News Detail

Thinking Big About Our Strategic Direction

4/4/2016

by Mike Davis, Ph.D.

Head of School

In a recent news article about the South BY Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, the word “innovation” was used more than 650,000 times in the conference sessions on the film and music industry. Whether you read Fast Company or the Harvard Business Review, we are a society obsessed with the concept of innovation. It is part of our nation’s DNA. Americans are always on the move. The United States led the way with a transportation revolution in the 1800s, and in the 1900s with the steamboat, railroad, automobile, and airplane. Along with parts of Europe, we transformed the global economy during the Industrial Revolution. John F. Kennedy set a goal to go to the moon, and we did. We mastered innovation in technology and transformed the way people communicate, interact, and conduct business. Yet, while all these developments happened, the concept of “school” essentially stayed the same.

Only in the past decade have new ideas really taken hold. During my eight years at the helm of Colorado Academy, we have been guided by many new approaches like Design Thinking, as well as by educational thinkers who urged leaders to focus on key 21st century skills that would engage learners and prepare them for a radically different world. This has certainly guided our work at Colorado Academy. As has been noted by some outside education experts like Grant Lichtman, author of #EdJourney and a nationally recognized thought leader in the drive to transform K-12 education, CA has been at the vanguard of some very positive change.

At the recent conference of the National Association of Independent Schools, it was clear that innovation was in the air. I saw a great presentation by our own Tom Thorpe, Martha Smith, Meg Hill, and senior Nick Bain about our culture of innovation. (A number of people in attendance gave us some great recognition on social media.) But, there were other schools that were challenging the conventional wisdom of what education should be about.

I heard more talk of schools thinking about dramatically changing a paradigm of American education: getting rid of grades, changing the format of transcripts for colleges to bring sanity to the college process, changing the school calendar, integrating service learning, doing away with departments, and more. Some of the ideas are far-fetched and too “outside the box.”

But others are compelling. Nearly all are based on solid research that has pointed out the fundamental flaws in how we organize school. Even at the college level, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently noted the serious conversations that are taking place about rethinking what a transcript looks like in the interest of graduates proving to employers their competencies in key skill areas, rather than a traditional transcript that lists grades. So, folks, change is coming...and it’s coming soon.

Aside from managing the day-to-day operations of Colorado Academy with an outstanding group of administrators and faculty, I enjoy the opportunity to think big about our strategic direction. This is a process that involves the Board of Trustees, the administrative team, the faculty, along with input from parents and alumni. We must constantly be thinking about the future, because we must be sure that we are offering a relevant education. We need to evolve to meet the changing needs of students and put them in the best possible position to lead successful and fulfilled lives.

Last year, the Board of Trustees conducted an exhaustive planning process that has identified key goals. We started with internal conversations and then pulled in faculty to get their dreams and ideas of what we need. We have drawn an ambitious, but realistic, vision of eight key goals over the next five years that will increase student engagement and intellectual curiosity, support the development of the academic-artist-athlete (the most fundamental part of our mission), and promote the well-being of our students. Our ambition is to be a school that creates relevant and deep learning opportunities, but also one that allows students to have healthy lives. Look for more details in our forthcoming school magazine, the Colorado Academy Journal, and other publications.

Enhance School, Work, and World Readiness

Review CA’s daily schedule and annual calendar with the goal of improving the student experience.
Study the feasibility of introducing an academic interim or upper school intensive program.
Evaluate core diploma and academic requirements.
Align use of homework and academic assessments with school’s mission.
Review methods for collecting data for student progress and assessment.
Initiate student and family surveys to track community feedback on fulfilling mission.
Update mission statement.
Review visual and performing arts offerings and program.
Clarify scope and sequence for Pre-K-12 public speaking.

Deepen Curiosity

Develop an academic interim program or Upper School intensive program that promotes cross-disciplinary learning.
Continue focus on 6C’s and the school’s priorities of character and culture and technology integration.
Continue review of K-12 writing curriculum scope and sequence.
Update math scope and sequence for K-12.
Continue integration of Responsive Classroom program in the Lower School.

Sustain an Intentionally Inclusive Community

Further CA’s inclusivity work through professional development and student and faculty programming.
Further define cultural competency (the 6th C) teaching goals and integrate into curriculum.
Increase character education efforts to continue development of grit, resiliency, and emotional intelligence.
Continue efforts to develop a diverse student body in the broadest terms to continue to serve the mission and to enhance the experience of all students.
Expand reach into the community to continue to work toward a representative student and faculty population.

Deepen Innovation and Teaching of Technology in a Liberal Arts Curriculum

Explore ideas for further integration of a STEM approach into CA’s K-12 curriculum.
Conduct five-year review of CA’s iPad program.
Explore/expand the role of coding and robotics in CA curriculum across divisions.
Continue technology integration efforts through hiring of an academic technology coordinator.
Expand Innovation offerings in the US and MS through hiring of innovations teacher.

Promote Health and Wellness

Continue intentional school culture and character efforts.
Examine homework requirements and timing of student assessment as part of a focus on a healthy student culture.
Promote mental health programming that helps students manage stress and encourages healthy decision making.
Construct state-of-the-art athletic and wellness facility that emphasizes the value of exercise and fitness.

Expanding Learning Support

Improve teaching of mathematics through hiring of math specialist in the Lower School.
Improve early intervention reading strategies through hiring of Lower School literacy specialist.

Connect With Nature

Develop mountain campus.
Develop grade-level programming to support further connection with the outdoors.
Continue to refine the interim program to provide the highest quality experiences.
Focus on outdoor skill development through interim and class retreats.

Further Mission with Sustainable Physical and Fiscal Initiatives

Renovate Welborn House, the Theater, the Gym, and the Art Building to further the mission of the school.
Continue to build endowment, financial aid, and cash reserves to promote long-term fiscal health of the school.

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