V. A PLAN FOR GROWTH

A Plan for Growth

In January and February of 2021, we convened and engaged five task forces, organizing each one around a driver of our strategic design. Each task force met and worked between February and May 2021. Each task force included two leaders selected from our faculty and staff, as well as other faculty and staff members, parents, and members of the Board of Trustees.

OUR FIVE TASK FORCES

Community: Enhance Cultural & Community Engagement Students: Study a Revision of Educational Philosophy—Adaptive Expertise 2 .0 Educators: Enhance the Overall Educator Experience Wellness: Align and Balance JK-12 Schedule & Space Use Sustainability: Consider Expanded Enrollment Model

By May 2021, the task forces had delivered 50+ initiatives around the five strategic drivers. Those 50+ initiatives were reviewed and refined by both the Leadership Team and the Board of Trustees in June 2021 working meetings. From those meetings, 12 projects or initiatives were selected for the 2021-2022 academic year. We are pleased to share five of those with SAIS. The remainder of the initiatives may be found under our Strategic Road Map 2021.

Here you will find the School Profile for 2020-2021 as prepared by College Counseling

These five initiatives reflect a three-to-five-year commitment to those previously-discussed strategic drivers. Having drivers instead of a strategic plan allows Cannon School to earmark a set of guiding principles while remaining flexible and agile in our approach to deliberate thinking and planning each year. The beauty of drivers is that they remain faithful to the findings from our 2018-2019 self study in three identified categories: • People • Programs • Community

Community: Belongingness, Engagement, and Access Enhance Cultural & Community Engagement

Where are We Now? (PROFILE) In the summer of 2021 a task force on Racial Equity was convened to address the social changes rapidly challenging American culture. From August to December 2021 faculty and staff engaged in a 21-week Racial Equity Challenge that involved all faculty and staff. In the spring of 2021 we used an Inclusivity Index (provided by an independent third-party) for the first time by administering the survey tool to all students. We used three separate versions of the survey to accommodate for the student’s age and we asked parents to take the survey with our younger students. Faculty and staff were asked to take the index responding as they thought students would respond. We then hosted a post-planning faculty workshop to take a preliminary look at data. Meanwhile, the work of our Cannon Cultures and the You Belong Groups (YBG) across divisions continued to request a new inclusivity statement expressing the growth needed as a school community. A team of educators was commissioned in the summer of 2021 to write a new Belongingness and Engagement Commitment.

Where are we Going? (VISION) Cannon believes and lives out its motto: “You belong here.” We believe that your identity, as well as your richness of experience and background, improves our academic community and our school culture. Cannon reinforces the skills and habits that allow us to engage productively and grow in the context of differing opinions, real stakes, and intense emotions. Cannon seeks avenues for you to engage fully, to know that you belong wholly, and to access the educational experiences we offer without barrier.

How are we going to get there? (TIMELINE) We now need to continue to analyze the data received from the Inclusivity Index. Each division will use what was learned at its post-planning workshop to develop a first set of initiatives in 2021-22 to move the work of inclusivity forward by division. We will repeat the same Inclusivity Index (version 2.0) in 2021-22 in order to compare results from the first index with what students feel is currently happening at Cannon . This work will allow educators to align their views to a truer reflection of what students are experiencing. We will use the finished Belongingness and Engagement Commitment with our YBG groups and Cannon Cultures in order to align all the work being done. We will also share that Belongingness and Engagement Commitment with our students, parents, and broader community.

How will we measure that we got there? (RESULTS) Our students’ Inclusivity Index Overall Scores will improve in targeted areas. Our educators will better align their views with the student reality as shown on the Index. The new Belongingness and Engagement Commitment will help align the many groups doing this work in our school community. Donors will give to programs related to Belongingness and Engagement.

In five years, our students’ overall scores will benchmark in the top 10% of schools using the Inclusivity Index. Our educators will consistently align their views with student reality. Donors will have funded significant and impactful Belongingness and Equity programming benefitting the Cannon community, as well as a regional audience.

Students: Developing Critical and Confident Learners Study a Revision of Educational Philosophy—Adaptive Expertise 2 .0

Where are we now? (PROFILE) The Adaptive Expertise (AE) model used at Cannon for the last dozen years received a facelift leading up to our 2015 accreditation as we synthesized all of our previous PD opportunities to the “one language” of the model. This model comprises 12 habits around what has become our educational philosophy involving teaching and learning. While that synthesis successfully delivered clarity around many disparate ideas, the past few years have revealed that the AE model still lacks the ease of use to be applied in classrooms to drive teaching and learning.

Where are we going? (VISION) Our goal over the 2021-22 academic year is to revisit and revive the AE model for all learners at Cannon. This endeavor holds critical value in that AE is our educational philosophy supporting all of our ideas around good teaching and learning from JrK-Grade 12. We are seeking to amend the model to make it more useful and applicable in all learning situations. While we will study possibilities of a revamped AE model this year, we will be intentional in leaving space to pivot on its future use at Cannon.

How are we going to get there? (TIMELINE) Two leaders will be named to drive the initiative for 2021-22 and those leaders will gather a small team across the school. The team will include students and parent representation. The first task will be to evaluate the twelve habits to see if combining or condensing is warranted. We will also review practices for how we currently “teach” the AE model to onboard new faculty and staff, as well as new-to-Cannon students. From that exercise the team will develop and create an online course to help the community understand the AE model, and its usefulness in teaching and learning. This model will ensure that we safeguard all the gains we have made in developing AE before we seek to change it. Once that is done, in the spring of 2022, we will explore options to modify AE.

How will we measure that we got there? (RESULTS) We will have feedback from the community, including new faculty and new-to-Cannon students, on their understanding of AE, as well as its perceived value. We will have developed and delivered an online course. There will be a report written by May 2022 including recommendations of how to move beyond 2021-22. We will develop a new plan for AE to cover the next 3-5 years.

Educators: Distinctive, Personalized Professional Growth Programs Enhance the Overall Educator Experience

Where are We Now? (PROFILE) Cannon has always worked to create an environment ensuring that our educators feel supported, valued, and refreshed. Current initiatives in place for wellness and engagement of our educators include extra days at Thanksgiving, true workdays to allow focused and collaborative time for our faculty, mentoring for new teachers, inexpensive family meals provided by our food service team, and access to our strength and conditioning center. We have also offered quarterly faculty and staff professional development programs, with an effort toward connecting all of our employees to Cannon’s objectives and goals. However, we see room for growth.

Where are we Going? (VISION) Our vision is to enhance the experience of our educators throughout each school year. We want to reconnect faculty and staff with school goals and objectives by making sure that they are provided with opportunities to become engaged within our community. We want to be more intentional about connecting, rather than separating, faculty and staff professional growth programs and helping each employee view themselves as an “educator.” We see a need – especially after COVID – for increased connectivity and togetherness to help grow and sustain the positive environment that we all appreciate at Cannon. We want to find the right balance between helping our educators become connected with others on campus and having autonomy for getting work done and spending time with their families.

How are we going to get there? (TIMELINE) During the 2021-2022 school year, we will survey our educators to gain a baseline understanding of their experience within the Cannon community; we will implement an enhanced staff on-boarding process to complement what we do for faculty; and we will build on our current Cannon staff/faculty professional development programs. We will also implement new wellness initiatives and develop additional programming to promote cross-divisional interaction focused on our community and wellness.

How will we measure that we got there? (RESULTS) We will measure our growth in enhancing our educators’ experience through three key indicators: increased employee retention; increased positive responses on surveys inquiring whether or not our educators feel valued, supported and well; and increased opportunities for community engagement by all educators.

Wellness: Structures that Promote a Culture of Health and Balance Align and Balance JrK-12 Schedule and Space Use

Where are we now?

Our divisional (LS, MS, US) schedules are a holdover from the last ten years. Over that time they have been tweaked and modified. Given how much the school has changed in the last decade, our mission, and our current vision and strategic drivers, we believe this is the time to explore and adopt a new JrK-12 schedule that considers our current spaces and resources. In the past five years our enrollment in all three divisions has grown; for example, over the past two years, we have seen a 15% increase in Lower School enrollment

Where are we Going? (VISION) The growth that our school has experienced, both in enrollment and in infrastructure, over the past five years, as well as all the progress we have made in bringing grading and assessment to a more mission-aligned model, has created the opportunity to develop JrK-12 schedules (both divisional and school-wide) that prioritize the learning needs of students, and that support our mission, vision, and our strategic drivers around critical thinking and inquiry-based exploration. By adjusting schedules JrK-12 we are aiming to improve student well-being and balance of academic, social, and extra-curricular lives.

How are we going to get there? (TIMELINE) A JrK-12 team of leaders met at the 2021 SAIS Summer Conference to both learn from experts in the field on the topic of studentfirst schedule creation, as well as to lay out a project charter for this initiative for 2021-22. This charter calls for the team to begin by exploring the help that such an expert can provide in this area long-term, while looking to align a few short-term needs in space and time. In the fall of 2021 the team will research and interview three consultants. One will be chosen to walk us through a 2021-22 process as a framework for decision-making long-term with the objective of having a new schedule for the 2022-23 academic year.

How will we measure that we got there? (RESULTS) A new schedule will be in place for all three divisions by 2023-24 which will better reflect our mission and the values we have identified in our strategic drivers around wellness, sustainability, and developing critical and confident learners. We will review the success of the schedule over 1-2 years and make changes as needed. We will also consider the changes proposed by our Campus Master Plan and how that connects to our availability of space, time, and human resources.

Sustainability: Mission-Responsive Resources and Partnerships Consider Expanded Enrollment Model

Where are we now? (PROFILE) Enrollment at Cannon School has been healthy and growing steadily since 2008, when we were a school with roughly 820 students. At that time, we envisioned growing our total student population to over 1000, and we achieved that goal within 6 years. In fact, across the past 13 years, we have also met or exceeded enrollment targets 10 times, and we have maintained a high retention rate of 93-96%. Most of our enrollment growth has occurred in the Middle and Upper Schools - the Middle School has grown by over 60 students and the Upper School by over 100 - however, we have also seen recent strengthened interest in our youngest grades, with our Lower School enrolling approximately 85 new students for each of the past two admission cycles versus 49 new students in the 20192020 school year. We find ourselves in a market that continues to grow at a high rate, and our projections for the 2021-2022 year will be our highest overall enrollment to date, with 1035 incoming and returning students.

Where are we going? (VISION) Both Cannon’s enrollment and retention health suggest that we are in a position to explore increasing our overall student population. Our vision is to grow Cannon’s overall enrollment over the next 5 years to a sustainable and market-driven level that maximizes our ability to deliver our mission.

How are we going to get there? (TIMELINE) During the 2021-2022 academic year, our Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) group, along with a small team of administrators and faculty, will study the feasibility of enrollment growth in current market conditions, analyze various options for such growth, and estimate the length of time needed to achieve the targeted enrollment. If enrollment expansion is determined to be possible and sustainable and a clear choice for how to achieve this is determined, we will work with the Campus Master Planning team to consider the facility and infrastructure needs associated with enrollment growth.

How will we measure that we got there? (RESULTS) We will measure our results in two ways. The first is to successfully determine if expanding our enrollment is sustainable, and if so, in what ways. Second, assuming growth is feasible and desirable, we will establish annual growth targets that, if met, will demonstrate success.