Learn, Act, Change

Learn, Act Change:

A Three-Year Strategic Plan for The Advent School

The Strategic Plan Committee David Beardsley, Trustee Deb Budden, Trustee Nicole A. DuFauchard, Head of School Molly McGuinness, Fifth Grade faculty Jeff Morgan, Director of Finance & Operations Sarah Mulrooney, Assistant Head of School Anne Marie O’Callaghan, Trustee

Bailey T. Payne, Director of Admission Nancy Powers, former Trustee Ben Resner, Trustee Tooey Rogers, Science faculty Jaye Smith, former Director of Development Beau Wright, Trustee Alexandra Zodhiates, Fifth Grade faculty

Table of Contents Introduction & Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Planning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Commitment of the Board of Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Advent School Mission Statement & Core Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Philosophy of our Learning Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Strategic Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Long-‐Term Strategic Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Three-‐Year Goals, Strategies, and Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Appendix/Vision statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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Introduction & Context The Advent School was founded in 1961 with a compelling, progressive vision that values inclusiveness, champions social justice, and celebrates the natural curiosity of young learners. We aspire to be:

§ An urban school whose community reflects the diversity of Boston. We aspire to teach:

§ A forward thinking curriculum that inspires and engages a child’s passion for learning. We aspire to create:

§ A culture of collaboration where every child has the confidence to take action in the world. Today, Advent is one of the leading progressive elementary schools in Boston, and our founding vision continues to shape our curriculum and our school community. We attract an ethnically and economically diverse student body from throughout Greater Boston and the city’s diverse neighborhoods. We welcome students into a community of learners that is stimulating, challenging, and academically rigorous, but also nurturing—a safe and fun place to explore new concepts, master important skills, and share ideas and opinions. We graduate students to many of the area’s top public and private middle schools, where they are coveted applicants known for being prepared academically and emotionally to be successful students and confident leaders. Furthermore, the role of social justice in the School’s curriculum, mission, and community ensures that we continue to graduate students who are caring and engaged members of their broader communities. The School and school community have experienced significant change since our last strategic plan:

§ In 2004, we adopted Reggio Emilia as the core philosophy guiding our approach to teaching and learning in our new Early Childhood Center (ECC). The Reggio-‐inspired approach was a good fit for our School, as Advent had already thrived upon a thematic curriculum, which emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary, student-‐centered learning. Today, that commitment to Reggio-‐inspired, thematic learning in all grades informs many of the key distinguishing features of Advent, most notably emergent learning and its emphasis on lessons and lesson planning significantly shaped and reshaped by the interests of students. Additionally, these programmatic approaches rely upon the co-‐teacher classroom model, which allows for the dynamic lesson planning and documentation that are critical parts of a Reggio-‐inspired curriculum.

§ In 2006, we entered a period of significant growth, adding a second ECC classroom and

beginning a multi-‐year transition from having a single class at each grade level to having two

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classes per grade. This expansion of the student body and School community has done much to secure our long-‐term financial stability, but that growth has also challenged us in key ways that this plan seeks to address.

§ In 2013, introduced a new head of school, bringing new energy, ideas, and leadership to the

Advent community. Just as our School has changed, so has the environment in which we operate:

§ The deep recession that began in 2007/2008 led to lower birth rates, which may be contributing to admissions challenges, especially in our earliest grades. It may also be affecting the capacity of some families to respond to fundraising appeals and weakening the strong culture of giving that has been a hallmark of the Advent community.

§ New technologies are transforming teaching and learning, and they are creating opportunities to streamline school administration and operations.

Finally, our world is changing in ways that will significantly affect how our students will live and work as adults. Technology, climate change, and the shifting demographics of the U.S. population are fast producing a world that’s very different from the one that today’s adults know. Advent is playing a key role in preparing our children to embrace the opportunities and address the challenges that they will inherit. This strategic plan addresses the factors influencing our School, mission, and community. It seeks to maintain and strengthen the defining elements of our mission and vision, while also addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities that have emerged since we adopted our last plan more than a decade ago. Excellence is our ultimate goal, and in implementing this plan we will seek to strengthen both Advent’s reputation as a leading progressive elementary school and the defining elements of our organizational culture and school community.

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Planning Process To draft this plan, the Board of Trustees appointed a Strategic Planning Committee made up of Board members, faculty, and school administrators.

David Beardsley, Trustee Deb Budden, Trustee Nicole A. DuFauchard, Head of School Anne Marie O’Callaghan, Trustee Molly McGuinness, Fifth Grade faculty Jeff C. H. Morgan, Director of Finance & Operations Sarah Mulrooney, Assistant Head of School

Bailey T. Payne, Director of Admission Nancy Powers, former Trustee Ben Resner, Trustee Tooey Rogers, Science faculty Jaye Smith, former Director of Development Beau Wright, Trustee Alexandra Zodhiates, Fifth Grade faculty

The committee was guided, in part, by the findings of our reaccreditation review by the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE). We also relied on interviews, community surveys, and meetings to solicit input from parents, alumni, parents of alumni, Trustees, members of our Board of Advisors, and staff. The committee focused primarily on identifying Advent’s strengths and opportunities in the following areas:

§ Facilities & Infrastructure § Staffing § Curriculum § Communications

§ Admission & Enrollment § Technology § Finance § Fundraising

Vision statements for each of these areas are included in the appendix. They helped to shape the broad goals and objectives outlined in the plan. Those vision statements, as well as the plan’s goals and objectives, will shape the annual action plans that guide our implementation of this strategic plan for the next three years, and it is our hope that the core principles and direction laid out in this document will guide the School for many years to come.

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Commitment of the Board of Trustees The Board of Trustees is responsible for overall governance of The Advent School and oversight of the head of school. The Board will play a key role in the implementation of this plan, especially as it pertains to setting priorities, managing risk, and securing the necessary financial resources to execute the plan. Together, the Board of Trustees and the head of school commit to achieving the collective goals set forth herein, and to communicating and rallying support for those goals within the broader school community. The Board is committed to supporting the Head of School in accordance with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) best practices for school governance, and to fostering support for the administration and faculty throughout the execution of this strategic plan. The Board’s role in supporting use of best practices in the areas of succession planning for leadership and governance, for financial oversight, and for proactive support and oversight for short and long-‐term planning will be important to successful plan implementation.

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The Advent School Mission Statement & Core Values MISSION Since 1961, The Advent School has stayed true to its founding vision: an urban school whose community reflects the diversity of Boston; a forward thinking curriculum that inspires and engages a child’s passion for learning; a commitment to social justice and a culture of collaboration where every child has the confidence to take action in the world. This strategic plan will shape much of Advent’s work for the next three years. However, underlying the objectives, goals, and strategies are a set of core values that guide all of our work and decision-‐making. These values inform how we set priorities and carry out our mission. They define the community that is The Advent School. What We Value:

§ Curiosity – We value curious, reflective, and active learners.

§ Critical Thinking – We value critical thinking and teaching practices that enable learners to develop skills for the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of complex ideas and information.

§ Student Engagement – We value a dynamic, integrated, challenging, and immersive curriculum that engages every learner, is rooted in research and best practices, that is grounded in inter-‐disciplinary thematic studies and emergent learning, and that prepares students for the rigors of middle school and beyond.

§ Project-‐based Learning – We value learning through long-‐term, student driven projects, that foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, which help students see connections across disciplines and ideas, and that inspire each student to have a voice in their learning process.

§ Meaningful Student Assessment – We value assessment practices that further learning by fostering teacher and parent understanding of the whole child.

§ Diversity & Inclusiveness – We value an urban learning environment defined by a stimulating and inclusive community that celebrates and is reflective of the diversity of Boston.

§ Social Justice – We value and teach social justice, and seek to graduate students who engage with their community and are committed to creating a more just and equitable society.

§ Communication – We value regular communication that fosters an effective and strong school community and promotes understanding and cohesiveness within that community.

§ Excellence – We value excellence and seek to be exceptional in everything we do.

§ Accountability – We expect excellence and trust our colleagues to achieve it; if we fall short, we hold one another accountable in a constructive and professional manner.

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Philosophy Of Our Learning Community The Advent School was founded on the belief that each child brings a unique sense of self to the school community, making ours a diverse and stimulating place to learn. Students from across Boston and its surrounding neighborhoods, and from different backgrounds and traditions, come together as a close-‐knit family. Teachers look upon each child as a person full of potential, rich with ideas and curiosity, and with a variety of strengths that can be tapped to promote learning. Students form meaningful relationships with each other and their teachers. Advent faculty and staff collaborate and grow within a respectful, caring, and productive work environment. In their earliest elementary years, children have an innate passion for learning. With a challenging academic program, a motivated peer group, and the thoughtful support of teachers and parents, Advent inspires students to push their thinking further by immersing students in a strong, integrated curriculum. Our children are taught to expect and seek connections within their learning and to cross the boundaries between disciplines freely. Within the context of one or more class themes, students learn from direct experience. Each student at Advent is an active participant in the learning process, making choices and accepting responsibility for his or her learning. Our curriculum relies on the city to extend the classroom and expand our campus. Boston’s history, institutions, and open space offer students rich cultural and learning experiences that are critical elements of an Advent education. Teachers and students expand on classroom lessons by engaging with the rich urban landscape that surrounds us. In 2004, Advent adopted the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching, and its emphasis on highly flexible lesson planning, to leverage student passions and interests (emergent learning) within the context of a thematic curriculum, thereby promoting learning and enhancing student engagement. Reggio Emilia works in concert with our longstanding commitment to social justice to form the guiding pillars of the Advent curriculum. We recognize that we play a significant role in educating children who will become future world citizens and leaders. Our children learn at an early age to value differences, to stand up for their beliefs, and to advocate for others. We teach our students to be compassionate and empathetic, to respect their environment, and to take an active role in their community, whether that community is in their classroom, their school, their neighborhood, their city, their country, or their planet. During a student’s years at Advent, teachers and parents encourage them to make connections with the world beyond their classroom, helping them find ways to reach out to people in need. Confidence may be the defining characteristic of Advent students; our children learn to take initiative, to work collaboratively, to take intellectual risks, and to engage with ideas and the world around them.

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Strategic Challenges & Opportunities The Advent School has combined its commitment to social justice and its progressive, Reggio-‐inspired approach to teaching and learning to provide students with an exceptional elementary education. Our program equips students with the confidence and curiosity to excel at next schools and into adulthood, instilling in them a dedication to learning, community, and social equity that produces informed, engaged, and productive global citizens. This approach and commitment are summarized effectively by the School motto: “Learn with passion. Act with courage. Change the world.” True to our commitment to be a leading progressive elementary school in Boston, we must always seek to identify new ways of strengthening our program and curriculum. And, as noted earlier, Advent has grown and evolved in significant ways over the past decade, pursuing changes that have both strengthened and challenged the school. This plan focuses on addressing the key strategic opportunities that have resulted from this decade of change and growth and that we feel will have the greatest positive impact on our students, staff, and community. Our school community has doubled in size. The most significant change, after the 2004 adoption of Reggio Emilia in our new Early Childhood Center (ECC), was our 2006 decision to double the ECC classroom and thus begin an eight-‐year effort of adding a second class at each grade level. As a result, our school community has expanded from fewer than 100 families to nearly 160 families. We must take steps to ensure that we sustain the strong sense of community that has been a defining characteristic of Advent, despite this growth. Our primary school building has reached its capacity. After a series of renovations, our primary school buildings at 15-‐17 Brimmer Street can accommodate two classrooms from ECC through Sixth Grade and a total enrollment of up to 220 students (although we function most effectively with 210 to 215 students). Enrollment has consistently topped 205 and has spiked as high as 218 students. Our facility is essentially at capacity. We expect Beacon Hill to be Advent’s home well into the future, but we must be aware of the pressure that growth has placed on our core facilities. We must continue to seek opportunities to expand those facilities and enhance the Advent experience for students, staff, and the broader school community. A long-‐term lease at 99 West Cedar Street adds important classroom space near Brimmer Street, allowing us to supplement our core curriculum with a robust selection of “specials”, including art, music, Spanish, and yoga. Consistent with our commitment to being an urban school that views Greater Boston as its campus, we’re using partnerships and public resources to further extend our facilities, enrich student learning, and support the school community. We must continue to pursue opportunities to accommodate our larger student population and staff in ways that also enrich the quality and vigor of our curriculum and academic program. Growth has increased property management and maintenance costs and needs. Equipping, managing, and maintaining a facility that is more than a century old is a challenge, especially as the growth of our staff and student body increases use and wear. We must be diligent and disciplined in planning for and funding infrastructure, maintenance, and improvements.

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We’re facing new enrollment management challenges. As we complete the transition to two classrooms per grade level and come to the end of this latest growth cycle, we face enrollment management challenges. Some number of students naturally leave the School before completing Sixth Grade—families move, financial situations change, student educational needs evolve—and natural entry points for some of the next schools prompt early withdrawals. However, we cannot enroll enough students in ECC and Kindergarten, our current natural entry points, to ensure that, with natural student attrition, we will consistently achieve the 26-‐27 students per grade average that makes two classes and four homeroom teachers per grade financially sustainable and programmatically optimal. This issue is further complicated by a nationwide dip in enrollment in elementary school pre-‐Kindergarten programs. We must raise the visibility of our program and develop new and creative strategies for attracting prospective students likely to thrive in Advent’s program, and we must develop new approaches for managing student enrollment and entry points. Growth is changing the way we sustain Advent’s characteristic sense of community. Growth has had an impact on our community. Less formal methods of communication, which were adequate for a community comprised of fewer than 100 families, are less effective when we have nearly 160 families and more than 200 students. This affects us in two critical ways:

§ First, it makes it more essential to communicate effectively about Advent’s progressive educational approach, and to ensure that parents have the information they need to understand and recognize the progress their child is making. Advent students are taught in ways that may be less familiar to parents who were educated more traditionally. At Advent, intellectual rigor and creativity blend through interdisciplinary curricula and project-‐based, collaborative learning that is rooted in both the real world and the developmental levels of individual students. The intentional development of higher-‐order thinking skills—the ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize—is the hallmark strength of our program. Without meaningful communication about programmatic methods and student progress, unfamiliarity with our approach can lead to confusion about outcomes and, possibly, dissatisfaction with the School. In this plan we commit to developing new methods for explaining our methods and highlighting student progress to ensure we effectively illustrate the academic rigor within the Advent curriculum and the effectiveness of our cutting edge teaching practices.

§ Second, as our school community has grown, it has become more challenging to engage parents, especially as volunteers and donors. Such parent engagement is critical to the vitality of our community and the long-‐term health of our School. This plan seeks to strengthen our methods for promoting parent engagement, volunteerism, and philanthropy.

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Low student-‐teacher ratios, while critical to our program, are costly. Despite the growth of our student population, we have retained some of the lowest student-‐to-‐teacher ratios of any elementary school in greater Boston, and are committed to managing enrollment so we can continue to do so. These ratios enable Advent to apply educational principals that are establishing us as an innovator in progressive elementary education, especially the emergent curriculum and documentation that are such key components of the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching and learning. For example, these low ratios allow our teachers to adapt lesson plans and projects, in almost real time, to respond to student interests in ways that engage our children more deeply in key academic concepts and strengthen their learning. This model, however, comes with a significant financial impact. With twice as many teachers as most schools of comparable size, we are challenged to compensate and retain faculty, while also investing in our facilities and programs, maintaining accessible tuitions, and continuing to run the modest operating surpluses that keep us financially strong. In implementing this plan, we will take steps to maintain the student-‐to-‐teacher ratios that set us apart, while also strengthening teacher compensation and retention, and implementing strategies for funding other key investments in our program, staff, and facilities.

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Long-Term Strategic Objectives The following objectives will guide our work not only for the next three years, but also for many years to come:

§ Establish Advent as the leading Reggio-‐inspired, thematic-‐based program in New England, and as the top progressive elementary school in Boston.

§ Maintain ideal enrollment levels at each grade level, with waiting lists, and achieve student retention rates that are consistently best in class for independent schools.

§ Make Advent a premier place to teach and work, with staff engagement and retention rates that are consistently best in class for independent schools.

§ Achieve levels of community engagement that are consistently best in class for independent schools.

§ Fund capital needs and strategic priorities while consistently achieving operating surpluses.

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Three-Year Goals, Strategies & Outcomes Three-‐Year Goal #1: Maximize parent satisfaction and meaningfully expand the engagement and participation of parents, extended families, and alumni.

§ Strategy 1.1: Demonstrate concretely, frequently, and meaningfully the value and

success of Advent’s progressive approach to teaching and learning.

§ Strategy 1.2: Establish an on-‐boarding process for new families that engages them with the Advent community and familiarizes them with our methods for teaching and assessing students.

§ Strategy 1.3: Organize events, gatherings, and activities that help us sustain the strong

sense of community that defines Advent. § Strategy 1.4: Expand volunteer opportunities and volunteerism in support of the School.

§ Strategy 1.5: Ensure that the School community has timely access to information and

that School communications are viewed as effective and valuable. Related Three-‐Year Outcomes:

1. We have published an overview of our program that explains the inter-‐disciplinary, thematic nature of our curriculum and provides parents with clear expectations and appropriate metrics for student progress, by grade level; it is well received and valued by current and prospective parents and treated as a model by other progressive schools.

2. The curriculum/program overview, in combination with our existing student assessment practices, forms the basis for meaningful and more frequent exchanges between parents, teachers, and administrators about student progress.

3. We have established baseline satisfaction and engagement levels for parents and others

in the School community; goals for improvement from the baseline have been set and met.

4. The number of parents volunteering their time with the School and contributing

meaningfully to School leadership increases. 5. Communications and marketing initiatives, including regular Board communications,

strengthen our community and effectively represent our brand, mission, and program; current families consider them to be timely, compelling, and useful.

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Three-‐Year Goal #2: Steadily raise Advent’s visibility and reputation as an innovative leader for Reggio-‐inspired, progressive elementary education with social justice as a core element of its curriculum and mission, especially with prospective parents and progressive educators.

§ Strategy 2.1: Continue to strengthen/expand staff, Board, and volunteer expertise in the

areas of marketing and communications.

§ Strategy 2.2: Complete the ongoing brand review; implement a multi-‐year marketing and communications plan to raise brand awareness and external visibility, expand the number of qualified applicants, and strengthen the School community.

§ Strategy 2.3: Strengthen neighborhood and community outreach to attract a talented

and diverse student body from across the Boston area.

§ Strategy 2.4: Build on the success of our annual Advent School Collaborative to raise our profile as a progressive elementary school with educators and prospective parents.

Related Three-‐Year Outcomes:

1. The number of qualified annual applicants to Advent increases, producing optimal enrollment at each grade level with waiting lists.

2. We have created and are effectively promoting a new entry point at Second or Third

Grade.

3. Our marketing is innovative and effectively represents our brand, mission, and program; prospective families rate it as timely, compelling, and useful.

4. The make up of our student body and staff meets concrete goals for diversity, consistent

with our mission.

5. We have built on the success of our annual Advent School Collaborative, creating at least one new opportunity for educators to learn from Advent staff, and further strengthening the School’s reputation as a leader for best practices in progressive educational pedagogy.

Three-‐Year Goal #3: Strengthen fundraising as a source of income for the School.

§ Strategy 3.1: Clearly and compellingly communicate the role and importance of fundraising to Advent, strengthening our community’s culture of contribution.

§ Strategy 3.2: Evaluate opportunities to expand major gifts and grants as a source of funding.

§ Strategy 3.3: Complete a feasibility assessment for and initiate a comprehensive fundraising campaign to address long-‐term capital needs of the School and establish an endowment.

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1. We have consistently achieved or exceeded our Annual Fund goals, with community participation levels approaching or achieving 100 percent, and with Board and staff participation consistently at 100 percent.

2. We have embarked on a capital/endowment campaign, with well-‐defined goals for

strengthening our curriculum/program, facilities, and infrastructure; it has strong community support, including from alumni and parents of alumni.

3. As our endowment and capital reserves grow, Board oversight ensures effective management of these funds and strong returns.

4. We have continued to pay down existing debt from earlier facilities renovation projects

and continue to achieve regular budget surpluses that fund capital and operating reserves.

Three-‐Year Goal #4: Strengthen staff satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

§ Strategy 4.1: Develop and implement faculty evaluation task force to understand the

benchmarks and tools needed for effective evaluative procedures.

§ Strategy 4.2: Review salaries, benefits, professional development, and performance management; prioritize opportunities to strengthen our position relative to peer schools.

§ Strategy 4.3: Create new staff roles that improve school operations and strengthen

support for curriculum development and our teachers. Related Three-‐Year Outcomes:

1. We have expanded funding for staff compensation, benefits, and professional development; Advent compares well, or is on track to achieve reasonable parity, with peer schools in these areas.

2. We have established baseline satisfaction/engagement levels for staff; goals for

improvement from the baseline have been set and met; staff retention rates meet or exceed peer schools.

3. We have created and are beginning to implement a multi-‐year staffing plan designed to

improve school administration and further enhance our curriculum/program. Three-‐Year Goal #5: Develop and begin to implement a 10-‐year master plan to make strategic investments in facilities, operational infrastructure, staffing, and our educational program/curriculum.

§ Strategy 5.1: Introduce appropriate classroom-‐based technologies, e.g. computers and/or tablets, in ways that enhance teaching, enrich learning, and prepare students to live and work in the 21st century.

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§ Strategy 5.2: Implement a maintenance, management, and improvement plan for our

current facilities and infrastructure; begin to address top priority needs, starting with the playground.

§ Strategy 5.3: Prioritize additional space needs now that our expansion to two classes per

grade level is complete; proactively identify and pursue opportunities to address key needs.

§ Strategy 5.4: Identify and prioritize longer-‐term goals for program and curriculum

development and begin to implement a plan for realizing these goals.

§ Strategy 5.5: Using our current relationships with MIT, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, and others as models, pursue partnerships that expand our facilities, strengthen our curriculum, and embody the idea that “Boston is our campus.”


1. We have built a new playground/recess yard.

2. We have established at least two new long-‐term partnerships that will enhance our program and/or expand our facilities.

3. We have expanded the use of technology by students and enhanced our library and

media program at all grade levels, bolstering the technology skills and digital citizenship of our students and faculty.

4. We are beginning to implement a ten-‐year master campus plan that prioritizes

infrastructure and facilities needs, including improvements to current assets and new space needs.

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Appendix

Advent Strategic Planning Committee Vision Statements CURRICULUM & PROGRAM VISION VISION #1 To seek continuously to strengthen our curriculum, which is centered around four concepts that philosophically drive education at Advent:

§ Reggio Emilia: engaging in student-‐driven and emergent learning where teachers are co-‐researchers who utilize documentation as a means to celebrate and assess student learning

§ Promoting and modeling social justice

§ Utilizing the history, resources, and institutions of our urban setting that make Boston

our campus

§ Thematic learning that links subject areas VISION #2 Emphasize and demonstrate the way in which our students’ academic, problem-‐solving, and critical thinking skills develop within this philosophical framework. VISION #3 Enrich and enhance student learning through the appropriate, effective, and innovative use of tools for living and learning in the 21st century. VISION #4 Emphasize the continuity, scope, and sequence of the ECC through Sixth Grade curriculum, based on themes and building leadership skills. FACILITIES VISION VISION #1 Any consideration of Advent facilities must be compatible with and supportive of the School’s urban location, innovative curriculum, inclusive culture, and broader mission. VISION #2 Advent’s mission and culture have, over 50 years, been built on a strong sense of community and connection among families, parents, students, faculty, and administrators. Our facilities should be spaces that are created to be eminently flexible and adaptable to innovative teaching, learning, and working; as well as, but not least, to foster the inclusiveness and interaction of the entire School community.

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VISION #3 Advent is committed to a Reggio and emergent-‐learning inspired curriculum that is highly aligned and tailored to the School’s relatively small student population. The School’s facilities need to effectively support a flexible and rich curriculum that leverages innovative teaching and 21st century educational tools. VISION #4 15-‐17 Brimmer Street is the emotional center of the Advent community, and integral to the essence of the Advent brand. It is where parents form most of their defining impressions as to the quality of their child’s—and their own—Advent experience. Along with supporting the School’s mission and educational programs, our facilities must also reflect the thoughtful consideration for the professional needs of a highly engaged faculty and administration; and the operational systems and functions required for the efficient and effective management of the school enterprise. STAFFING VISION VISION #1 Culture: To nurture those aspects of Advent culture that defines us, and set us apart from other schools:

§ The co-‐teacher model;

§ The resulting spirit of collaboration and innovation within the Advent classroom;

§ The daily manifestations of the Reggio model created by our faculty and staff: the responsive, adaptive, fluid, and immediate attention to the education of the full student.

VISION #2 Recruitment and Retention: To continue to hire and retain qualified faculty and administrators who are committed to Advent’s educational philosophy and mission. VISION #3 Staff Engagement: To continue to demonstrate a commitment to staff and promote staff engagement by developing the strongest possible programs for professional development, performance evaluation, and benefits and compensation, aligning Advent practices with AISNE best practices. VISION #4 Health, Wellness, and Safety: To recruit and retain staff who are qualified and empowered to promote health, safety, and security within the Advent community, and who are responsible for ongoing health and safety planning. VISION #5 Diversity: To promote diversity within the Advent staff that is consistent with the overall commitment to diversity within the Advent community and that reflects the diversity of the student body.

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COMMUNICATION VISION Strengthen the connections within the Advent family with communications premised on relevance, timeliness, and accessibility; and create a top-‐of-‐mind presence for the School and its activities in Beacon Hill, greater Boston, regional and national educators, and other relevant interest groups. VISION #1 Support the mission, community, and enterprise of the School with timely and effective communication that leverage digital and analog platforms and advance the School’s ongoing sustainability initiatives. VISION #2 Envision and integrate a coherent alignment of the technology infrastructure around various communication imperatives and their companion administrative stakeholders. VISION #3 Affirm the strategic importance of marketing by

1. Including the creation of a marketing plan among the regular activities of the annual business planning cycle.

2. Establishing a unified brand identity and apply it consistently across all marketing communications, internally and externally.

ADMISSION & ENROLLMENT VISION The vision for Admission/Enrollment is to position The Advent School to become the pre-‐Kindergarten through Sixth Grade school of choice for families in Beacon Hill and Greater Boston. School enrollment goals will be met by purposefully balancing the selectivity and quality of students, while advancing racial, ethnic, geographic, and economic diversity within the community. Through stable enrollment and consistent achievement of admission goals, Admission/Enrollment will support an environment where academic excellence is fostered, community is celebrated, and a lifelong connection to The Advent School is borne. Key Strategic Themes & Considerations

1. Entry Points & Grade Span § Define Advent School grade span and entry/exit points. Establish targets

based on grade levels in addition to aggregate (not to exceed 220).

2. Identify Advent’s Target Audience § Identify who is Advent’s target audience and determine best outreach

activities. § Determine family needs (e.g. preschool support; regular, after-‐school,

summer school; days off)

3. Define Diversity § Define diversity and set concentration numbers for school population.

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4. Determine How Admission/Enrollment Serve As A Resource Steward § Balance achievement of enrollment, financial, and diversity goals

(“selectivity criteria”) § Identify and understand affordability/perceived value of tuition and impact

on admission/enrollment (i.e. What is the cost point where tuition has a negative impact on admission/enrollment?).

5. Achieve a mix of full paying to financially supported families.

§ Support annual and endowment development goals.

6. Expand Focus from Admissions to Admissions/Enrollment § Balance focus on recruitment and retention as well as playing a vital

stewardship role for families. DEVELOPMENT VISION Development at The Advent School focuses on generating strong community support for the School’s mission of offering a premier primary school education in an urban setting through a progressive, Reggio-‐inspired curriculum that emphasizes social justice and inclusiveness. The community is a blend of all families, who have directly experienced life at The Advent School since its inception in 1961, as well as organizations and individuals that identify with the School's mission. To achieve its vision, Advent will:

1. Shift its emphasis from Development to “Advancement,” which seeks to align the mission of The Advent School more fully with its community—through effectively integrated fundraising, marketing, communications, volunteerism, and community relations—to enhance community understanding of and support for that mission.

2. Leverage and expand volunteerism and empower volunteer leaders to advance the School’s mission and goals with appropriate support and guidance from staff.

3. Cultivate a culture of contribution throughout the community.

4. Work closely with finance to align resources with goals and needs.

5. Seek a diversified source of funds to meet ongoing expenses and special projects,

and to support organizational stability and long-‐term planning. FINANCE VISION The Finance function supports The Advent School’s mission by managing the School’s financial position and ensuring that the School has access to the resources it needs to fulfill its mission and plan for the future. This includes the financial and operational oversight of revenue and expenses consistent with best practices, financial planning for capital expenditure and other long-‐term initiatives, ensuring the integrity of record-‐keeping, and prudent investing of reserves and endowment funds.

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1. Maximize revenue in a manner consistent with the school’s mission, enrollment

goals, and programmatic needs—recognizing that an enrollment cap of 220 students means admission growth is no longer a source of income growth.

2. Understand and manage expenses in a way that promotes financial health and supports mission delivery.

3. Ensure that financial assistance makes Advent accessible to a wide range of

applicant families, consistent with the School’s enrollment goal and its commitment to both inclusiveness and financial health.

4. Plan for capital investment and improvement, working with Development as needed

to ensure that adequate and timely funding is available. TECHNOLOGY VISION Invest in technology to:

1. Strengthen the curriculum.

2. Streamline administration and management of the School.

3. Improve communications to and between members of the Advent community.

Documents

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