Shore Country Day School: Strategic Plan 2014-2019

Envisioning Our Future Strategic Plan 2014-2019

SHORE

Country Day School

Our School. Our Future.

In 2012, Shore Country Day School celebrated its 75th year of inspiring students to embrace academic challenge with character and compassion. This remarkable milestone was quickly augmented by the opening of the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity, a learning environment designed to promote the creativity, interdisciplinary thinking, and expressive skills so crucial to success in modern life. Truly a facility that encapsulates our children's future, the Center for Creativity has propelled Shore to articulate its priorities for the next five years. With momentum and commitment, Shore is proud to introduce this Strategic Plan 2014-2019.

Shore Country Day School's mission is to provide an education that inspires a love of learning and encourages children to embrace academic challenge. We seek to build character, cultivate creativity, and value diversity as we help our children become healthy, compassionate citizens of the world.

Message from the Head of School “It’s a great time to be part of the Shore Community. Our facilities are now commensurate with the quality of education we provide for our students.

Over the past year, faculty, staff, board members, and parents have taken the opportunity to think strategically about what’s next for Shore. We are very excited about where we are going and invite you to learn more about our Strategic Plan.”

LARRY GRIFFIN HEAD OF SCHOOL

Our Vision Never before has Shore offered a more sophisticated learning experience, cultivating the skills that students will need to flourish after graduation. This is clearly evidenced by our graduates’ placement in the most competitive schools, and those same schools reach out to Shore to praise the preparedness of our alumni. Simultaneously, Shore is living in an age of great success and significant challenge. Shore recognizes that private schooling in the United States is being tested by macro trends in demographics and economics. Continuing evolution will be the driver behind the value and relevance of independent school education.

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Shore is ready for this challenge, ready to hold true to the heart of its mission, ready to learn new ways to achieve its goals, and ready to lead the way among its peer schools. Shore’s four strategic priorities enhance our academic excellence and make vital changes to address the unprecedented challenges of today’s private school market.

Strategic Priorities Energized by the four crucial priorities illustrated below, select teams of board members, administrators, and Strategic Initiatives Committee members will focus on specific, measurable goals over the next 3-5 years. With action plans drawn and metrics clarified, we are excited to chart the impact and growth of these strategic efforts on our way to 2019.

TEACHING AND LEARNING Shore advances teaching and learning, empowering each student to be his best or her best.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Shore expands its leadership in early education.

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS Shore clearly articulates its vision for the academic and personal development of its students.

AFFORDABILITY & ACCESSIBILITY Shore provides an affordable and accessible education.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Develop an innovative system for external curricular review Shore will pilot, test, and implement an external curriculum review process. Outside experts and Shore’s faculty and administration will partner to examine the academic program across gradelevels and academic disciplines. This work builds off of Shore’s strong teacher evaluation system and furthers Shore’s commitment to continually improving the educational experience for our students.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Deliver a relevant education through a concept-based, interdisciplinary curriculum with attention to the life-long skills of teamwork, creativity, ethics, resilience, curiosity, and time management Our journey toward a curriculum that focuses on what is relevant for the short and long-term success of our students has been underway for some time. Continuing this journey by further integrating academic subject areas and by increasing the emphasis on Mission Skills remains a priority. As part of these efforts, Shore will develop common language across the Lower and Upper School to describe Shore’s approach.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Extend and expand Shore’s commitment to challenging students in a supportive and innovative environment To enable each child to be his or her best, Shore is committed to examining the quality and extent of both the support and challenge we offer to students in all areas of their Shore experience.

An investigation of best practices will guide Shore as it seeks to refine and expand its current offerings.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Review and reaffirm or adjust admissions practices and policies In the 2014-2015 academic year, the Early Childhood Team will review existing admissions processes and best practices. Working to align our admissions assessments with a curriculum that emphasizes engagement, collaboration, and applications of knowledge, the school will continue to identify students who will thrive in the Shore community.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Expand opportunities for prospective families to experience Shore Via program growth and strengthened communications, Shore will grow the avenues by which admissions families discover and participate in the school community. Among a variety of options, the Early Childhood Team will examine expanding geographic regions for marketing, augmenting existing summer programs, creating early education opportunities, and hosting functions that target the needs of young families.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Capitalize on Shore's nurturing pedagogy to articulate a compelling Lower School identity Within the creative and expansive challenges of Shore's concept-based curriculum, the heart of Shore's Lower School program focuses on the growth of the individual. From providing support where needed and extra stretch for expanded learning, Shore inspires expression, builds resilience, and cultivates collaboration.

Supported by the Lawrence A. Griffin Center for Creativity, infusing hands-on experiences and the arts into every child's experience exemplifies the school's holistic approach to educating the mind, body, and character. The Early Childhood team seeks to generate an articulation that more clearly matches the personal inspiration of Shore's Lower School program.

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS

Develop a communications plan whose primary focus is advancing the mission and vision of Shore Our team will develop a communications plan whose primary focus is advancing the mission and vision of Shore by capitalizing on the use of the most accessible and communicative media strategies. Our approach focuses on coordinating the many avenues of communication. Utilizing emerging technologies will ensure community-wide awareness of our reputation for excellence in academic and character education. With the deluge of information available, we seek to broadcast Shore’s “best kept secrets.”

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS

Shore’s “Best Kept Secrets”… a few examples: • All eleven grades at Shore bring their ideas and inspiration to their searches for creative solutions in the Innovation Lab. • At Shore's first hosting of the annual Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild middle school theater festival in our beautiful new Center for Creativity, Shore's Advanced Theater Arts Grade Nine students won the gold medal for their production of the one act play, "Things Fall (Meanwhile)" by Barton Bishop.

• Ten percent of Fall 2014 Cum Laude Society inductees at Phillips Andover Academy graduated from Shore.

• Four of the most recent Head Monitors (equivalent of student elected school president) at the prestigious Milton Academy are Shore graduates.

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS

Develop a coherent articulation of a Pre-K through Grade 9 Shore education Shore’s reputation for academic excellence is the direct result of supporting and encouraging its gifted faculty. Shore teachers have long recognized that secondary schools, colleges, and careers demand integrated thinking, creativity, and the ability to synthesize new knowledge.

Advances possible in our new Innovation Lab typify our concept-based, interdisciplinary approach where students apply creativity, mathematics and science to create works of art and mechanical inventions as part of their learning.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, our communication team, comprised of faculty, administration, and board members will develop the common language to capture Shore’s innovative curriculum and instruction practices from Pre-K through ninth grade. In simplest terms, the team will develop a succinct statement of what we stand for and how we create value for our families by preparing their children for success in the modern world.

AFFORDABILITY & ACCESSIBILITY

Align families’ total cost of a Shore education with marketplace perceptions of the value of a private education and individual families’ ability to pay Across the United States, the rising cost of private education continues to narrow the ability of a broad range of families to participate; it is as simple as that. More families from a broadening range of economic means are applying for financial aid. To address the changing environment, Shore must continue to review how it structures tuition and employs financial aid. An affordability team comprised of Administration and Board members will conduct an in depth review of current financial aid and tuition policies. Shore practices will be benchmarked against those of other schools and research on current best practices. Policy changes proposed by the team will be shared with the Board of Trustees for review and potential implementation.

AFFORDABILITY & ACCESSIBILITY

Pursue new revenue sources and cost containment opportunities Over the coming years, our affordability team will conduct a full review of current costs. The emphasis will be on finding significant savings through restructuring services. In addition, the affordability team will explore the potential of generating new revenues through the use of our facilities and the offering of new services. Our efforts to cut costs and find new revenue sources will bring the cost of tuition into better alignment with families’ ability to afford a Shore education.

AFFORDABILITY & ACCESSIBILITY

Establish endowment as a key differentiator of Shore affordability, accessibility and overall attractiveness At the Board level, Shore has formed an Advancement Committee to oversee the ongoing development of strategy for growing endowment. Income produced by endowment helps the school to keep tuition affordable by paying a portion of annual expenses.The Advancement Committee will move forward with current campaign efforts and develop future plans for strengthening Shore’s financial stability.

Planning Committee Special thanks and recognition to the following for their efforts in creating Shore's Strategic Plan 2014-2019.

Task Force Members 2013-2014 Trustees Pam Demetroulakos, Co-Chair Ledyard McFadden, Co-Chair

Board of Trustees 2013-2014 Joseph F. Trustey, President

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Committee Members

Staff

Jennifer M. Borggaard '84

Carol O'Neill, Business Office

Kevin Bottomley

Daphne Faldi, Admissions Office

Shelia Burke

Jane Stark, Advancement Office

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Robert L. Clark, Jr. '79

Faculty

Pam Demetroulakos

Cam McNall, Innovation Lab

Robert J. Duffy

Keisha Myrie, Lower School

Susan Fortin

Oliver Hay, Upper School

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Rosemary S. French

Parents

Julia Hesse

Martha Bacigalupo

Courtney Kagan

Michael Kunst

Karla C. Kaneb

Robin Ellis

Jennifer Knowles

John Collins

Administrative Team 2013-2014 Larry Griffin, Head of School Lee Carey, Director of Admission Marge Cregg, Director of Advancement Ben Kennedy, Upper School Division Head Elizabeth MacCurrach, Lower School Division Head Bobbi Whiting, Chief Financial Officer JoAnn Amatucci, Executive Assistant to the Head of School

James S. Allan, M.D.

John Collins

James Hamilton

Ledyard H. McFadden Nicola C.G. Savignano '84 Kelly Sheehan '00 William Shields '84 Bobbye Lou Sims Eve M. Trkla Joshua A. Webber Duncan B. Wilkinson Patrick A. Wilson