State of the School
2024-25 Teaching
and Learning
A Message from the Head of School
In the fall of 2023, we launched Shady Hill Strong, our strategic road map for the next five years. Key themes that emerged included strengthening our academic program, reimagining the employee journey, and reinvigorating our community. The goal is to ensure Shady Hill remains a leader in PreK-8 independent school education and a destination for talented and passionate faculty and staff. After a year of thoughtful, reflective work, I am excited to provide you with an update on the Strategic Plan in this State of the School.
Last year, seven working groups led by faculty and administrators met monthly to carefully consider and discuss specific questions pertaining to access and belonging, employee wellness, Thematic Studies and Central Subject, learning support, student life, parent engagement and technology use. In May, the leaders of these working groups shared their recommendations for next steps. You can learn more about our working groups and the outcomes in our Strategic Plan On the Move article in this pubication.
The theme of this year’s State of the School is Teaching and Learning, which reflects the strong consensus by the faculty to focus our time on strengthening our academic program. Given the strong consensus by the faculty on the importance of focusing on teaching and learning, I created a new Dean of Faculty position. Katherine Hesko, a Teacher Training Center (TTC) graduate who has taught at Shady Hill for 16 years has been leading the efforts to carve out time for faculty to reflect and record their curriculum in a new format. This curriculum mapping is strengthening our understanding of the scope and sequence of skills and content that will benefit our new faculty and ensure a strong student experience. Many of our faculty meetings and professional days have been devoted to this work as we digitize our curriculum and engage in pedagogical discussions.
Finally, we were able to conduct an employee survey this fall to hear the many different voices and their experiences in our community. We will be forming a working group to address some of the themes from the survey and to take action to improve and strengthen the employee experience and work culture.
As we look ahead to the New Year, I am excited to dive into the results of not only our employee survey, but two other surveys we distributed this summer about parent engagement and belonging. I am confident that these survey results can help us understand how we can come together as a community despite our differences to make the Shady Hill student, parent, and employee experience stronger. We are grateful for the participation where everyone’s voice is heard and valued. As Maya Angelou writes, “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
Warmly, Mark Stanek Head of School
Strengthening the Academic Program
Shady Hill teachers have their own homework this year. Born out of the Strategic Plan initiatives, teachers created a new system to document their curriculum. This task has two major components. We are diving deep into looking at the skills students learn in every grade and subject. Creating an updated Scope and Sequence allows teachers to more clearly see where certain skills are introduced, practiced and mastered. This will then lead to essential dialogue between teachers at different grade levels about how to support students as they progress through our program and how to assess their proficiency in certain areas. Another aim of this project is to create student and family facing documentation, in addition to report cards, that will outline the skills students are working on in kid friendly language. Our hope is that this motivates children to have a clearer understanding of their own academic goals.
The second tier of this undertaking is to create school wide curriculum maps. A number of teachers gathered together this summer to create a website to house all of our curriculum. At Shady Hill, we eschew text books in favor of teacher generated and curated curriculum. This makes our work exciting, generative and meaningful for both students and teachers, but hard to house. This website serves as a hub where teachers have been documenting daily lessons, including links to materials and resources. It is a treasure trove of the inspiring work our dedicated, talented teachers create. We are still building it, but are looking forward to the myriad of ways it will help our school onboard new teachers, promote conversations across departments and grade levels and even among teachers of the same subjects. This is only the beginning of much more collaboration in the future and we know the work is meaningful and relevant to teachers because they are excited to do their homework to make it happen!
Social Emotional Learning Program Responsive to Student Needs
At Shady Hill, we are committed to fostering both a strong academic program and the social-emotional development of our students. TOAD (Talks on Adolescent Development) is a 45-minute weekly block in the Middle School dedicated to teaching explicit social-emotional learning (SEL).
Historically, Middle School faculty have developed their own content for TOAD, which aimed to be responsive to the needs of students, as there was no standardized curriculum. Last year, Brooke Mitropoulos, the middle school counselor, spearheaded an initiative to revamp TOAD in line with best practices in SEL curriculum design, including the SAFE framework –Sequenced, Active, Focused, and Explicit. A key priority in this revamp was ensuring consistent SEL instruction across Grades V-VIII, so that all students develop core competencies in self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationshipbuilding, and responsible decision-making.
The process began with gathering feedback from students and faculty on what was working and not working during TOAD, as well as leading professional development on SEL. In the spring of 2024, a TOAD Team was formed, consisting of Gradeheads, department teachers, and administrators interested in redesigning the program. With the support of a summer grant, the team reviewed feedback, current curricula, and evidence-based resources, in order to develop a new scope and sequence designed to align with the highly researched CASEL competencies (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) and Shady Hill’s academic instruction.
This year marks the first implementation of the new TOAD curriculum. The curriculum is designed to spiral, revisiting themes with increasing depth as students progress through the grade levels. Units that may be covered include community building, emotions, stress and anxiety, conflict management, digital citizenship, gender in the media, health and leadership skills. Each grade-level teaching team meets weekly with Brooke to preview lessons, reflect on past units, draw connections to academic content, and ensure the curriculum meets students’ evolving needs.
Welcome New Administrators
We are excited to have welcomed three new administrators to our team this year!
The first addition was our new Middle School Head Katherine Taketomo ’05, TTC ’14. Katherine attended Shady Hill from Beginners to Grade VIII and returned to immerse herself in the Teacher Training Center as a Middle School humanities apprentice. She has over a decade of experience as a Middle School teacher and administrator. For the past three years, Katherine served as Assistant Director of Middle School at Berkeley Carroll in Brooklyn.
Shiva McClellan is our current Interim Lower School Head. She previously served as Lower School Head at Shore Country Day School and The Speyer Legacy School. She was also the Associate Head of School for Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development at Williamsburg Northside School.
Katherine Hesko TTC ’08, who has been at Shady Hill since 2007, was named Dean of Faculty in August. This position was recommended as part of our new Strategic Plan Working Groups in an effort to serve as the liaison between faculty and administration. Katherine was a TTC apprentice from 2007–08 and was hired directly from the TTC to be a Grade VI Gradehead, a position she held for 16 years until this past August.
Teacher Training Center Attracts Diverse Apprentices
Since its founding in 1915, Shady Hill School has been a champion for social justice and diversity. Keeping in line with that goal, the Teacher Training Center’s (TTC) immersive apprentice program is focused on developing culturally responsive educators who appreciate each child’s humanity, gifts, and talents.
In the late 1940’s, when Katharine Taylor, the school’s first director and founder of the apprentice program, learned Richard Evans ’51, an African American student, was not allowed at the Cambridge Skating Rink, she told the manager that none of our students would skate there. Taylor spearheaded an effort to not only diversify our student body, but to also bring more African-American pre-service teachers to the school’s Apprentice program.
Fast forward to 2020, Desiree Ivey, Executive Director of the TTC, initiated a partnership with the He Is Me Institute after learning about the work of founder, Robert Hendricks, recognizing our students and faculty’s need for more Black male teachers on campus and in the profession.
The He Is Me Institute aims to strengthen the pipeline of Black male teachers, who are currently underrepresented in the teaching profession, making up less than 2% of the workforce. Research shows that Black male teachers positively impact the growth of all students in schools, regardless of their race, gender, or social class.
This decision to partner with the He Is Me Institute was inspired by Coleman Craddock ‘08 former Shady Hill student who spoke about the impact of a bi-racial Black and Korean
male apprentice on him. He said, “One of the people that have had a major influence on me was a teacher of mine, Mr. Hyon Herbert. He and I met in my 6th grade year at Shady Hill when he came to work as an after-school teacher and then as a teaching apprentice the following year. From the first day we forged a strong relationship. He took learning seriously because he was also a student practicing to become a teacher. By his example of determination, he inspired me to strive for excellence as a student.”
Last year, He Is Me Institute collaborated with Shady Hill’s Assistant Head of School, Dr. Daryl Wright, who taught a monthly course focused on becoming a high-impact teacher while honoring the diverse cultures, values, and identities of Black male educators. Dr. Wright reported a strong and inspiring connection with the Black male educators involved, and he appreciated the opportunity to provide authentic feedback and mentorship on navigating the current educational landscape.
The course attracted nine He Is Me Institute fellows including David Richardson, who applied for the $21,000 Katharine Taylor Fellowship and was selected by a Shady Hill faculty committee as the recipient. He received an additional $40,000 scholarship from Boston University to help complete his master’s degree and earn a teaching certificate.
For the 2024-25 academic year, the course taught by Dr. Wright was relocated to UMass Lowell. “We are excited that we have been able to shape this course and assist the university in attracting and supporting Black male educators entering the profession,” said Dr. Wright.
Past Giving Impacts Today’s Students
Shady Hill is fortunate to have such a generous community of devoted supporters. Decades ago, donors gave the first endowment contributions, and others have added their own gifts, all of which, combined, have grown through the power of long-term investing. The endowment’s most recent annual valuation, dated June 30, 2024, was $70.6 million. Following standard practices among independent schools, Shady Hill allocates a share of its earnings each year to operations, providing roughly nine percent of the School’s operating budget, or $2.8 million. How amazing that donations to the endowment can do so much good for students of today!
People often wonder: what can the endowment be spent on; what rules govern it? One important piece of this answer is that the endowment is made up of many different funds, and those given by donors are governed in perpetuity by a “deed” that specifies its mission-specific purpose. For example, $10 million of the total endowment, is comprised of dedicated financial aid funds. Some of these gifts came to Shady Hill as bequests, while others were made by living donors of all ages – current parents, alumni and grandparents included – who are passionate about socioeconomic diversity. The payout from these financial aid funds flows into the School’s annual budget, to support financial aid. Similarly, endowed funds created for other purposes can only be used for the purpose specified in the donor’s instructions. And they cannot be drained or overspent; only a responsible share can be drawn each year, to ensure continuity of impact over time.
Here’s another way to think about it: without such a healthy endowment, the School would be forced to either (a) reduce our operating budget considerably, (b) increase tuition substantially, or (c) raise vastly more through the Shady Hill Fund every year. We are grateful for donors who saw fit – and continue – to invest in the endowment!
Strategic Plan On the Move
Shady Hill’s Strategic Plan – Shady Hill Strong – was conceived two years ago and incorporated feedback from faculty, staff, current parents, alumni, trustees and students. As a result of that work, SHS convened seven working groups that focused on the following topics – Access and Belonging, Employee Wellness, Thematic Studies and Central Subject, Learning Support, Student Life, Parent Engagement and Technology Use. Led by faculty and administrators, these working groups shared their recommendations for next steps at the end of last year.
Given the strong consensus by the faculty on the importance of focusing our time on teaching and learning, a new position was created. Katherine Hesko, TTC ‘08 and former Grade VI Gradehead, was named Dean of Faculty and is now responsible for serving as the liaison between faculty and administrative leadership. She advocates for the needs of faculty as we continue to strengthen the students’ academic and social emotional progress. She is also in charge of a more intense onboarding program for new employees, ensuring a smooth transition to the school and a stronger understanding of Shady Hill culture.
For Student Experience, the school has revamped our Middle School TOAD (Talks on Adolescent Development) program with a goal of being more responsive to student needs. In the area of Employee Wellness and Support, we conducted an employee survey and hosted several employer sponsored events to support wellness and camaraderie. Another hot button issue is strategic planning around technology. What is our long term view on technology? How do we teach our students to use technology responsibly, while helping parents better understand the challenges of responsible use for their children? This year, we have hosted several meetings with parents to talk about technology use including a “Wait Until 8th” presentation. We have implemented a new practice of collecting phones for the school day so they are not a distraction. Also,
the technology working group has two new groups researching AI and digital literacy curriculum.
We will conduct a Learning Resources review next fall with outside experts and will be reviewing their recommendations next spring. Finally, our Parent Engagement working group worked closely with Access and Belonging to develop a professional survey (thanks to a current parent volunteer) on how best to engage parents and where we need to further adapt to this ever changing parent landscape.
What lies ahead? More discussion, research, and review of the suggestions that were created through the working groups. Shady Hill Strong is a roadmap to the future for SHS and we are truly appreciative of the collaboration with those who have provided input and support along the way.
