Park21 report

Park21 In Action: CREATING AN ONGOING CULTURE OF INNOVATION The Park21 Strategic Plan was responsible for the purchase of eight adjoining acres of land (known as the “Faulkner Property”), an influx of technological upgrades and innovations throughout the School, and the addition of nine new positions to the Park faculty and administration which are having a widespread impact throughout the curriculum. Each of these nine positions, plus the technology advances and professional development to support them, has created a star pattern of innovation and creativity around them. Thank you, Park21!

Grade V Electricity/tinkering design project

Coding Club

PSITE* Weeks: Interdisciplinary, Multi-media Week-long project for whole grade

First LEGO League

Recycled Solar Race Cars and Pinhole Cameras

A Peter Amershadian Grant led by…

Kimberly Formisano Lower Division Head

Megan McLean Grade IV/V Science Carole Moran Grade V Science

TidBits Tinkering Club

Grade II Aging

Turning interdisciplinary PSITE* Weeks into design challenges

SCIENCE/ ENGINEERING

Elaine Hamilton Engineering and Design Coach

Elaine Hamilton Engineering and Design Coach

Recess and After-School Science Clubs

Grade IV Sustainability

Grade VIII Using design thinking to teach Catapults

Grade VI House Projects using design thinking

Taylor Horan Math

Robotics Units

Grade V Immigration

Brian Beaver Science

Kung-Yi Chang Math

Heather Offen Science

1-to-1 iPad program in Grades III–V

Karen Manning Science

Infrastructure updates

T E C H N O LO GY

Katrina Mills Lower Division Coach/ Math Specialist Creating stronger math culture: Math Nights Math Club Book Clubs Speakers Teacher Collaboration

Increased professional development during school year: Conferences Speakers

Faculty Professional Development

M AT H

Google Classroom in Upper Division

1-to-1 Chromebooks program in Upper Division

Provide coaching to teachers & Grade-Level teams

Steven Goldman Middle Division Coach/ Math Specialist Doubled math enrichment/support in K – V

*PSITE: Park School Institute for Transformative Education

PROVI D I NG TI M E F OR T EACHER COL LA BORATION & INNOVAT ION THROUGHOUT T HE Y EAR

Laurie Glassman Grade I Cicely Morris Grade II

EXA MPL E OUTCOM ES

Tara Munro Grade III

Grade I Created plan for new social studies curriculum

Alisha Saini Grade IV

Grade II Applied design thinking to empathy curriculum around human development, including aging

5 GRADE-LEVEL A S S I S TA N T S Grades I – V

Grade III Developed and implemented persuasive writing unit and improved Northwest tale unit Grade IV Increased environmental sustainability curriculum through interdisciplinary projects Grade V Created year-long Immigration curriculum

Professional Development for Faculty Individual and Team Coaching

Carly Westman Grade V

Make time for teachers to observe each other in class

“Days of Collaboration” Whole days where Grade-Level teams meet, plan and innovate, while Grade-Level Assistants take over classroom duties

Curriculum Planning

Steven Goldman

Full Curriculum Mapping

COACHING TE A M

F A C U LT Y COACHING

Jennifer Lindstrom New process to increase hiring faculty/staff from under-represented backgrounds

Sue Segar

Katrina Mills Elaine Hamilton

Instructional Coaching

DIVERSITY & GLOBALISM

Leading the Coaching Team

Integral to new Faculty Evaluation & Supervision led by…

Pamela Penna Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Shiva Behradnia Middle Division Head Alice Lucey Upper Division Head

New position a recommendation of Peter Amershadian Grant led by…

Kat Callard Grade II

Kimberly Formisano Lower Division Head

Alan Rivera Language Dept.

Head

F A C U LT Y E VA L U AT I O N & SUPERVISION

A Peter Amershadian Grant study led by...

Jen Riley Grade III Peter Bown Grade III

“Conversation Circles” around current events related to diversity

Works with teachers Faculty meetings, workshops, presentations, drop-ins, professional development Works with students Morning Meetings, lunch tables, class visits, clubs Established Social Justice Week

Focus on equity Access to community events

Liza Talusan Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Works with parents Parents’ Association Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and the Board of Trustees

Park21: A NEW CULTURE O F INNOVATION

I

since Park closed its fundraising efforts for the Park21 capital campaign, having raised a record $15.8 million. Park21 funded the purchase of 8 adjacent acres of land from the Faulkner family, and additionally raised a $9.6 million endowment for innovation, STEM, collaboration, and faculty professional development.

While the fundraising closed a year and a half ago, the implementation of Park21 programs and initiatives has been ongoing since its inception in 2011, and already these changes reflect new patterns of behavior and thought that can be seen throughout the Lower, Middle, and Upper Divisions. Some of Park21’s programs and positions have now been in place for five years, with significant results to show. In fact, Park21 is so infused throughout the Park culture now, that it’s sometimes difficult to point at something and say, “That’s Park21.” It’s even sometimes difficult to remember what it was like before Park21, six years ago when then Head of School Jerry Katz, the Board of Trustees, administrators, and faculty put forward a bold new strategic vision for the School.

T ’ S B E E N OVE R A Y E AR

In addition to the purchase of land (which increased Park’s campus from 26 to 34 acres and increased the School’s floor-area ratio by 54,000 buildable square feet), Park21 was responsible for the creation of nine new positions at the School.

Each of these nine positions is a “star pattern” unto themselves: each person inspiring or enabling change and innovation all around them every day. These nine positions—plus the technology and faculty professional development that was funded alongside them—have created a culture of constant growth and change that was the overarching goal of Park21.

LOT A

The purchase of Lots A and B added eight new acres of land to the Park campus.

LOT B

Another important outcome of Park21 was the Jerrold I. Katz Innovation Fund, an endowed fund within the overall umbrella of Park21, which honors Jerry Katz and his very successful 20-year tenure as Head of School. Generous donors contributed over $524,000 to the Jerrold I. Katz Innovation Fund upon his departure, generating approximately $20,000 per year to be spent at the discretion of the Head of School on innovative, unbudgeted initiatives which move forward the goals and aspirations of Park21.

Faculty now spend more time collaborating, reflecting on and reviewing curricular innovations, leaning into new ideas and testing implementation, throughout the year. As the Park21 strategic plan aspired, Park is now a more outward-looking, nimble, self-reflective institution than it was before. For that, the School remains ever grateful to the many generous donors who made Park21 possible.

Thank you, once again, to all of the generous donors who made Park21 a great success! The benefits of Park21 are being felt every day at Park, and will be for decades to come.