Each grade explores four main areas of study: Earth science, chemistry, STEAM, and biology. Students learn broad concepts around scientific inquiry, including:

• Asking questions and defining problems

• Developing and using models

• Planning and carrying out investigations

• Analyzing and interpreting data

• Using mathematics and computational thinking

• Constructing conclusions and designing solutions

• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

As part of the science curriculum, the 5th Grade Science Teachers and the Guidance Counselor co-teach a unit on health/human sexuality in the fall.

Technology and Innovation

Students in 3rd–5th Grade are gradually introduced to technology as a means of acquiring and sharing knowledge. Students not only learn to use laptops and associated applications but also learn to view technology through an ethical lens (e.g., internet safety.) Many students use technology in social ways, and the Ethics and Technology Coordinators work with students to create healthy tech habits with respect to technology use. We believe it is beneficial to start with more restrictions in place and work alongside children as they explore new tools to learn.

There is also an ECFS Managing Tech Use at Home Guide for parents/guardians to use as a resource on how to have conversations about technology at home. There are lessons throughout the year on technology use. For example, at the start of the academic year, students participate in an open session where they share what’s on their minds about technology, listen to each other’s challenges, and offer support and advice about managing their social media presence as a user and upstander. Additionally, 3rd–5th Grade students are asked to think about the social and emotional impacts of technology, consent and technology, addiction and gaming, and cyberbullying.

Physical Education

The physical education curriculum and instruction focus on academic excellence by challenging students to reach their highest potential in body, mind, and spirit. Students engage in cooperative and student-centered activities/movements that align with the School’s mission. At Ethical Culture, along with daily physical education classes, the program features special events that encourage students to take pride in their physical development. 1st through 5th Grade students participate in a “fun run” called the ECSa-thon, a dance residency with instructor Ethel Calhoun, and a Team Spirit week where they engage in cooperative activities that focus on teamwork, good sporting behavior, communication, and fairness.

At Fieldston Lower, the Physical Education Department has utilized the pool to teach the basic strokes of freestyle and backstroke, as well as lifesaving skills such as treading water and bobbing. This aspect of the curriculum not only keeps our students active, it also equips every individual with water safety techniques needed for life. Each year, the Fieldston Lower Physical Education Teachers organize a school-wide Field Day as a celebration of the skills and teamwork taught in class.

Spanish

The essence of the Spanish program at Ethical Culture is a joyous and playful handson experience for children. Manipulatives and “learning by doing” are part of each class as students connect speech and objects. At Ethical Culture, teachers give a daily assessment of fluency, pronunciation, retention of vocabulary, and comfort level within the language. Students are also assessed via presentations, acting, singing, and projects, both individually and in groups. In the lower grades, students speak, see, touch, write, taste, and feel in the language. They explore stories that are connected to Spanish-speaking cultures while they fall in love with learning the language. 1st Graders take advantage of the city by touring a local market to purchase fruit in Spanish. 2nd Graders conduct a meaningful study on the Day of the Dead holiday and then host a community event that invites everyone to celebrate their loved ones.

At Fieldston Lower, students work closely with our P+T community to advertise the School’s coat drive to support the homeless community while learning and putting into practice the target language. This year, students are starting a new project with the organization Home Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) in which our students will create bilingual books with helpful information about life in the United States, to be distributed at no charge to recent Spanish-speaking immigrants in New York.

Areas for Growth

• In our self-study, many teachers of special subjects noted the need for greater involvement in our curriculum development and the hope that these critical programs are prioritized. They expressed the need for developing a unified system of assessing and integrating curricula. To do this effectively would require more time for faculty to engage in team meetings and PD. In addition, some teachers expressed the importance of ensuring that departments have adequate personnel to meet the needs of students. Special subjects, like Spanish, are most effective when children can be taught in half-sized groups.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, all of the departments, whether considered academic or not, contribute to the progressive infrastructure of the educational program and thus contributes to the education of the whole child. The degree of incorporation of co-curricular programming can vary slightly from department to department, as well as division to division. For example, in the cross-divisional Music Department, they consider all classes co-curricular. Other departments offer robust class trips, student magazines, student performances, and student publications.

In many cases, the co-curricular activities empower the students to be experiential and hands-on in engaging with the praxis of those theories encountered in the classroom. Both divisions take care to ensure that our co-curricular program engages students in what one poet called “serious play” and that the co-curricular offerings remain responsive, inclusive, and relevant. There remains a mix of long-standing programs that have become a part of the traditional expectations within the division, but there is always room to evolve and match students’ ever-changing worlds and the everevolving fields of study within our academic curricula. Faculty, staff, and administrators are always attuned to students’ needs and encouraged to seek out relevant or new co-curricular programming that can augment the current robust offerings or address blindspots from our assessments of the entire co-curricular programming.

At Fieldston Upper, weekly student-led assemblies honor cultural events; feature identity-based programs; celebrate student musical, theatre, and dance performances; and build community through activities such as a faculty/staff-student spelling bee. At Fieldston Middle, there are Town Hall gatherings that include competition events and affinity group presentations, as well as separate movie nights and grade socials. There are also awareness days (modified and full) and special programs to address current events or build community. Our Community Partnership office offers many community service opportunities and programs.

In the Music Department (6th–12th Grade), all music classes are co-curricular. The extracurricular activities offered are mainly trips to music festivals such as those associated with the New York State Music Association and the National Jazz Festival. Some of these activities are aligned with the School’s mission, and some offer alternative, more traditional ways of learning that we feel are valuable to the students. The film scoring class works with both the Visual Arts Department and the Theatre and Dance Department. The Music Department also offers a string quartet composition activity that asks students to compose a piece and then rehearse and hear it played by a professional quartet. This work is extremely student-centered and offers individualized instruction, learning by doing, and hands-on work.

In the cross-divisional Visual Arts Department (6th–12th Grade), co-curricular programming includes student participation in clubs, independent study, City Semester, and an English interdisciplinary course titled Images and Words. The school publications, such as the academic journal “Inklings” and the cover of the yearly Course of Studies, are all examples of ways in which students might engage with the arts outside of regular coursework. These opportunities help students see how the work that they do in the classroom is connected to the broader school community and beyond. The robust co-curricular theatre and dance program gives students an opportunity

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

to apply the skills learned in classes. There are also many leadership opportunities built into activities and opportunities for collaboration, community building, joy, identity development, risk-taking, and empathy building.

In the Library Department, the primary responsibility is to support the curricula of Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper. The librarians partner with faculty and students to make recommendations about appropriate resources that serve the community. They provide instruction to classes, adjusting presentations to account for differences in accessibility as well as using and emphasizing alternative learning styles (for instance, offering audiobooks or resources in various languages).

Librarians provide resources and programming in coordination with faculty and student needs. Every student should find materials that reflect who they are. In addition to supporting the curricula, the librarians endeavor to provide a wide range of materials for independent study and reading. Librarians are attentive to and acquire materials that support DEI, environmental, and other current social issues. Our collections are evaluated and updated regularly using a variety of professional tools, such as diversity audits and community input, keeping in mind the goal of providing material that might serve as “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.”

The Physical Education Department offers co-curricular programming through myriad athletic teams, competitions, and supplemental classes, allowing students an opportunity to implement tactics and skills learned within the curricular day.

The Ethics Department’s co-curricular programs include the Adler Symposium, a biannual event that offers workshops, lectures, a keynote presentation, and other exhibits that focus on a studentchosen social theme of relevance. The symposium is organized by students and led by CSAB seniors, offering students a chance to see “ethics in action.” The department also offers our acclaimed Student-to-Student Advanced Peer Leadership Program (STS). The STS program is geared toward developing and honing leadership qualities in students from an ethical lens. Fieldston Upper students who apply and are accepted into this program go through rigorous training to prepare for mentoring Fieldston Middle students through issues-based lessons that the mentors create. Students also participate in CSAB fieldwork to gain hands-on community service experience, initiating and engaging in various types of service-based partnerships with outside organizations.

The Science Departments in both divisions continue this ethic of offering strong cocurricular programming. The Fieldston Upper Science Department has developed a

number of co-curricular programs that support the School’s mission. For example, every other year, Fieldston Upper dedicates two days to offering one- or two-day courses on topics that support our mission, called Alternate Learning Program (ALP) days. Some of the recent offerings led by science faculty include Rube Goldberg Engineering, Korean Culture, Marine Resources, Sex Is Not a Binary, and Invasive Species Management With the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. Fieldston Upper also offers Modified Awareness Days (MADs), where programs focus on a single socially relevant topic across departments. A recent science contribution to one of these days was Science of Decision-making in “The Leavers.”

At a recent Community Day, one of the science programs, Forest Restoration, involved plantings on campus. In recent years, the Science Department also led an Assembly After Dark titled Revolutionary Science: A Modest Proposal that featured Dr. John Asher Johnson, Professor of Astronomy at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. In addition, the Environmental Club sponsors an annual assembly addressing topics related to sustainability and human impact on the environment. The Fieldston Middle Science Department views co-curricular programming geared toward a division-wide audience, such as field trips and special projects. Field trips offer opportunities to provide experiential aspects of learning that cannot be provided in the classroom setting, and special projects allow students to present their learning to their middle school peers while reinforcing their communication and public speaking skills. Some field trips and special programs have included 6th Grade visits to Van Cortlandt Park, 8th Grade trips to the Liberty Science Museum, a 7th Grade “Hidden Figures” Day, and visits from the President of the Explorers Club, Richard Wiese, and Dr. K. Renee Horton, Physicist and Space Launch Systems Quality Engineer at NASA.

The Fieldston Middle Language Department has offered enrichment programs throughout the years. Students have been offered international trips to Spain, Costa Rica, Canada, Italy, and China as a way to expose them to a language’s nuances and provide them the opportunity to experience a culture outside of their own firsthand. Teachers have also taken students to New York City museums, concerts, plays, restaurants, and on walking tours of neighborhoods. These trips reinforce grammar; broaden students’ knowledge of the past; expose students to authentic language, food, and culture; foster appreciation of artistic expression; and invite discussion around cultural values.

The Language Department has organized a week of language-related activities for the entire Fieldston Middle community. Activities included musical presentations, culinary samplings, foreign language films, and assemblies with invited guest speakers.

The Fieldston Upper Language Department has been actively advocating for the enhancement of interdisciplinary experiences and elective courses that offer students a comprehensive understanding of language’s connections with various academic disciplines. Interdisciplinary experiences align with our School’s mission and emphasize academic excellence, critical thinking, and progressive education. The department also organizes events and trips that bolster programming, such as exchange programs and field trips aimed at providing real-world context for classroom lessons, which fosters global citizenship. Because of the nature of a language class, the department

operates through an ethic of acknowledging and respecting each student’s unique contributions and cultural backgrounds, which highlights its commitment to inclusion and diversity. These co-curricular programs also focus on skill development in leadership, communication, teamwork, time management, and problem-solving.

Areas for Growth

• Considering the importance of co-curricular programming, how integral it is to the educational programming, and how it helps ensure that we remain missionaligned, there should be more conversation and action aimed at developing a shared perspective on necessary financial planning as an essential step in offering richer co-curricular programming and augmentation of current offerings. Additionally, there should be further examination and addressing of how the band schedule has impacted some departments’ abilities to offer more robust co-curricular programs as they work toward a more successful integration of such enriching academic opportunities in the curricula.

Assessment, Progress Monitoring, and Differentiation

Learning outcomes across the curricula are assessed in three ways: objective measures (e.g., standardized and norm-referenced assessments), informal assessments (e.g., observational data, unit assessments, and/or student “check-ins”), and/or portfolio (e.g., analyses of student work samples/projects).

In both elementary school divisions, we use a number of reliable and valid assessment measures used by peer schools. To assess literacy development, both elementary school divisions have used the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System as an observational measure of reading behaviors and the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory to assess knowledge of spelling patterns. Each division implements additional assessments relative to the unique needs of their students. Ethical Culture uses the DIBELS, a standardized measure of phonemic awareness and phonics skills from Kindergarten–2nd Grade. Reading comprehension and vocabulary development in 3rd–5th Grade are assessed using the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, a statistically normed, standardized assessment. Fieldston Lower adopted the use of the Core Phonics Survey and Complete Comprehension whole book assessments. Grade-level faculty at both divisions have developed rubrics to analyze writing samples and assess writing craft and mechanics.

At Ethical Culture, student literacy assessment occurs in the fall, winter, and spring. Data is recorded on a spreadsheet that tracks students from Kindergarten through 5th Grade, allowing teachers and administrators to document individual growth, identify grade level trends, and make divisional decisions regarding PD and curricular changes. For math, Fieldston Lower began using the Universal Math Screeners for Number Sense to assess student preparedness for math work. Likewise, Ethical Culture’s Math Department developed grade-level benchmark assessments based on the scope and sequence of math instruction for Pre-K–5th Grade. These benchmark assessments are cross-checked against assessments of classroom work, observations, and analyses of learning patterns to determine best structures for student support. As with literacy, this information is recorded on a spreadsheet to track progress. In special subjects, assessment in each discipline is aligned with the student experience. Team meetings offer an opportunity to meet with head teachers to share data and find ways to support students. Art, Social Studies Workshop, Woodshop, and Music Teachers use observations of individual students’ growth, including class participation, engagement, performance, creativity, skills, and visual outcomes, to assess student progress. Librarians consistently assess the accessibility and relevance of materials, using statistical data to analyze collection usage to ensure that every student in our community feels successful using the materials. In physical education, each lesson provides different challenge points based on comfort levels and abilities. Spanish teachers use games and activities that help assess students’ understanding and progress overall. We try to use different resources and approaches to support different learning styles and meet the students’ needs and levels.

Differentiation

Teachers in the elementary school divisions use assessment data to differentiate instruction by adjusting content (what we teach), process (how we teach), product (how students show their learning), and the classroom environment. Factors that contribute to pedagogical decisions include students’ skill development, interests, and personal learning style.

Teachers regularly modify the content of instruction based on the pacing and developmental needs of their students, and instruction is designed to have multiple access points to meet the diverse needs of learners in the classroom. For example, math is presented on a continuum from concrete concepts using manipulatives and models to abstract representation. Teachers also provide accommodations for students who might benefit from tools that support learning, such as graphic organizers, supportive seating, or noise-canceling headphones. In reading and word study, flexible small-group instruction allows teachers to provide targeted instruction at a pace appropriate to students’ skill development.

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower also offer the support of learning specialists who are trained in providing targeted remediation and intervention in reading and writing. The learning specialists assist teachers in assessing students at the beginning of the year, plan and co-teach with classroom teachers, and use assessment data to organize

small reading groups, book clubs, and word study groups. Math specialists form morning study groups for students with more advanced skills who would benefit from a challenge and for students who would benefit from additional review. There is currently no formal process for analyzing assessment data to observe trends within and between demographic groups. A review of student support at Ethical Culture revealed that approximately 22% of students enrolled during the 2022–2023 academic year were receiving academic/SEL support. LAMPS, our in-house tutoring program, was developed in response to the changing makeup of our student body and the need to provide additional instruction.

Assessing Long-Term Outcomes for Graduates

5th Grade teachers and the Student Support teams from the elementary school divisions meet with administrators and the Sudent Support team from Fieldston Middle ahead of the transition to middle school. These meetings are used to share data about each student. Administrators from Fieldston Middle frequently reach out to their counterparts to discuss how our graduates can better access the program.

Areas for Growth

• There is a need for better alignment between the two elementary school divisions. In particular, it would be helpful to develop a formal process for analyzing student data. Administrators and teachers at Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture would also like more opportunities to meet with each other and with representatives from Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper to better track student outcomes.

Student learning is assessed in a variety of ways. Faculty use a variety of assessments, both formative and summative, to assess student learning, skill acquisition, and understanding. Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper often collaborate with the Learning Center. Many departments abide by this Fieldston Upper English Department statement regarding how each student is assessed: “In collaboration with our Deans, School Psychologists, the Department of Belonging and Social Impact, and Learning Specialists, teachers receive learning plans in each student’s profile and adjust their teaching accordingly.”

Fieldston Middle’s Science Department purposely builds on skills such as collecting and recording qualitative and quantitative data, drawing conclusions based upon collected data, developing and enhancing observation skills, using tools for experiments, developing and conducting controlled experiments, writing lab reports, presenting information, collaborating with peers, and understanding correlation versus cause-andeffect relationships. Student learning is assessed in a variety of ways, including formal and informal methods, through written expression, problem-solving, project-based learning, class discussion, and lab activities. In 6th Grade, many students have never taken a quiz before, meaning the focus is on using class materials to prepare, learning study techniques, getting used to the format of assessment, and beginning their

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

learning of assessment strategies. Written work in 6th Grade is often focused on crafting scientific language at the paragraph level, graphing data, and using the Claim Evidence Reasoning structure to explain evidence-based conclusions. By 8th Grade, students are creating full lab reports with relevant diagrams and the correct sections. In 6th Grade, students are completing lab experiments with a single variable; by 8th Grade, they are designing multivariate, multitrial experiments.

Fieldston Upper’s Science Department builds upon this foundation. Assessment of students’ development in the skills and process of scientific inquiry is an ongoing, reflective endeavor. Assessment for younger students is based primarily on teacher observations, informal conversations with students, and review of lab notes. As students mature, assessment progresses to formal evaluations such as student projects, reports, classroom presentations, quizzes, and tests. The final assessment of student performance is through the Science Expo, where groups of two to three students engage in scientific research that culminates in division-wide poster presentations.

In the cross-divisional Music Department, students are assessed through direct observation, recorded examples, and written evaluations. As students progress, they do more self-evaluations. The effectiveness of the review process is determined by regular classroom evaluations and concert performances. This process is similar across both divisions, with the exception of greater instances of self-assessment in Fieldston Upper. Similarly, in the cross-divisional Visual Arts Department, critiques, visual arts exhibitions, student engagement, and student outcomes are all ways in which student learning and growth are assessed. As a highly collaborative and collegial department that often sees students over many years and across different classes, the Visual Arts Department is able to assess the artistic development of individual students throughout the years.

In the cross-divisional Theatre and Dance Department, the assessment process changes across the grade levels based on a number of factors, including the length of class time (ranging from four to six weeks in Fieldston Middle to up to the full year in Fieldston Upper) and whether the class is credit/no credit or graded. Students are assessed based on their class citizenship and skills acquisition — emphasizing the students’ willingness to participate and take risks — and on their co-creation of a

supportive and collaborative environment. Students receive feedback in the form of written home reports beginning in 7th Grade; the higher levels employ student selfassessment so that they can evaluate their own growth over the course of the class. Performance offers students the opportunity to share their process, growth, and work in a positive collaborative environment. Students are asked to create a nonhierarchical space where everyone, regardless of role, is actively engaged and respected, promoting self-awareness and the ability to communicate and work together effectively. The performances allow students to present their curricular and co-curricular work to the greater community. The needs of neurodivergent students are met in numerous ways. The department adjusts production choices, sometimes choosing material that is manageable/tangible for students (especially in Fieldston Middle). The process adjustment allows for more time and support, centering the experience of neurodivergent students rather than demanding that students “catch up” with others. The department maintains a willingness to adjust expectations while allowing students to push themselves without compromising quality, as we want students to do their best.

In Fieldston Middle’s Language Department, student learning is assessed through formative assessments and daily class practice that evaluates listening and written comprehension as well as reading and speaking proficiency. Curriculum is discussed and modified across grade levels as deemed necessary by teachers. In Fieldston Upper’s Language Department, student learning is assessed through written and oral assessments, classroom engagement, project-based learning, and homework. Teaching strategies and approaches are adapted to account for the impact of AI and other translation technology. Assessments are not strictly standardized, which means there’s variability among student experiences. The variety of assessments includes both summative and formative assessments, with a strong emphasis on formative assessments. Different class levels are offered to give students more ways to access the material; these levels originate from Learning Center data. The Learning Center provides additional support for students to develop their abilities and full potential.

In Fieldston Middle’s Math Department, curriculum maps are reviewed regularly. The students are evaluated by common assessment within grade level, pre-assessments, performance tasks, and rubrics. At Fieldston Upper, the Math Department assesses learning through conversation, classwork, quizzes, tests, projects, problem sets, semester exams, and presentations. Faculty measure efficacy through student engagement with the assessment, the output product of the assessment, subsequent conversation about the process, and how much students retain through spiraling of topics throughout the year and through cumulative semester exams. The review process is more organic and intuitive rather than clinical.

In Fieldston Middle’s History Department, faculty use a wide variety of assessments, both formative and summative, in order to assess student learning, skill acquisition, and understanding. Students complete homework, craft research questions, write research papers, take assessments, and collaborate with each other to continue to develop their skills.

History Department teachers work closely with the Learning Center and Learning Specialists in order to ensure that instruction and assessments are differentiated and that student learning profiles are considered.

At Fieldston Upper, the History Department members employ a variety of methods to assess skills and knowledge, including rubrics, skill checklists, and holistic assessment. One tool to help assess student learning, engagement, and competency is regular meetings with student-designated representatives — such as the Secretary of History on the Fieldston Student Government Cabinet — to receive feedback on students’ experience of the curriculum. This feedback has led to revisions of the curriculum in several cases, most recently informing the evolution of the 9th Grade curriculum.

In Fieldston Middle’s English Department, the traditional system of letter grading was not reflecting our goal for students to develop as writers. We created a responsive and empowering system for giving individualized feedback that focuses on coaching and supporting students as writers and thinkers and creates an assessment feedback process that we use consistently across all English classes. The Collaborative Assessment Conference Protocol allows faculty to discuss and assess student work and differentiate instruction. The department has qualitative assignments that are consistent across classes and across the entire grade to gauge student learning.

In Fieldston Upper’s English Department, the 9th Grade curriculum builds foundations in literature by exploring the self in society across genres. The study of literature is structured around close reading, class discussions, small-group assignments, independent writing, and vocabulary and grammar review to develop the critical thinking skills and writing strategies to be successful literary scholars. Students practice their writing skills from 9th Grade to 12th Grade. They learn how to hone their analytical writing skills and explore creative writing. Over the course of their schooling, they learn how to think, write, speak, and listen. By the time they graduate, they will have learned how to effectively create clearly argued essays. The curriculum also challenges students to read texts from around the globe and connect to their personal experiences. In the cross-divisional Ethics Department, faculty employ robust and progressive ways to assess students. These methods include in-class discussions, Socratic seminars, research papers, group projects, peer-reviewed group presentations, and reflection. The department’s philosophy and assessments are informed by the belief that experience becomes knowledge through written assignments and group discussions.

In the Physical Education Department, formative and summative assessments are employed. Students are observed in closed and open environments to assess for skill improvement, tactical knowledge, and ability to work alongside others. Students are often grouped with like-skilled students to allow them opportunities to work at the same pace toward a similar goal or with varied-skilled students to allow students to learn from each other. Ample practice time allows students room to work on skills and allows teachers to provide more instruction to those students who need it, as well as offering challenges to those who are already competent in the skill.

Professional Development

The provisions that exist for the orientation and mentoring of teachers are divisional orientations, the new hire orientation facilitated by the Human Resources Department, and the Progressive Teaching Institute (PTI). All new hires since the previous September, including teaching and non-teaching staff, are invited and expected to attend the new hire orientation before the new academic year begins. During that time, the Human Resources team reviews key policies and procedures, which are described in detail in the employee handbook, a document all new hires receive prior to their “official” start date. The handbook also describes the culture and mission of the School.

New faculty are paired with a current, experienced member in their division to help immerse them in the culture and to discuss an array of topics each week. New faculty are also paired with experienced faculty members for advisory placements. Deans are involved in mentoring, as they consistently meet with new faculty to discuss upcoming events, logistics, and more. The School’s mission and culture are conveyed in its divisional orientations, as well as in the PTI and Beyond Diversity Training immediately following the new hire orientation.

Progressive Teaching Institute (PTI) is an orientation geared to introduce new employees to the culture and pedagogical practices of our School. The School’s mission is conveyed through an anchoring of the progressive teaching tenets, the skills that teachers are asked to build (anti-bias skills, interrupting microaggressions, gender inclusivity, etc.), and history sessions focused on conveying important foundational information about our School. New staff continue to learn about the School’s culture through ongoing meetings with their direct supervisors, colleagues, and mentors. PTI extensions throughout the year provide ongoing PD and extended learning opportunities for topics and skills covered at the PTI conference.

The School actively supports and communicates PD through a variety of programs. Prior to a new hire’s first day, they are given the employee handbook to review PD opportunities, grants, reimbursement, etc. The Human Resources team also discusses PD opportunities during their new hire orientation. New hires are informed about PD days throughout the academic year that are exclusively reserved for in-house training, as well as other ways to access opportunities.

Along with maintaining a PD webpage for both faculty and staff to access various trainings, the School sends out school-wide emails throughout the year announcing grants and PD opportunities.

Assistant Principals are encouraged to work with and recommend PD opportunities to new teachers. Divisional goals are regularly discussed during planning meetings, and faculty have the opportunity to advocate for their professional growth and the needs of their divisions/grade levels. Administrators and faculty work in partnership to research and identify external PD opportunities for faculty to attend. Administrators also use

feedback from faculty, assessment of divisional needs, and their ongoing connection to recent developments in education research/practice to identify PD opportunities within the School.

Employee professional learning is key to helping teachers develop and refine skills necessary for their individual growth. Administrators are encouraged to have conversations with faculty members during evaluations where they can recommend certain PD opportunities to help support the growth of that faculty member.

Data Analysis

Through a school-wide survey about PD experiences, we sought feedback from faculty about the effectiveness of school-initiated experiences and those that teachers sought on their own. Overall, we had 27% of the faculty and staff participate in the survey, mostly completed by teaching faculty.

The School designates generous funding for teachers and administrative staff and earmarks over $1,000 per employee to pursue PD opportunities on their own. Of the participants, 60% of teachers reported seeking out PD opportunities outside of school within the past two years. While more teachers inevitably participated in PD offered within the School, teachers reported finding PD they sought out and applied for to be more effective. Overwhelmingly, teachers rated PD offered outside of school with a “very effective” rating and encouraged the School to continue having that funding available for teachers going forward.

Teachers also have the option of seeking funds for PD if the opportunity costs more than $1,000. Generous PD funds are allocated for each division, and faculty and staff are able to apply for more costly PD opportunities (e.g., attending a multiday conference out of state). Teachers are also granted funds for summer work such as the Venture Grant or curriculum grants to further develop a part of their curriculum over July and August.

Two faculty members per year are awarded the Southwind Teaching Fund grant of $10,000 to pursue academic and creative initiatives for PD related to their teaching and community impact. This program is offered to continuing contract faculty with a demonstrated history of contribution to the ECFS community. For example, a percussion educator recently went to Ghana and other countries in Africa to learn from and practice drumming with other musicians. This helped foster growth for his own teaching and created a relationship with others there. Those musicians now come to school to deliver programming and teach our students, ultimately leading to a rewarding outcome for all parties.

Participants were also asked to rate how mission-consistent PD opportunities were; the ratings were categorized on a four-point scale (consistently mission-focused, mostly mission-focused, somewhat mission-focused, and not mission-focused). Only 8% of faculty found our PD not mission-focused at all, and 62% of faculty reported PD as being mostly or consistently mission-focused.

On a five-point rating scale, faculty were asked to reflect on the overall effectiveness of the PD experiences provided by the School in promoting professional growth and

the growth of students. On this rating scale, 60% of faculty who responded rated PD opportunities to be effective to very effective (a rating of three or above). Anecdotal feedback varied. Some teachers reported that aspects of PD were repetitive from year to year, at times speaking to some PDs revolving around repeated introductory overviews of topics particularly prioritized by the School. Some affirmed that these topics are central to our success in realizing the School’s mission, so faculty did deem coverage of these topics as relevant and necessary. However, other faculty members commented that PD needed to be further differentiated to help faculty build capacity around DEI, SEL, and academics. Specialist teachers asked for PDs directed more toward the teaching of specialist subjects.

Synthesis of Success

The professional learning program has returned consistently positive feedback in fostering the growth of individual teachers through its strategic design and implementation. The program’s success is evident in its emphasis on practical applicability. The learning materials are not confined to research and theoretical concepts; rather, they provide tangible strategies that can be applied in the classroom or other educational spaces. At both Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, the School has encouraged faculty and staff to seek affinity in DEI conferences and workshops through NYSAIS and NAIS.

In addition, the program incorporates feedback loops, allowing educators to provide insights into their experiences and suggest areas for improvement. This iterative approach ensures that the program remains dynamic and responsive to evolving educational needs. The success stories emerging from the program reflect not only individual teacher growth but also an overall positive impact on the School’s educational environment. Through its tailored approach, emphasis on practicality, and commitment to ongoing support, the employee professional learning program has proven to be a catalyst for the continuous development and success of individual teachers at ECFS.

Promoting Student Growth

PD centered around student growth occurs over the course of the academic year, most often during grade, team, and department meetings with administrators and faculty. Each division has weekly faculty meetings, and some of those meetings are devoted to PD related to student growth topics (e.g., reading development, groupings, curricular frameworks). Administrators and faculty also participate in PD during weekly planning times. Faculty frequently collaborate on designing curriculum, analyzing student assessment data, reviewing student work, and building content area knowledge. Through these coordinated common planning times, the faculty grow their practice and align curricular benchmarks and instructional expectations. Devoting common planning times and coming prepared to engage in meaningful dialogue and coordinated planning are the most helpful kinds of professional learning. Faculty also participate in professional learning as a whole school. Recently, Dr. Mica McGriggs, Executive Director of Student Support and Wellness, organized a PD seminar on trauma-informed instruction. This was well received by the faculty, with one calling it “proven and timely

given our students’ recent experiences … I’m sure my students have reaped the benefits of valuable learning in this area.”

Topics

We aim to be responsive to feedback that faculty provide about areas where their practice could benefit from further growth. Administrators in each division also assess the programmatic needs of their respective departments and determine what kind of PD is most helpful in advancing the expertise of the faculty. Some divisions have created resource lists in response to faculty feedback about areas where they want to grow. For instance, at Ethical Culture, teachers shared interest in growing their understanding of the cognitive development of young children. Consequently, the administrators of that division researched opportunities to connect faculty with relevant PD that targeted faculty growth in those areas.

At Fieldston Lower, teachers expressed interest in learning more about developments in the science of reading. As a result, the administrative team connected a group of teachers to PD opportunities offered by the Reading League and Really Great Reading, two reputable organizations doing meaningful work in this area. Additionally, our generous funding structure allows faculty to do a “deep dive” into professional growth areas by attending multiday conferences.

When rolling out new programs, we have also organized multiday PD opportunities with representatives visiting the School to work closely with different grade levels during the school day. This allows teachers to receive directed feedback about the implementation of a new program from professionals who are seasoned in implementing the same program elsewhere. Teachers reported this kind of PD structure to be helpful in directly targeting student growth.

Feedback

In our feedback survey, faculty assessed the effectiveness of PD opportunities in advancing student growth. Faculty were asked to rank the effectiveness of in-school and out-of-school PD opportunities on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is deemed ineffective, 2 as somewhat effective, 3 as effective, 4 as mostly effective, and 5 as very effective. In general, faculty identified both in-school and out-of-school PDs as effective in this regard. For PD offered by the School, 77% rated in-school PD with at least a rating of 3 or above (effective), while 46% rated those opportunities with a 4 or above (mostly effective) in contributing to growth in their students.

For out-of-school PD where teachers are able to apply to attend opportunities specifically targeting their own areas of growth, 89% of teachers rated those opportunities as mostly effective (a rating of 4 or higher) and 95% rated such opportunities as effective (a rating of 3 or above). This leads us to conclude that we should continue allocating funding for teachers to attend opportunities outside of school, while still holding space for in-school PD.

Through anecdotal feedback, faculty shared insights that carried some common themes:

• Follow-through after PD opportunities is very important. Oftentimes, a great PD will energize the faculty and motivate us to move forward with an initiative, but enough time is not allowed during subsequent meeting times to continue building on that momentum.

• We should continue pursuing ways to differentiate PD to meet practitioners’ level of expertise in an area. For instance, for teachers who exhibit a high level of proficiency in DEI, some of the workshops should be tailored to build capacity at a higher level. Sometimes, workshops review the fundamentals of a domain.

• Devoting time to what students need right now and inquiring more deeply into the impacts of technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other current factors are necessary.

• Faculty express interest in visiting other schools with similar missions.

At Fieldston Middle, professional learning programs enable faculty and staff to be trained and supported when sponsoring clubs and organizations that provide a unique facet of the Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper experience and enable substantial personal growth for students. Joining STEAM-focused, arts-oriented, or leadershipdriven clubs provides platforms to hone teamwork, leadership, and communication skills. The impact of club participation equips middle schoolers with a well-rounded skill set, instilling confidence, curiosity, and a lifelong love for learning.

At Fieldston Upper, students have access to numerous programs within the School to foster growth and ignite students’ passions by providing a dynamic, immersive learning experience. Students can participate in City Semester, which enables them to engage in a more hands-on learning experience, or act as leaders in our STS teaching partnership with Fieldston Middle. Students are also encouraged to apply for semester- or yearlong programs outside of the School that help them pursue their passions. Students are frequently encouraged to pursue outside academic environments, such as the Mountain School, to help discover new facets of their interests. Whether exploring innovative courses and opportunities, engaging in research projects, or participating in community service, the program offers a wide array of opportunities for self-discovery.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Welfare

The professional learning program develops DEI and student wellbeing competencies by engaging in stand-alone PD, conferences, and multi-workshop series for our staff and faculty. Included are opportunities to build proficiencies in DEI, culturally responsive curriculum, anti-bias leadership skills, and intergroup dialogue. We also develop DEI competencies through the Fieldston Upper Community Curriculum, which is designed to create communal experiences that build our DEI skills in areas such as conflict resolution, building empathy, active listening, and intergroup dialogue. We support attendance at critical annual DEI conferences such as the NYSAIS Diversity Practitioners Conference, the NYSAIS Diversity Symposium, the NYSAIS Gender and Sexuality Conference, the People of Color Conference (PoCC), ADL Never Is Now,

and others. The Department of Belonging and Social Impact also conducts training throughout the year in division meetings in order to help staff and faculty develop their pedagogical and SEL practices in response to student needs determined through informal and formal feedback.

Faculty Evaluation

The assessment and evaluation of teaching personnel involve observations of classroom instruction. The schedule and frequency of formal observations/evaluations for faculty are outlined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the School and the Faculty Interest Committee (FIC). The observations/assessments serve as a collaborative tool to nurture teaching skills, align instructional approaches with school objectives, and provide constructive feedback. The regular observations foster a supportive environment, allowing teachers to refine their techniques, address challenges, and demonstrate growth. This consistent evaluation ensures adherence to educational standards and promotes effective teaching practices. Through this process, new educators receive valuable mentorship, contributing not only to their individual development but also to the overall enhancement of teaching quality within the School. New faculty members are placed on a three-year probationary schedule of observation and evaluation. During the probationary period, each faculty member shall receive at least two formal visits per year and at least one formal evaluation annually. Supervisors and probationary teachers meet to debrief each observation, and the supervisor prepares a written report that the teacher and the supervising administrator will sign. The supervisor also prepares a written summative evaluation to be signed by the teacher and Divisional Principal and submitted to the Human Resources Department. For first-year probationary faculty members, the first visit should occur early in the academic year. The second visit shall occur on or before March 1. A summative evaluation shall be received by the faculty member on or before March 8.

For second- and third-year probationary faculty members, the first visit should occur early in the academic year. The second visit shall occur on or before February 1. A summative evaluation shall be received by the faculty member on or before February 8. The probationary period is an essential part of our PD program and is intended to give new teachers multiple opportunities to grow in their practice.

In addition to the weekly meetings with administrators, new teachers are assigned a faculty mentor who often offers informal advice and helps them feel part of the community. Additional PD may be required or recommended during this period, including the PTI and the NYSAIS Beginning Teachers Institute.

Upon successful completion of the probationary period, faculty members are offered a continuing contract (tenure). This periodic evaluation is an opportunity for teachers to meet on a regular basis with their administrative partners to identify new goals and enhance their practice by discussing and incorporating current research.

Associate Teachers are supervised by the Principal, who coordinates weekly meetings focused on classroom management, student support, and progressive teaching methods. Associates are mentored by Head Teachers, who model best practices and gradually release teaching responsibilities. The Assistant Principals may also recommend outside PD on academics and SEL.

Goal-setting is integral in the teacher growth process. Prior to conducting any formal observations, a supervising administrator and faculty member meet to complete a goalsetting form. Much like frameworks nationally recognized for their efficacy, such as the Danielson Framework, teachers reflect on goals in four different areas: curriculum and instruction, classroom environment, management of students and parents/guardians, and professional responsibilities toward the School. Follow-through on whether these goals are actually met occurs over meetings and informal/formal observations throughout the year; informal observations occur on a weekly basis.

Teachers strategically set annual goals with their administrative departments to enhance their effectiveness and PD, creating a structured framework for self-improvement and evaluation. These goals often align with pedagogical advancements, student engagement, or technology integration. Establishing measurable objectives enables educators to track progress, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. By reflecting on teaching methodologies and adjusting strategies, teachers ensure adaptability to evolving educational landscapes. Annual goals not only enhance classroom practices but also contribute to teachers’ overall evaluation, highlighting commitment to growth and student success. This intentional goal-setting process empowers teachers to refine their skills and elevate the quality of education they provide.

The administrators routinely visit classrooms and conduct mini observations to assess faculty instruction practice. The administrators value active participation in the classroom to support instructional practice. Feedback is offered in written form and through conversations, ensuring there is appropriate follow-through on the part of faculty in the interest of improving their practice. For faculty expressing interest in participating in more PD (e.g., visits to peer schools, attending workshops), administrators and faculty work together to research and seek out opportunities that support growth in areas centered around the teacher’s goals.

The evaluation program is able to assess faculty competencies, which help advance the mission as well as promote DEI and student well-being through a variety of components. The faculty is observed and evaluated based on their alignment with the School’s mission and values. They are assessed on competencies as they pertain to curriculum development, promoting an inclusive environment within their classroom, along with creating a sense of belonging for all of their students. Throughout the evaluation process, principals and supervisors encourage PD for ongoing development in areas related to DEI and student well-being.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT SUBMITTED BY:

Pre-K–5th Grade Curriculum and Educational Programming Sub-Committee

Melinda Velez, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Ethical Culture, Chair

Joan Arrowsmith, Pre-K–2nd Grade Librarian, Fieldston Lower

Keeniun Brumskill, Executive Director of Community and Social Impact

Dani Cardia, 5th Grade Head Teacher, Fieldston Lower

Shawn Chisty, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Fieldston Lower

Jen Cooley, Math Specialist, Ethical Culture

Rob Cousins, Principal, Ethical Culture

Kate Culligan, Social Studies Lead, Ethical Culture

Laura Feinberg-Smith, Kindergarten Head Teacher, Fieldston Lower

Cathy Fleischmann, Assistant Director of After School and Auxiliary Programs, Ethical Culture

Tim Garcia, DEI Lead, Fieldston Lower

Hilary Harris, 2nd–3rd Grade Math Specialist, Fieldston Lower

Shannon Matlovsky, DEI Lead, Ethical Culture

Joe McCauley, Principal, Fieldston Lower

Larry McMillan, Math Specialist, Ethical Culture

Cristina Mella, Spanish Teacher, Fieldston Lower

Jessica Panek, 3rd–5th Grade Librarian, Fieldston Lower

Matthew Panek, Language and Learning Specialist, Fieldston Lower

Barbara Porto, Language and Learning Specialist, Ethical Culture

Nelson Sanchez ’07, 3rd–5th Grade Ethics Specialist, Ethical Culture

Emily Sleasman, Kindergarten–1st Grade Math Specialist, Fieldston Lower

Min Young Song, 1st Grade Head Teacher, Fieldston Lower

Peggy Tsue, Math Coordinator, Fieldston Lower

Claudia Weber, 4th Grade Head Teacher, Ethical Culture

Michael Wilkinson, 4th–5th Grade Math and Science Specialist, Fieldston Lower

6th–12th Grade Curriculum and Educational Programming Sub Committee

Alwin Jones, English Department Chair, Fieldston Upper, Co-Chair

Cornelia Locher, Tate Library Department Chair, Co-Chair

Jon Alschuler, Principal, Fieldston Middle

Nancy Banks, History Teacher, Co-Dean of Student Engagement, Fieldston Upper

Stephanie Behrens, Science Teacher, 8th Grade Level Coordinator, Fieldston Middle

Stacey Bobo, Principal, Fieldston Upper

Keeniun Brumskill, Executive Director of Community and Social Impact

Tom Christensen, Music Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Stephen Chu, Math Department Chair, Fieldston Upper

Paul Church, Science Department Chair, Fieldston Upper

Melanie Cooper-Leary, Language Department Chair, Fieldston Upper

John Dwinell, Physical Education Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Rachel Ehrlich, Ethics Department Chair, Fieldston Upper

Mollie Glasser ’06, English Teacher, 6th Grade Level Coordinator, Fieldston Middle

Ben Horner, Science Department Chair, Fieldston Middle

Laurie Hornik, English Department Chair, Fieldston Middle

Abena Koomson-Davis, Ethics Department Chair, Fieldston Middle

John Kurtz, Math Department Chair, Fieldston Middle

Keira Lapsley, History Department Chair, Fieldston Middle

Clare Mottola, Co-Dean of Student Engagement, Theatre and Dance Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Gus Ornstein ’94, Director of Athletics

Miriam Paterson, History Department Chair, Fieldston Upper

Angie Pillier, DEI Lead, Fieldston Middle

Francesca Pisa, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Fieldston Middle

Kelly Sigro, Science Teacher, 7th Grade Level Coordinator, Fieldston Middle

Melissa Solano, Learning Center Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Joe Watson, Learning Specialist Representative, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Scott Wolfson, Visual Arts Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Professional Development Sub-Committee

Shawn Chisty, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Fieldston Lower, Co-Chair

Katrina Kaesar, Associate Director of Human Resources, Co-Chair

Noah Arhm Choi, DEI Lead, Director of the Progressive Teaching Institute, Fieldston Upper

Nikki Buccello, Form Dean, Math Teacher, Fieldston Upper

Jetty Castro, Director of Human Resources

Kim Deveaux, Ethics and Technology Lead, Fieldston Lower

Karen Drohan, History Teacher, Testing Coordinator, Fieldston Upper

Jessica Galarza, Administrative Assistant to the Administrative Council and Professional Development

Shannon Matlovsky, DEI Lead, Ethical Culture

Francesca Pisa, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Fieldston Middle

Savi Tuber, Grade Dean, History Teacher, Fieldston Middle

Melinda Velez, Assistant Principal of Academic Life, Ethical Culture

Governance Section 3

SECTION CHAPTERS

Organizational Structure

Communication

Trustee Development

Recruitment

Self-Evaluation

Strategic Planning

Mission Manifest

Master Plan

Executive Leadership

Compensation and Evaluation

Risk Management

Financial Oversight

Institutional Advancement

The School’s governance is led by a Board of Trustees with clearly defined roles and responsibilities that are key to the sustainability of the School. The governing body attends to implementing new policy and making changes in existing policy, all within the spirit of the mission of the School, and consistently exercises its fiduciary responsibility while delegating the operational and educational functions of the School to executive leadership.

Scan to find supplemental documents for the NYSAIS Self-Study for the decennial accreditation of Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

Organizational Structure

ECFS is governed by a Board of Trustees. Our Trustees play a shared role in leading the School, focusing on governance while the Head of School and Chief Executive Officer oversee management. Their primary responsibilities are to set policy, monitor the functions of the School, and collaborate with the senior administrative leadership to steward the financial health of the institution, ensuring that the necessary resources are in place to further our mission and achieve strategic priorities.

Among the Trustees are alumni, parents/guardians, faculty, leaders of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and Honorary Trustees who act in the undivided interest of the School to carry out our mission with integrity and DEI, both today and into the future. In accordance with our bylaws, as amended on June 15, 2020, the number of Trustees may be increased or decreased by action of the Board, provided that the number of Trustees shall at all times be no less than five and no more than 30 individuals. The Board is currently composed of nine Trustees elected by and from their respective constituencies and 21 Board Trustees.

Constituent Trustees include three Trustees elected or appointed by the Society for Ethical Culture, one Trustee elected by the Parent and Teachers Association (P+T), one Trustee selected from the Fieldston Alumni Network (FAN), and one Trustee elected by the faculty of each of our four academic divisions. Constituent Trustees serve a term of two years for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The proportional representation of the Society for Ethical Culture on the Board shall be maintained such that after every seven members have been added, the eighth member will be a Society Trustee.

While the Board of Trustees is not responsible for any organizations other than the School, the School is affiliated with the New York Society for Ethical Culture, pursuant to a Memorandum RE: A New Affiliation of the Society and Schools, agreed to and accepted by the Society and the School on April 6, 1995.

Board Trustees are presented by the Governance Committee for election by the Board at its annual meeting and serve a term of three years for a maximum of three terms. The terms of Board Trustees are fixed so that the terms of one-third of such Trustees, as nearly as possible, expire annually on June 30.

The Head of School and Chief Executive Officer serve as ex officio Trustees. The President of the Society for Ethical Culture also serves as an ex officio Trustee, provided that they are not already appointed to one of the three constituent seats allotted to the Society. The former Chairpersons of the Board of the School and former Presidents of the Society serve as honorary nonelected Trustees during their lifetimes.

Reflecting the School’s ethos, the composition of the Board of Trustees is intentionally

designed to provide representatives from all constituencies the opportunity to participate in the governance process. This inclusive approach not only allows for a broad spectrum of perspectives, fostering a sense of collaboration and shared responsibility, but, by including a diverse range of skills and knowledge, also enriches the decision-making processes and leads to well-informed policies that directly align with the community’s needs. The presence of a constituency board further enhances transparency and accountability and builds trust and confidence that decisions are being made with consideration for the interest and welfare of all community members. When operating within the current structure of our governing body, the Governance Committee must carefully consider any real or perceived conflicts of interest in advance of meetings. This consideration and examination ensures that the respective member is excused from any discussions or decision-making that their potential conflict may impact.

The Officers of the Board include a Chairperson elected by and from the Board, ViceChairperson, Treasurer, and Secretary appointed by the Chairperson in consultation with the Head of School and Chief Executive Officer. Officers serve for a one-year term, except for the Chairperson, who may serve up to two consecutive two-year terms.

The School’s governance is facilitated by a well-structured committee system, with specialized committees addressing key aspects of our operations. This includes committees focused on executive matters; governance; finance; audit and risk management; investment; buildings and grounds; institutional advancement; executive compensation and evaluation; retirement fiduciary responsibilities; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and the School/Society relationship. This structure promotes a focused examination of program areas through proper oversight and better aligns the School’s mission with our specific objectives.

Communication

Communication from the Board of Trustees occurs via community broadcast emails and direct community engagement through in-person events and activities. Broadcast messages often revolve around topics such as school leadership, fundraising launches, annual increases in student tuition, messages of gratitude and reflection, and messages of unity through moments of hardship. The Board also communicates the opening letter in the Annual Report of Giving with the Head of School and provides information through the ECFS Reporter Magazine and Fieldnotes, a monthly digital newsletter. Members of the Board also attend a number of school events, including the annual Commencement ceremony and Founder’s Day ceremony, directly engaging with the community during these occasions.

Trustee Development

Orientation for new members of the Board of Trustees traditionally occurs each September during a virtual retreat co-hosted by the Chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer. This orientation includes topics such as the School mission, vision, and values; Board of Trustee structure; Trustee roles and responsibilities; finances and stewardship; and administrator-Board relations.

Trustees are encouraged to forward our mission by:

• Building strong relationships, seeking to understand, offering support, and being solutions-minded

• Gaining trust through honesty, integrity, humility, authenticity, and transparency

• Holding themselves and others accountable to meet their commitments to the School and to each other

• Communicating through civil discourse and the use of meeting norms

• Communicating externally by developing and delivering a regular cadence of communications as ambassadors of the School, speaking with one voice

• Engaging in conversations through motivation and mission alignment

As stewards of our resources, each Trustee has a fiduciary responsibility to the School for sound financial management through obedience, care, and loyalty. Trustees achieve this by contributing financial support, playing an active role in annual and capital giving, and overseeing the finances through investments and audits of spending. While Trustees do not become directly involved in specific management or curricular issues, orientation discusses the importance of setting long-term strategic policy in the interest of the institution, not the individual. Finally, Trustees are empowered to support, nurture, evaluate, and compensate the School’s executive leadership in order to realize our mission to inspire a diverse and joyful community of passionate learners, critical thinkers, and ethical individuals who aim to make the world more humane and just.

In recent years, orientation has included a review of critical materials, including the NAIS Trustee Handbook, NAIS Trendbook, and NAIS Principles of Good Practice, which differentiate the role of the Board from the Head of School. New Trustees are provided with a digital copy of the whistleblower policy, calendar, and contact sheet. The Board also requires all Trustees to annually sign a conflict of interest statement that outlines areas of potential conflict, delineates instances where Board members must disclose financial information and affiliations, and indicates those occasions when Trustees must recuse themselves from board business.

Through a refined orientation program with content that clearly outlines the role of a Trustee, new members are provided with the information and resources required to begin their tenure as effective Trustees prior to the first meeting of the Board. While full

orientations may not be scheduled in years when there are few new members of the Board, individual onboarding will continue to occur as needed. Additionally, all Trustees are invited to participate in the NYSAIS Trustee series and the annual governance conference to grow in areas such as foundations of governance, DEI, parent/guardian relations, and Board culture. Trustees are also invited to participate in other local, regional, and national conferences as topics become relevant.

Recruitment

The sustainability and self-perpetuation of the Board requires us to prioritize the recruitment of new Trustees. When evaluating the composition of the Board, we consider an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities, mission alignment, diversity, affiliation (e.g., parent/guardian, alumni, friend), availability, and ability to support development activities, among other factors.

Central to the School’s mission is teaching all of our children to approach the world with empathy, compassion, and understanding. To that end, our Board of Trustees actively works to recruit Trustees from different backgrounds and perspectives to enrich our deliberation and policymaking. These efforts are being constantly assessed and examined to increase their success.

Equity is similarly critical, meaning that the Board works to challenge bias and discrimination of any kind and aims to give true equal opportunity, access, and treatment to everyone in our community, regardless of identity. Our efforts toward equity include implementing and overseeing, in partnership with the School’s legal counsel, a reporting system for all community complaints related to bias, bigotry, or racism. To further promote access to the Board, individuals are identified each year through recommendations to join Board committees as advisors in order to increase their exposure and further develop them into potential Trustees. After a candidate has been identified, they are vetted through the Governance Committee and reviewed with school administration. Careful consideration is paid to developing potential Board leaders on matters of governance.

Self-Evaluation

Trustees complete a Board of Trustees self-evaluation survey as a method of reviewing Board performance and Trustee engagement. This survey measures the Board’s ability to adopt appropriate policies to ensure compliance with applicable laws as well as our methods to prevent conflicts of interest on a constituency board. Additionally, the survey examines Trustee perception of their orientation and onboarding, the way in which senior executive leadership is reviewed, and whether discussions at the Board level remain relevant.

These surveys help ensure that Board goals and focuses are strategic rather than tactical and prevent overreach into managerial decisions. Additionally, Trustees engage in self-evaluation, which ensures they feel that their opinion is respected and valued and measures the Board’s ability to adapt. The Governance Committee actively maintains Trustee compliance with our bylaws and, in conjunction with the Chairperson, decides when appropriate remediation plans (e.g., additional training) may be necessary.

Strategic Planning

The Board develops strategic initiatives and undertakes strategic planning through a collaborative, authentic, and structured process. In partnership with the relevant committee and School administrators, the Board conducts a thorough assessment of the current state of a program, building, or operation (including an in-depth analysis of its performance); financial health; and other relevant factors. At times, these initiatives are borne from acute emergencies, such as a global pandemic, or, more often, from routine feedback collection, goal-setting exercises, and vision planning.

To ensure a holistic understanding of the School’s needs and aspirations, each planning exercise involves the engagement of a variety of stakeholders, including parents/ guardians, employees, students, neighbors, and community members. Key priorities are further refined by the Board to ensure they align with the overall goals, mission, and values of the institution. In addition to ensuring due diligence through goal-setting and financial analysis, most planning exercises are overseen by a steering committee which will take the initiative from planning to implementation to feedback and monitoring. This dynamic, collaborative, and data-driven process is best characterized by the manner in which we set our annual tuition. Through the use of NAIS DASL and other methods of interschool data sharing, Trustees use relevant benchmarks when establishing and making tuition, investment, and employee compensation decisions. In addition to our use of benchmarking data and engagement with peer institutions, our decision-making processes ensure that factors such as gender, diversity, and cultural competency are thoughtfully considered. This includes prioritizing feedback from families to add additional holidays, such as Diwali and Eid al-Fitr, to our annual calendar. The Board also actively discusses health and wellness initiatives to ensure ECFS remains an inclusive and welcoming environment that is responsive to the needs of children.

Mission Manifest

Pared to its bare essentials, the 2013–2018 strategic plan, Mission Manifest, focused on two major components:

1) making manifest in the life of our School our founding mission, and 2) making intentional and visible our aim for the highest quality in everything that we do. To that end, Mission Manifest set goals that enabled our School to epitomize an innovative and inspirational 21st-century model of progressive education; to revitalize Felix Adler’s ethical imperative; to ensure that this imperative lives visibly in all that we do; and to nurture and sustain our resources, both human and material, toward these collective, long-term aims.

Specifically, this strategic plan provided the context and opportunity for the School to advance the practice of progressive education through the following:

• Reinvigorating the Pre-K–12th Grade world language program with international partnerships and multicultural learning experiences

• Cultivating the expansion of the PTI

• Commissioning a space utilization study of the Tate Library and Ethical Culture campus

• Developing new service learning programs

• Increasing the endowment for financial aid and establishing ECFS as the leader in preserving affordability for all families

• Developing the role of the Green Dean, who keeps the sustainability perspective front of mind in school programming and operations decisions

Master Plan

One of the goals of Mission Manifest was to commission a master plan for both the Manhattan and Bronx campuses that is deliberate and aligned with the School’s mission. Beginning in 2017, the School developed the master plan, Advancing the Mission: A Vision Plan for 2020.

While specific initiatives were identified in the strategic plan for early development and implementation, the mandate for the master plan was deliberately unconstrained; the team was encouraged to “think big” and comprehensively about the School and how it might anticipate and integrate physical change both short and long term. Consistent with its own ever-evolving, openly questioning, diverse, and creative culture, ECFS sought a plan that would be visionary and aspirational as well as pragmatic and doable.

Specifically, the master plan sought to do the following:

• Enhance our culture of “doing” by adding a maker space to Fieldston Lower and Design Studios to Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

• Transform the Tate Library into a 21st-century space that is as conducive to collaboration as it is to quiet study

• Construct an interdisciplinary academic building at Fieldston Upper, where students can synthesize and apply concepts from science, math, engineering, technology, social studies, and art

• Enrich the feel of the Student Commons as a means to create a multipurpose supplementary space necessary to fulfill the School’s academic goals and alleviate the pressure on some overscheduled spaces

• Recommit ourselves to sustainability by advancing our landscaping practices and environmental enterprises

While we have not yet been able to complete all aspirations outlined in the master plan, such as the interdisciplinary building and landscaping initiatives, we have been able to make meaningful and intentional changes to the Tate Library, Student Commons, and design spaces.

[ Tate Library

We transformed Tate Library’s signature 1970s building into a learning commons for the entire campus. In support of our mission of ethical learning, academic excellence, and progressive education, the building’s new, open, spacious interior provides greater access to books, information, and technology and enables multiple modes of teaching and learning. A transformed interior layout, technology infrastructure, environmental systems, and lighting enhance the user experience and meet evolving future needs. Careful zoning of activities and acoustical treatment — as well as new enclosed collaboration rooms, offices, and support spaces around the perimeter of the building — fosters individual and collaborative work.

[ Student Commons

We transformed an existing assembly space within a historic building into a flexible Student Commons. Originally the School’s cafeteria, the Commons is now a flexible shared space where both Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper students can study, socialize, or relax. A double-height space with soaring ceilings, the Commons also offers a large assembly space for student and staff events. The full interior renovation includes new interior finishes, millwork, furniture, lighting, technology infrastructure, and mechanical systems. The furniture is designed to be highly used with the active student body in mind, who reconfigure the space hour-to-hour.

[ Adler Labs

We fully renovated our 700s building basement to create new instructional spaces for architecture, engineering, and graphics classes. New design studios, a print center, a computer lab, and offices support the design and science classes that encourage students to ideate, design, and create their own projects. The full interior renovation

includes new finishes, millwork, furniture, lighting, technology infrastructure, and mechanical systems. The bright new Design Studios are full of tools and materials for a range of hands-on, active lessons.

Similarly, the Adler Lab was built as a third-story addition to Fieldston Lower. This collaborative space provides a home for math, science, social studies workshops, music, art, and woodshop courses.

Executive Leadership

Since our last accreditation process, the Board has conducted two comprehensive national searches for the role of Head of School. The touchstones of each of these processes were thoroughness, inclusivity, community involvement, and transparency. After retaining consultants, the Board of Trustees appointed a Head of School search committee composed of Trustees, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents/guardians, and a member of the Society for Ethical Culture.

A position statement was crafted following the solicitation of input from all members of the community. The search committee sought a Head of School who would demonstrate a deep commitment to the founding principles of ethical learning, academic excellence, progressive education, and equity and inclusion, as well as a genuine desire to engage actively on both the Manhattan and Bronx campuses in every aspect of school life. The search process prioritized candidates who we believed would embrace and communicate a vision established by our founder for progressive pedagogy, ethical learning, and academic excellence in all aspects of school life. The committee kept the community informed about the search, providing detailed updates through broadcast email communications.

Over the course of this search, we were exceedingly pleased with the number of candidates who applied for the position and who wanted to lead our institution into the future. Consistent with the values and mission of our School, our search processes prioritized DEI to ensure that the pool of candidates reflected the diversity of the city in which we live. The search committee had the pleasure of meeting with many of the candidates and, once narrowed down to semifinalists, ensured each of the candidates had the opportunity to join us on campus. During these visits to each campus, employees at large were able to meet the candidates and submit a series of questions for the candidates to address.

The Board of Trustees takes its role in supporting the Head of School and senior leadership team seriously. We provide direct support to the Head of School and Chief Executive Officer through regular committee meetings, routine meetings between the

Chairperson and executive leadership, routine email communications, and informal phone calls. Promoting and cultivating this relationship ensure that the School operates cohesively and fosters a collaborative environment that benefits both the executive leadership team and the entire institution. This commitment to open communication and mutual support strengthens the foundation of effective leadership, ultimately contributing to the overall success and well-being of the school community.

Compensation and Evaluation

We believe that our executive compensation program is a management tool that, when aligned with an effective performance plan, is designed to support, reinforce, and align our values, educational strategy, and operational and financial needs with the end goal of supporting outstanding student success. The School’s compensation program is designed to attract, motivate, and retain talented leaders who drive the institution’s success. The Chairperson, Head of School Compensation and Evaluation Committee, and, when applicable, search consultants work together to determine the executive’s compensation. We use local peer schools’ Head of School compensation as a benchmark and consider experience, housing and benefits, compensation of other administrative leaders in the institution, competitiveness of salary in the New York City market, and other factors in making our determination.

The Head of School is evaluated by the Chairperson through the use of an evaluation tool adopted from the guidance materials provided by NYSAIS. These adapted questions allow the Chairperson and the Board as a whole the opportunity to annually review the performance of the School’s executive leadership.

Board members are educated about the boundaries and distinctive roles of the Board of Trustees versus that of the School administration. While the Board continues to have ultimate responsibility in ensuring the School’s fiscal soundness and policy development, matters of programs, operations, and general decision-making are always referred to School administrators. The Board may exercise oversight and provide feedback through a series of Board committees; however, the Board speaks with “one voice” to external partners in support of the decisions of the administration.

Risk Management

The School is committed to maintaining a work environment free from sexual harassment, a form of workplace discrimination. All employees are required to refrain from and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Employees are urged to report sexual harassment by filing a complaint internally with ECFS. Employees can also file a complaint with a government agency or in court under federal, state, or local antidiscrimination laws.

Preventing sexual harassment is everyone’s responsibility. ECFS cannot prevent or remedy sexual harassment unless we know about it. Anyone who has been subjected to behavior that may constitute sexual harassment is encouraged to report such behavior to a supervisor, manager, or the Human Resources Department. Anyone who witnesses or becomes aware of potential instances of sexual harassment should report such behavior to a supervisor, manager, or Human Resources.

All complaints or information about sexual harassment will be investigated, whether that information was reported orally or in writing. Investigations will be conducted in a timely manner and will be confidential to the extent consistent with a thorough investigation and remedial measures.

An investigation of any complaint, information, or knowledge of suspected sexual harassment will be commenced and completed as soon as possible. All persons involved, including complainants, witnesses, and alleged harassers, will be treated fairly. Investigations will be thorough and impartial. No decisions will be made about whether harassment occurred or what corrective actions should be taken until all relevant facts have been investigated and all parties have had the opportunity to relate their version of disputed events and present any evidence they may have.

If the investigation concludes that harassment has occurred, then corrective action will be proportionate to the offense and sufficiently serious to ensure that the misconduct stops and does not recur. In some cases, the corrective action may also be aimed at deterring others from committing similar misconduct. Corrective action may include separation of employees from each other, an apology, sensitivity training, demotion, suspension, or termination of employment. Repeat offenses will generally be treated more harshly than first-time offenses, though immediate discharge may be appropriate for a serious first-time offense.

In addition to sexual harassment prevention, each department and division head is responsible for the identification, mitigation, and prevention of risk to the assets and programs within their jurisdiction. This includes participation in risk identification and management exercises that may apply to the physical plant, campus safety and security, and health services programs, among others. Following the formal identification of a risk area, a manager is assigned to address the risk in a manner that protects the welfare of our community and property, and limits liability on the institution.

These administrators regularly present to the Audit and Risk Management Committee as a mechanism of oversight by the Board. In addition to their auditing responsibilities, this committee oversees the School’s risk and liability policies and procedures, including but not limited to the School’s whistleblower policy and insurance.

Financial Oversight

The finances of the institution are overseen by the Finance Committee, including the Retirement Fiduciary Subcommittee, Audit and Risk Management Committee, and the Investment Committee.

The audited financial statements are examined each fiscal year in August and September. These financial statements are developed by the administration, subjected to review and approval by the Audit Committee, and subsequently presented to the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees. The Finance Committee, during its routine meetings and budget sessions, is briefed on the updated forecast of the operating budget profit and loss statement. Within this statement, crucial schedules delineate aspects such as tuition, enrollment, financial aid, salaries, benefits, and capital projects. Simultaneously, the Investment Committee examines and assesses investment performance reports in its scheduled meetings, with a primary focus on the endowment and asset allocation of the investments.

The Finance Committee conducts a thorough examination and analysis of the yearly budget put forth by the administration during meetings taking place from October to January. Offering direction to the administration based on the School’s identified priorities, the committee zeros in on the School’s core mission to inform its decisions and grants approval to the annual budget. Additionally, the committee offers strategic insight to the administration for the multiyear projection. The Finance Committee also recommends annual tuition levels to the Board of Trustees as part of the annual budget process.

Additional information regarding our budget development process, including the information and data utilized in crafting our annual budget, is available in Section 4: Financial Sustainability.

Institutional Advancement

Board members are introduced to their roles and responsibilities regarding institutional advancement and fundraising during their new trustee orientation. This includes discussing the importance of contributing through financial support and playing an active role in annual and capital giving. Additionally, the Board approves capital campaigns and is actively involved in the campaign process through the Advancement Committee. The functions of this committee are to oversee, support, and report to the Board on all institutional advancement activities of the School. In addition to meeting or exceeding our fundraising goals each year, 100% of elected Trustees contributed to our latest Annual Fund.

Fundraising goals are determined in partnership with the School’s Chief Advancement Officer and may involve the engagement of a strategic fundraising consulting firm. The goals are determined not only by evaluating the annual budget against our anticipated fundraising capacity but also through direct community engagement.

To enhance our School’s experience for everyone over the coming years, the School recently instituted a survey to help us develop strategic priorities and plan for the future. In a community such as ours, made up of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, it is all the more critical for us to receive feedback and opinions from many perspectives as we develop priorities for the next capital campaign.

Past philanthropic initiatives have enabled ECFS to expand our footprint, deepen our programs, and enrich the educational experiences for all. Previous campaigns created opportunities for students to learn, grow, and thrive and for our faculty to challenge, collaborate, and inspire.

To ensure we prepare our students to meet the challenges of complex times today and become the ethical leaders our world needs tomorrow, we are strategizing for a capital fundraising campaign to build a transformative educational experience for every student. This campaign will enable us to:

• Reinvigorate our academic programs and drive curricular innovation

• Invest in our exceptional faculty and staff to best support the evolving needs of our students

• Enhance facilities so that our buildings and spaces are state of the art, making them most conducive to the ways that students learn best

• Continue our commitment to providing financial access, educational equity, and being a school filled with diverse global perspectives and experiences

Commendations

• The adoption of a policy on policy creation, review, and approval initiated the development of a series of school policies that were previously treated as informal practices. This includes policies on document retention, closed circuit television (CCTV) monitoring, named assets, external speakers, and child abuse and maltreatment, among others.

• The Board aims to follow governance best practices, enabling the administration to carry out its responsibilities without Board interference. It emphasizes focusing on high-level, mission-driven strategies.

• We ensured that our recent tuition increases remain well below our 10- and 20year averages.

• The execution of a master plan enabled the renovation of several academic and mission-critical spaces throughout the campuses.

• Leadership and oversight of two comprehensive and inclusive Head of School search processes.

Areas for Growth

• Execute strategies to promote the retention of senior administrative leadership to prevent attrition and loss of institutional knowledge.

• Prioritize the development of our Board leadership transition planning given the finite term limits of Trustees. This approach ensures the preservation of institutional knowledge and promotes a seamless transition process.

• Systematize a way in which committee assignments are made to ensure those with relevant knowledge and experience are represented on the appropriate committee.

Atif

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Section 4

Financial Sustainability

SECTION CHAPTERS

Enrollment Management

Admissions

Financial Aid

Finance

Financial Management

Administrative Operations

Audit and Asset Management

Advancement, Alumni Relations, Communications, and Events Development

Effective financial management and planning are essential to sustain the School and its mission. The School’s finance, advancement, admissions, and financial assistance practices and policies are prudent and in harmony with the established mission of the School. The policies, processes, and procedures by which students are attracted to the School, then selected, admitted, and supported, are also in keeping with the mission of the School and regularly assessed for evenness of application, integrity, and effectiveness.

Scan to find supplemental documents for the NYSAIS Self-Study for the decennial accreditation of Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

Enrollment Management

The School’s Department of Enrollment Management is responsible for the enrollment of the student population for Pre-K to 12th Grade, with the main entry points being Pre-K, Kindergarten, 6th Grade, and 9th Grade. The department is responsible for generating approximately 90% of the School’s revenue, which impacts the School’s ability to allocate institutional resources. The team has three Directors of Admissions, three Assistant Directors of Admissions, three Admissions Coordinators, a Director of Financial Aid, and a Director of Enrollment Management.

The Director of Admissions for Ethical Culture, the Director of Admissions for Fieldston Lower, the Director of Admissions for Fieldston Upper and Fieldston Middle, and the Director of Financial Aid report directly to the Director of Enrollment Management. The remaining members of the Admissions Office report directly to their specific division directors.

Admissions

Families who are interested in ECFS as a potential school for their child submit an application. This application is reviewed, and applicants are then contacted for tours, assessments, and interviews. Through this process, a relationship is cultivated with the family. Tours of the divisions are an integral part of the application process. Families applying for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade receive a tour of the division to which they are applying. These tours are led using a script and map by parent/guardian volunteers whom the Admissions Office has trained. Families applying to Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper receive a tour of the campus given by trained student volunteers from those divisions. In addition, the Admissions Office has a relationship with and membership in programs such as Early Steps, Prep for Prep, and Oliver Scholars, which refer prospective families to the Admissions Office. The department stays in contact with the programs throughout the application process regarding individual applicants.

The Directors of Admissions strive to stay current on the School’s programs. Some information is gathered informally by holding regular meetings with divisional Principals, attending faculty meetings, and joining all school events. Some information is gathered formally by means of email distribution and other communications about division changes and programming. The Director of Enrollment Management sits on the Administrative Council, where vital news about the School is shared. Admission is not automatic, and all applicants are evaluated according to the same criteria. All decisions about applicants — regardless of connection to the School — weigh the best interests of the individual child with the best interests of the School. Admission decisions have become more selective in an effort to continue providing access to families new to the School who represent the School’s mission and goals.

The Welcome Committee, a P+T-run committee, and the Director of Admissions in each division work together to pair each newly enrolled family with a current family. These buddy families meet before the start of the academic year and typically share interests and geography. Current families serve as a resource to the new family and help navigate life at the School. In the spring, an event is held in each division — a picnic in the Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower divisions and a dinner in the Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper divisions — where newly enrolled families are invited to meet administrators and the other newly enrolled families. For the incoming Fieldston Upper students, deans, faculty, and the Assistant Principal meet with each new family to create the student’s schedule for September. Students take in-house exams and are interviewed by faculty in the Language, Math, and Science Departments for proper placement. After admissions decisions are made, admission folders of students who did not matriculate are digitally stored for seven years.

[ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The School welcomes students from all demographics and socioeconomic backgrounds. ECFS can only accept international students if they have a visa to live and go to school in the United States. Regarding siblings, legacies, and faculty applications, ECFS prefers to keep families together, but admission is not automatic; all applicants are evaluated according to the same criteria. All decisions about applicants, regardless of prior family connection to the School, weigh the best interests of the individual child with the best interests of the School.

When filling out the application, prospective students and parents/guardians are provided the opportunity to self-identify by race, ethnicity, and gender. The options available for these demographic identifiers are predetermined by the application system, FinalSite.

The School, coeducational and integrated from the start, continues to serve a diverse population and strives to have that intentional diversity reflected in all of its programs. Adler, strongly believed in interrelatedness — the notion that every person impacts the lives of those around them. We follow this philosophy regarding diversity and inclusion throughout our admissions process. Admissions makes sure to reach out to applicants and partner with educational organizations and programs that refer prospective families to the School to ensure continued diversity.

The Admissions Office strives to continuously connect with communities, organizations, and individuals that support our goals of inclusivity, equity, and diversity. It is in making these connections, and continuing in the belief of interrelatedness, that we continuously stay true to that goal.

[ Admissions Data

Formal studies have not been conducted to examine the relationship between expectations for new students and their performance. Although no formal studies have been made and we have no formal procedures to assess the effectiveness of the admissions process, we receive informal feedback due to the composition of the Admissions committees.

At Ethical Culture, the Principal, two Assistant Principals, a Kindergarten Teacher, and the DEI Lead serve as members of the Admissions Committee for incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten students. At Fieldston Lower, the Principal, two Assistant Principals, the division’s Psychologist, and the DEI Lead serve on the Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade Admissions Committee. At Fieldston Middle, the Principal, Assistant Principals, a Dean, and a DEI representative serve as members of the Admission Committee for incoming 6th Grade, 7th Grade, and 8th Grade students. At Fieldston Upper, the Principal, Assistant Principals, the Director of Athletics, a DEI representative, a Form Dean, and a Student Support and Wellness representative serve as members of the Admission Committee for 9th Grade. These groups were created so that each applicant has the benefit of being assessed from multiple perspectives.

The Admissions Office has minimally changed its admissions efforts for Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower, while there have been some changes for Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ISEE/SSAT tests, which were previously required, were no longer required. Since COVID-19 has subsided, we are now testing optional. If an applicant would like to submit test results for the ISEE/SSAT, they can, and if an applicant does not want to submit test results, they need to submit a graded writing sample. Additionally, we have established a tour guide leadership program in Fieldston Upper as well as an online “Eagle Talks” program, hosted by current high school students, to provide information for and connect with Fieldston Upper applicants.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is need-based tuition given to families who qualify to offset the cost of an ECFS education. The grants range from $8,020–62,520. The financial aid program has always been important to the School’s mission. The School was founded in 1878 with the goal of educating the “working class child” from New York City. The financial aid program at ECFS is one of the strongest and most comprehensive of any independent school in the country. For the 2023–2024 school year, over 350 students, representing 22% of our student body, received financial aid awards totaling more than $17,000,000.

The School helps families receiving financial assistance by providing assistance for not only tuition but also for transportation, books, required trips, international trips, instrument rental, etc. Families are expected to apply annually as their needs may change. The School only provides need-based financial awards.

Many ECFS parents/guardians utilize the 10-month payment plan to help manage the cost of their payments for their children’s education. The Chief Financial Officer sets the financial aid budget. Administrators and faculty members with children attending

ECFS are typically granted more financial aid than they require in recognition of their contributions to our community.

The financial aid process is communicated via email to current families in September of the current academic year for the next year. For prospective families, financial aid information is communicated via the ECFS Admissions webpage.

Families are required to apply for financial aid through Clarity, a third-party application processing company. We ask families to apply between September and December 15, our official deadline for the upcoming academic year. Any current family or prospective family may apply for aid, although funds are limited in Pre-K. Once a grant has been awarded, we will consider an appeal if a family has additional information they would like to add to their file or if they feel certain information was not considered. Families who receive aid are required to apply for financial assistance every year because their financial circumstances may vary from year to year. This provides the School with the most up-to-date financial information to make sound decisions regarding awarding of grants.

[ Financial Aid Data

We use the Clarity application to help determine what a family can contribute toward educational expenses. A family’s financial need is the difference between the tuition charged and the family’s ability to pay. Families complete the Clarity application form online; the Financial Aid Office is then able to access the completed application in the Clarity portal set up for ECFS. The information provided in the application, along with the required submitted documents (recent taxes, pay statements, 1099s, etc.), is accessible to ECFS with a general recommendation from Clarity on a family’s ability to finance an ECFS education. The Financial Aid Office uses the assessment as a guide in allocating financial aid awards.

Other factors used when determining the financial need of a family include the number of children in the family attending tuition-charging schools, all sources of income and any savings, investments, and assets. ECFS is committed to making education affordable to all academically qualified students, regardless of their financial situation. This process allows ECFS the ability to adequately assess each family’s financial need in an equitable and ethical manner.

In the past five years, not many changes were made; however, the changes that were made led us to the decision to switch to Clarity, a new third-party application, for the 2024–2025 academic year. We switched to TADS many years ago, and it worked quite well for both the School and parents/guardians; however, a decision was made to switch to School and Student Services (SSS), a long-standing financial aid product. SSS proved to be laborious and difficult for parents/guardians and not very efficient for the Financial Aid Office. Thus far, Clarity has proven to be a user-friendly process for both parents/guardians and the Financial Aid Office.

Finance

The Division of Finance is responsible for a wide range of financial services including budgeting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, general accounting, contracts, investment management, and insurance for the School. The division manages an annual operating budget of $97 million-plus, an investment portfolio with a current market value of $104M million-plus, the annual audited financial statement, billing and collections of 1,660–1,700 students, and payroll of 600+ faculty and staff. The Controller and Assistant Director of Student Accounts report directly to the Chief Financial Officer. The remaining members of the team report directly to the Controller.

In June 2022, the School welcomed a new Chief Financial Officer whose prior roles included extensive financial experience in the higher education sector. In December 2022, the School also welcomed a new Controller who has strong audit experience as a Certified Personal Accountant for many years, followed by several years at a charter school/nonprofit. With this change in leadership, there has been and will continue to be a strong push toward improved planning, processes, policies, transparency, automation, compliance, and cost efficiency.

Financial Management

[ Tuition Revenue

A late fee is charged at the end of each month for overdue tuition payments. This was waived for the past several years due to COVID-19 and was reinstated at the end of November 2023. The policy is written and published in the enrollment contract for parents/guardians. Reminder letters are sent at least monthly to families with an outstanding tuition balance. During November and December, personal phone calls are made to families to inform them of the outstanding tuition balance. In April, a more direct communication is sent to families who still maintain an outstanding balance. The families may be asked to meet with the Chief Financial Officer if the account is not settled by May. If families do not fulfill their financial obligation, they will not receive an enrollment contract for the next academic year.

The School offers a tuition refund plan with an external vendor, AWG Dewar, that has been used for 50+ years. With over $86 million in net tuition revenue, the total receivable for the past three years was, on average, approximately less than $100,000, which is less than 1%.

The tuition gap, which is the difference between tuition revenue and expenses, is annually calculated and publicized to explain the need for increased donation support from our community. The other revenue lines outside of tuition have been a little under 20% of net revenue in the past several years. There is continued pressure to increase these other revenue lines. Tuition rate is the last estimate entered to finalize the annual budget. The Finance Committee makes a careful decision on the

[

tuition revenue budget forecast by analyzing the budget with multiple tuition revenue scenarios as well as comparing tuition information from peer schools.

Similar to our peer schools, the heavy reliance on tuition revenue is a vulnerability for the School. Because of that, we place much attention on the tuition rate and enrollment numbers.

Annual Budget and Financial Plans

The process for annual operating budget for the next fiscal year begins in September with a budget email sent to all division/department budget managers. The Controller and Chief Financial Officer meet with each budget manager at least once to go over their actuals and budgets to help them forecast for the following year. Financial resources are carefully allocated to fund mission-driven priorities through the operating budget. The budget is based on incremental budgeting that takes last year’s budgets and compares them to actuals and prior year actuals to prior year budgets to help forecast the following year. Budget managers make additional budget requests if needed, making sure to focus on programmatic and departmental needs. Budget savings are considered as well to offset these increases.

The initial draft of the annual budget is compiled along with a list of budget requests that are reviewed and prioritized by the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, and Head of School. By early December, there is a budget deep dive with the Finance Committee leadership.

Three Finance Committee meetings occur during the budget process. In October, the committee convenes to review the forecast of the current fiscal year, compare that against the current year’s budget, and provide guidelines on drafting the next year’s budget. In November, key financial areas are analyzed and presented, including a more in-depth review of admissions and financial aid. In early January, the committee reviews and provides feedback for changes so they can approve the budget for the final review to the Board of Trustees. In the January Board of Trustees meeting, the budget is presented and the Board approves the budget. Additional information regarding the involvement of Trustees in financial oversight may be found in Financial Oversight.

The School’s financial forecasting and planning are generally based on many variables, including personnel costs, bond principal and interest payments, and any related tuition increases. The Finance Office is in the process of creating a fiveyear financial projection in the next several months. The long-range financial plan ensures that with proper fiduciary management, the School will be able to maintain its commitment to its mission and priorities.

[ Financial Reporting

The Finance Committee meets a minimum of four times per year and is provided with an updated financial overview and reports. The Audit and Risk Management Committee meets once per year to review the audited financial statements and yearend results. The Board of Trustees receives periodic updates, and the final budget is presented to the Board of Trustees in January of each year. The School produces an annual report for the community that contains an overview of finances for the

institution. The Chief Financial Officer periodically presents financial budgets and reports to the senior leadership of the School. Detailed enrollment reports are sent to the Finance Committee leadership bimonthly from March to September. Internal financial reports are sent to each budget manager on a quarterly basis.

Administrative Operations

[ Purchasing

For some of the general supplies, faculty and staff use purchase orders, which are submitted to their division for processing. Once the Facilities team receives goods, receipts and items are matched. After the confirmation of the delivery and goods, invoices are processed for payment. In cases when the purchase order process is not utilized, faculty and staff will submit either the invoice or proof of purchase, and the department or division head signs off on the purchase prior to submission to the Finance Office.

Depending on the type of service, executed contracts are initiated between the vendor and the School. Contracts can only be signed by the Head of School, the Chief Executive Officer, or the Chief Financial Officer. Once an executed contract is in place, invoices are processed with approval from the budget manager and payment is initiated.

[

Resource Allocation and Trends

There are multiple policies and procedures in place to ensure that the School’s resources are used in a prudent manner. There is an expenditure authorization policy that outlines many of the School’s financial policies, including definitions of roles, expenditure authority, approval thresholds, and allowable/unallowable expenses. Budget managers approve each payment that comes out of their budget and are responsible for the adherence to school financial policies and procedures in the expenditure of the funds under their management.

The Chief Financial Officer and the Controller update the budgets and actuals quarterly and will both meet with each budget manager to go over these in depth four times a year. They both work with each division and/or department to help them maintain expenses, stay within budget, and address issues when they arise. A variance analysis is conducted and presented at some of the Finance Committee and internal budget meetings.

The administration uses data to inform overall financial decision-making through financial planning, analysis, and reporting. Some examples include using average historical data when appropriate to forecast data and running data reports to understand what impact any changes in that year’s actual revenue and expenses would have on the current and following year. A summarized operating budget with actuals, cash flow projections, revised budgets, and other key financial information are presented to the Finance Committee four or more times a year so that it may stay informed to help protect the assets of the School.

The School will transition its financial system from Senior Systems to Blackbaud in July 2024. Blackbaud is the premier financial system used among many of our peer

schools. The new system will include accounts payable, budgets, cash, accounting, tuition billing, and purchase orders. This system transition will provide more up-to-date information and improved reporting that will lead to more streamlined decision-making and opportunities for automation of manual processes.

[ Salaries and Benefits

Salaries for faculty members are based on years of experience according to a step scale outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between ECFS and the FIC. Faculty advance one salary step per year.

The Human Resources Office determines salary ranges for each administrative role, which are competitive, equitable, and commensurate with experience. The divisional leader and Human Resources determine responsibilities, necessary skills, and required qualifications to create comprehensive job descriptions for each role, which guide the salary range for each role. Salary ranges are posted with each job opening in compliance with New York State and City Pay Transparency Laws. Additionally, the Human Resources Office is in the process of building salary bands for administrative roles, which will be disseminated to our staff population for increased transparency.

Benefits are offered to regular employees scheduled to work at least 17.5 hours per week or are classified as 0.50 full-time equivalent (FTE) or greater. Temporary employees scheduled to work 17.5 hours or more are eligible for benefits after 90 days of employment. In accordance with existing law, variable-hour employees are eligible for health benefits if they average at least 30 hours per week between the first and last days of each academic year.

Staffing determinations are made in partnership with divisional heads, the Chief Financial Officer, and Human Resources, and are ultimately approved by the Head of School or Chief Executive Officer. The Human Resources Office is a partner in helping ensure salaries correspond appropriately with job skills, requirements, and relevant experience, and ensure internal equity.

Equity in the hiring process and resulting compensation ensure that those who are qualified, regardless of background, have a fair opportunity for employment. To that end, hiring committees for each open role are carefully formed and include a member of the Belonging and Social Impact team. Search committees for faculty roles include the divisional Principal, Assistant Principals, Department Chair, grade-level teachers or faculty who also teach in the related discipline, and divisional administrative employees. Hiring committees for administrative roles consist of current members of the divisional team as well as members of other administrative teams who will work closely with the individual selected for the role. Belonging and Social Impact team members are also included in search committees for administrative roles.

Audit and Asset Management

[ Auditing

When selecting the auditing firm, the administration sends out requests for proposal (RFPs) and reviews them. The administration interviews and recommends the finalists to the Audit and Risk Management Committee. The Audit and Risk Management

Committee of the Board of Trustees approves the final decision.

The annual close process begins at the end of June when the fiscal year has come to an end. Final purchase orders and payment requests are due to the Finance Office two weeks prior to June 30. All entries are logged into the general ledger and closed during the month of July. The audit schedules are prepared and submitted to the auditors along with the final trial balance by the end of July. Management will maintain a review and continually update the auditors throughout the completion of the audit in order to identify significant payments processed after June 30 that may be related to services pertaining to the audit year. Field work for the auditors begins in the first or second week of August, and the audit is completed during the month of September. The final financial statements are presented to the Audit and Risk Management and Finance Committees of the Board in October.

The Form 990 is prepared between December and May of each year. The auditors prepare the Form 990 based on the audited financial statements, and administrators review the draft Form 990. Once finalized, the Form 990 is presented in depth to the Audit and Risk Management Committee leadership for review and approval prior to submission to the IRS.

Based on the management letter, recommendations are taken into consideration for administrative changes. The administration reviews the recommendations and implements appropriate measures to address issues as necessary. The School reconciles financial reports to GAAP audited financial statements during the fiscal year-end audit process. Upon the fiscal year-end closing, internal reports and trial balances are reported to the auditors and reconciled. Management is implementing accounting close procedures to provide more timely account reconciliations and financial statements by the end of the fiscal year in order to avoid the delays highlighted in the FY23 management letter. The new Blackbaud system will also help ensure that this is done.

[ Debt and Assets

The School currently has approximately $20.9 million in debt outstanding of the original $49.355 million consisting solely of the series 2015 bonds secured to finance the construction, renovation, furnishing, and equipping of various buildings. The bonds were issued as a loan agreement between Build NYC Resource Corporation and ECFS. The aggregate debt service schedule is front-loaded and is scheduled to be amortized in 2035. It is an accelerated bond payment where, in 2024, the bond

payment of $5.87 million will be at the highest level and then will significantly decrease to roughly $1.74 million. Going forward, all debt will be paid out of the operating budget. The total annual debt payment amount will be less than 2% of the operating budget for 10 years starting in 2025.

In 2017, the School contracted a full campus master plan to assess the needs of the School based on community input and the School’s guiding principles and mission. Sustainability as a guiding principle was addressed in the addition of new energyefficient equipment added to the physical plant, as well as environmentally friendly architecture and engineering choices, such as the windows of the Tate Library and energy-efficient HVAC units. The School is currently working to meet New York City’s 2030 carbon-neutral goals and comply with local laws that limit the usage of fossil fuels. Upcoming capital projects will be in line with ECFS’s sustainability goals. These projects will be funded through a capital campaign as well as additional donor funding.

Advancement, Alumni Relations, Communications, and Events

The Advancement, Alumni Relations, Communications, and Events Office (AACE) is responsible for fundraising activities that directly impact the operating budget, financial aid resources, and capital needs of ECFS. The team works on a number of activities each year and produces close to 90 events, 30 appeals, and countless communications.

Over the past five years, the Development Office has been expanded and restructured to include a Director of Development who oversees all operations of the Development Office. The Director of Development reports directly to the Chief Advancement Officer. This restructuring has helped to significantly increase the Orange Fund, ECFS’s annual fund, revenue from $3.8 million to $4.8 million in FY23. Parent/guardian participation has increased from 63% to 73%, and leadership gifts of $10,000+ have grown over 20% since last year, making up 73% of Orange Fund donations in FY23. This is critical as the School prepares to launch the next capital campaign.

The Development Office oversees a robust and very active group of Orange Fund volunteers, Form VI volunteers, and leadership volunteers. The Alumni Relations Office also works with a team of alumni volunteers called FAN, and the Events and Parent Engagement team works closely with P+T committees around community engagement, which are composed of parent volunteers. Working across these sub-teams creates a stronger connection and sense of belonging within the community, ultimately increasing giving for the Orange Fund and other special campaigns.

The AACE team utilizes Raiser’s Edge to maintain a database of over 20,000 prospective and current donors, maintain secure mechanisms for our donors to make gifts, research and cultivate prospective donors and track news items related to our constituents, provide accurate tax reporting to all donors, solicit gifts via mailed and online appeals, secure restricted gifts for school priorities, and provide content for the ECFS Annual Report of Giving.

In early 2023, the Advancement Office was restructured to include the Communications Office, which now reports to the Chief Advancement Officer. The transition to working within the Advancement Office transformed from a team offering communication services and expertise to a true partnership. The overall approach of the Advancement Office is to create community cohesion through clear communication of the School’s mission in everything that we do and engagement of all constituents through volunteering, giving, and sharing their stories with the community.

The Director of Communications sits on the Administration Council and is responsible for school-wide communications, external marketing, and crisis communications support. The Communications Office works closely with other internal constituent groups to understand the overall fundraising, enrollment, and marketing strategies, as well as parent/guardian and alumni communications.

Development

The Chief Advancement Officer reviews and discusses the School’s immediate and long-term plans and needs with the Head of School and the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Financial Officer provides financial data to help with planning. The School is currently undergoing a capital campaign planning study process to determine the scope and focus for the next capital campaign. The work of the capital campaign will raise funds to sustain and propel the School into the future and make investments in infrastructure, programs, and financial sustainability. This requires careful planning to determine the financial needs.

The overall fundraising goals are proposed by the Advancement Office after reviewing trends from the previous year and projecting growth for the year ahead. The goals are then reviewed by the Development Committee, Head of School, and Chief Financial Officer. Specific fundraising activities are planned by the Development Office in partnership with the Director of Alumni Relations and the Director of Events and Community Engagement. Once a plan for the year is mapped out, the Development Committee and the Head of School are asked for approval.

Parent/guardian and alumni volunteers may suggest ideas for specific fundraising activities; the Development Office may incorporate these plans into the overall fundraising plan for the year based on feasibility and anticipated results.

Working closely with the Chief Advancement Officer, the Board of Trustees Development Committee partners with the professional staff to solicit major gifts from individuals for the Orange Fund. Prospective major donors are assigned to a trustee solicitor; trustees are encouraged to solicit prospective donors peer-to-peer or with staffing support present.

Staff provide monthly reports to keep trustees up to date on giving and contact information as well as reminders to follow up with prospects. Additional information regarding the involvement of Trustees in fundraising may be found in Institutional Advancement.

The goal of the AACE team has remained consistent in the past five years — to build a culture of philanthropy and community engagement among parents/guardians, alumni, grandparents, and parents of graduates — but some of the strategies have slightly changed. Below are a few ways the School has adapted to the changing landscape externally and internally:

• The Advancement Office has changed, grown in personnel, and restructured into four teams: Development, Alumni Relations, Events and Engagement, and Communications. Over the past several years, there has been significant staff turnover, including five heads of the office and four Directors of Alumni Relations. Currently, the Advancement Office includes 16 employees, and there is a strong emphasis on cross-collaboration and communication.

• In the past few years, a significant emphasis has been placed on leadership giving. Appeals include direct asks and, when appropriate, an ask to increase gifts. There are now five full-time front-line fundraisers, an increase from two or three as in years past. Each fundraiser works with specific constituents and has a unique portfolio of donors to cultivate, steward, and solicit.

• There has been a large emphasis placed on new parent/guardian engagement through events early in the academic year, one-on-one outreach, and personalized connection from volunteers and staff. As such, new parent/guardian giving trends have increased, both in dollars and participation.

• Several new development platforms have been rolled out to help manage volunteers, provide stewardship, and elevate online presence during giving days. Platforms include Gravvty, GiveCampus, Double the Donations, DonateStock, and Gratavid.

FINANCIAL

BY:

• In the last five years, the School has introduced special giving days, including a campaign for GivingTuesday. The first GivingTuesday appeal in 2018 raised $100,000; in 2022, GivingTuesday raised over $820,000 for financial aid. Keiko

Rose

Section 5

Operations

Student learning outcomes are driven by experiences that occur far beyond the four walls of the classroom. Not limited to traditional lectures and textbooks, learning at ECFS is a holistic process that recognizes the value of practical application, hands-on experiences, and diverse interactions. Learning happens through the exploration of our spaces, in student publications, through advocacy initiatives, and on digital platforms.

From the dining hall and the school bus to the Nurses’ Office and the campus safety command center, our educational programs, services, and operations reflect our mission by enabling and nurturing our students’ ability to make realistic changes within their communities. The Division of Operations is a multidisciplinary network of departments dedicated to not only ensuring the smooth operation of the institution but also establishing operational functions and offerings that are aligned with the School’s broader mission and values.

SECTION CHAPTERS

Communications

Internal and External

The Evolving Needs

Campus Safety

Access Control and CCTV

Emergency Management Plan

Campus Services

Bookstore and School Store

Design Center

Dining Services

Document Services

Health Services

Transportation

Facilities

Energy and Sustainability Programs

Environmental Health and Safety

Capital Planning

Human Resources

Recruitment and Staffing

Onboarding Practices

Professional Development for Non-Teaching Employees

Student Attendance Offices

Technology

Technology Integration

Training

Community Engagement

Communications

AACE is committed to telling the story of ECFS in a strategic and engaging way that creates opportunities for all constituents to feel a sense of belonging; a connection to the mission; and inspired to contribute time, talents, and treasures to advance the School. Additional information about the Offices of Alumni Relations, Advancement, and Events is available within Section 4: Financial Sustainability.

The Communications Office at ECFS is pivotal in disseminating timely news and information to the School’s community. At the forefront of this mission, the team collaborates with key stakeholders, including the Head of School; Principals; Administrative Council; Advancement Office; and departments such as Belonging and Social Impact; Campus Services; Auxiliary Services; Enrollment Management; and Athletics. By strategically aligning efforts, we amplify the School’s voice and ensure a cohesive flow of communication to enhance engagement and connection among all constituents. Communications is managed by the Director of Communications, who reports to the Chief Advancement Officer.

Internal and External Communications

The internal and external needs of the School encompass a wide range of communication styles, channels, and outcomes. Internal communication includes all communications with currently enrolled families, faculty and staff, and students, while external communication includes alumni, prospective families, parents of graduates, and the broader world.

Internal communication needs include sharing updates from the classroom; communicating about logistics, safety, and institutional priorities; inviting community members to events and activities; fundraising; and reminding students and parents/ guardians about important requirements and deadlines. We use the Google Suite platform of applications for communication between students and faculty, among faculty and staff, and between faculty and parents/guardians. Parents/guardians also receive communications through the PowerSchool application.

The Communications Office manages an email calendar and builds and sends all largescale emails via Mailchimp to ensure consistent dissemination of communications and ensure the tone, style, and intent of messaging align with the School’s communication priorities. Additional news and updates are shared via weekly digital newsletters, microsites, and direct email.

ECFS also communicates with internal audiences through printed pieces, including the ECFS Reporter magazine, the Fieldston News student newspaper, admissions materials, and fundraising appeals; these publications are also offered digitally to ensure accessibility. Lastly, our internal Design Center staff and in-school printing press functions support many aspects of internal communications and event signage. In

cases of emergency or weather-related closures, the School Messenger platform, social media, and emails are used to alert and notify parents/guardians, faculty, and staff with timely communications.

External communication needs include building positive brand awareness, telling the story of the School to prospective families, and maintaining a strong connection between alumni and ECFS. The primary external communication tools are the website and social media. The main connection channel for alumni is email communication, but the School also utilizes an alumni website through Finalsite called Fieldston Connect.

The official ECFS social media accounts — Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn — are valuable storytelling resources. Maintaining a regular social media presence with 3–5 posts per week supports the internal and external communication needs related to storytelling — creating a public perception of the School and sharing specifics about what is happening in school. Lastly, signage around our two campuses and buildings is useful for communicating, providing directions, and ensuring safety.

The Evolving Needs of Communications

There has been a marked shift in transitioning communications from print to digital for almost all outreach. This shift allows us to deliver information more quickly, more frequently, and in a more targeted manner. ECFS utilizes myriad digital platforms to support user-friendly experiences, design options, and stronger communication toward specific targeted groups (athletic teams, parents of graduates, faculty/staff, etc.). The platforms allow for greater resource-sharing, collaboration, creativity, and timely delivery of school news both internally and externally.

However, increased opportunities for providing information have also required increased strategic coordination among the many constituency groups and the Communications Office. Guidelines and systems are in place to ensure consistency in information, avoid redundancy, and maintain quality control. Our Communications team partners with the Head of School Office and administrative departments, academic divisions, parents/ guardians, alumni, faculty/staff, and trustees for support. We also oversee the schoolwide calendar and manage the editorial/email calendar for the School’s outreach to constituent groups to ensure further streamlined and consolidated processes for both. The Communications Office and the Design Center staff collaborate to ensure visual consistency with internal marketing and promotional pieces. Lastly, since the COVID-19 pandemic, meeting virtually via platforms such as Zoom and Google Meetings has provided additional communication channels as well as greater accessibility and more opportunities for collaboration.

[ Methodologies

ECFS’s goals, policies, and priorities are shared with our constituents in many ways. Student, family, and faculty/staff handbooks include official school policy information. Weekly emails from Division Principals to their respective faculty and staff include information and reminders about school policies and priorities. The Head of School, Division Principals, and Fieldston Upper and Fieldston Middle Deans address school goals and policies with parents/guardians and students during in-person and

[

virtual forums throughout the academic year. ECFS created an internal microsite for faculty and staff to access school-wide resources easily. The School shares relevant news and updates with our local government officials and attends community board meetings when applicable. We also share our goals and priorities with other educational professionals and peer schools by attending educational conferences and through LISTSERV forums coordinated by NYSAIS.

School Website

Our external school website, www.ecfs.org, serves as a comprehensive showpiece for external audiences and a portal to PowerSchool for internal audiences to access more information. The website is filled with information about the School and is designed to provide a detailed summary of ECFS. With in-depth information about the ethos of the School, each division, and different subjects as well as information about how to apply, the website is a strong resource for all audiences. The school website is also the primary platform that hosts longer editorial stories and curated photo galleries to tell the story of daily life at ECFS. It is the initial entry point for prospective families (e.g., Admissions) and an entry point for donors to the School. These pages contain links to microsites or partner platforms used by Admissions, Advancement, and subprograms such as ECFS Summer Camps.

In the 2023–2024 academic year, PowerSchool was repositioned as the primary resource hub for current families and includes information for internal uses only. By moving information onto a password-protected platform to which only current families have access, the School consolidated where families go to access information and protected internal processes and logistics. As with all things digital, ECFS works to ensure new digital platforms are accessible on all computers and phone screens, as well as to audiences with visual impairments.

[ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

ECFS officially communicates policies and practices related to equity, access, belonging, and inclusion through various channels, including our website; on microsites; in enrollment information; on job postings; and in the student, family, and employee handbooks. Additionally, ECFS’s commitment to DEI is featured in dedicated sections of our website, including the “Our Commitment to Diversity” page, our “DEI Frequently Asked Questions” page, and within our “Stories” section. Storytelling is an effective way to illustrate ECFS’s commitment to celebrating and acknowledging diversity in all its forms. This is also evident in our weekly divisional newsletters from Divisional Principals to parents/guardians and faculty/staff and in monthly digital newsletters from the Head of School and the Communications Office to all of our constituents. The School’s commitment to belonging is prominently featured in admissions materials and videos, fundraising appeals, messaging about schoolsponsored events, and in printed publications.

Areas for Growth

• There are opportunities to make our digital sites and platforms interconnected and intuitive. The School’s new Director of Technology and his team are key partners and have identified opportunities to streamline where internal constituents access information.

• Additionally, the Department of Enrollment Management and the Communications Office are working with the Technology Department and divisions to close the gap in information sent to families between official enrollment and entry into our database and parent/guardian portal systems.

• We plan to strengthen guidelines around creating and using affiliated social media accounts (i.e., sports teams, clubs, etc.). With the advances and use of AI, ECFS can also be proactive in protecting our students’ images and likenesses and our faculty and staff members’ intellectual property.

• Lastly, it will be important to update all signage around the buildings to reflect the new School logo, to identify departments and offices, and to add more directory maps for visitors, new students, parents/guardians, faculty, and staff.

Campus Safety

The Department of Campus Safety provides comprehensive safety services, including monitoring entrances and exits, vehicle and traffic management, safety patrol, CCTV, escort of visitors, and access services. Services are coordinated closely with local law enforcement agencies and neighboring institutions and organizations. The department’s mission is to maintain a safe and secure campus environment that is conducive to learning, working, and visiting. Campus Safety is managed by the Director of Campus Safety, who reports to the Chief Executive Officer. Watch Guard 24/7, a regional thirdparty security provider, provides Campus Safety employees on both campuses.

Access Control and CCTV

Ethical Culture is a self-contained division located in Manhattan in a building adjacent to the New York Society for Ethical Culture building. These buildings are connected via alarmed doorways at the basement, 1st, 4th, and 5th floors, which are consistently monitored by the School with CCTV and access control. Cameras and control points are managed by the Assistant Director of Campus Safety and the campus safety officers who are stationed at the front desk in the School’s lobby.

Fieldston Lower is also a self-contained building with CCTV and access control points at all exit doors. Likewise, Fieldston Middle is a self-contained building, with the exception

of a connected bridge from the 1st floor of Fieldston Middle to the Student Commons in Fieldston Upper.

While the Fieldston campus is inherently porous, we have made significant progress in securing our campus over the past seven years. Fencing, campus safety booths, and driveway gates have been installed on the perimeter of the Fieldston campus to mitigate the potential for unauthorized visitors. The Fieldston campus offers 24/7 security coverage, with a supervisor always on duty. A campus safety officer covers each of the four entry points in addition to around-the-clock patrols. During patrols, officers look for open or unlocked doors, windows, etc. It is also their responsibility to look for potentially hazardous situations and correct those situations or report them to the appropriate department. This is the case for both the Fieldston and Ethical Culture campuses. The Campus Safety Command Center, which a campus safety officer maintains at all times, is located in the 600s building on the Fieldston campus.

Additional improvements over the past several years include a modernized CCTV, additional cameras, the installation and implementation of access control card readers, and the outfitting of audible alarms on appropriate doorways. In total, the Ethical Culture campus contains 37 CCTV cameras and the Fieldston campus contains 181 cameras. [

Arrivals and Dismissals

The arrivals and dismissals of students and employees at both campuses are managed by Campus Safety. The Fieldston campus requires traffic control due to the number of buses and passenger vehicles operated during both arrival and dismissal. Officers are staged strategically on campus to assist with vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The Ethical Culture campus safety officers assist with loading students onto buses and directing pedestrian traffic and parent/guardian pickup.

Emergency Management Plan

The School’s Emergency Management Plan (EMP) was designed to assist in planning for and responding to emergencies and other adverse conditions that may disrupt normal operations of the School. The plan provides operational and administrative guidelines necessary to effectively manage various situations the School could encounter. The guidelines in the manual also provide the required framework critical to recovery from such situations and for the successful restoration normal School operations.

The purpose of the plan is to establish the organizational structure, policies,

and procedures to be used by the school when preparing for and responding to emergencies. The EMP serves as a guide for the protection of life and property in emergency situations through the effective use of institutional and community resources while minimizing adverse effects on the School community. The EMP is designed to supplement current emergency safety procedures by providing the framework for a consistent, defined, and effective response when an emergency occurs.

The primary goal of the EMP is to ensure the protection of life, property, and brand reputation; the control and minimization of loss or damage; and the restoration of normal operations. Specific objectives include:

• Establishing and identifying the overall Emergency Management Team

• Delineating authority for decision-making, operational coordination, institutional response, and resource allocation to manage the emergency and ultimately restore normal operations

• Providing a general reference guide for emergency response policies, procedures, and operations

• Identifying methods for ongoing assessment of the plan’s effectiveness and testing procedures

The EMP is reviewed annually to ensure it remains responsive to the changing needs of the School. All suggestions, recommendations, or requests for procedural changes to EMP guidelines are submitted in writing to the Director of Campus Safety for review and consideration. All changes recommended by the Director of Campus Safety are implemented with the approval of the Chief Executive Officer, and the School’s Administrative Council is subsequently notified of any changes to the plan. The plan is sent out annually to all employees and is available on the school-wide resources website and the ADP portal. A quick reference version is posted in each classroom. Likewise, families are provided with an updated plan when changes are made, and it is accessible to parents/guardians on the family portal.

The Director of Campus Safety, the Director of Facilities, and the Director of Campus Services consistently monitor compliance requirements promulgated by local, state, and federal partners and communicate such information to the School as required.

[

Science Laboratory Safety

ECFS has three laboratories in Fieldston Upper and one laboratory in Fieldston Middle. Several members of the Science Department maintain certificates of fitness for chemical storage and handling, and the Science Department and the Facilities team test the safety equipment in the labs. Fume hoods are tested and certified once per year by a third-party company.

[

Training and Drills

Training and drills happen routinely throughout the academic year at the discretion of the Director of Campus Safety and in accordance with New York State Education Law § 807. State law mandates eight fire drills and four lockdown drills during the academic year. The following drills may also be conducted at each campus: shelter in place, early dismissal, missing student, and school bus safety. Campus Safety tracks

all drills on the ECFS Emergency Drill Tracker.

Campus Safety personnel participate in active shooter, first aid, and anti-bias training. Finally, the School has increased the number of automated external defibrillators (AED) on both campuses, with three devices on the Ethical Culture campus and 17 devices on the Fieldston campus. These devices and their associated equipment are inspected biannually through a third-party vendor.

Areas for Growth

• The public address (PA) system on the Fieldston campus is antiquated and requires modernization to cover more areas of the campus. Currently, the PA system on the Ethical Culture campus is in good working condition with the appropriate coverage.

Campus Services

The Department of Campus Services is responsible for managing many of the auxiliary and administrative support services that shape the student experience at ECFS. Our mission is to provide ECFS students, faculty, staff, and community members with highquality, sustainable auxiliary services that mirror the School’s commitment to ethical leadership and progressive education. We believe that ethics should not end at the four walls of a classroom. Rather, the study and practice of ethics is a commitment to upholding our moral principles and shared values through all operations of the School. We do this by:

• Conducting requests for proposals, contract negotiations, and business operations with integrity and in good faith

• Continuously reviewing quality assurance standards to identify aspects of the campus services system that require improvement

• Supporting sustainable procurement, using locally sourced products, implementing intentional environmental practices, and ensuring safe working procedures

• Regularly engaging with students, faculty, staff, and parents/guardians to review and address service delivery questions and ideas

The Department of Campus Services is managed by the Director of Campus Services, who reports to the Chief Executive Officer. Additionally, the Assistant Director of Campus Services and the Operations Assistant support the administration and oversight of services.

Bookstore and School Store

ECFS partners with Follett Virtual Campus to host our virtual campus bookstore. With three distinct terms — summer, full year, and spring only — the bookstore allows families to view and purchase course materials associated with their child’s classes. The bookstore is designed for Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper courses, and its book list is received from the associated department chairs.

As of this year, Follett Virtual Campus also hosts our consumer products and branded merchandise platform. This consolidated school store experience allows students, families, and employees to more easily purchase ECFS merchandise and spirit gear. In addition to the virtual School Store program, employees and parent/guardian volunteers may utilize spirit gear for on-site sales or special pre-order events.

As part of our commitment to access and equity, all textbooks provided through Follett Virtual Campus are eligible for financial aid assistance through the Office of Financial Aid. The Campus Services team works closely with academic administrators and department heads to ensure that the affordability of textbooks and apparel remains at the forefront of planning.

The Spirit Gear Advisory Committee is charged with advising the Campus Services team on matters related to branded merchandise and the School Store. Composed of parents/guardians from all four divisions and staff members from Athletics, Events and Engagement, Communications, and Campus Services, this committee fosters collaboration, promotes engagement, and delivers feedback several times yearly.

Compliance Programs

The health and safety of our students and employees are top priorities for the School. Campus Services ensures school-wide compliance with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York State Department of Health laws, policies, and regulations.

In accordance with New York City Public Health Law Article 43, School Based Programs for Children Ages Three Through Five, Campus Services maintains the School’s Article 43 Safety Plan. This plan includes institutional policy information related to health care, emergency management, facility operations and maintenance, general supervision, dining services, and parent/guardian/child orientation. To comply with this law, the School conducts an annual test for lead-based paint, biennial soil tests, and quinquennial lead tests in faucets and fountains.

Campus Services is also responsible for ensuring compliance with the New York City Public Health Law Article 49 for Schools and advising dining services on the New York City Public Health Law Article 81 for Food Preparation and Food Establishments. Additionally, the School maintains its Limited Service Laboratory License with the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health governing COVID-19 antigen tests, blood glucose tests, and urinary ketone analysis for students with diabetes.

In partnership with local school districts throughout Westchester County, Campus Services consults annually with local educational agencies regarding equitable services

for nonpublic school students in accordance with the New York State Every Student Succeeds Act, Title I, Part A (Title I).

Design Center

The Design Center is committed to advancing design and art direction as a professional craft, strategic tool, and vital cultural force. Graphic Communications classes are taught in the Fieldston Design Center and Print Shop — Adler’s original maker space. The theme is “Learn by Doing,” and students explore print, motion, and interactive design while learning to shape the form and content of media across a wide spectrum of visual communications. The Design Center provides students with an introduction to visual problem-solving skills that help them communicate their ideas in new media. By working together in design teams, students learn “design thinking” and how to collaborate.

The Fieldston News, The Literary Magazine, Inklings, and the Fieldston yearbooks, Fieldglass and Milestone, are produced in the Fieldston Design Center by editorial staff. Student editors assume responsibility for all facets of each publication’s production. This is a valuable activity for those interested in all aspects of graphic design.

Each student receives a firsthand view of graphic design and the art of visual communication in a fully equipped studio environment. Typesetting and layout are done on a network of computers, each equipped with desktop publishing software. Fast and efficient publishing is accomplished by utilizing the Design Center ’s 20 Macintosh computers, one Desktop HP laser printer, one Canon Pro-4000 44”-wide format printer, two FormLabs 3D printers, and one Konica/Minolta AccurioPress C4080 production color copier. Students learn to create more complex artwork with the help of four Cintiq 21UX interactive pen displays, which allow students to work directly on the screen.

Dining Services

ECFS is committed to showcasing fresh, sustainable, and locally sourced products through the School’s breakfast, lunch, and catering offerings. AVI FoodSystems, Inc. (AVI) manages the dining services program under the Fresh@ECFS culinary brand, which is designed specifically for ECFS. Fresh@ECFS is a whole new vision and comprehensive approach to our dining services program, backed by an unwavering commitment to freshness in every phase of preparation and service.

The culinary program plays an integral role in student and parent/guardian satisfaction. The AVI vision centers on a fresh food-forward model whereby skilled culinarians prepare nutritious meals every day from scratch with the freshest ingredients. AVI

creates healthy features and lighter alternatives at each of our divisions, including freshcut fruits and vegetables, fresh fruit yogurt parfaits, salads, soups, and other seasonal options. The team utilizes easy-to-understand labeling to identify wellness selections and relay important allergen information, helping every student make smarter, healthier dining choices.

The AVI DISH website is an online virtual platform that showcases each division’s menus to students and families. The website allows users to remove dishes that contain products they may not be able to eat based on their allergen profile.

A continental breakfast is provided for employees at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower each day. The main lunch, called our homestyle dish, is designed to reflect seasonal food availability and classic comfort cooking. We also offer a “Clarity Plate” for students with allergies or dietary restrictions. The Clarity Plate serves a meal comparable to Homestyle, but it is prepared without the FDA’s Top Eight Allergens, mustard seeds, or sesame seeds. A salad bar, deli offerings, fruit and yogurt station, and two soups are also available daily.

A hot breakfast, including a made-to-order omelet station, is provided daily for Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper students and employees. Similar to the elementary school divisions, Homestyle and Clarity Plate options are offered, and an additional station, called roots, is provided each day, which features plant-based vegetarian entrees. A pasta station, salad bar, composed salad station, deli station, fruit and yogurt station, coffee station, and two soups are also available daily.

[

Allergen Awareness

ECFS and our partners at AVI take allergy and food sensitivities very seriously. We have worked closely with the divisional nurses, as well as dieticians and nutritionists, to develop an allergen safety program to educate our dining services team members and ensure that all members of our community are served a safe meal each day.

Our dieticians, in consultation with ECFS representatives, provide a system in which meals are served free of the FDA’s Top Eight Allergens — milk, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, soy, peanuts, and tree nuts — as well as sesame and mustard seeds. Although we will never serve a meal with peanuts or tree nuts, many of these other allergens may be found in our Homestyle hot meal station.

We created the clarity meal to accommodate our community members with allergies and food intolerances. The clarity meal is free of all the allergens listed above and is our dependable way of assuring the safety of those with allergies. We recommend that students who are unable to independently identify allergen labels on placards or menus enjoy the clarity meal each day. Clarity provides a nutritious meal comparable to the Homestyle station, featuring seasonal food availability and comfort cooking. While we can provide a full hot meal free of allergens, we are unable to provide the same assurances to the self-service salad bar and deli station. Due to the nature of a self-service station, other students may accidentally cross-contaminate a product that would normally be acceptable for a student with allergies. All food allergies, dietary preferences, or requests for carbohydrate counts are directed through the divisional Health Offices.

Each division hosts a Faculty/Parent/Guardian Food Committee composed of parent/ guardian, faculty, and administrative representatives. These committees meet three times per year and are responsible for:

• Providing a forum for conversation and feedback on the ECFS dining services program

• Reviewing and electronically commenting on the proposed cycle menus for the fall, winter, and spring

• Creating a forum to discuss and improve our allergen safety program, vegetarian and vegan options, catering program, surveys and feedback systems, and sustainability practices

[ Vending

The Fieldston campus hosts three vending machines — two snacks and one beverage machine — provided by My Three Sons Vending, a family-owned and operated service based in the New York Metro Area. The Energy Star®-certified machines accept Apple Pay®, Google Wallet™, cash, and debit or credit cards. Equipped with Golden-Eye and SureVend™, these product delivery systems ensure that customers receive either their chosen product or a refund. The machines are located in the lobby of the Varsity Gym outside of the Athletic Director’s office. While the machines are turned off during the day with automatic timers, they become active at 3:00pm to accommodate student athletics and after school activities. Product offerings include healthy, salty, and sweet snacks, and can be changed at the community’s request.

Document Services and Record Management

Quadient, an international company specializing in mailing equipment and business process automation, provides the School’s postage machines. The postage machines are leased by the School and maintained by the divisional main offices. Each of our main offices and the Department of Enrollment Management are provided with a machine for School employees to use in their work.

Records, including hard copy, digital, or other media, are stored in a protected environment for a duration outlined in the School’s Document Retention Schedule. This policy establishes a schedule to ensure that records are maintained and protected for a prescribed period of time in accordance with federal, state, and local laws. The schedule also ensures that expired documents are discarded at the proper time and in the proper fashion.

[ Paper Storage

The School has largely pivoted away from paper records and prioritizes using digital media and electronic formats and platforms to collect and communicate information that would have previously been provided or stored in paper format.

Any paper documents retained on-site, including financial records, personnel records, and student files, are maintained in locked filing cabinets. Student medical records of this format are protected under a double-lock system, which includes a locked cabinet and a locked office or closet door when not occupied by an employee.

Documents considered sensitive in nature, a unique original, or of noted significance that requires additional protection, such as life safety documents, legal precedence, charters, or critical decisions of the Board of Trustees, are stored in fire-protected storage containers of at least a one-hour UL fire rating.

Hard copy documents may also be retained off-site and are protected in partnership with Iron Mountain, a global leader in storage and information management services. The decision to move documents to off-site storage rests with the respective department head based on several factors, including the available real estate for onsite storage and the number of years since the document was originally created.

Records retained off-site may be accessed by designated School personnel through Iron Mountain Connect, a virtual platform provided by Iron Mountain that lists our physical inventory. Occasionally, the School may request records to be delivered for alumni requests or for the purposes of litigation. These records are typically delivered within 24 to 48 hours. [

Litigation and Destruction

Documents requested or subpoenaed by legally authorized personnel are provided within five business days at the direction of the Head of School. Documents are never concealed, altered, or destroyed with the intent to obstruct investigations or pending litigation.

According to the Document Retention Schedule, hard copies of documents are destroyed by shredding. The School partners with Iron Mountain or American Archiving and Shredding to destroy hard copies of documents and maintains certifications of their destruction. In good practice, the following documents are permanently retained: band schedules, calendars, community standards, course syllabi, handbooks, Head of School portraits, intellectual property records, schedule of classes, and yearbooks. [

Record Assignments

All corporate records, Board of Trustee records, management records, and contracts are the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Advancement Officer maintains institutional advancement and communications records. Financial records, tax records, insurance records, and payroll records are maintained by the Chief Financial Officer. Personnel, investigative, and legal records are the responsibility of the Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel. Buildings and grounds records are maintained by the Director of Facilities. Student medical records are maintained by the Director of Campus Services. Divisional Principals are responsible for the maintenance of instructional and student records. [

Digital Record Storage

All digital files are backed up both on-site (Rapid Recovery) and off-site (Glacier/ Carbonite) on a nightly or incremental basis with a 90-day retention and one-year archival retrieval. ECFS retains several cloud vendors for different services that maintain backup processes that meet the ECFS Technology Department’s best practice standards.

[ Digital Records — Alumni Relations, Advancement, Communications, and Events

The Advancement team’s related records are kept in a secure, cloud-hosted database management system: Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge. Copies of acknowledgment letters and donor lists are in a secure Google Drive folder only accessible by Advancement team members. For multiyear, endowment, or campaign gifts, the department issues letters of intent kept in the donors’ folders in Raiser’s Edge. These documents are shared when requested by the Finance Office or other departments. The Technology Department, the Chief Executive Officer, and members of the Advancement team have access to the Raiser’s Edge database. Deleting records is restricted to the Technology Department and Database Services within AACE. While the database contains sensitive information about constituents and their giving, it is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards and only stores the last four digits of credit card numbers. The Raiser’s Edge database and its logs are backed up daily on the Raiser’s Edge server.

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Digital Records — Human Resources

Over the past two years, the Department of Human Resources completed a project to digitize current employee personnel files utilizing GRM — a document management provider that stores personnel documents on a secure, centralized VisualVault Electronic Content Management platform. The migration of personnel documents to an electronic format has enabled the Human Resources team to access files more efficiently, mitigating the risk of lost, misfiled, or damaged paper documents. Personnel files include copies of new hire paperwork, employment contracts, offer letters, benefits information, performance evaluations, compliance training certificates, and payroll transactions.

The personnel files for employees who have separated from the School within the past seven years are kept in paper form on-site at 33 Central Park West, under the supervision of the Director of Human Resources. These records are kept in a locked room to which only the Human Resources team has access. Personnel records are destroyed seven years after an employee’s termination date. Requests by faculty and staff to review their personnel files are made to the Human Resources team, and a human resources representative is present during the employee’s review.

[ Digital Records — Finance

The 2023–2024 academic year will be the final year that the School will utilize Senior Systems for financial record-keeping. In July 2024, ECFS will transition to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT for all accounting purposes (i.e., accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, procurement, and assets). The Chief Financial Officer and the Finance team are working toward transforming internal processes to optimize the use of the new system. The transition will also bring a significant improvement in cybersecurity — Senior Systems currently resides on physical servers that are located on-site, while Blackbaud is cloud-hosted according to industry and ISO standards. This transition aligns with the Technology Department’s implementation of a three-year strategy to create a more unified and holistic system experience for all stakeholders.

[ Digital Records — Student Academic Records

The 2023–2024 academic year will be the final year that the School will utilize Senior Systems for student academic record-keeping. Student academic records will be maintained in PowerSchool, a cloud-hosted, password-protected database. ECFS has committed to going paperless and is working on a procedure to translate paper records into a secured cloud storage environment. This process aims to support the transition of information as students move through the School and to reduce the number of paper records that the School physically stores. The migration of student records to a digital format is also part of the Technology Department’s three-year strategy.

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Digital Records — Student Medical Records

Families are required to provide all requested student medical information and to ensure that the information is current while the student is in attendance at the School. ECFS uses an electronic medical record service, Magnus Health, to collect all student medical forms. Families may access the School’s families portal to log in to Magnus Health, complete the student’s required online profile, and print or upload necessary physician forms.

The Magnus Health software complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and restricts access to employees with a medical need-to-know as it relates to their work. New students are imported to this software through an integration with PowerSchool. Students are archived upon graduation; however, their data remains within the software and may be accessed by unarchiving the student’s profile.

Health Services

The Nurses’ Office’s role is to support our students’ overall well-being and health to help promote their academic success. The Nurses’ Office institutes health and safety guidelines, provides assessments for any injuries or illnesses, helps students manage chronic illnesses or life-threatening allergies, and assists in health education. In addition, the Nurses’ Office maintains student medical records and health information in accordance with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene requirements. Fieldston Lower has one registered nurse on staff, Ethical Culture has one registered nurse and one emergency medical technician, and Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper have a combined office with two registered nurses and one emergency medical technician on staff.

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Medical Information

The School requires that parents/ guardians submit certain medical information before their child begins attending classes. All students must have an updated electronic health

record completed in Magnus Health before the academic year begins. Requirements include the Student Vital Health Record (emergency contacts, physician contact, health history), an annual physical, an immunization record, a consent to treatment, a day-trip waiver, an athletic consent, and an over-the-counter medication consent. Additional requirements, if applicable, include action plans for asthma, allergies, diabetes, or seizures and a prescription medication form for each prescription taken while at school.

While some of these forms may require a physician’s signature, many of the requirements can be submitted electronically through the Magnus Health website or mobile application. Any changes in a student’s health status during the academic year — for example, any illness, medication change, surgery needed, etc. — should be communicated to the Nurses’ Office. This information is kept strictly confidential and is only shared with the School’s administration and faculty on a need-to-know basis.

ECFS complies with New York State law regarding immunization requirements for students. A record of immunization is required on the School Medical Form. Effective June 2019, New York State eliminated the religious exemption from immunization. Consistent with the law, ECFS will only permit medical exemptions from immunization.

Recently, the federal public health emergency declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic has ended along with the global public health emergency status declared by the World Health Organization. In alignment with various federal, state, and local partners, including the New York City mandate for municipal employees, the School concluded its COVID-19 vaccination mandate for students, faculty, and staff.

If a child requires prescription medication be administered during the school day or at school-related activities, ECFS requires that parents/guardians submit written authorization on the ECFS Prescription Medication Form in order for the School Nurse to administer such medications. The School Nurse will not give a child medication of any kind without such written authorization.

[ Emergencies

The School Nurse will attempt to contact a student’s parents/guardians regarding any serious illness or injury, but in circumstances that warrant immediate attention or when the School is unable to reach the parents/guardians, designated emergency contacts, or the student’s physician, the School Nurse will determine the appropriate treatment. In the event of a serious emergency, an ambulance will be called, the student will be taken to the nearest hospital emergency room, and at least one parent/guardian will be notified immediately.

Parents/guardians are expected to keep emergency information up to date in the Magnus portal. Parents/guardians will be notified of any illness or injury requiring follow-up medical care. A Consent to Treatment Form must be up-to-date and on file for every student, allowing the School to render treatment and obtain outside medical assistance when necessary.

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Communicable Diseases

Every season brings various contagious illnesses. The circulating and more common viruses in schools are colds, conjunctivitis, influenza, stomach bugs, and strep throat.

A student must be kept home from school under the following circumstances:

• The child has a fever of 100°F or higher (when the child has been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and has no other symptoms, they may return to school).

• The child exhibits diarrhea or vomiting that is not from motion sickness or gag-reflex-induced in the preceding 24 hours.

• The child has influenza. The child should return to school when ordered by their pediatrician and cases of the influenza virus should be reported to the Nurse’s Office to enable the tracking of the number of cases.

• The child has a bacterial infection, such as strep throat, that requires antibiotics; the child must be on antibiotics for at least 24 hours before returning to school.

Additionally, any student diagnosed with a fever while at school will be sent home immediately and cannot remain at school for any reason, including tests, quizzes, rehearsals, or athletic activities. A full list of the ECFS Health Policies are available at health.ecfs.org. Additional information on our mental health programs is available in Student Support and Wellness.

Transportation

Parents/guardians are responsible for deciding how their child will arrive at school on time and how they will travel home at the end of the school day. Some of the most commonly used transportation options are explained below.

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SuperSelby

SuperSelby (Selby) is the transportation vendor for private bus service. Selby provides designated-stop transportation for students at Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle, and Fieldston Upper to the Fieldston campus from Manhattan, the Bronx, and, depending upon ridership enrollment, parts of Westchester County and New Jersey. In some circumstances, designated-stop transportation is required if bus routes are expected to exceed 60 minutes. Families contract independently for round-trip or one-way service. Selby is responsible for managing routes and services. Due to low transportation enrollment, SuperSelby has not serviced Ethical Culture for several years.

[ Additional Methods of Transportation

• Earl’s Transportation provides limited bus service to Ethical Culture families living northeast of the Manhattan campus.

• Student MetroCards are provided to all eligible students.

• New York City Department of Education Yellow Bus Service is offered to all eligible students who do not enroll in the student MetroCard program.

• Metro North Railroad student discount tickets are provided to families as requested.

• MTA Express and Express Limited Buses, specifically BxM1 and BxM2, are utilized by some students traveling to the Fieldston campus.

• Westchester County Public School District Busing is provided by some municipalities to students living in Westchester County to the Fieldston campus (applications to these bus companies can be obtained by families directly from the local school board).

• Private car services may be utilized by families who prefer to do so. There are no parking spaces on the Fieldston campus for students. Students who drive to campus and park in the neighborhood are required to submit a signed student driver’s registration form. Any safety or parking violations will be reported to the student’s dean and parents/guardians. Repeated incidents will result in the revocation of driving privileges.

[ Commendations

• The Department of Campus Services — which includes the School’s Health Services function — spearheaded the School’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past several years to ensure the health and safety of our community. The department continuously reviewed public policy and scientific data and efficiently led the transition back to normal school operations.

• In coordination with the School’s physician medical director, the department developed ECFS Standing Orders — a set of policies that provides registered nurses with clear authorizations and scopes of practice to address a wide range of medical and traumatic emergencies.

• The dining services program prioritizes the reduction of food waste and remains dedicated to local and sustainable food practices. This year, the team transitioned to all organic fruits and vegetables and implemented a new system called “JAMIX,” designed to analyze food cost and pre- and post-production records to better minimize food waste.

Areas for Growth

• The Department of Campus Services will continue assessing the facility rental program and identify opportunities to streamline the application process and restructure the fee schedule in coordination with other key operational departments.

• Coordinate with Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper to develop realistic timelines for book ordering based on the academic schedule and faculty needs.

• Identify methods to improve the solvency of the transportation program at Fieldston Lower without increasing parent/guardian contract pricing.

Facilities

The ECFS physical plant includes the Ethical Culture building in Manhattan and an 18-acre campus in the Bronx with 14 buildings plus grounds, parking lots, two athletic fields, and an off-campus Head of School residence. Both campuses are managed by a Director of Facilities who reports to the Chief Executive Officer, and each location also has an Assistant Director of Facilities. The maintenance staff, outsourced since 2006 through Building Maintenance Service LLC, handles routine maintenance.

ECFS has a robust custodial care regimen with a subcontracted environmental services team of 14 team members on the Fieldston campus and six team members on the Ethical Culture campus. Much of the cleaning is conducted after school hours to minimize program impact. The cleaning supervisors on both campuses work closely with the Assistant Directors of Facilities to implement the School’s cleaning standards utilizing green seal-certified supplies.

Requests for custodial and maintenance projects are submitted to the Facilities Department by faculty or administrative staff for review and action. A facilities work order system exists for both campuses via Google Forms, while the facilities staff proactively identifies maintenance required in public areas. Work requests are prioritized in order of importance and completed as schedule and other constraints dictate.

Seven staff members on the Fieldston campus and two staff members on the Ethical Culture campus are primarily responsible for all maintenance requests, and small projects. Grounds care on the Fieldston campus is handled by the Grounds Supervisor and three technicians. Each campus also has one receiving staff who manages the receiving department.

Facilities staff respond quickly to emergencies to troubleshoot and minimize immediate damage. They are able to identify issues, make temporary repairs, and determine solutions. In the event of significant issues with primary infrastructure systems (i.e., plumbing, HVAC, or the pool), we rely on long-standing relationships and service agreements with third-party specialized service providers. Because many of these relationships are symbiotic, the School benefits from swift response times from its outside service companies.

The School has prioritized the addition of modern infrastructure dedicated to digital technology through a renovation of the Tate Library, the addition of the Design Center, a renovation of the Film Lab and, most recently, the addition of a Podcast Studio. Recent upgrades to the athletic infrastructure, including a full renovation of the weight room and resurfacing of the track, have showcased the School’s dedication to modernizing our facilities.

The Fieldston Campus has three gymnasiums; a track; two sports fields; a weight room; a yoga studio; trainers’ offices; and a 25-yard, six-lane pool. These facilities provide students with space for athletics, physical education, recess, and auxiliary programs.

Energy and Sustainability Programs

Sustainability and environmental stewardship are core principles of the Department of Facilities. The School has taken major steps to ensure all products used are environmentally friendly and all paper products use post-consumer recyclable materials.

ECFS has made strides in addressing environmental sustainability concerning our physical plant, achieving improvements in energy efficiency and reducing fossil fuels. We have implemented various measures to minimize environmental impact while significantly reducing operational costs, such as installing HVAC units to reduce the School’s dependence on oil heating. The School uses the Automated Logic building management system, which runs on the WebCTRL platform on the Fieldston campus and ABM Alerton on the Ethical Culture campus.

ECFS has always been on the leading edge of environmental awareness, exploring and pursuing green initiatives where appropriate and cost-effective. The Fieldston Middle building has received a Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designation. Five of the School’s buildings recently upgraded to electric-powered heat pumps to reduce the carbon footprint and comply with 2024 and 2030 local laws and environmental standards.

The School is committed to educating our community and taking action on living sustainably, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and preserving natural habitats and biodiversity. To that end, ECFS established an administrative position, the Green Dean, to help ECFS increase environmental sustainability. The Green Dean’s responsibilities include helping teachers develop curricula about sustainability, empowering the entire community to commit to sustainable practices, coordinating with the Facilities team to maintain grounds in ways that promote biodiversity, and educating families about sustainable practices in the home. Since the role was created, the Green Dean has designed and planted an outdoor classroom, introduced composting in conjunction with Dining Services, and developed a biodiversity map for the campus.

Environmental Health and Safety

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) mandates that building owners employ or subcontract a vendor with specified knowledge concerning fire panels, sprinkler systems, and standpipe systems. ECFS adheres to these requirements, updating and storing certificates and safety logbooks for the FDNY Inspector to verify. The Director of Facilities and Assistant Directors of Facilities all have certifications of fitness granted by the FDNY to conduct monthly tests of

certain critical fire systems. More intrusive inspections, such as fire alarm testing, are scheduled when school is not in session.

Safety is the Facilities Department’s top priority, and the team continually assesses compliance with applicable codes and regulations. ECFS leadership actively seeks input from the School community to ensure that our long-term plan adapts to the evolving needs of the School’s students and staff.

Capital Planning

ECFS is committed to safeguarding and revitalizing our physical plant and facilities for the future. The short-term capital expenditure plan involves regular assessments to gauge the condition of our infrastructure, pinpoint areas needing immediate attention, and identify potential upgrades to boost efficiency and safety. The School addresses urgent issues promptly while strategically allocating funds for planned maintenance and other fixes.

In 2017, the School crafted a long-term, comprehensive, forward-looking capital expenditure strategy that prioritizes the School’s overall health and mission. Sustainability is at the heart of this approach, incorporating energy-efficient solutions like LED lighting, smart climate controls, and eco-friendly landscaping, trimming operational costs and reducing our environmental footprint. Additional information on our latest capital improvements is available in our section on the Master Plan.

The governance of capital budgeting falls under the authority of the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Trustees. This committee allocates a portion of each year’s capital budget toward deferred maintenance. Expenditures and project completion are tracked closely and reported at each Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting.

Human Resources

The Department of Human Resources is managed by the Director of Human Resources, who reports to the Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel. This department is responsible for recruitment, hiring, training, employee relations, benefits, employment policies, and ensuring compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. The Human Resources team also supports the overall well-being and development of employees.

Recruitment and Staffing

The School’s approach to recruitment and hiring is designed to source and retain

individuals who not only meet the skill requirements of their roles but also align with the School’s mission and values and will contribute positively to the overall educational experience of our students.

Staffing determinations are made in partnership with divisional Principals, Department Heads, Human Resources, and the Chief Financial Officer, and are ultimately approved by the Head of School or the Chief Executive Officer. The divisional leader and Human Resources determine responsibilities, necessary skills, and required qualifications to create comprehensive job descriptions for each role. Job descriptions for promotions are also closely vetted by the Human Resources team before they are processed.

For more information on employee salaries, please visit our section on Salaries and Benefits.

Open positions are posted on various websites, including ones specializing in diversity recruiting, to attract a wide range of candidates. School representatives participate in diversity hiring fairs, including the New York Association of Independent Schools Job Fair to Promote Diversity. Job postings are also shared with internal employees by the Human Resources team, and a link to the recruiting portal is posted on the School’s careers webpage, enabling us to leverage existing networks and connections in our communities.

The School utilizes the ADP Recruiting Management platform to process and onboard new hires. Interested candidates apply through the ADP portal, and department heads or divisional leaders have access to review all applications and resumes. Applicants are screened based on relevant experience, skill sets, and interests, and are then invited to campus for interviews and classroom demonstrations (for faculty applicants), which trims operational costs. Additionally, Human Resources uses firms with expertise in relevant specialties to fill key leadership roles to cast a wider net and attract candidates nationwide. Most other roles are filled within three months.

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Addressing Bias

It is important for ECFS to reflect a diverse faculty and staff in order to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion for our students. A diverse workforce and student body promotes understanding and respect for different backgrounds and experiences and is critical to our School’s culture.

Addressing bias in the recruitment and hiring process is of paramount importance to the School in order to promote and ensure fairness, internal equity, and diversity. For more information on remediating bias in the hiring process, please visit the section on Salaries and Benefits.

The leaders at ECFS consistently reflect on the School’s overall population to foster diversity, inclusivity, and belonging. Our current faculty and staff embody a rich tapestry of individuals from various ethnicities, cultures, religions, backgrounds, and abilities, contributing to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Information and data collected in September 2023 for the annual Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission report indicates that 7% of our full-time faculty and staff identify as Asian, 13% as Black or African American, 15% as Hispanic or Latine, 9% as two or more races, and 55% as white (2% of our population did not disclose).

Onboarding Practices and Employee Workload

All new hires undergo extensive background checks prior to joining the School, and each employment offer is made conditional upon the successful completion and review of all federal and state guidelines and requirements as outlined by the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Child and Family Services, the New York State Department of Education, and the Department of Health. The preemployment process includes employment verifications, proof of mandatory vaccination compliance, fingerprinting to determine past criminal history, and a review of whether candidates are listed on the sex offender registry or the statewide central registry that screens for reports of child abuse or maltreatment. Human Resources verifies that all necessary documentation is completed and approved before any new hire begins work. New employees must also complete several trainings: mandated reporter, child abuse in an educational setting, sexual harassment prevention, and cybersecurity awareness. Employees hired into roles with Pre-K or Kindergarten students also complete additional training in compliance with Article 43 of the New York City Health Code, which includes Foundations in Health and Safety E-Learning and Emergency Preparedness Training.

New hires attend a comprehensive orientation program offered at the beginning of each academic year. Employees hired during the middle of the academic year receive a truncated version of the orientation and are also invited to attend the larger annual orientation program each year. Employees receive information about employee benefits and retirement savings, payroll, time off and leaves of absence, PD, and the Employee Handbook, which outlines ECFS’s policies and procedures. During orientation, new hires also receive information regarding finance policies and campus services, a campus safety and facilities overview, and an introduction to technology at ECFS. Divisional leadership meets with new faculty and staff to provide divisionspecific guidelines, and each new hire also attends a two-day diversity workshop. New employees also attend the School’s PTI, which includes a deep dive into progressive education at ECFS.

Faculty workload is determined by each division’s Principal and Assistant Principal for Academic Life. An FTE is assigned based on a teacher’s class load during each academic year, and faculty are provided with an employment letter stating their annual FTE and salary. The workload for administrative staff is determined by the appropriate managers in each department, in conjunction with their divisional leads, based on the appropriate responsibilities for each role.

Professional Development and Evaluation for Non-Teaching Employees

Administrators have access to a vast range of PD opportunities, including national and local conferences where they can learn best practices, understand new industry trends, and hone skills in their areas of expertise. ECFS maintains a PD website that continually advertises upcoming events and training sessions that apply to both faculty and administrative personnel. Employees regularly attend conferences offered by NYSAIS at the Mohonk Mountain House, and the School sends a cohort that includes faculty, staff, and students to the PoCC each year.

On-site training and support are offered to non-teaching personnel for immediate and long-term goal-setting in areas including technology tips, management skills, performance evaluation, effective communication, diversity initiatives, first aid, and CPR. Employees are also encouraged to attend training to continue or maintain certifications and licenses in their specific disciplines.

The School also offers tuition assistance to employees who are matriculating students enrolled in an undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral program. Full-time staff are eligible to receive $2,000 a year for up to three years.

Beginning in the 2021–2022 academic year, the Human Resources Department implemented a robust performance evaluation and review process for all full-time administrators. During the annual performance review, managers and employees engage in an interactive process by evaluating employees based on a review of ECFS’s 10 core tenets that reflect the School’s mission and vision. An in-depth assessment is made to determine whether an employee’s work is ethical, challenging, relevant, playful (collaborative), inclusive, responsive, empowering, experiential, healthy (time management), and interdependent. An additional five competencies are assessed for employees who manage others or hold key leadership positions in the School, including strategic decision-making, continuous improvement, planning and organizing, developing others, and delegation and follow-up.

The review process begins with each administrative employee completing a selfevaluation that documents their achievements and areas for development. Managers follow with an evaluation and written feedback on the employee’s performance over the past year. The Human Resources team ensures that a performance review is given to every administrative employee, and signed copies are returned to the Human Resources team for inclusion in each employee’s personnel file.

The Human Resources Department offers annual training to guide employees in completing their self-assessments and a training session for managers regarding writing and giving performance feedback. Goal-setting guidance is also offered to administrative staff during the year.

Areas for Growth

• The Human Resources team continues working with divisional and assistant principals to determine the appropriate FTEs for faculty. Student enrollment, course loads, and individual class sizes are all relevant data points in this analysis.

• The allowance of increased Human Resources presence in recruiting faculty roles would enhance the School’s efforts to reduce bias. More streamlined screening efforts, reference checks, and interview guidelines would benefit recruiting efforts and reduce the level of turnover for new faculty.

Student Attendance Offices

ECFS personnel understand the important relationship between student attendance and student achievement. Attendance is taken and stored in a number of systems in various ways. Divisions have developed their own approach to attendance management.

At three of our four divisional offices, we employ an Attendance Coordinator who is responsible for managing and monitoring student attendance in PowerSchool. These individuals report to the divisional Principal. The coordinators track daily and classspecific attendance and manage communications between the School, teachers, and parents/guardians.

All parents/guardians are responsible for notifying their divisional main office if their child will be absent, arriving late, or getting picked up early with a provided reason. All teachers are responsible for submitting their class attendance in PowerSchool within the first 15 minutes of class.

If a parent/guardian has not informed their divisional main office of their child’s absence and the teacher subsequently marks the child absent, the Attendance Coordinator will contact the parent/guardian via email and/or telephone to confirm the child’s absence. For any extended absences, a divisional administrator, or School Nurse if appropriate, will follow up with the family to understand the reason for the student’s absence. Administrators will partner with teaching faculty to develop a plan of action to support the student’s return to school.

In accordance with New York City Public Health Law § 43.21(d), when any child 5 years of age or younger is unexpectedly absent from school for three consecutive days, the School will telephone the child’s parent/guardian to determine the cause of absence and maintain a record of the telephone call and the information obtained.

Students are expected to be in regular attendance and to arrive to class on time because absences and tardiness affect the quality of their work and disrupt the learning of the class. A doctor’s note is required after an absence longer than three days, and a family conference may be required when a student has been absent 10 or more days. Excessive absences and tardiness may affect a student’s grades, including denial of course credit. A student may be asked to complete missing classwork at home.

At Ethical Culture, attendance is kept through a combination of classroom teachers, the School Nurse, and the main office, who make alterations throughout the day for late students and/or changes in dismissal. Daily attendance is kept via PowerSchool or, in the case of a substitute teacher in the classroom, written paper attendance. This area can be improved upon, given multiple parties are involved instead of a designated coordinator.

Ethical Culture does not make distinctions between unexcused and excused absences. All absences are noted in PowerSchool, often with notes of explanation. Parents/ guardians are called by the main office or School Nurse if students are absent without

notification from a parent or guardian. If a student exceeds more than 10 absences in total, they are contacted directly by the Principal or an administrator. A student’s total absences and latenesses in a given marking period are included in their school home report.

At Fieldston Middle, when students are at school, they are expected to be in attendance and on time for each scheduled class period. If a student misses a class period and the class absence has not been previously communicated to the School’s Attendance Coordinator, the student will be considered to have skipped class. A student who skips a class receives two detentions. If a student skips a class in which a quiz or test is given, they will receive a zero on the quiz or test.

If a student accrues three unexcused tardies to classes in one month, their parents/ guardians, their advisor, and the student will receive a warning letter. If the student receives additional tardies following the warning, they will serve lunchtime detention. If a student receives three or more unexcused tardies in subsequent months, they will receive detention immediately and their parents/guardians will be notified. Ongoing patterns of tardiness will result in a meeting between the student, dean, advisor, and parents/guardians to formulate a support plan and determine appropriate consequences.

At Fieldston Upper, students will receive a detention when they skip a class. Any student who has three unexcused tardies to classes will receive a detention.

Attendance for the School’s ASAP is taken in the Sawyer portal. ECFS Technology implemented an integration between the Athletics Department team management software and the Student Information System to support the faculty when tracking students’ absences and inclusion in athletics.

Technology

The Technology Department’s mission is to enable teachers to teach and students to learn. Overseen by a Director of Technology who reports to the Chief Executive Officer, the department covers a wide range of responsibilities designed to mirror the School’s educational philosophy.

At ECFS, we view technology in the classroom as a valuable teaching tool, similar to the more traditional instruments like protractors and dry-erase boards. We advocate for a balanced approach and encourage staff to include non-tech activities as part of each child’s development. Student-facing devices align with this philosophy and empower children to become content creators in areas such as art, music, 3D printing, coding, and typing. Our goal is to shift from passive content consumers to active creators.

Despite the effective functioning of technology within specific departments, leadership turnover has decentralized the technology program. In response, the Technology Department is now encouraging other departments and all divisions to embrace a holistic, whole-school approach. To address this shift, a three-year strategy has been put in place that aims to prepare the School for a comprehensive five-year plan set to unfold in 2026.

While all members of the department support the academic program, the partnership between each division’s Ethics and Technology Lead and the Technical Support Specialist is integral to our teaching and learning programs. The department provides PD and co-teaching during the school day, facilitates after school workshops, and conducts evening and vacation sessions for teachers and parents/guardians on topics such as social networking and internet use. The department also runs summer PD workshops for employees.

Technology Integration

The Technology Department employs 13 full-time staff. These team members’ expertise supports the School’s work toward its mission and includes server, network, and database administration; technical support; technology ethics; classroom integration; and technology leadership.

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Hardware and Software

Network infrastructure will go through an extensive refresh between 2023–2026 in partnership with our infrastructure contractor, Cisco. Updates include doubling WiFi access across both campuses as well as upgrading our cabling and wired network devices. While classroom hardware differs throughout the divisions, projectors, SMART Boards, Promethean, Tango Boards, and Vibe Boards will be retired over the next two years in favor of a unified technology approach.

Specialist subjects, including photography, maker spaces, innovation courses, visual arts, and film are outfitted with specialist equipment, including CNC machines, 3D printers, fabric printers, large format printing, and electronic paper cutters. Staff members are provided with individual devices that meet their needs and will also be refreshed over the next two years. Student device interaction differs between our divisions and grade levels. At Ethical Culture, there is limited exposure to devices through a loaner set of iPads for each class from Kindergarten–3rd Grade. In 4th–5th Grade students have individual classroom-based 2015-era Macbook Airs. At Fieldston Lower, there is limited exposure to devices through a loaner set of iPads from Kindergarten–2nd Grade. In 3rd–5th Grade, students have individual classroom-based 2020-era Macbook Airs.

The lack of alignment between the elementary school divisions presents issues as students transition into middle school and requires the Technology Department to create a scope and sequence to better support these transitions. At Fieldston Middle, students have access to class sets of individual Chromebooks. This model has proven to work well and will continue to be refreshed every five years.

At Fieldston Upper, students are expected to bring their own device. This supports our students’ ability to explore, build autonomy, and support their transition beyond ECFS. The model works well and is common practice but presents some challenges with supporting students if they break their device or require assistance across different software.

ECFS utilizes over 2000, pieces of software. The Director of Technology has begun working to reduce the number of software to core solutions. This is in response to concerns surrounding a number of areas, including the volume of data held in multiple platforms; the creation, duplication, or loss of software skills as students move through the School; and the cost implications of maintaining so many platforms. This will form part of the All School Technology Strategy

[ In the Classroom

It is the role of the Ethics and Technology Leads to humanize the use of tech and support integration and championing technology in our classrooms. This is done through teaching classes, supporting cross-divisional collaboration, providing parent/guardian workshops, supporting division-wide technology decisions, and supporting internal departments with the implementation of systems.

While much of the School’s equipment is not specifically owned or managed by the Department of Technology, the team continues to provide support and enablement whenever appropriate. It is the vision of the Technology Department to move the majority of technology functions to autonomous self-service systems or to reorganize the equipment to fall within the scope of the Technology team. These functions include security cameras, access control readers, boom gates, digital signage, sound systems, microphones and speakers, lighting systems, projectors, screens, and displays.

Training

ECFS both requires and provides opportunities for PD in technology throughout the year. As part of our newly required cybersecurity awareness training, staff members are now reporting and identifying threats and attacks much more frequently than before the training was offered.

The Ethics and Technology Leads also provide a number of scheduled and adhoc opportunities for departmental collaboration and upskilling. The Ethics and Technology Lead’s summer series was well attended, and feedback has been largely positive.

As we streamline and implement replacement technologies, the department will continue to support the humanization of technology on our campuses.

Community Engagement

The Technology team is dedicated to fostering a comprehensive understanding of technological advancements within our School community. To achieve this, we conduct workshops and information sessions for families, enlightening them on classroom technologies and offering guidance for effective technology use at home. These sessions showcase the educational advantages of technology, providing insights into monitoring and supporting their child’s tech utilization and facilitating access to digital resources. Currently, we are enhancing the structure of these events to adopt a more holistic school-wide approach.

In our pursuit of improved communication, we recognize the need for streamlined channels. As part of the All School Technology Strategy, we are committed to establishing reliable and effective communication channels within the ECFS Community. Collaboration lies at the core of our initiatives. The Department of Technology collaborates with local businesses, technology organizations, and community groups to champion technology-related endeavors. Through our partnerships, we contribute resources, expertise, and time to external organizations, actively participating in associations such as the New York Consortium of Independent School Technologists and Internet For All.

Acknowledging the importance of feedback, we are working toward formalizing mechanisms for families to provide input on technology-related matters. The Technology team is dedicated to engaging with parents/guardians, families, and other members of the ECFS community to identify service gaps and devise plans for continuous improvement.

[ Future Actions

The Director of Technology has crafted the All School Technology Strategy, outlining a visionary three-year plan aimed at positioning ECFS to deliver enriching, holistic, and innovative experiences. The overarching goal is to optimize the role of computers, allowing ECFS to channel its human resources toward dedicated support for students to thrive, which is in alignment with our core tenets.

In tandem with this transformative strategy, the Technology Department is actively redefining its collaborative dynamics. Internal coherence is being cultivated, with a focus on leveraging individual talents and fostering opportunities for seamless teamwork. As the strategy unfolds, the department is poised to undergo substantial changes, ensuring an optimal setup to provide outstanding customer service.

Commendations

To better support infrastructure and end-user experiences, the Technology team:

• Moved to hyper-converged infrastructure, replacing aging host servers and storage-attached network appliances

• Installed a new single-mode fiber-optic cable on the Fieldston campus

• Designed and installed backup network infrastructure on both campuses

• Replaced aging analog/digital phone system (PBX) with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions

• Centralized management of end-user devices and network equipment

• Implemented a JumpStart tech training series to support new faculty/staff in working with technology

Areas for Growth

Meeting the technological needs of modern schools involves navigating complex enterprise products and accommodating users with diverse skills and ages. The challenge is heightened by the difficulty of enforcing corporate-level non-negotiables in educational settings, where budgets for all school operations are a key consideration. In this dynamic landscape, a strategic approach is essential to stay ahead in the perpetual game of catch-up in the world of technology.

• While the budget provided for the technology is appropriate, the lack of a cohesive all school strategy has meant that the budget does not go far enough to support all areas of technology at ECFS

• Sufficiently addressing cybersecurity threats through a focus on prevention and mitigation strategies

• Developing an all school approach to technology by prioritizing the engagement of all members of our community

OPERATIONS REPORT SUBMITTED BY:

Teddy O’Rourke, Director of Campus Services, Co-Chair

Holly Manges Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel, Co-Chair

Molly Alpern, Assistant Director of Advancement Communications

Dave Argenzio, Director of Campus Safety

Cindy Daniel, Pre-K–5th Grade Parent Representative

Jessica Galarza, Administrative Assistant, Professional Development Coordinator

Katrina Kaesar, Associate Director of Human Resources

Les Jonson, Director of Technology

Robert Lundgren, Director of Facilities

Carly Miller, Psychologist, Fieldston Upper

Bryanna Parker, Administrative Assistant to the Principal, Ethical Culture

Kerri Peyton, Nurse, Fieldston Middle/ Fieldston Upper

Stephanie Pilla, Assistant Director of Leadership Giving

Mercedes Robinson, DEI Lead, Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

Kirk Ruebenson, Fieldston Press Assistant Manager, Graphic Arts Teacher

Jessie Salvador, Administrative Assistant and Transportation Coordinator, Fieldston Lower

Jennifer Seshadri, 6th–12th Grade Parent Representative

Carl Smith, Design Director, Fieldston Press Manager, Graphic Arts Teacher

Amy Van Tassell, Resident Director of Dining Services

Rielly Vlassis, Trustee Representative

Howie Waldman, Green Dean, Science Teacher, Fieldston Upper

Sandra Wang, Attendance Coordinator and Transportation Coordinator, Fieldston Upper

Sarah Wendt, Director of Strategic Engagements

Kaitlin Wright, Assistant to the Principal and Transportation Coordinator, Fieldston Middle

Section 6

Student Life and Community

Our student life and community programming reflects the experiences of our educational program. In this section, we will review the support structures in place for our students. We will also examine our DEI programming, disciplinary procedures, guidance and counseling services, college placement programs, parent/guardian and family engagement, and neighborhood relations.

SECTION CHAPTERS

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Extracurricular Programming and Affinity Groups

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

Student Involvement

Managing Conflict

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

A Reflection of Our Community

Curricular Involvement

Neighborhood Relations and Public Purpose

The Global Community

Student Support and Wellness

Student Orientation and Academic Progress Monitoring

Placement Programs and Transitions

Meeting Students’ Needs

Emotional Development and Information Sharing

Special Education and Learning Support

Students With Unique Needs

Parent and Teacher Association (P+T)

Parent/Guardian Orientation

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At ECFS, the commitment to DEI is central to our mission. The School aims to teach students empathy, compassion, and understanding, preparing them to engage thoughtfully with the world. A focus on DEI informs the programming at ECFS, recognizing the intersectionality of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The School is dedicated to diversity across various dimensions, including ethnicity, race, culture, religion, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, family structure, socioeconomic status, and ability.

The composition of the ECFS student body is continually changing and aligning more closely with the School’s mission. While we have seen an increase in the diversity of our student population since our last self-study, we continue to delve deeper into various demographic identifiers to ensure that diversity in all of its forms is well represented at ECFS. Moreover, it’s essential for the School to not only assess diversity at a broader, school-wide level but to also examine diversity metrics within each individual division. This comprehensive approach will ensure that we’re effectively tracking and addressing diversity and inclusion throughout the entire institution.

Several departments track diversity measures; how different metrics are tracked is a place for growth for the organization. Admissions tracks demographics related to race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and age to determine trends over time and identify where the organization may need to shift practice. Divisional administration, specifically the Assistant Principals of Academics, track the accessibility of learning interventions (recommendations for tutoring/LAMPS and other learning supports). The Assistant Principals of Student Life and DEI Leads track student behavioral and biasbased incidents to determine social-emotional and other behavioral supports. Our Department of Belonging and Social Impact created a dashboard for tracking data, and Human Resources tracks faculty and staff demographics.

ECFS allocates a significant portion of its budget to provide financial support beyond tuition, covering expenses such as neuropsychological evaluations, tutoring, and domestic and international trips to ensure equity in access. The ethics curriculum incorporates and educates students on demographic identifiers, contributing to their formative development of these identifiers. The School utilizes climate surveys, data from responses to social justice demands relayed by the SoCM members, retention and performance trends, and periodic curriculum audits to track progress toward diversity goals.

Additionally, ECFS recently partnered with the consulting company Anthem of Us to conduct an organization-wide assessment of school culture and belonging. Many questions came out of this assessment that warrant future exploration. Some of the questions represented known areas for improvement and sources of growth, while other feedback represented newer questions. Our self-study, accreditation process,

and the Anthem of Us assessment are guiding us in our continued work as well as in determining goals, strategic actions, and accountability measures to strengthen and sustain our diversity efforts. Some of the questions from the assessment included themes of mission, vision, and value systems to better align with our mission related to diversity and inclusion efforts, as well as enhanced efforts to recruit and retain families and faculty of color.

Important considerations revolve around fostering a culture of belonging and enhancing the capacity for community dialogue on challenging topics. These considerations underscore the continual dedication to establishing an inclusive and equitable environment at ECFS.

Extracurricular Programming and Affinity Groups

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower

Our elementary school divisions offer a range of student groups that support the needs of the student body. We work to listen to student and family needs and are responsive in creating groups to meet those needs.

[ Conversations About Race (CARe) Program

For the past 10 years, the CARe Program has provided students with a safe and healthy way to explore parts of their racial and ethnic identities. Students in 3rd–5th Grade at Fieldston Lower and 4th–5th Grade at Ethical Culture meet between six and eight times per year to engage in CARe sessions facilitated by faculty and staff. The current CARe groups include Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), African, African American, Black Diaspora, Jewish, Latine, Multiracial, White, and General Discussion. Our elementary school divisions added Jewish CARe groups in the 2021–2022 academic year based on the needs of the student/family population. We are always looking to add and/or adjust our CARe group offerings based on shifting school demographics and racial and ethnic identities that may not be fully served in the CARe groups that currently exist.

CARe groups are responsive to student’s interests, preferential learning styles, and curricular gaps in the institution. Fieldston Lower also has CARe Ambassadors, students in 3rd–5th Grade who volunteer to talk to 2nd Graders about what to expect during CARe. This was implemented as a result of 2nd Graders expressing uneasiness about the program and helped answer their questions about what to expect in the following year.

[ Students and Families of Color Affinity Breakfasts

Our elementary school divisions offer affinity breakfasts for families across all grades. Ethical Culture hosts monthly families of color breakfasts, where parents/guardians of color meet in a location separate from the students. With support from the All School Multicultural Committee (ASMC) Co-Chairs, each group discusses and raises issues that are important to the community. Fieldston Lower offers two affinity breakfasts per year for families across all grades for our Black Diaspora, AAPI, Latine, and Jewish communities.

[

All School Buddy Program

The Buddy Program offers our older students the opportunity to nurture meaningful connections and interactions with our youngest students. Our student’s cooperative learning skills (e.g., sharing, turntaking, praising, helping, and empathizing) are greatly improved when they work in mixed-age groupings. Some of the positive benefits include increased selfawareness and confidence, greater work production, and an overall sense of completion and accomplishment. Students read to one another, play together, and engage in various learning activities in mixed-age groups. We aim for students to tap into as much joy as possible as they take risks and uncover their strengths.

[

Human Health Classes

Human Health classes begin as young as Pre-K and extend onward, exposing students to topics like hygiene, nutrition, mindfulness, and puberty. The curriculum encourages and responds to students’ curiosity about personal, physical, social, and emotional aspects of their growth and development. With teacher guidance and support, students acquire a common language that fosters discussion and deepens their understanding of themselves and their community. The goal is to nurture children’s self-esteem, knowledge of their bodies, interpersonal skills, and ability to think critically about their choices as they mature. Provided with accurate and developmentally appropriate information early on, we believe that our students can acquire a common language when talking and thinking about these topics.

[ Family Groups

Run by the Guidance Counselors, we offer a variety of groups that support healthy family dynamics and student emotional well-being. One common group is called Banana Splits; in this group, students share the affinity of being children of divorced parents/guardians.

[

Additionally, Fieldston Lower offers an LGBTQ+ discussion group, which 4th Graders requested during the 2021–2022 academic year. We created this space during lunch for students to engage in topics related to the LGBTQ+ community; the group is open to any students who may be questioning, identify as LGBTQ+, want to be active allies, or are curious about learning more. This discussion group has continued through the current academic year and is now embedded into the advisory program. Students in 4th–5th Grade now can join an LGBTQ+ advisory group.

Advisory occurs at Fieldston Lower in the 3rd–5th Grade; advisory connects students with a teacher who helps them achieve their personal and academic expectations throughout the academic year. During advisory, students meet with faculty advisors in small groups and engage in thoughtful discussions about relationships, growth mindset, disposition, responsibility, and more. In advisory, students examine their relationships with others, learning styles, motivations, and self-expectations. Advisory encourages students to practice mindfulness, inclusion, and belonging in their work and play and to use language in positive and constructive ways. The program guides and supports students’ development to become engaging, collaborative, responsible, and respectful members of the student community. Through strategic discussions and activities, advisory lessons strengthen students’ awareness of self and others.

We also offer a rich selection of auxiliary programs supporting our institution’s mission of academic rigor and excellence. The programs challenge students to reach their highest potential in body, mind, and spirit through the humanities, sciences, arts, and physical education. Financial assistance is available for families who receive tuition support to ensure that all students can participate.

After School Programs

The after school programs at Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture extend learning beyond traditional school hours by providing students with opportunities to pursue intellectual, aesthetic, and athletic areas of interest. Individual programs vary each semester and are designed to provide appropriate enrichment based on a child’s developmental level. The programs include various classes ranging from sports, arts and crafts, and sciences to creative writing, comic and anime drawing, chess, coding and robotics, gymnastics, ice skating, musical theatre, and cooking. After School programs run daily from 3:30–5:00pm with an extended-stay option available, where students may engage in quiet activities until 6:00pm.

The after school program at the Ethical Culture campus consistently increases participation year after year — the 2022 revenue was +14% over the year prior. We continually offer new and exciting programming and strive to develop a good relationship with parents/guardians to assess viable programming. Given how large the program has become, it would benefit from an advanced, high-quality registration system that is more user friendly.

[

Summer Programs

ECFS offers three main summer programs: Ethical Culture’s Week of Discovery, Fieldston Premier Sports Camps, and Fieldston Future Leaders. Students enrolled in Ethical Culture’s Week of Discovery participate in age-appropriate activities for

students in Pre-K–4th Grade. Children engage in sports, games, music, storytelling, drama, and cooking in small peer groups. Campers on the Ethical Culture campus take full advantage of the gymnasiums, 6th floor rooftop playground, and access to Central Park under the supervision of experienced counselors.

Fieldston Future Leaders is a six-week summer STEAM program for 1st–8th Grade students. The camp counselors create experiential STEAM activities such as 3D printing, coding, robotics, arts and crafts, theatre, and many other experiences to give students autonomy over their exploration and discovery. In the Fieldston Premier Sports Camps, students are organized into age-appropriate groups that engage in basketball, lacrosse, soccer, and flag football. Students also participate in campwide athletic trips and activities such as paintless paintball, laser tag, ziplining, rock climbing, adventure ropes courses, and water activities.

[ Before School Music

Ethical Culture offers an auxiliary music program called Before School Music to 4th Grade and 5th Grade students who want to learn to play a musical instrument. Professional musicians teach group lessons at the beginner and intermediate levels. Instrument choices include flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and trumpet. Students also have the opportunity to perform two recitals each year for their parents/guardians.

[ Nature’s Classroom

5th Grade students in both elementary school divisions attend Nature’s Classroom, a three-night residential field trip emphasizing experiential education. Nature’s Classroom takes a holistic approach to learning, fostering not only the educational growth of students but also social and personal growth. At Nature’s Classroom, learning occurs not just in the classroom but also in curated outdoor experiences. These programs align with our progressive values by promoting cooperative, studentcentered learning.

[ LAMPS

LAMPS is an on-site, after school tutoring program led by learning specialists and teachers. The program is free to students who might benefit from additional review of language arts and math skills in a small-group setting. LAMPS aligns with our mission of promoting academic excellence and our commitment to DEI.

[ Early Bird and Hub

In an effort to accommodate families who travel long distances or have gaps in childcare before or after school, Ethical Culture offers supervised recess in the morning and the Hub in the afternoon. The Hub allows students to complete homework and required reading with adult supervision and support.

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

Building upon the strong foundations of auxiliary programs in the Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper offer an engaging and rich array of auxiliary programs that support our institution’s mission of teaching students “how to think, how to question, and how to explore” while ensuring they receive an education that builds upon our core tenets.

The after school programs at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper work to broaden our students’ horizons beyond the classroom by offering opportunities to explore their athletic, intellectual, and creative curiosities and abilities. Programs offered vary each semester and are driven by student curiosities and needs, in addition to faculty interests and expertise. Programs include various clubs, classes, and activities ranging from arts and crafts, theatre, engineering, and sciences to creative writing, language, assembly planning, off-campus festivals and conferences, and many more. We also offer several local, national, and international trips throughout the year.

These groups were all initiated in response to students’ requests and interests. Each year, students actively participate in decision-making by voicing their preferences for new clubs and affinity groups, ultimately leading to their creation.

[ Summer Programs

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper remain involved in the three summer programs that ECFS offers: Fieldston Premier Sports Camps, Fieldston Future Leaders, and the FSAP. Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper students engage in camps as participants and counselors within the Premier Sports and Future Leaders programs. In the counselor roles, they actively acquire practical experience in teamwork, leadership, and community building.

FSAP is an interdisciplinary, collaborative summer enrichment program geared toward rising 9th and 10th Graders, offering instruction across five departments (math, science, English, history, and the Learning Center). FSAP provides an informative yet fun learning environment for students preparing for the upcoming academic year and features pedagogies and activities designed to help students strengthen skills and expand their knowledge. Students gain insight and instruction on how to best navigate and access the resources available to them at Fieldston Upper from

The School offers various clubs at Fieldston Upper:

African Students Association

Afya Club

All Star Cheer

Architecture and Urban Planning Club

Art With a Heart

Athletic Exchange

Aviation Club

Baking for a Cause

Basketball Rec League

Black Jewish Alliance

Challenge Cancer

Chess Club

Classics Club

Computer Science Club

Conversations to Guatemala

Criminal Justice Reform Club

Crocheting and Knitting Club

Cubing Club

Cultural Cuisine

Curation Club

Days for Girls

Debate Club

Digital Defenders

Dunks for Diabetes

Eager ENGins

Eagle Business and Entrepreneurship

Eagle Eye Marketing Club

Eagle TV

Eagles Unscripted

Environmental Club

Environmental Equity and Education Project

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Fashion Exchange Club

Fashion Show Committee

Females in Finance

Fencing Club

FieldSTEM Magazine

Fieldston Engineering Club

Fieldston for Reproductive Rights

Fieldston Journal Club

Fieldston Magic Society

Fieldston Muse

Fieldston Photographic Journal

Fieldston Political Journal

Film Analysis Club

Film Club

Finance and Investment Club

Friendly Fridge

FTC Robotics Club

Future Medical Professionals

Gardening Club

Girls Golf Club

Glamour Gals and Pals

Hiking Club

Jewish Student Union

Jewish Women in Society

Juice and Cheese Club

Korean Culture Club

Latin Rhythm

Le Cercle Francophone

Let’s Go Golfing

Math Team

Mental Health Club

Mental Health in Sports

Migrant Relief Club

Mock Trial

Model United Nations

Music Production and the Music Industry

Opportunity Music Club

Pause for Paws

Photography 101

Powerful Multicultural Women’s Club

Robin Hood Giving Back Club

Sketch Up Club

Ski Club

Sneaker Economics

Spanish Club

Special Olympics

Sports Analytics Club

Sports Management Club

Sports Medicine Club

Strength and Conditioning Club

Student Artists for Humanity

Swish Hoops

TedX ECFS

The Fieldston News

The Sher Organization

Tutor Tots

Whiskey Bravo Club

Women in Policy and Economics

Women in STEM Club

experienced faculty, rising 11th–12th Grade student mentors, and recent graduates. Most mentors are alumni of the FSAP.

[ Additional Programming

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, our students and faculty are involved in collaborative programming such as Literary Lunches, Big Library Read, Assembly After Dark, biannual community days, and our biannual ALP.

For example, at Fieldston Middle, the English Department coordinates with the Tate Library to organize each “Big Library Read,” in addition to two other annual poetry contests and various literary lunches with visiting artists. Our two community days and ALP provide educational, unique, and enjoyable programming. The goal is to provide worthwhile and educational experiences that go beyond traditional subject matter and its usual presentation; this requires collaborating students and faculty to curate a unique experience.

This approach extends to all areas of our curriculum, including the Athletics Department. As a result, we recently introduced new sports like water polo, squash, Ultimate Frisbee, and table tennis.

The following affinity groups are offered at Fieldston Middle or Fieldston Upper: MERGE (Men’s Education on Racial and Gender Equality); ACTIVE (Asian American Community Together In Visibility and Equity); LGBTQ+; Invictus; Muslim Students Association; WoCC (Womxn of Color Collective); Black Student Union; Multiracial; Latine; SAAG (South Asian Affinity Group); Trans Affinity Group; Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI); Gender Expansive; and Jewish. ECFS would benefit from more opportunities to hear about and learn from the work being done across divisions and departments, as well as more touch points and moments where this work is recorded and shared across those constituencies.

Student Involvement

At Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower, we ask for student feedback in formal and informal ways. Areas where we seek formal student feedback include the CARe program, advisory, the Buddy Program, Human Health classes, and at school-wide assemblies. When students sign up for programming, we always offer a space for them to share the topics and questions that they are interested in exploring in more detail. Based on recent feedback from students and families, we added a Jewish CARe group, Jewish families affinity breakfasts, an LGBTQ+ discussion group (now part of the advisory program), and a Gardening Club. We also made major adjustments to the 5th Grade social studies curriculum by focusing on Black joy, such as including a new unit on the Harlem Renaissance. Students are also encouraged to voice desires for systemic change and feedback by creating and signing petitions.

Within the Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper communities, several key groups play a pivotal role in cultivating dialogue, upholding integrity, and promoting community values. These groups include the Fieldston Student Government (FSG), SoCM, the Academic Integrity Board (AIB), and the Accountability and Restoration Council (ARC). FSG, comprising elected co-presidents and cabinet and senate members, serves as a platform for students to engage directly with the administration on school policies and procedures.

The Fieldston Upper AIB also plays a crucial role in upholding academic honesty within our School. Its mission involves educating students, faculty, administrators, and parents/ guardians about the School’s expectations for academic integrity. AIB works to prevent violations and foster reconciliation within the community when norms are breached. The board is committed to a balanced approach, utilizing restorative justice methods for individuals while holding itself accountable to the wider ECFS community.

If an academic integrity violation surpasses the scope of AIB or requires restorative justice, it may be referred to the ARC. This council consists of four adults and eight elected students, ensuring representation from each grade. Permanent members include the Assistant Principal who chairs the committee and a selected Learning Center member, while rotating employees are appointed based on the grade level and the discipline involved in the infraction.

Managing Conflict

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower have common processes for managing student conflicts. Administrators and faculty implement formal processes and assess situations, needs, history, relationships, and the ongoing dynamics of every student conflict. Student and behavioral support team members work to foster skill building and socialemotional growth in hopes of preventing any future inappropriate behavior. The initial response to inappropriate behavior requires faculty or administrators to contact the parents/guardians to discuss the behavior and share any steps already taken or planned.

The Student Support and Wellness Office team meets weekly to discuss students who may benefit from counseling, guidance, prevention, and intervention support. This team works collaboratively to assess and address student behavior, allowing us to identify early on any students who may need any academic or SEL support or services. Any behavior that involves bias-based incidents automatically includes the divisional DEI Lead to ensure action steps are grounded in effective bias mitigation practices. The progression of behavioral supports is as follows:

[ “Remind and Reset”

Teachers and specialists carefully explain and share community expectations with students at the beginning of the academic year. Depending on the situation and the number of students involved, teachers use a variety of commands, directions, and tones to “remind and reset” student behavior to minimize distractions and maintain a safe learning environment. A teacher’s intention when redirecting a student is to offer the student an opportunity to regain self-control so that they can realign with the classroom rules, routines, relationships, and expectations. We “remind and reset” throughout the school day as long as we feel the student is responding well to our redirection. Classroom teachers and specialists will notify parents/guardians when their child is experiencing challenges adapting to classroom rules, relationships, and routines. We consider this parent/guardian partnership an essential step to coordinating a supportive response toward a positive behavioral shift for a student.

[

Logical Consequences

Increased supervision and a limitation on choices logically related to the behavior are used when a student’s behavior becomes disruptive to their learning or the learning of others. The intention is to give the student an opportunity to regain self-control, preserve their identity, and realign with the classroom expectations. A teacher may decide to limit or eliminate any choices that may create further imbalance for the student and the class. Increased supervision moves a student closer to a supervising adult. A student may also be asked to move to an independent spot. Classroom

teachers and specialists will notify the parents/guardians and administrators when their child is not responding to increased supervision or limited choices.

[ Relate, Realign, Repair, and Restore Student misbehavior varies, and there are times when a student needs to meet with an administrator to revisit the community expectations. The goal of these meetings is to help students relate and realign with the expectations of the School. This process allows them to reenter the classroom with dignity and to repair trust, which will aid in restoring balance in the classroom. The student will be given an opportunity to explain what occurred and their role in the incident. Honesty and accountability are essential to this process, and a parent/guardian will be notified when this occurs. Parents/guardians can support our promotion of prosocial behavior by continuing conversations with their children about how their demonstrated inappropriate or challenging behaviors affect individuals, a group, or the whole community.

[ Disciplinary Conferences

Egregious student behavior will require an administrative disciplinary/behavior conference. Conferences to address behaviors and their impact on the community could include a student, the student’s parents/guardians, teachers, guidance/ Student Support team members, school psychologist, DEI Lead, and administrators. Disciplinary conferences include a fact-finding investigation with standard questions to minimize bias and an action plan with itemized next steps. The intention would be to offer the student another opportunity to realign with community expectations. Some student actions may result in suspension. A suspension must be strongly considered when the student’s behavior poses a significant safety risk to other students or adults, or when a student does not respond to the preceding interventions. Our priority is to support any student centrally involved with physical or verbal misbehavior. While we cannot inform families about details about children other than their own who may be involved in a conflict, we always intend to follow the consequences and procedures described in this document.

Students are also active partners in managing conflicts and solving disputes. We actively encourage students to be upstanders and to use the mediation skills they’ve learned in class to work through disagreements. One area of growth involves proactive strategies for managing social fallout following a disagreement or consequences associated with inappropriate behavior.

Additionally, members of the guidance and Student Support teams document incidents in a cross-divisional incident tracking form and in PowerSchool. Those on the receiving end of harm and those who caused the harm are both recorded. This was implemented to ensure that future teams are aware of a child’s past, the outcomes of the incident, and how to support them should a new incident occur.

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, we prioritize equipping students with essential conflict resolution skills through various educational avenues. These include health and life skills classes and advisory sessions. In these settings, students learn effective

strategies to address conflicts among themselves. A supportive structure is in place should students encounter challenges beyond their resolution capabilities. They are encouraged to contact their advisor, a Student Support team member, or their dean for assistance. The Student Support team actively facilitates peer mediation sessions, fostering a collaborative approach to conflict resolution.

Student support and interventions are different and separate from in-school disciplinary responses. Sometimes teachers and administrators choose significant disciplinary support combined with various student supports and interventions. Our behavioral supports work to foster skill building and social-emotional growth in the student in hopes of preventing any future behaviors. As the initial response to inappropriate behavior, the teacher will contact the student’s parents/guardians to discuss the behavior and share any steps taken.

Our advisory program promotes open communication by organizing sessions that facilitate community-wide discussions about social and relational challenges specific to each grade. Deans and administrators frequently engage in conversations between groups to address conflicts that are brought to our attention. In addition, we prioritize ongoing education and skill building, particularly in identifying and addressing microaggressions. Faculty members, including DEI Leads, actively facilitate “Lunch and Learns” to enhance awareness and understanding within the school community. Our comprehensive approach to conflict resolution and community building reflects our commitment to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for all students.

The School believes in maintaining standards that align with our mission and values, fostering a community committed to respect, concern for one another, shared spaces, and the overall well-being of the academic and social environment. School employees are trusted to implement rules consistently and fairly, and students are expected to respond cooperatively and align with all policies detailed in the Student and Family Handbooks. Students are required to take ethics, health, and life skills classes as part of their coursework, and they participate in affinity groups during their ethics rotation when discussing certain topics.

The School is dedicated to addressing concerns from any member of our community. Students, parents/guardians, and employees can use the outlined measures to present requests, suggestions, questions, or concerns. The School will hear and address these concerns impartially to ensure fairness and redress if appropriate and to protect the community.

Effective communication is essential for student safety and development. While our conflict resolution policies serve as a framework, direct communication is encouraged when suitable. For instance, concerns about a class should be directed to the teacher first, and general support concerns can be brought to Principals, Assistant Principals, deans, advisors, and department chairs. For matters where a student wants to remain anonymous, we utilize the reporting system EthicsPoint.

In certain situations, the School may take swift action to prevent possible harm to a community member or the community, including self-harm. The School’s action will be as limited in scope and time as practicable to ensure that all involved’s rights, safety,

and privacy are protected to the greatest extent possible. Such steps may include temporarily withdrawing particular students from school and/or school activities while conducting the investigation or requiring a mental health evaluation for a particular student.

A Reflection of Our Community

At all admissions events, the School is transparent about the quality of its academic program and its ethical component, including its commitment to DEI and social issues. We hope to encourage applications from families who feel a deep commitment to the mission and culture of our School rather than families who are just looking for “a good school.” In addition to communications from the School that share our approach to education and overall philosophy, informative open forums and coffee socials are held throughout each year.

Additionally, our students look to the adults in their lives for cues about treating one another and responding to myriad life circumstances. We want to help our students become more self-aware while considering how they communicate and intersect with one another as individuals and as members of greater racial, ethnic, political, geographic, and socioeconomic groupings.

As early as 1st Grade, students examine the “Big 8” social identifiers and other identifiers important to children — like birth order, favorites, and interests. Ethics helps our students develop how they see themselves while helping them process how they are seen. Seeing the many layers of oneself through the lenses of identity, relationships, justice, and responsibility helps each student see the many layers of our community; this is just one way that ethics helps to ground all of our academic and student life teachings.

Curricular Involvement

The Ethical Culture building is right across from Central Park. The park plays a prominent role in various aspects of our curriculum, particularly in the 1st Grade, where the entire focus of study revolves around the park. Students look at the park’s history, including the destruction of Seneca Village, and how the park became the one we know today. They study Central Park’s flora, fauna, monuments, and infrastructure, including playgrounds. Students from 1st–5th Grade also enjoy physical education in the park weekly. A highlight of the physical education program is the ECS-a-Thon, our version of the New York City Marathon. During the event, which takes place in early November, students run a noncompetitive mini-marathon route through the park.

Fieldston Lower is located in the tree-lined neighborhood of Riverdale in the Bronx. As a result, much of the curriculum is directly tied to the neighborhood and its surroundings. For example, Kindergarten students visit and learn about the stores on Riverdale Avenue during a neighborhood study. They write books about each store and create a 3D model of a business, which is then displayed on a neighborhood map in their classroom. In their yearlong bird study, the 1st Graders observe the many birds that live on or migrate past the campus. In science, 3rd Grade students study the campus’s trees and collect and process maple syrup. The Social Studies Workshop classes collect plants for various projects such as dyeing, plant pressing, cooking, and more.

Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper provide various opportunities for community engagement with a mission-related purpose. In 6th Grade, all students take yearlong ethics classes exploring interpersonal skills and social justice issues. In 7th and 8th Grade, ethics is part of a class rotation. Fieldston Upper students begin 9th Grade with an ethics course or an introductory class to community service. They progress to more intricate CSL in 10th Grade, working with organizations and connecting their experiences to various social justice issues.

The School’s commitment to ethics, sustainability, and community engagement is evident in its diverse initiatives across divisions. Additional examples of conscious engagement are listed below.

• Fieldston Upper is environmentally conscious and has a Green Dean who oversees eco-friendly initiatives.

• Fieldston Middle is a LEED Silver-Certified building with features like waterless urinals, motion-activated sensors, an interactive Green Roof, and a dedicated roof space for pollinators. The science curriculum includes dedicated units on climate change.

• The School installed Ornilux glass to protect birds when it renovated the Tate Library in 2018.

• The dining hall sources local products and prioritizes hormone-free meat and dairy. Dining Services has reduced reliance on single-use plastics.

• The Fieldston Upper Environmental Club composts pre-consumer waste, which is used to fertilize plantings on campus.

• ECFS has a charging station for electric cars, encouraging energy-efficient choices among the faculty and staff.

Neighborhood Relations and Public Purpose

Being a “good neighbor” is central to the curriculum at Fieldston Lower. This shows up in our service learning projects, during field trips, and across the core curriculum. Service learning projects vary across grade levels. The 4th Graders collect leftover prepackaged snacks from the week, which are then donated weekly to the local Friendly Fridge. This initiative is ongoing throughout the entire academic year. In the winter, the School participates in a warm clothing drive (e.g., coats, gloves, hats) in support of BronxWorks Family Shelters.

Field trips to local community points of interest are also key to our program. These community-minded field trips include the New York Botanical Gardens, Beczak Environmental Education Center, and businesses and cultural centers around campus and in the larger New York City community. In addition to service learning projects and field trips, students learn about being a good neighbor through our academic curriculum. The curriculum encourages students to be civic-minded and affect positive change.

At Ethical Culture, the goal of our Service Learning Program has been to create a comprehensive experience for students to engage in activism throughout their elementary years. Experiences center on raising awareness, advocating for social issues, engaging in service projects, and participating in philanthropic fundraising. Each grade level partners with local organizations that engage in social action to enhance student learning and create opportunities for community engagement. Partnerships involve visits from representatives to speak to our students; field trips to visit and volunteer with community organizations; and in-service activities that involve raising awareness, collecting donations, or raising funds within our School community. Our divisions readily engage with the businesses, areas, landmarks, and spaces in our Westchester, Bronx, Riverdale, Manhattan, and Kingsbridge neighborhoods. Some examples include:

• Class trips to Wave Hill, Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Gardens, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, Ossining’s Teatown Lake Reservation, and the Greenburgh Nature Center

• Donation of holiday presents to BronxWorks Nelson Avenue Family Residence and unused school furniture and classroom materials to Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, La Escuelita Preschool, Susan Wagner Day School, and Christ Church Riverdale

• Taking care of the trees on 64th Street outside of Ethical Culture

• Partnership with the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen

• Ongoing work with outside organizations such as KIND

• Working with Women in Need to create “rainy day” packs for children living in shelters

• Partnering with the Billion Oyster Project to promote development of marine life in the Hudson River

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when all classes were dismissed on surrounding streets near Ethical Culture, complaints were received from residents in some buildings who were concerned that we were blocking access for residents. We worked with the residents to change our arrival and dismissal procedures to clear these points of egress. At various times, we have partnered with community action groups, including a recent attempt to slow down cyclists in Central Park where our students cross the street.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, service learning is integral to the School’s culture. The Fieldston Middle curriculum encourages critical thinking about the world, and Fieldston Upper students choose ethics electives to study, including philosophy, psychology, comparative religion, social justice education, and social and political issues.

The CSL program in the Fieldston Upper ethics curriculum emphasizes service leadership and encourages students to engage with the broader community. The Special Olympics event hosted annually on the Fieldston campus involves over 100 student volunteers helping adults with intellectual disabilities qualify for the state-wide Special Olympics competition. We first hosted the Special Olympics during the 2009–2010 academic year.

City Semester at Fieldston Upper offers a unique interdisciplinary experience where 11th Grade students spend an entire semester learning about New York City, practicing service learning, and participating in interdisciplinary classes. Additional information on City Semester may be found within our section on Empowering, Relevant, Playful, and Inclusive learning.

The School continues to partner with the Fieldston Property Owners Association, our neighbors on Greystone Avenue and Riverdale Avenue, and with Bronx Community Board 8 to discuss ongoing matters, including construction projects, field usage, and traffic conditions. We have greatly improved these relationships over the past several years and have set up an email subscription for neighbors where the School can communicate with these constituencies proactively.

The Global Community

Both Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower students are encouraged to be active members of the global community. While the elementary schools often focus on curricular issues closer to home (e.g., home, neighborhood, New York City, national), as is developmentally appropriate for the age group, we also have curricular and cocurricular projects. These include:

• 4th Grade science students have worked on several plant growth experiments flown on the International Space Station. Students run analogs to the flight experiments in the classroom in collaboration with students around the globe. The analogs were run in real time and allowed students to compare their plants’ growth with those in microgravity and other terrestrial locations. These investigations aim to explore issues of food sustainability to support human space exploration and how to deal with climate change and the loss of arable soils here on Earth.

• Kindergarten classes and the Facilities team work to maintain the school grounds and the milkweed root/plant system. We are on the path of regularly migrating monarch butterflies. Our milkweed allows the butterflies to stop and strengthen on their trips south and west.

• Every year, Ethical Culture students collaborate with their ethics teachers to learn about the U.N.’s 17 Global Goals, select one to learn about in more detail, and raise funds to support the issue.

• We’ve created and nurtured a reciprocal relationship between Ethical Culture students and students at the Lerata Primary School in Kenya, wherein both groups expand their worldviews. Students at each school contribute stories about themselves to an ongoing project titled “A Life Like Mine.”

Fieldston Upper provides students with unique opportunities for experiential learning through semester-away programs, hosting international students, and participating in special trips. These include:

• High school students have the chance to spend a semester at another school, either in a different state or country. Schools involved include Oxbow School in Napa, California; the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C.; the Mountain School in Vershire, Vermont; Chewonki in Wiscasset, Maine; and schools in other states and the Bahamas.

• In March 2023, Fieldston Upper hosted 22 Danish students aged 17–19 from Marselisborg Gymnasium. They came to New York City for a week with their social studies class, experiencing the differences between ECFS and their school. The Danish students were pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and facilities, noting the welcoming nature of Fieldston Upper students.

• Select students participate in a yearly trip to Montgomery, Alabama, as part of an Interdisciplinary Racial Justice Pilgrimage. Students attending the trip have studied courses such as History of the U.S. Criminal Legal System or The Prison Complex: Ethical Issues in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. The trip explores issues related to state-sanctioned oppression, modern policing, and mass incarceration.

In 2013, Fieldston Upper organized a fundraising initiative called “An Apple a Day” to aid Syrian refugees. The School raised $1,670 by selling 3,340 apples with UNICEF as a backer, promising to triple the donations. In total, $5,010 was raised to support UNICEF’s efforts to protect Syrian orphans.

The international travel program at ECFS expands classroom learning by immersing students in cultures beyond the United States, fostering a global perspective, and preparing them for opportunities in an interconnected world. Through partnerships with educational and nonprofit groups, ECFS offers diverse experiences such as visits to Rome, Italy, where students explore landmarks like the Roman Forum and Colosseum after studying Latin, and trips to Japan featuring iconic sites like the Ryōanji Shrine and Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Additionally, the Costa Rica trip highlights Spanish language immersion and biodiversity exploration, enhancing the multicultural dimensions of learning across all stages of development.

These programs and initiatives showcase ECFS’s commitment to providing students with diverse and impactful learning experiences beyond the traditional classroom setting and how we remain active in the global community.

Student Support and Wellness

There are psychologists and mental health professionals in every division at ECFS. The Executive Director of Health and Wellness, who reports to the Head of School, oversees student support at each division and evaluates the capacity of the School to provide services. Mental health clinicians evaluate what services can be provided on an individual basis and determine when the needs of the individual are outside the realm of the role of a school-based mental health professional.

[ Gender, Religion, and Learning

In accordance with New York State’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act and the New York State Human Rights Law, ECFS affirms every person’s right to be addressed by the name and pronoun that correspond to the student’s gender identity that they assert at school. We offer gender-inclusive options for student life programming and bathroom facilities at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, and all students have the right to feel comfortable with sleeping arrangements on schoolsponsored trips. A gender-inclusive space for students who attend overnight trips is provided when assigning sleeping rooms. Rooming lists and types of rooms (e.g., gender inclusive, boys, girls) are distributed to the adult chaperones as necessary.

Additionally, recognizing that we are a religiously diverse community, the School is sensitive to various religious traditions. When an individual’s religious commitments conflict with school responsibilities, the School seeks to resolve such conflicts in a manner that respects both the individual’s religious practices and the obligations of our common life at school.

Every class has a range of learners, and our goal is to meet each student where they are in their development. We support a range of learners through differentiated instruction. Teachers refer to the grade expectations when thinking about the learning needs of the students in their class. Whether or not to grant an accommodation will be determined based on the student’s individualized needs — which may change over time. Accommodations are not intended to change course content, as assessments are designed to measure student performance. So, while performance may improve once obstacles created by the impairment are accommodated, extended time or other accommodations with the sole intent of raising assessment scores will not be granted.

The School is committed to the highest standards of care for its students, which includes protecting students from child abuse and/or maltreatment by adults responsible for their care in and outside the educational setting. In accordance with New York State law, all school employees are required to report suspected abuse or neglect of any student to the proper authorities. In all instances where the School reports abuse or neglect, measures are taken to protect and support the student as needed. Faculty and staff receive annual Prevention of Child Abuse in an Educational Setting training.

The School also retains the Jed Foundation as our mental health and suicide prevention consultant. For more information on physical health, please visit Health Services. For more information on campus safety, please visit Campus Safety.

Student Orientation and Academic Progress Monitoring

Upon joining the School, all new families are required to attend a presentation facilitated by the Department of Belonging and Social Impact to learn about academic intervention facilities. At times, visits are scheduled for new families joining the elementary school divisions, allowing them to tour the School and meet their classroom teachers.

The School’s Student Support teams and psychologists hold informal meetings for new students each year to ensure they enter the School with a support community. Additionally, all Head Teachers and Associate Teachers are notified of new students on their rosters and work to ensure they are integrated into their classrooms as smoothly as possible. Teachers, Student Support team members, and psychologists send thoughtful communications to families about how each new student is acclimating to school. New students engage in various team-building activities, share their hopes and dreams, and learn about classroom and school-wide expectations during their first six weeks.

In the elementary school divisions, students engage in the mandatory curriculum; within the curriculum, they have many opportunities to self-select areas of study based on their interests. For example, in 5th Grade, students select from different 20th-century innovations to explore; in 2nd Grade, students choose a changemaker to research and discuss; in 1st Grade, classes vote on their class bird as part of their bird study, etc. In the elementary school divisions, the academic coursework and curriculum are generally shared with families during scheduled events. These events, like Fieldston Lower’s Math Morning, welcome families to visit the School and participate in classroom activities.

At least once per week, the Guidance team, Principal, Assistant Principals, DEI Leads, School Psychologists, School Nurses, and faculty discuss students’ academic and emotional progress. Additionally, the Director of Student Support and Wellness joins these meetings once per month. These guidance/student support meetings include recording incidents, events, and updates on students’ academic and SEL progress. Team members also complete observations of individual students based on needs and situations. Additionally, bias-based incidents are recorded and communicated during transition meetings with Fieldston Middle faculty/staff to help their student support and administrative teams understand interventions, effective measures, and helpful approaches for each student. Our academic skills for literacy and math are measured multiple times a year and recorded on literacy trackers and through a data processing service. This data determines which students need additional support or optional after school academic intervention.

Each grade attends an orientation at the start of the year at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper. The 6th Grade orientation is more comprehensive, as it is our students’ first experience transitioning to a new division. In 9th–10th Grade, students typically take an off-campus overnight trip as part of their orientation. The 6th Grade also takes

an overnight trip in the fall, usually to Nature’s Classroom. These overnight trips allow ample time for students to mentally and emotionally transition into the next grade level before delving into academics. It also encourages social connections and feelings of belonging within the ECFS community.

Course selection at Fieldston Middle is predetermined, except for some rotation courses available to students once they reach the 8th Grade, at which point they can rate their preferences for certain rotation courses. In the spring of 8th Grade, students begin to complete course selections for when they enter 9th Grade. There are leveled classes for math and language beginning in 7th Grade. As students enter 9th Grade, there are limited choices, as much of the curriculum is predetermined. As students progress to 10th–12th Grade, they have more freedom of choice. For example, when students enter 10th Grade, each semester they can take a humanities course or they can choose to take an additional course in English, history, or ethics. 11th–12th Graders can choose from various history, English, and science electives each semester.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, academic progress is monitored by gradelevel deans, advisors, classroom teachers, and the Assistant Principal of Academics. Emotional progress is monitored mostly by guidance team members, deans, the Assistant Principal of Student Life, and support team members from the Learning Center. Fieldston Middle Deans follow their cohort from 6th through 8th Grade, and Fieldston Upper Deans follow their cohorts from 9th through 12th Grade. This allows for consistency when monitoring and sharing important student information. Students who receive support from the Learning Center are guided by the same specialist from 6th Grade until they achieve independence in their studies.

Placement Programs and Transitions

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower hold 5th Grade transition meetings with Fieldston Middle to assist in advisory placement, considering student needs and recommendations for Learning Center support and providing as much of a holistic view of each individual 5th Grader before they make the transition. We have worked on getting Fieldston Middle faculty and administrative leaders more face time with the 5th Graders so that 5th Graders have at least one touch point with all of the administrators and get a sense of who their support systems will be as they transition to middle school. Students at Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture also gather periodically during their 5th Grade year to make connections and form relationships before coming together in the 6th Grade.

As 5th Graders enter Fieldston Middle, we hold transition meetings with teachers, guidance, student support and wellness, administration, and support team members from the Learning Center and the Department of Belonging and Social Impact. We discuss academic strengths, weaknesses, and social/emotional needs that will be helpful while conducting classroom placements. The School creates advisory groups based on prior teacher input, family requests, and student needs. As students transition to Fieldston Upper, they are placed into leveled math and science courses based on testing and teacher recommendations. As students embark on their college search journey and consult with the College Counseling Office and guidance counselors, they

also engage with the Learning Center for assistance and guidance regarding learning plans and established accommodations. The placement of students within each division aligns with the School’s mission by recognizing each student’s strengths and areas where they can further develop.

Meeting Students’ Needs

In addition to the strategies outlined above, Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower have a number of formal and informal means of supporting student needs. Divisional crossgrade level meetings involve teachers from the previous year reporting specific student needs to the current classroom teachers. They provide strategies and education plans that have worked thus far, and teachers meet with specialists and administrators as needed to meet students’ ongoing needs using our collective expertise. Cross-grade meetings within divisions entail teachers from the prior academic year sharing detailed information about individual student requirements with the current classroom instructors. These sessions involve presenting successful strategies and educational plans implemented previously, with teachers convening with specialists and administrators as necessary to address students’ continual needs, leveraging our collective expertise. When supporting a particular need, such as assisting a student with diabetes, teachers must undergo specialized training. This sharing of student information also occurs when the student transitions from 5th to 6th Grade.

Classroom teachers meet the needs of their students by formally and informally observing and taking notes about what they observe about students. Head Teachers, Associate Teachers, and Learning Specialists share what they see and discuss ideas for supporting students based on their emotional and academic needs. Teachers will meet with the school support team and school administration when additional support is needed to create a plan. These stakeholders also connect in team meetings where specials teachers can share behavior and learning needs observed in their classrooms and discuss whether they represent a pattern needing additional support.

Ongoing access to the Assistant Principals for resources, tips, guidelines, and checkins also supports students’ needs. Teachers receive precise instruction and advisory guidelines to navigate their student advisory groups each year, and advisors often work together to brainstorm ideas, projects, and best practices.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, teachers address needs by tailoring classwork to accommodate diverse learning styles and participating in meetings with support staff to understand how to intervene and support all students thoroughly and effectively. Teachers adjust their approach in the classroom depending on students’ academic competency and social-emotional states, recognizing that these factors can influence students’ capacity to engage with, retain, and grasp the curriculum. Faculty members do this by employing various teaching methods and soliciting and receiving feedback from students and support staff.

Advisory is further differentiated depending on the developmental level of the students.

• At Fieldston Middle, advisory is structured to support the executive functioning skills that students need to manage the increasing academic and autonomous

demands of the classroom. Advisory also provides a primary adult to whom students can continually reach out for a spectrum of needs.

• At Fieldston Upper, advisory becomes more open-ended, as students are able to advocate for themselves with greater ease at this stage in their development. Advisors pair with a cohort of students for their entire tenure at Fieldston Upper and develop a long-standing relationship with their students. Advisors hold the most salient body of information across their students’ years at Fieldston Upper. Advisors coordinate with teachers, support staff, administrators, and families to ensure that the students feel supported and that strategies are implemented to address any difficulties in the classroom.

Emotional Development and Information Sharing

There are multiple mechanisms for our professional community to monitor students’ emotional health and development on an ongoing basis. Each division has a team designed to gather and process information about the collective emotional experience of students. These teams meet regularly to discuss how to best support individual students’ development and communicate with advisors and classroom teachers to ensure that each student is supported emotionally throughout the academic year.

School psychologists and guidance counselors have an open door policy, allowing all our school community members to communicate concerns regularly and promptly. Both teams offer appointments with faculty and parents/guardians to discuss student concerns. The School Psychologist or Guidance Counselor then communicates these concerns to the Student Support team and classroom teachers, as needed. Additionally, the School Psychologist or Guidance Counselor must communicate serious or repeated concerns with the larger Student Support team and with the Executive Director of Student Support and Wellness.

The elementary school divisions employ a Responsive Classroom system to establish classroom and school-wide expectations, including using responsive teacher language, discipline practices, and classroom norms. The teachers work to establish a positive classroom climate, classroom rules, and logical consequences for their students. Teachers use their morning meetings and closing circles as opportunities to check in with the emotional climate and readiness of the room before they begin teaching each day. Offering students this time to express their feelings allows them to ease into the day’s learning. Our teachers believe the first six weeks of school are critical to establishing a warm, inviting school and classroom environment. Teachers gather information about students during this time frame and use it to decide student groupings (e.g., lunch table seating, small-group projects) that support their social needs.

The elementary school divisions have an established routine of frequent communication between teaching staff and the administration. In collaboration with students’ parents/ guardians, faculty and administration continuously monitor all students’ emotional wellbeing and social adjustment in real time by observing the classrooms closely. Faculty meetings and other PD experiences provide teaching staff with increased awareness and training on the relevance of emotional health and wellness to educational experiences and outcomes. Team meetings are the primary method for information

sharing regarding student support.

We recently rolled out August Schools, a data system that improves our ability to look at students’ emotional needs to help orient future planning for social-emotional support. We also have a weekly student support meeting to triage our students’ most emergent issues.

The mental health support team members attend all grade-level meetings at Fieldston Middle. When concerns arise, a team member reviews concerns observed by teachers through a mental health lens. When a student’s emotional health has the potential to present in the classroom, the School Psychologist or Guidance Counselor

communicates with the classroom teachers and administrators. At Fieldston Upper, grade level support teams, including the Form Dean, meet weekly.

Support teams at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper use several methods to help maintain a climate that promotes student emotional health:

• An advisory system is in place for students to connect daily with a teacher and group of their peers. This consistency allows advisors to periodically meet oneon-one to check in on students’ emotional and social health.

• We have a robust team of Learning Center specialists available to meet with students and families as needed. These meetings are often built into student schedules to allow for consistent support throughout the year.

• A team of counselors and psychologists support our students with the goal of meeting with every student when possible; students can also reach out for support at any point throughout the year.

• We also partner with families through individual outreach and group opportunities, including frequent Coffee With the Counselors sessions and programs like the Learning Styles Senior Panel, a student-led conversation describing their individual experience with the Learning Center.

These methods are reflected in the School’s mission in many ways, including:

• We emphasize the value of all students’ needs by recognizing their unique learning and social-emotional profiles and by supporting their development from a whole-child perspective.

• Recognizing and honoring students’ individual contributions is central to our approach, which involves engaging with them individually and in small advisory groups. Through these interactions, students gain insight into their strengths and the valuable contributions they make to the ECFS community.

• By providing attention to students’ particular interests and needs, they can become critical thinkers and ethical individuals.

• Given adequate social emotional support, students develop skills to cope with challenges and, in turn, can better engage with the community appropriately and joyfully.

The School responds to its students’ diverse needs by individualizing academic and social emotional support plans using the methods above. A diverse team of student support professionals allows collaboration between varied perspectives when crafting individualized student support plans.

Special Education and Learning Support

Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower have processes for determining student educational needs beyond regular practices. Ethical Culture uses a tiered academic and SEL support model based on student assessment and observed needs. Level one includes routine support that all students receive. Level two encompasses auxiliary support for students making limited progress or not meeting benchmark goals in reading or math, and/or demonstrating persisting challenges in cognitive areas that impact academic progress. Level three, comprehensive support, describes students with persistent and pervasive challenges in reading, math, writing, attention, and executive functions. Students requiring level three support are often referred for outside evaluations to determine the specific learning needs and next steps for support. After evaluating students, our School Psychologist meets with evaluators and families to review the findings and create a learning plan to share with the faculty.

At Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper, our special education and learning support process is typically initiated by a question from a parent/guardian, student, Advisor, Dean, or Teacher. Deans are looped into the conversation and share any relevant background information, including:

• Whether the student already has a tutor in place

• Whether the Learning Center can speak with the tutors to coordinate and offer strategies for home tutoring

• Whether the student has already met with their teachers one-on-one to discuss support options

We also collect past evaluations, check student files and home reports, create a document of missing assignments, and collect feedback from teachers directly. Additionally, the deans may ask parents/guardians to share why there is interest in the Learning Center and whether or not the student has a history of working with the language and learning support teams at the elementary school divisions.

The Learning Center team members, deans, advisors, psychologists, counselors, DEI Leads, and administrators then meet to review the appropriate information. They discuss strategies and then communicate these strategies with the student’s team of teachers. Initially, the Dean and Advisors work together to coordinate and execute strategies for a diagnostic period of four to six weeks leading up to the Learning Center drop-in sessions. Strategies may include creating checklists, implementing check-in

schedules and/or meetings with teachers, or using key support resources such as ASAP at Fieldston Middle.

If support is needed beyond the diagnostic period, students can attend the Learning Center drop-in times to engage with a Learning Specialist to determine next steps. In these cases, students must drop into the Learning Center once a week for a further diagnostic period to determine if a permanent placement or outside accommodations are necessary. If lingering questions or further support are needed after the diagnostic period, a recommendation for an evaluation, tutoring, or therapy may be shared with parents/guardians.

Background information is gathered from the student, parents/guardians, and outside providers working with the student (e.g., therapist, tutor, specialist, medical doctor, evaluator). The written report from an evaluator, medical doctor, or mental health professional informs the student support plan. Once the team has reviewed all documentation, a plan is finalized and shared with the student to help them understand their learning profile. If a parent/guardian requests a copy of the plan, it is then shared with them and sent to the student’s subject teachers, Dean, Psychologist, and relevant administrators.

If the School refers a student for tutoring and we are informed of the partnership, and if the student is utilizing the Learning Center, the Learning Center Specialist will keep the tutor updated, maintain regular communication, and establish goals collaboratively. Teachers are also copied on communications with the tutor when study plans relate to their subject. Some parents/guardians may request that the tutor contact the classroom teacher to coordinate outside support, strategies, and goals.

If the student is not using the Learning Center or finds a tutor independent of the School, we may not be aware unless the parent/guardian or child indicates they have a tutor and requests we communicate with them. At this point, if communication is requested, the parent/guardian will need to give consent.

Students With Unique Needs

ECFS regularly engages with all stakeholders to determine support for students with unique needs. This feedback assists ECFS when monitoring the efficacy of its support systems and identifying areas for enhancement or emerging needs. As student needs and demographics change, ECFS is always looking for ways to anticipate needs versus being reactive to them.

The Learning Center and counselors have several protocols in place to support students who have unique learning needs, including:

• Learning plans and home reports

• Formal and informal communications with teachers, administrators, external partners, and families

• Evaluation meetings

• Accommodation requests from faculty

• Engagement with the full Student Support and Wellness team

• Presentations at new family orientations and during student transition points

• Weekly student support meetings with administrators

• Grade-level psychologists travel with classes through each grade

• Prep for Prep meetings with psychologists; Prep for Prep is a leadership development and gifted education program dedicated to expanding educational access to students of color

• Participation in affinity groups, assemblies, Courageous Conversations, and DEI programming

Students with diverse learning needs are supported by proactive and early educational assessments used to inform educational planning. Educational documentation is reviewed and assessed to ascertain suitable support measures. The success of these interventions is audited through a frequent review of student progress and work samples and parent/guardian-teacher or parent/guardian-provider conferences during which we determine the success or limitations of interventions currently in place. We do not currently have specific support in place for international students; however, all new students are supported through frequent monitoring and collaboration with their families, the receiving classroom teacher, and the counseling team. Frequent communication is shared in the initial weeks and months of their transition to our community so that any difficulties can be addressed proactively.

For students who are unable to use stairs, we ensure that classes and grade form corridors are accessible. When students are not ambulatory, classes, advisories, and other necessary touch points are relocated so they do not have to use stairs. Ethical Culture, Fieldston Lower, and Fieldston Middle are fully accessible via elevator. Support for students with other physical needs is addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Parent and Teacher Association (P+T)

Parent/guardian involvement is encouraged through the P+T, where elected and appointed members liaise between the administration and parent/guardian body. The P+T plans engagement events for students and families and fosters unity in the school community. All school P+T co-chairs and volunteers, in collaboration with the Head of School and other administrators, meet regularly to discuss various matters. Division co-chairs supervise advisory representatives who handle concerns at each grade level, reinforcing effective communication channels.

The P+T was formed to promote the ideals and mission of the School and foster a strong sense of community beyond the classroom. Families hear from the P+T leadership teams throughout the year regarding events and other opportunities for community engagement. The following highlights the mission of the P+T leadership team:

• To nurture a sense of community beyond our children’s classrooms with school administration, faculty, and fellow parents/guardians

• To represent and advocate on behalf of parents/guardians to school administration

• To facilitate communication among parents/guardians, faculty, and administration

The ASMC, an extension of the P+T, collaborates with the Department of Belonging and Social Impact, offering resources and organizing events for families. Affinity groups for parents/guardians and caregivers, such as the parents/guardians and caregivers of color, white antiracist, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ affinity groups, provide additional support and community connections. The School actively engages parents/guardians in various capacities to enhance communication and foster a strong sense of community. This group also hosts forums and events, recently initiating a 21-Day Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging challenge to engage the community in important DEI work. In the future, we hope to extend the challenge to alumni and students.

Parents/guardians are active on the food committees and the Spirit Gear Advisory Committee. The P+T has also formed many committees to plan for Homecoming and other athletic events, new family welcomes, and community service projects.

Each division collects information from families in different ways. While there is no formal, all-encompassing survey for families, division representatives typically collect information via surveys from families on various topics such as technology usage, experience with different programs, dining needs, and other support they would like to see. In addition to the above, the survey, focus groups, and interviews conducted by Anthem of Us assessed families’ perceptions of belonging at the School.

Parent/Guardian Orientation

[ Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower

Communication with families is regular, ongoing, and valued. Principals send weekly News and Notes emails to all families, which include reminders, events, collaboration opportunities, information about school events, and tools to use. All classroom teachers send weekly newsletters to families about academic and social events. Each grade has class parents who meet monthly with the Principal to raise issues, concerns, and questions. Intakes and conferences occur throughout the academic year so families are given regular updates about their child’s progress. Additionally, teachers were encouraged to conduct intake conferences or touch points with all families within the first six weeks of the 2023–2024 academic year.

If an incident or specific concern arises, the leadership team, faculty, and/or guidance team members will email or phone to inform the families about what has

happened, the next steps, and how families can support their child moving forward.

The Fieldston Lower DEI Lead sends Department of Belonging and Social Impact newsletters throughout the year to all families to inform them of DEI work happening in classrooms. The Ethical Culture DEI Lead works closely with the Social Studies Coordinator to craft resource guides for families as students move through various identity-based and social studies curricula.

The divisions engage families in various ways to encourage maintaining an equitable school community. Families can access family affinity spaces, Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) training, and on-demand learning sessions with DEI Leads. Family sessions related to CARe and other DEI topics usually have 20–25 families attending, and the family affinity spaces generally have 10–45 families at each meeting. Our elementary school divisions also host students and families of color affinity breakfasts. CARe Connections is a program where families can participate in the same CARe activities students engage with. There are also family DEI information sessions to learn about DEI work at Fieldston Lower and Ethical Culture.

[ Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper

Parent/guardian orientations at Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper are extensive. Divisional counselors and learning specialists attend every orientation, including new student orientations, grade level orientations, and divisional orientations. In these spaces, parents/guardians are introduced to the School’s extensive support systems and ways to access those resources.

Parents/guardians and caregivers are encouraged to provide the School with any learning- and/or mental health-related information that would assist us in supporting students. We communicate with families regarding our observations and recommendations regarding academic and social-emotional support. We ask parents/ guardians to provide information about any outside support their child is already receiving, allowing us to partner with them more holistically.

The School maintains frequent communication with families to keep them informed about the numerous events happening in the community. In addition to the Principals’ weekly News and Notes mentioned above, grade deans periodically share updates. Advisors also play a crucial role in communication, reaching out to families during significant touch points throughout the academic year, including Back to School Night and fall and spring parent/guardian-teacher conferences. Additionally, advisors and teachers proactively communicate with individual families in case of concerns or to share noteworthy information, ensuring ongoing and personalized engagement. Orientation includes a communications flowchart to guide families on whom to contact in different situations, and this information is reinforced by advisors, grade deans, administrators, and department chairs.

STUDENT LIFE AND COMMUNITY REPORT SUBMITTED BY:

Pre-K–5th Grade Student Life and Co-Curricular Programming

Shannon Matlovsky, DEI Lead, Ethical Culture, Chair

Santa Brito-Abreu, Pre-K–5th Grade Parent Representative

Keeniun Brumskill, Executive Director of Community and Social Impact

Rob Cousins, Principal, Ethical Culture

Kate Culligan, Social Studies Lead, Ethical Culture

Cathy Fleischmann, Assistant Director of After School and Auxiliary Programs, Ethical Culture

Erik Landgren, Assistant Principal of Student Life, Ethical Culture

Joe McCauley, Principal, Fieldston Lower

Jessica Panek, 3rd–5th Grade Librarian, Fieldston Lower

Naomi Randolph, Assistant Principal of Student Life, Fieldston Lower

Nelson Sanchez ’07, 3rd–5th Grade Ethics Specialist, Ethical Culture

Nicole Sterling, Librarian, Ethical Culture

6–12th Grade Student Life and Co-Curricular Programming

Elizabeth Flores, Grade Dean, Math Teacher, Fieldston Middle, Chair

Jon Alschuler, Principal, Fieldston Middle

Stacey Bobo, Principal, Fieldston Upper

Linda Colarusso, Administrative Assistant to the Fieldston Upper Deans

GloriAnne DiToro, Athletics Coordinator

Katie Elwood, Librarian, Fieldston Middle/ Fieldston Upper

Jameel Freeman, Director of College Counseling

Clare Mottola, Co-Dean of Student Engagement, Theatre and Dance Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Rashad Randolph, Assistant Principal of Student Life, Fieldston Upper

John Reyes, Form Dean, Math Teacher, Fieldston Upper

Isora Santos, Assistant Principal of Student Life, Fieldston Middle

Bree Sheahan, 6th–12th Grade Parent Representative

Triece Thomas, Community Service Learning Coordinator

Diane Toth, Physical Education Teacher, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Javin G. ’28, Fieldston Middle Student

Counseling/Psychology Services, Learning Support, and Health Services

Mica McGriggs, Executive Director of Student Support and Wellness, Chair

Sarah Cohn, Psychologist, Fieldston Middle

Soraya Falipou-Karkari, Assistant Director of Campus Services

Stacey Husted, Nurse, Fieldston Lower

Colleen Meehan, Nurse, Fieldston Middle/ Fieldston Upper

Carolyn Smith, Head Athletic Trainer

Melissa Solano, Learning Center Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Margot Tenenbaum, Guidance Counselor, Ethical Culture

Samantha Yunko, Registered Dietician/ Nutritionist, AVI (no longer at ECFS)

Parent/Guardian, Alumni, and Neighborhood Engagement

Nancy Oti, Director of Special Events and Engagement, Chair

Abby Aska, Manager, Parent Engagement and Events, Ethical Culture and Fieldston Middle (no longer at ECFS)

Roy Blumenfeld, Director, City Semester

Sara Hunt Munoz, Director of Alumni Relations (no longer at ECFS)

Emma Johnson, Communications Manager

Patty Moreno-Fletcher P’17, P’18, P’24, P+T All School Chair

Eliana Rivera, Learning Support Specialist, Ethical Culture

Yamel Sanchez, Manager, Parent Engagement and Events, Fieldston Lower and Fieldston Upper

Lauren Servidio, Interim Director of Alumni Relations

Melissa Solano, Learning Center Department Chair, Fieldston Middle/Fieldston Upper

Shelley Topping-Omodunbi, Director of Public Partnership

Grace Wang, ASMC Parent Co-Chair Representative

Section 7

Self-Study Process, Reflection, and Conclusion

The self-study has been a community-wide process that prioritized transparency, forthrightness, and honesty. A process that is more analytical than descriptive, the self-study utilized questions posed by NYSAIS as a launching point for discussion, observation, examination, and ultimately identification of areas of strength and areas for development or improvement.

SECTION CHAPTERS

Reflection and Conclusion

Scan to find supplemental documents for the NYSAIS Self-Study for the decennial accreditation of Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

Reflection and Conclusion

An iterative and reflective process at its core, our self-study evaluation provided the School with a foundation to establish future strategic initiatives and programmatic development. Grounded in the tenets of transparency and critical thinking — and mirroring our values of collaboration and inclusion — our decennial accreditation self-study is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of our community. Within these pages, our faculty, staff, administrators, students, parents/guardians, and trustees have reconnected with the mission of our institution and renewed our collective commitment to the principles of quality improvement, which are so deeply embedded within our culture.

In the spirit of honesty and integrity, our work has identified several priorities as we consider the strategic needs of our institution. These, in part, include:

• Enhancing our curricular alignment across grade levels by ensuring a thoughtful progression between grades and divisions. This unified framework will help ensure consistency and continuity while balancing the need for flexible and unique course offerings. Particular attention must be paid to the elementary school divisions to ensure students from Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower are entering 6th Grade with aligned competencies.

• Continuing the important work of DEI and belonging throughout all facets of our community, including accessible and current progress monitoring.

• Examining class sizes throughout Fieldston Middle and Fieldston Upper to better understand the impact these have on learning outcomes and student achievement.

• Executing strategies to promote the retention of senior administrators to ensure the retention of institutional knowledge and organizational leadership.

• Implementing a technology strategy that approaches technology from an all school perspective.

• Thinking with intentionality and purpose to develop a master plan that addresses the needs of our aging facilities through capital construction and philanthropy.

• Engaging our network of alumni to better assess our educational programming.

A self-study as meaningful and expansive as this provides us not only with the holistic opportunity to examine our overarching areas of growth but also with the opportunity to reflect upon the self-study itself. With that in mind, we expect that future comprehensive reviews will require greater flexibility in our planning schedule to ensure that individuals not involved in specific sections of the report have the time to review and understand the submissions of fellow committees. By providing our community with a longer period to review the report as a whole, we cultivate further opportunities for cross-collaboration and concision.

Additionally, we have made the intentional choice in this report to categorize our section on Teaching and Learning not by academic department but by how our courses align with the mission and tenets of our School. Breaking down these silos better reflects upon the interdisciplinary nature of our teaching and showcases our focus on fostering experiences aimed at developing the whole child. While we expect to utilize this approach in future reviews, it provided for increased complexity in pulling together the vast series of reports.

While there lies important work in the months and years ahead, this report also celebrates the responsibility and achievements occurring both in and outside our classrooms each day. These include:

• Unique course offerings across all divisions that highlight the importance of experiential learning, acting as change agents within the community, learning how to think as opposed to what to think, and living within a global environment

• Meeting students where they are by addressing both their academic and socialemotional needs and supporting them through moments of hardship, unrest, and personal learning challenges

• Adapting our educational offerings in a manner that is responsive to both the world around us and to the desires of our students and internal community

• Driving affordability of an ECFS education by ensuring tuition increases remain below our 10- and 20-year averages

• Safely guiding the institution through the COVID-19 pandemic by leading with science and public purpose

As we grow nearer to our 150th anniversary in 2028, this exercise in introspection and growth is best encapsulated in the words of our founder, Felix Adler: “We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.” The lessons from our founder are as fundamental and relevant to our work today as they were in 1878. After all, our world, our communities, and our people have changed.

However, it is incumbent upon us as progressive educators to not just change with the world around us but to also remain steadfast in the mission that brought our School together at its inception. The way in which these lessons are delivered may look different from our earliest days as the Workingman’s School, but the values enshrined in our teachings and operations continue to remain a guiding light through moments of reflection and growth.

Executive Leadership Council

Joe Algrant, Head of School

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Chief Executive Officer

Jon Alschuler, Principal, Fieldston Middle

Stacey Bobo, Principal, Fieldston Upper

Keeniun Brumskill, Executive Director of Community and Social Impact

Rob Cousins, Principal, Ethical Culture

Marjorie Jean-Paul, Chief Advancement Officer

Holly Manges Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel

Joe McCauley, Principal, Fieldston Lower

Mica McGriggs, Executive Director of Student Support and Wellness

Keiko Reid, Chief Financial Officer

Administrative Council

Joe Algrant, Head of School

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Chief Executive Officer

Jon Alschuler, Principal, Fieldston Middle

Keith Alves, Director of Finance/ Controller

Dave Argenzio, Director of Campus Safety

Stacey Bobo, Principal, Fieldston Upper

Keeniun Brumskill, Executive Director of Community and Social Impact

Jetty Castro, Director of Human Resources

Rob Cousins, Principal, Ethical Culture

Jameel Freeman, Director of College Counseling

Victoria Daley, Interim Director of Enrollment Management and Director of Financial Aid

Les Jonson, Director of Information Technology

Marjorie Jean-Paul, Chief Advancement Officer

Robert Lundgren, Director of Facilities

Holly Manges Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel

Joe McCauley, Principal, Fieldston Lower

Mica McGriggs, Executive Director of Student Support and Wellness

Gus Ornstein ’94, Director of Athletics

Teddy O’Rourke, Director of Campus Services

Keiko Reid, Chief Financial Officer

Sarah Wendt, Director of Strategic Engagement

Board of Trustees

Ethan Binder

Juan Botella

Margot Bridger

Eunu Chun

Anand Desai

Akin Dorsett ’88

Sharan Gill

Pooja Goyal

Andrew Holm ’01, Treasurer

Atif Khawaja, Secretary

Rob Lewin

Vivian Lin

Seth Meisel

Patty Moreno-Fletcher

Jo Natauri

Kathleen O’Connell

Jon Roure

Jonathan M. Rozoff

Carline Samson

Dana Sirota

Min Young Song

Kimberly Smith Spacek ’91, Board Chair

Lance Taubin ’06

Krishna Veeraraghavan, Vice-Chair

Rielly Vlassis

Josh Vlasto ’00

Stephanie Wagner

Jeff Walker, Vice-Chair

Joe Algrant, Head of School, Ex-Officio

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, CEO, Ex-Officio

Liz Singer, President, Society Board, Ex-Officio

Honorary Trustees

Laura Jacobs Blankfein ’71

Susan Sarnoff Bram ’81

Charles Debrovner

Samuel C. Florman ’42

Nina P. Freedman ’73

James A. Gara ’72

Ken Glassman

G. Angela Flemister Henry ’75

Anne Klaeysen

Meghan Mackay

Sara E. Nathan ’71

Robert A. Pruzan ’81

Nori Rost, Society Leader

Paul Schnell ’72

Tracy Chutorian Semler ’82

S. Donald Sussman

Judith Dreitzer Wallach ’49

Steering Committee

Kyle Wilkie-Glass, Chief Executive Officer, Chair

Joe Algrant, Head of School, Ex-Officio

Nancy Banks, History Teacher, Co-Dean of Student Engagement, Fieldston Upper

Sophie B. ’24, Fieldston Upper student, Fieldston Student Government Co-President

Jessica Galarza, Administrative Assistant, Professional Development Coordinator

Mollie Glasser ‘06, English Teacher, Grade Level Coordinator, Fieldston Middle

Atif Khawaja, Secretary, Board of Trustees

Remy L. ’24, Fieldston Upper student, Fieldston Student Government Co-President

Patty Moreno-Fletcher P’17, P’18, P’24, P+T All School Chair

Maggie Morrison, 4th Grade Head Teacher, Fieldston Lower

Teddy O’Rourke, Director of Campus Services

Kimberly Smith Spacek ’91, Chair, Board of Trustees, Ex-Officio

Nicole Sterling, Librarian, Ethical Culture

Accreditation Report designed by Gina Iacono, ECFS Graphic Design and Website Manager

“The time calls for action. Up, then, and let us do our part faithfully and well. And oh, friends, our children’s children will hold our memories dearer for the work which we begin this hour.

—Felix Adler