Harlem Academy Strategic Plan 2021-26

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STR ATEGIC PL AN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This strategic plan was developed to guide Harlem Academy’s next phase as it enters its permanent campus at 655 St. Nicholas Avenue. We hope to expand the school’s impact and take advantage of the new opportunities the campus will offer while remaining relentlessly focused on our mission.

The plan was written in the midst of a global pandemic that forced Harlem Academy to shift its model. While we were eager for a return to “normal,” we committed to analyzing lessons learned from this unprecedented period to continue to strengthen the program and mission.

Many stakeholder groups were consulted to inform our work. We held trustee focus groups; surveyed staff, families, alumni, alumni families, current students, supporters, and junior board members; and interviewed peer institutions. The input we gathered was equally important in identifying new opportunities as it was in underscoring the need to remain disciplined in focus.

While the plan imagines an evolving future for Harlem Academy, it also looks back to the school’s inception, honoring our commitment to the values and excellence that have always been at the center of our success.

Ultimately, our marching orders are simultaneously ambitious and simple: (1) maintain academic excellence and strong values, (2) grow enrollment from 120 to 206 students, and (3) build financial strength and stability.

As part of our annual reporting process, we will evaluate the degree to which the school has advanced the realization of its mission, progressed toward its vision, and achieved the priorities outlined in this strategic plan.

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MISSION Harlem Academy drives equity of opportunity for promising students, guiding them to thrive at the highest academic levels and one day make a mark on the world.

VISION Our vision is to be the most transformational school in New York City for elementary and middle school students whose significant academic potential might otherwise go unrealized and to serve as an innovation center for developing and disseminating best practices.

SCHOOL CREED The School Creed is built upon four community pillars: initiative, integrity, compassion, and determination. It serves as the foundation for learning, reflection, and improvement; a springboard for discussion in advisory; and a touchpoint for lessons in every academic area.

Initiative

I am bold and creative.

I take opportunities to lead.

I seek help when I need it.

Integrity

I am honest and reflective.

I choose to do what is right, Even when it is hard or no one is watching.

Compassion

I listen carefully.

I speak kindly.

I care for my community.

Determination

I make the most of each day.

I learn from my mistakes.

I don’t give up.

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Model

Inspire

We live the school pillars and creed knowing that we create a powerful lever for change when we model the habits we seek to develop in our students and commit to working with common purpose toward the realization of the school’s mission.

We incorporate programming that is intellectually engaging, culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate, and experiential.

We foster meaningful connection with our local neighborhoods, the rest of New York City, the natural environment, and the broader world, including a limitless view of future academic and career opportunities for our students.

Include We build genuine relationships with students, families, and colleagues, recognizing and honoring the full complexity of the individuals in our community. We develop the skills our students and graduates need to overcome challenges, contribute to change, and thrive in a diverse society. We understand the impact of institutional racism and educational inequity and strive to be an anti-racist organization.

Challenge We believe that growth happens when our students face genuine challenges that are overcome with sustained effort. We understand our differentiated mission to support promising students and perpetually focus on driving achievement to the highest academic levels.

Engage

Advance

We push agency to the students in active, observable ways, leaving space for independent thinking, choice, collaboration, reflection, and selfcorrection. In supervision, we are warm but demanding and believe in purpose not power. We use the least invasive interventions, assign logical consequences, and nurture students’ mission-aligned, long-term goals.

We identify core skills needed for growth, achievement, contribution, and wellness. We build those skills with enough meaningful practice across multiple grades for our students to develop transferable and lifelong habits.

PRIORITY 1: MAINTAIN ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND STRONG VALUES. For the past 17 years, Harlem Academy has remained focused on core academic skill development, joyful intellectual engagement, and strong connections to committed faculty and staff.

Our students embrace the School Creed in their daily decisions, and our alumni are contributors and leaders in their secondary schools, colleges, and communities. As we transition to our permanent home, we will stay true to our strengths that have been at the center of Harlem Academy’s success since its founding, while strategically pursuing new opportunities that will drive transformational growth.

Goal: Ensure the program continues to advance the mission • • • •

Engage with our guiding principles as a blueprint for programmatic growth and excellence.

Prioritize core academic skill development in reading, writing, math, social studies, and science.

Expand programming for health, wellness, and overall connection to the School Creed.

Accelerate the curriculum for technology skill development (including digital safety and citizenship), leverage technology in support of core academic program and opportunities for differentiation, and add optional opportunities for coding and other related applications of technology.

Goal: Develop select initiatives that complement current offerings and take advantage of the new campus • Partner with neighboring Harlem School of the Arts to offer students varied arts programs, including visual art, music, dance, and theater.

• Pilot the integration of foreign language opportunities into the curriculum.

• Pilot an interscholastic sports program.

Goal: Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in every area of the school’s work • Maintain a commitment to economic diversity in our student population, where at least 50% of each incoming class qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch and another 20% qualifies for New York City public housing.

• Engage with and celebrate our varied backgrounds and identities throughout the curriculum.

• Engage with our guiding principles throughout curricular choices and the team’s professional development, including our commitment to anti-racism.

• Through active recruitment, maintain a team that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.

• Ensure training related to diversity, equity, and inclusion for staff and volunteers.

• Maintain a culture of growth to high expectations and a joyful, engaging learning environment, counteracting the systemic institutional low expectations that breed inequity.

Goal: Support student/alumni success on the path to and through high school, college, and early career • Support middle school students in building a skill set for a positive transition into secondary school.

• Place students at secondary schools that will best position them to achieve their personal vision and potential.

• Expand and elevate alumni support as graduates progress to and through secondary school and college and into their first careers.

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PRIORITY 2: GROW ENROLLMENT FROM 120 TO 206 STUDENTS. Among the many opportunities afforded by the move to our new campus, one of the most important is the ability to expand our impact to a larger student body. The addition of a kindergarten allows for earlier social and academic skill development, while the second section in middle school offers broader academic and social opportunities.

Currently, Harlem Academy admits most of its students at grade levels that miss natural New York City public school entry points. The new model ensures that almost all admissions will take place at the two natural entry points, kindergarten and grade six, allowing the school to better meet the needs of the community.

While this growth is a tremendous opportunity, we will implement it with care and intentionality to ensure financial stability and maintain our high standards for school culture, admissions, program, and staffing as we navigate change.

Goal: Phase growth to ensure financial stability and programmatic excellence • Transition to new campus retaining the current grade structure.

• Achieve adequate funds in cash reserves and/or endowment before adding a second section of middle school (not before year three).

Goal: Add kindergarten • Develop admissions protocol and pipeline.

• Develop curriculum.

• Open kindergarten class.

Goal: Add a second middle school section (grades 6-8) • Develop sixth-grade admissions pipeline.

• Review staffing/curricular structure to support instruction, advisory, student support, and supervision, ensuring we meet the needs of the students and maintain a strong school culture through growth, potentially adding an additional program administrator.

• Open second section of middle school (if cash reserves and/or endowment reach adequate levels).

Goal: Recruit and retain talented educators and administrators • Maintain competitive salaries and benefits.

• Create faculty leadership opportunities.

• Continue to advance professional development opportunities.

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PRIORITY 3: BUILD FINANCIAL STRENGTH AND STABILITY. Throughout its history, Harlem Academy has had an outstanding record of maintaining its commitment to economic diversity, meeting the financial needs of low-income families, and funding program growth. The move to a permanent campus positions Harlem Academy as a pathway to opportunity for future generations of students and impels us to renew our focus on financial sustainability. This means securing resources to withstand short-term adverse events and developing an endowment to provide a reliable source of income in perpetuity. This will be a longterm effort, but we plan to make significant and lasting progress during this strategic plan cycle.

Goal: Complete the $31M capital campaign Goal: Grow reserve balance (cash plus endowment) to 12 months of expenses prior to adding middle school sections • • • • • •

Grow the pipeline of prospective trustees and major donors.

Continue to cultivate the junior board and other key ambassadors.

Expand corporate partnerships.

Consider the role of events and planned giving in future strategies.

Conduct outreach to increase board diversity.

Continue to tell the story of Harlem Academy’s differentiated mission, including its role as an innovation center that shares best practices.

Goal: Maintain a minimum of 6 months of cash reserves, and target 80% of spending toward program-related expenses Goal: Begin to build toward a $25M endowment to secure the school’s financial future • Develop an investment policy statement and endowment plan.

• Raise the first $5M during the period of this strategic plan.

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