Abridged Strategic Plan 2012
Dwight’s Past, Present, and Future Three years ago, after thorough discussions with faculty and various members of the community, we published an updated, abridged version of our seven-year strategic plan, International Leaders Today. This plan addressed all areas of School life and provided a roadmap while we undertook more exciting changes than at any other time in the School’s 140-year history. Our evolution has been both transformational and remarkable – we are better positioned than ever to ignite the “spark of genius” in every child through our three pillars of Personalized Learning, Community, and Global Vision. The next few years at Dwight promise to be equally exciting, as you will soon read. Thanks once again to a comprehensive strategic-planning process involving our administration, faculty, students, the Spahn family, The Dwight School Foundation Board of Trustees, other key Dwight parents and alumni, and community and global leaders, we are pleased to share the institutional goals that guide our efforts. These goals will impact every aspect of School life. Last year, administrative changes set the stage for Dwight’s continuation as a global leader and champion. Dianne Drew, Head of School, oversees all day-to-day operations and guides a world-class administrative team. Stephen Spahn, as Chancellor, mentors administrators as well as our students on a daily basis in order to ensure that passion, purpose, and practice remain fundamentals of Dwight life. He is central to setting all strategic goals. The Spahn family will continue to provide leadership and outside resources to turn ideas into a practical reality; and to align all community members in making certain that the “spark of genius” credo is made real for every student. Our growth in the next few years focuses on four key areas:
1. Expand and enhance facilities to become a model 21st century institution 2. Recruit and develop the best faculty and staff – the heart of our school 3. Connect our network of innovative global campuses to benefit our students, alumni, and teachers 4. Ensure financial resources that will foster the “spark of genius” credo in every corner of the School
We are enormously grateful for the generosity of the Dwight School community, whose support enabled dramatic progress. We welcome your collaboration and participation in creating shared value and thank you for joining us in this innovative and adventurous journey – per aspera ad astra. Yours faithfully, Stephen H. Spahn, Chancellor The Dwight Schools Dwight School Strategic Plan
Dianne Drew, Head of School Dwight School
Susan Kessler, Trustee Chair The Dwight School Foundation Page 1
Mission and Three Pillars Dwight School, an internationally recognized IB World School, is committed to finding and igniting the “spark of genius” in every child. Kindling their interests, we develop inquisitive, informed, self-aware, and ethical citizens who will build a better world.
Personalized Learning
Dance is just one of the performing arts through which Dwight students express themselves and their “spark of genius.”
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Community
Through a reading buddy program, older Dwight students mentor younger members of the Dwight community.
Global Vision
Dwight students are caring, open-minded communicators and citizens of the world.
Dwight School Strategic Plan
Personalized Learning We focus on developing each student’s unique “spark of genius.” Whether connecting a student with an exceptional mentor, designing tailor-made enrichment, crafting a special study abroad opportunity, or providing a novel program or tutorial, Dwight goes out of its way both in and out of the classroom to recognize and foster each student’s gifts and talents. No two student journeys are the same.
Community We inspire and educate our students through leadership training to improve their communities. Dwight students undertake service projects locally and internationally and produce written reflections to demonstrate their learning and their impact. Whether helping a classmate with a math assignment or building a school in a remote African village, Dwight students are prepared to serve their communities wherever they go.
Global Vision We encourage students to see challenges from a global perspective. Our students interact with peers and faculty from forty countries, follow the rigorous International Baccalaureate curriculum, select from a wide array of foreign languages, and travel abroad for service projects, athletic competitions, and student leadership conferences. Dwight New York is the flagship campus and founding member of The Dwight Schools, which includes campuses and programs in London, Canada, Beijing, and Seoul (opening in the fall of 2012), providing our students with a growing number of exchanges, connections, and a global alumni network.
Dwight School Strategic Plan
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Facilities The City and the world are our classroom. An innovative school with a global vision and personalized approach to learning is enhanced through flexible facilities. Over the past seven years, Dwight has artfully expanded and modernized facilities. A school that ignites the “spark of genius� in each child must continue to integrate state-of-the-art technology. We look forward to expanding our facilities to 150,000 square feet to enhance student life, curriculum, and programs.
Great Hall
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Dwight School Strategic Plan
Recent Accomplishments (since June 2011) • Completed classroom construction to enable additional sections grades 1-5 and ensure programmatic flexibility in the middle school • Expanded and consolidated, beautifully-designed boys and girls’ locker rooms • Created student lounge to provide a comfortable place for students to meet, eat, and socialize • Completed a lower school art and music room to enhance the arts for the lower school • Built the Great Hall to improve physical education programs and provide a multipurpose event space • Renovated the main level hallway, classrooms, and offices • Expanded and reconfigured the Lower Quest department to provide additional workspace for both private lessons and independent and group work • Renovated first and second grade classrooms, hallways, and bathrooms
Girls’ Locker Room
• Opened a new fencing center • Expanded the preschool to 16,000 square feet
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Facilities Goals Expansion 1. Acquire space to transform Dwight’s athletic and physical education programs • Obtain a regulation-size gym for basketball and volleyball, including seating for up to three hundred people • Obtain two tennis courts • Obtain eight squash courts to develop a squash program • Obtain a swimming pool to integrate swimming into the physical education program and develop a swim team • Obtain additional space to be used for various physical cross-training programs 2. Expand and enhance spaces for Dwight’s Visual and Performing Arts • Acquire space to build a theater • Acquire additional space for studio art work Student Lounge
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3. Expand and enhance spaces where students can eat, socialize, and study
Dwight School Strategic Plan
4. Develop the upper three floors of the brownstone at 22 West 89th Street to provide: • A Technology Research Center and Terrace study area • New Physics and Design Tech laboratories and a Science Research Room • Resource rooms for faculty-student collaboration for History and English as an Alternative Language 5. Acquire additional space on 89th Street, as it becomes available, to enhance programs 6. Build an enclosed lower school rooftop space on 88th Street for lunch and special projects 7. Design rooftop space on 89th Street for upper school
Renovation 1. Redesign Dwight’s 291 Central Park West entryway to reflect more clearly the School’s innovative spirit, global footprint, and proud 140-year history 2. Complete the modernization of all campus stairwells and hallways
Did You Know?
• Dwight’s 16,000 square-foot Riverside Boulevard campus houses preschool and kindergarten classes. • Constructing the new girls and boys locker rooms on the lower level required nine months of hand excavation. • The renovation of the 18 West 89th Street entryway and stairwell was completed thanks to the Class of 2010 Senior Gift. • The Quad was built in 2007 thanks to Dwight’s first capital fundraising effort.
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Why I Teach at Dwight Arthur Samuels
Upper School Social Studies Teacher, College Guidance Counselor I could write a dissertation on why I love teaching at Dwight. First and foremost is the heterogeneous student body where different voices can be heard every day. Dwight offers a unique teaching experience because the students genuinely value each others’ perspective. It is a safe environment for self-expression in a small, warm community. The School has changed a great deal in my twenty years, but it has consistently been flexible in helping students reach their dreams. The faculty goes out of its way to help. Bureaucracy never gets in the way, and the IB curriculum is as fascinating to teach now as it was a generation ago.
Sandy Darzy
Middle School Science Teacher When asked why I teach at Dwight School, I immediately thought that it was an easy question. Where else would I teach but at MY school? I am proud to teach at an open-minded school that looks well into the future to provide the best instruction with unlimited possibilities for our students. We really are a family here - the Spahns include us as if we were part of their genetic ancestors. My colleagues and students are also part of my family and inspire me every day to be a better teacher and person. Finally, the diverse student population keeps me interested, engaged and forever a student.
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Dwight School Strategic Plan
Ronald Posner
Fifth Grade Teacher I teach at Dwight because the School gives me the freedom to be innovative in my teaching. As a result, students come to school each day open-minded and excited to learn. I believe schools should personalize their instruction for each child, teach students how to be independent, critical thinkers, and give students the opportunity to learn from the world around them. That is exactly what occurs at Dwight on a daily basis.
Jaya Bhavnani
Upper School Math Teacher, Director of Scheduling The two vital forces that attracted me to work at Dwight are the International Baccalaureate and international education. Being a passionate IB educator, I strongly believe in the IB program as the best preparation for college and future life challenges. The unique experience of working with a diverse community of colleagues and students creates an international mindset respectful of different perspectives. My new role as Director of Scheduling has made me aware of how we offer personalized learning opportunities for a wide variety of subjects and foreign languages. The fostering of the “spark of genius” in each student and the significant professional development for faculty both make Dwight a place where dreams are nurtured and one never stops learning.
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Faculty and Staff Dwight’s talented and dedicated faculty and staff come from over twenty countries and the finest universities in the world. But beyond their academic credentials and expertise in particular subjects, Dwight seeks to recruit and reward individuals with the capacity to ignite a student’s “spark of genius.” Dwight’s faculty and staff become life mentors to support each student’s unique journey.
Recent Accomplishments (since June 2011) • Hired twenty-five additional full-time faculty and staff, including the head of Dwight’s new IB Film program. • Introduced an expanded administrative structure to oversee all day-to-day operations to ensure clear, efficient lines of responsibility and communication to support faculty, students, and parents. • Dwight spent $550,000 last year on faculty professional development thanks to funding from The Dwight School Foundation. Enthusiastic, passionate teachers motivate children; passionate children motivate other children and their teachers.
Goals 1. Ensure that compensation to faculty and staff remains beyond the norm of New York City independent schools 2. Continue providing significant professional development opportunities for faculty and staff to broaden or deepen their knowledge, kindle their passion for their craft, and apply their learning to enhance a Dwight experience for everyone
Did You Know?
• Fourteen Dwight faculty members are IB trainers • Dwight’s diverse faculty may be overheard in the halls speaking one of fifteen languages, modeling for students the importance and joy of multilingualism. • A brilliant upper school student recently worked with an NYU professor to unravel graduate level math theorems. • Another student made up two lost years due to illness in just one year by working closely with faculty long hours after school and is now applying to Ivy League colleges
3. Provide funds for student leadership, collaboration, and exchanges between our global campuses 4. Continue connecting students with world-class mentors beyond our faculty
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Dwight alumni, faculty, and administrators at the Globe Theater in London
International Campuses Graduates will need to be comfortable working with clients and colleagues from all over the world. Dwight students from forty countries already enjoy an advantage: the International Baccalaureate curriculum is recognized as the gold standard for university admission across the world. To further our students’ global vision, the School has established a network of campuses – The Dwight Schools. These interconnected schools and programs in London, New York, Canada, Beijing and Seoul provide exciting opportunities for Dwight students, alumni, and faculty.
Recent Accomplishments (since June 2011) • The Boys Varsity Basketball team visited the Dwight-Capital Normal High School in Beijing last December to play in a tournament and tour the city. • Upper school students from all of The Dwight Schools participated in Dwight’s Alcoa-sponsored Global Leaders Academy in August at Dwight School Canada on Vancouver Island involving sixty student leaders from over twenty countries • Fifth graders in April participated in our fifteenth week-long exchange at Dwight School London • Dwight has now held alumni events in Seoul, London, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City
Goals 1. Develop personalized student exchanges between campuses, including short trips, semesters abroad, full-years abroad, and summer programs that take advantage of the unique strengths of each school, including technology, performing arts, and environmental sciences 2. Increase online programmatic and curricular peer collaboration at all grade levels 3. Expand gap year and internship programs
Did You Know?
• Dwight offers both Chinese and Spanish beginning in kindergarten and more than ten languages • One of the attendees at Dwight’s Global Leaders Academy last year recently was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor • Two recent graduates chose to take a gap year – one to pursue environmental studies including an environmental systems internship at Dwight School Canada before attending Harvard, the other to build a school for orphans in West Timor before attending Stanford • Twelve Dwight student paintings reflecting the “spark of genius” credo now hang in the IB regional office in Washington, D.C.
4. Ensure effective networking opportunities for all Dwight graduates Dwight School Strategic Plan
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Finances and Fundraising Dwight School has always exercised prudent financial management to ensure the long-term health of the institution. The School’s remarkable growth over the last decade has been accelerated by generous gifts from members of the Dwight community to The Dwight School Foundation. To advance the mission of Dwight School as well as achieve the goals outlined in this strategic plan will require continued effective management of all resources, including tuition dollars and broad philanthropic support to allow the “spark of genius” credo to flourish in every corner of School life.
Recent Accomplishments (since June 2010) • A record number of donors, including a record number of alumni, made Annual Fund gifts in 2010-11
Goals 1. Increase annual giving for student financial aid, leadership grants, faculty professional development, and other innovative programs
Did You Know?
• Total giving to the Foundation from 2007 to 2011 was over $11,000,000, more than fivefold the totals from 1999 to 2003 • Parent participation in the Annual Fund has increased five-fold since 2003 • Annual giving covers 82% of Dwight’s faculty professional development and approximately 90% of the student financial aid • More than one hundred volunteers now help each year
2. Increase funds available for all projects outlined in this strategic plan to ensure stable financial support during all economic conditions
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Why This Matters: Students! Every Dwight student is unique with unlimited potential. We look forward to continuing to work with members of our community on our strategic plan to ensure that our students receive a world-class education and undertake exciting life journeys.
Early Childhood Division
Lower School
Middle School
Upper School
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Administrators and Trustees Dwight School Executive Team Chancellor Stephen H. Spahn, Chair Connie Spahn Blake Spahn ’89 Kirk Spahn ’95 Dianne Drew, Head of School Anthony Foster, Vice-Principal, Grades 6–12 Paul Sanders, Vice-Principal, Grades 6–12 Martha Hirschman, Vice-Principal, Grades 1–5 Chris Allan, Director of Early Childhood Division, Preschool–K Rose LaMorte, Director of Finance Kari Loya, Director of Development, The Dwight School Foundation
The Dwight School Foundation Board of Trustees 2011-12 Marlene Arbess, Jonathan Auerbach, Libby Callaway, Paula Oppenheim Cope ’71, Hege Eriksen, Gary Fuhrman ’79, Michael Kalnick, Susan Kessler – Chair, Marie Lippman, David Magier, Eric Semler, Ravi Singh, Shiv Vashist ’95, Richard Zinman, Peter Timmins ’90 – Ex-officio, Alumni Council President, Stefani Langel – Ex-officio, Parents Association President
The Dwight School Foundation 291 Central Park West | New York, NY 10024 | 212.724.6360 | dwight.edu