A Three-year Strategic Plan for Winchester Thurston School 2011–2014
2011–2014
Winchester Thurston School
Today, more than a decade into the 21st century and in WT’s 125th anniversary year, we are in the midst of an educational revolution, preparing our students for a world marked by vast, unpredictable change. Such an environment calls for each and every one of us to embrace the same pioneering spirit, idealism, tenacity, and innovation our founders embodied. G A RY J . N I E L S , H E A D O F SC H O O L
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DO M AI N ON E
great teaching
DOM AIN T WO
DO M AI N TH REE
programmatic innovation
reputation & resources
DOM AIN FOU R
competitive & sustainable facilities
DO M AI N FIVE
generative thinking
Winchester Thurston School
This three-year strategic plan (2011-2014) builds upon the successes of the past decade to take WT to a new level of excellence. With a deep and shared commitment to WT’s students, the faculty, trustees, and administrators will develop, implement, and support initiatives that enhance our dynamic learning environment and sustain WT as the smart place to learn and the smart place to teach. Through strategic efforts in FIVE DOMAINS , we will create a smart future.
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great teaching DOMAIN ONE
In their study of the Holocaust, eighth graders learn about this important event in world history through the lens of individual experience, developing empathy and global perspective. Through planning and constructing their own multimedia Holocaust Museum, they become researchers, curators, memoirists, artists, and critics. They apply new skills and a broader world view to current events as they plan and host a symposium on genocide for their peers from other schools. This culminating City as Our Campus project is enhanced year after year by the Middle School faculty, who have assembled impressive partnerships that deepen student learning — from the designers of the August Wilson Center to the anti-genocide activists Enough! in Washington, D.C. " 4
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DO M A I N O N E
great teaching
The national conversation about quality teaching underscores one clear truth that WT has always known: great
teachers bring
out the best in their students, instilling a love of learning in the classroom and beyond. WT firmly embraces this tenet and believes in the practice of continuous collaboration, innovation, and renewal. FINDING , FOSTERING , AND AFFIRMING THE MOST TALENTED, PASSIONATE TEACHERS safeguards WT’s long-
standing tradition of inspiring and preparing students to become the next generation of global citizens, scholars, and entrepreneurs.
Creativity now is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status. SIR KEN RO B INSO N , AU THO R , SPE AKER , AND INTER NATIO NAL ADVISO R O N ED U C ATIO N
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Assuring Great Teaching Maintain, develop, and recognize a uniformly talented faculty by:
" Attracting and retaining talented faculty from diverse backgrounds, reflecting the character of our global society " Providing competitive salaries and benefits " Offering a robust Professional Development program that integrates 21st century skills and practices, through engaging and relevant teaching methods " Empowering and supporting WT teachers in enhancing their practice through a meaningful, collaborative, and continuous Formative Development program " Recognizing and rewarding faculty excellence
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programmatic innovation DOMAIN T WO
Mr. David Nassar is adept at teaching his students to write code. But it is his conviction to propel them to real-world challenges that fuels WT’s Android App Lab. There, students develop and apply problem solving, communications, and design skills to invent and program applications for Android devices. In conjunction with City as Our Campus, Android App Lab has spread to three other schools, enabling WT students to acquire new skills as they lead other students in the learning process.
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DO M A I N T WO
programmatic innovation
For 125 years, Winchester Thurston has remained open and adaptive to the most current findings on developing
critical thinkers, able researchers, and impeccable communicators. With these fundamental competencies at the core of our rigorous college preparatory curriculum, we recognize the need to integrate new skills as the world and workplace change: Collaborative problem solving, global competence, media literacy, and digital citizenship are critical to our students’ futures. By CULTIVATING CUT TING - EDGE PROGR AMS and enhancing City as Our Campus —
the engine of innovation and student engagement at WT — we pledge to ensure a curriculum that places our students confidently at the helm of 21st century learning.
We need to choose our century. The students have chosen theirs. HEID I HAYES JACO BS , AU TH O R O F CUR R ICULUM 21: E SSENTIAL EDUC ATION FOR A CHANGING WOR LD
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Keeping Pace with Change Prepare students for a world that demands the ability to
collaborate, solve complex problems, think imaginatively and critically, and innovate in a global society, through programs in:
" S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) " Global Citizenship " Educational Technology " Diversity Utilize the educational and cultural resources of WT’s
neighborhoods, city, and region to enhance WT’s Mission of actively engaging students in a rigorous learning process, through expansion and enhancement of City as Our Campus.
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reputation resources & DOMAIN THREE
As one of only two schools among the 1,400 members of the National Association of Independent Schools to have received both the Edward E. Ford Foundation Leadership Grant for educational innovation and a Malone Scholarship Endowment by the Malone Family Foundation, WT proudly celebrates its place alongside some of the nation’s greatest independent schools.
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Robert Hallett, Executive Director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, listens as WT students reflect on their City as Our Campus learning experiences.
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DO M A I N TH R EE
reputation & resources
The record shows: WT
leads the way in our work with gifted
and talented students, our distinctive campuses, our innovative programs, and our long-standing commitment to socioeconomic diversity. Add to this our pioneering efforts in faculty development and 21st century learning, and it’s no surprise that our growing reputation as THE smart place to learn and teach stands on solid ground. While remaining true to our mission, core values, and credo, we will EXPAND OUR REACH and celebrate our accomplishments through STRONG PARTNERSHIPS with alumnae/i, parents, friends, and the wider community. These efforts will ENSURE THE RESOURCES and support that will accompany WT on our path to being one of the nation’s truly great independent schools.
In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. MA X D EPR EE, B USINESSMAN AND WR ITER , AU TH O R O F LE ADER SHIP IS AN ART
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Sustaining our Mission
Position WT competitively in the marketplace, diversify and grow WT’s revenue streams, and provide resources to assure a thriving future, by:
" Promoting WT as a national leader in academic learning " Implementing competitive pricing " Offering generous but sustainable levels of financial aid " Exploring and examining ways to provide services to international students " Developing programs that leverage core assets, and enable WT to reach a wider market " Increasing our Endowment to provide income in perpetuity that supports the school’s strategic priorities
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competitive &sustainable facilities DOMAIN FOUR
WT Kindergarten teacher Ms. Caitlin Evans proposed to transform the Early Childhood playground at the City Campus into an outdoor classroom. Her integration of physical space and curriculum will unleash the imagination and curiosity of her students, inspiring them to explore and contemplate the natural world. The Outdoor Classroom will engage young students in active learning that readies their minds for the intellectual rigor ahead. Supported and encouraged by the WT community, her idea is now in the works, and won the Mary Houston Griffin Award for Excellence in Teaching. " 16
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DO M A I N F O U R
competitive & sustainable facilities
WT is proud of recent
enhancements to our campuses,
and we will continue to attend to this important dimension of 21st century learning. Each day, more than 500 boys and girls stream through the Main Building of the City Campus, which was designed for 350 girls nearly half a century ago. Important spaces in this building, such as the auditorium and athletics wing, no longer adequately serve the needs of our students and faculty. In the context of a long term Master Site Plan, we will REVITALIZE KEY FACILITIES in this magnificent, iconic building. And we will FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILIT Y in all WT facilities, eventually serving as a model to other schools seeking to green their physical plants.
Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. J O HN W. G AR D NER , U. S . SECR E TARY O F HE ALTH , ED U C ATIO N , AND WELFAR E (1965 –1968), PHIL ANTHRO PIS T, AU THO R , AND ED U C ATO R
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Assuring High Quality Learning Environments
Support our innovative faculty in their pursuit and provision
of a dynamic learning environment, build competitive position, and improve sustainability by:
" Undertaking targeted renovation projects in the Main Building of the City Campus in a manner consistent with current priorities and in context of a longer term Master Site Plan " Improving sustainability practices and systems school-wide, in a comprehensive strategy that results in modifications and enhancements to reduce carbon footprint, and realize cost-saving energy efficiencies " Securing LEED for Schools certification
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generative thinking DOMAIN FIVE
Like all sound blueprints, WT’s strategic plan is a living document, guided, revisited, and supported by leadership that is focused both on the execution of current priorities and on the challenges and opportunities on the horizon.
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DO M A I N F I V E
generative thinking
Committed to a lasting vision of programmatic innovation and financial vitality, Winchester Thurston’s Board of Trustees will continuously
lead and engage in generative thinking processes to IDENTIF Y, EXPLORE , ANALY ZE , and recommend new ideas that nurture the unfolding of our three-year strategic plan over the longer term.
Learn as if you will live forever. MAHATMA G AND HI
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Generating the Future E nvision long-term educational, programmatic, and fiscal opportunities that ensure an ongoing commitment to sustainability by:
" Developing a structure and system to consider long term strategies and fold new thinking, learning, and data into future strategic plans " Generating long-term ideas that build upon the initiatives in the current Strategic Plan " Appointing a Task Force to research and analyze a set of longer term strategies, and recommend priorities for the next iteration of the strategic plan, beyond 2014
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MISSION AND CORE VALUES
Winchester Thurston School actively engages each student in a challenging and inspiring learning process that develops the mind, motivates the passion to achieve, and cultivates the character to serve. We activate our Mission through a learning environment that promotes these five Core Values: Critical Thinking; Integrity; Empathy; Community; and Diversity. CREDO
Think also of the comfort and the rights of others.
2011-2012 BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Douglas A. Campbell, President Kathleen W. Buechel, Vice President John B. Christie-Searles, Vice President Douglas H. Ostrow, Vice President Ilana Diamond, Treasurer Elizabeth S. Hurtt ‘74, Assistant Treasurer Dusty Elias Kirk, Secretary Elsa Limbach, Assistant Secretary Gary J. Niels, Head of School
Deborah L. Acklin ‘80 Ralph L. Bangs Ronald J. Bartlett Barbara Abney Bolger ‘52 Simin Yazdgerdi Curtis Paul Dobson Robert I. Glimcher Rosanne Isay Harrison ‘56, Emeritus Diane P. Holder Ian James Vincent O. Johnson Janet Harrison Kuzmishin ‘87
Deepak Kotwal Carole Oswald Markus ‘57, Emeritus Linnea Pearson McQuiston ‘69 Kathleen L. Metinko ‘91 Deesha Philyaw David L. Porges Henry Posner III, Emeritus Martin E. Powell Susan Santa-Cruz ‘60 Nancy T. Scott Jane Arensberg Thompson ‘57, Emeritus
BOARD OF TRUSTEES STR ATEGIC PL ANNING COMMIT TEE
Dusty Elias Kirk, Chair Douglas H. Ostrow, Vice Chair Ralph L. Bangs Ilana Diamond Elizabeth S. Hurtt ‘74 Diane P. Holder
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Janet Harrison Kuzmishin ‘87 Deesha Philyaw Martin E. Powell Nancy Scott Jane Arensberg Thompson ‘57, Emeritus
Gary J. Niels, Head of School Maura Farrell, Associate Head for External Affairs M. David Wollam, Director of Finance and Operations Jennifer Scanlon, Director of Institutional Advancement
Winchester Thurston School 555 Morewood Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2899 t: (412) 578-7500 w: winchesterthurston.org
2011–2014