ISD is starting the third year of our strategic plan. The strategic plan outlined six major goals
for the school to accomplish over a five to seven year period. This article will outline the progress we
have made and the specific plans we have for this year.
Goal
1: Students fully develop and utilize
social and emotional skills
The counselors, administrators and teachers have been
working on this goal for the past two years and implemented a number of program
and policy changes. Parent and student
surveys from the end of last year indicate that progress has been made, but
there is still room for improvement. These
improvements will continue to be refined under the leadership of our new
Secondary School Principal, Mr. Bird.
Goal
2: Students create and perform complex
works in the visual, musical, and dramatic arts
At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, the board approved
the construction of a new performing arts center and athletic complex. The arts
center would include a 350-seat theater, black box theater, and art gallery.
The athletic complex will have an air-conditioned double gym, fitness room,
classroom, and dance studio.
Last year, working with Flansburgh Architects from the
United States, as well as local architects, the two construction plans for the
two buildings were developed. In addition, the school selected a local project
management firm to oversee the construction.
One of my goals this year is to finalize the design phase of
the construction project and begin construction. We anticipate finalizing the
construction plans in early October and starting the contractor bidding process
by mid-October. The first part of construction will start in December or
January. The current construction timeline is 20 months.
Goal 3:
Students succeed in the International Baccalaureate Program
This strategic
goal had three parts to it. One, increase the number of students acquiring the
International Baccalaureate Diploma, which serves students in grades 11 and
12.. Two, examine the feasibility of
adding the Primary Years Program for students in the elementary school. Three,
examine the feasibility of adding the the Middle Years Program for grades six
through ten.
A number of
improvements were made to the IB Diploma Program in 16-17, which lead to an
increase in the nubmer of students earning the IB Diploma, as well as the
overall pass rate. Another one of my
goals this year is to work with Mr. Bird, and our new IB Diploma Coordinator,
Mr. Lennon, to increase the number of
students who pursue the full diploma and help the students improve their
performance on the exams. To accomplish
this, we will continue to provide training for our teachers, examine the
overall workload of the IB teachers to give them more time to focus on their IB
courses, and explore bringing in course review specialists in the spring to
provide additional review for our students before the exams.
Last year, the
board approved ISD becoming a candidate school for the IB Primary Years
Program. Under the direction of Brad Chumrau, acting ES Principal and PYP
Coordinator, the teachers have begun developing and implementing new
instructional units of study. One of my goals is to ensure Brad and the
teachers have the training and resources they need to successfully implement
this exciting program.
A teacher
committee reviewed the Middle Years Program last year and made a series of
recommendations for this year including continuing to learn more about the
classroom implications of becoming a MYP school. Mr. Bird and the teachers have
continued to learn more about the program and will be presenting the
information to the Board starting in October.
Goal
4: Students explore, identify, and develop
their talents and passions
Given the scale of our strategic goals, we needed
to prioritize them to make sure we had sufficient resources to move
forward. Work on ths goal has been
scheduled for next year.
Goal
5: Students acquire responsible
leadership competencies
This goal has been the focus of the past two
Middle and High School retreats. The implementation of the Primary Years
Program and, potential implementation of the Middle Years Program will help us
make major strides with this goal. Developing leadership competencies is an
essential component of both the PYP and MYP
Goal
6: Students apply responsible leadership
competencies to complex issues
This goal is an extension of goal number
five. It will be largely addressed
through changes to our Service Learning program to meet the requirements of the
IB Programs, which ask students to identify areas of need and design projects
that will help others in Senegal. We want our students to have more direct
connections with people rather than simply raising money on campus.
We have made
significant progress towards our strategic goals over the past two years. As we
approach the mid-point of the plan, it is time to assess our progress as well
as examine the effectiveness of the strategic plan in general. My last goal for
the year will be to work with the Board Policy Committee to assess the
strategic plan and the goals to determine if we need to make any revisions to
the overall plan on the goals. We will
present the results of our assessment at the Annual General Meeting in April.