TAS News

Achieved Through Continuous Improvement

By Dr. Sharon D. Hennessy, Head of School

As we prepare to celebrate Taipei American School’s 70th birthday next fall, there seems no better time to stop and reflect on the value of a TAS education. That value has at its foundation a shared resolve that inspired our educational leadership, the school community, the faculty, and the Board. Put simply, the commitment was to bring our unusually academically able students, our uniquely gifted performing and visual artists, our authentically multicultural, multilingual children together so we could infuse within their daily lives a commitment to strong character and ethical behavior and unleash their unlimited potential: academically, athletically, artistically, socially, and as servant leaders. As I have watched on over these past thirteen years, I have seen truly inspired teamwork bring the TAS students of today to a place where we can say they are well prepared for success anywhere in this dramatically and rapidly changing world. The steady upward climb challenged much of the status quo and contradicted the best practices expounded upon by many pundits within the educational world. Slow and steady wins the race, many educators believe. At TAS, we felt our students – always well taught, always well cared for, always well respected – were capable of more. Much more. With unusual and unique combinations of strengths and talents within the student body, demanding but highly supportive parents, and a visionary Board, we set about with radical intentionality to build something enduring, something of significant academic and personal value. Our ambitions and aspirations were broad and deep and addressed nearly every discipline in every division. Standing upon the shoulders of the leaders and educators who made TAS so well regarded for its first fifty-five years, we set out with determination and optimism to strengthen every element of school life: curricular, cocurricular, athletic, socio-emotional, character-based, and service-related. This focused commitment and determination have never, nor should they, take the form of self-satisfaction or of thinking “good enough” ever is. It is in the blood of every TAS Tiger to crave more, higher, better, and to care deeply about the changing world that surrounds them and the one that awaits them. A school is made up of multiple elements: students, teachers, programs, buildings, and the ideas that conceived them. As the saying goes, a “school is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside.” For the last seventy years, and indeed with radical acceleration and determination over the past nearly fifteen years, TAS has been preparing our students for their tomorrows, whenever or wherever those tomorrows occur. This is what our community demanded, expected, and, once satisfied, supported in a way that was singularly critical to the school we have today. It bears mention that just fifteen years ago our accrediting agency, WASC, put us on probation, and challenged the community to come together in support of the excellence for which TAS had long been known. That issue was resolved NOT by slow and steady pacing, but by a decisive and bold response. Within months the School was again fully accredited, and commendations from visiting teams over these intervening years have been nothing but complimentary.

What have we seen over this seventh decade of TAS history? Tremendous change, transformation, community involvement, continuity of faculty and administration, higher and higher levels of parent satisfaction, continuously impressive college admissions, expansion of all learning support and counseling areas, programs previously unheard of becoming the norm, all within a school whose waitlists have never been longer, and whose enrollment is at its largest level since derecognition.

Allow me to describe a few of the achievements of the past decade:

• Built a new Upper School featuring advanced science research labs and equipped with cutting edge technology for scientific research and robotics • Provided a large lecture hall within the Upper School for the many outside scholars in residence and visiting lecturers to speak to large groups of students • Established the Liu Lim Arts Center as a space for students to explore their passions in visual as well as performing arts • Established the Tiger Health and Wellness Center, a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning center with full-time certified trainers and strength and conditioning coaches • Changed the school governance model to include four appointed members who join the nine elected members of the Board, bringing institutional memory and significant skills to our deliberations • Refurbished the Auditorium with our “Please Have a

Seat” campaign • Developed a culture of philanthropy whereby nearly 70% of all parents gave to support excellence last year; this year 100% of faculty, Board, and administrators have donated. The margin of excellence created by the successful fundraising program, which had participation from less than 1% of the community a decade ago, is the foundation of the radical improvements we have instituted in such a short period of time. We have a grateful, satisfied community to thank for these significant changes. • Received numerous commendations from our accrediting body, the Western Association of

Schools and Colleges (WASC), including a six-year accreditation, the longest endorsement given by

WASC • More than tripled the amount of professional development dollars invested in our esteemed faculty, key to recruiting and retaining the best people • Addressed the wellness, nutritional, and stress management needs of students through an initial twoday learning event, from which much good has come and many programs have spun off • Introduced film studies, expanded dance, and added electives in the Middle School • Built world-class Robotics, iGEM, Model United

Nations, Film, Journalism, Public Speaking, and

Debate programs with significant funding from fundraising programs Throughout these exciting years the educational leaders have operated on one principle: “Decide what you stand for and stand for it all the time” (Clayton Christiansen, Harvard Business School guru, and celebrated innovation expert). A decade ago I wrote an article about what TAS might look like, naming it “Vision 20-20.” How much we underestimated the capacity of the community! How badly we underestimated the potential of all our students! The fact is we have achieved all we set out to do in that decade-old article. The problem is, we have only just begun. May the next decade sustain the transformation in ways we have not yet even conceived, for students we have not yet even welcomed to the TAS family.

For the last seventy years, and indeed with radical acceleration and determination over the past nearly fifteen years, TAS has been preparing our students for their tomorrows, whenever or wherever those tomorrows occur.