Strategic Plan 2017-2018 Achievements and Next Steps

The following is a summary of achievements around the school’s priorities for 2017-2018 and a preview of next steps in each of these exciting areas.
By Ryan Dahlem, Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives
 
St. Margaret’s continued the excitement and momentum of implementing its aspirational Strategic Plan during the 2017-2018 school year. The school made significant progress across several initiatives with a continual focus on understanding students and placing their needs at the center of the design process.
 
The faculty and staff remain fully committed to fulfilling the vision set by the Board of Trustees for the future of St. Margaret’s. By fostering a culture of innovation on campus, the school has established the confidence to pilot new ideas, scale up successes and move forward with larger institutional changes guided by our love and care for students.
 
The following is a summary of achievements around the school’s priorities for 2017-2018 and a preview of next steps in each of these exciting areas:
 
Schedule Redesign:
  • Project anchored in improving student health and wellness based on feedback from the Design Thinking process. Full community engaged in redesign including input from students, faculty, staff and parents.
  • Independent School Management consultant visited campus for four days, conducted 30-plus meetings and interviews across constituencies, led four hours of professional development for faculty and staff, and created draft schedule designs.
  • Draft designs reviewed with all constituencies and input reflected in subsequent iterations.
  • Final schedule rolled out to faculty, staff and parents in early December in advance of contract renewal and re-enrollment processes (see announcement and explainer video).
  • October and April Professional Development days committed to schedule redesign and implementation planning.
  • Next Steps: Implement redesigned schedule in 2018-2019 with ongoing feedback loops. Health and wellness initiatives broadened to include relationship with technology, sleep education, mindfulness, nutrition and analysis of homework load. Retooled Upper School advisory program and Innovation Blocks utilized for health and wellness programming.
Interdisciplinary Studies:
  • Nearly 40 faculty members across all four divisions received Innovation Summer Grants to create and implement interdisciplinary lesson and units.
  • Results shared with colleagues during a professional development morning.
  • Survey results showed 100 percent of participants felt they created a more relevant learning experience for students by connecting content across academic disciplines. Ninety-seven percent plan to participate in the program again.
  • Next steps: Innovation Summer Grants 2.0 launched and will be funded for 2018-2019 implementation. Seek feedback from students and identify areas for anchor grade level interdisciplinary experiences and development of interdisciplinary courses.
Virtual Reality:
  • PTF Grants funded three additional HTC VIVE VR stations (bringing total to five) and a classroom set of 25 handheld devices to use with Google Cardboard VR headsets.
  • VR Instructional Coach contracted to source content and support faculty early adopters in utilizing VR as a learning tool.
  • 16 new pilot lessons tested in Lower, Middle and Upper School classrooms in Spring 2018.
  • Survey results showed 92 percent of students enjoyed the learning experience and nearly 90 percent want to participate in another VR learning activity.
  • Next Steps: Continued integration through VR Instructional Coach model. PTF Grants approved to fund VR Empathy Project in Middle and Upper School as well as VR applications in Athletics Department for 2018-2019.
Service Learning:
  • New service learning model launched in grade 9 with six half-days devoted to service learning throughout the school year.
  • Advisory groups served local community organizations with a focus on establishing ongoing relationships. Strong anecdotal feedback from students desiring more time to serve.
  • Community-wide response to Gulf Coast hurricanes resulting in $6,300 raised and donated to Episcopal Relief and Development for hurricane relief efforts.
  • Team of 17 Upper School students flew to Houston to assist with hurricane relief.
  • All-school “Walk in My Shoes” service learning activities as part of Literacy Day including shoe drive benefitting Family Assistant Ministries.
  • College Board AP with WE service learning courses piloted in AP Environmental Science and AP Spanish Language.
  • Family service opportunities communicated in Friday This Week at SMES emails.
  • Next Steps: New Upper School service learning model scales up to grade 10. Other priorities for 2018-2019 include closer partnership with St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church service efforts and increased professional development for divisional Directors of Community Life on leading service learning initiatives and coaching faculty on service learning integration.
Cultural Competency, Equity and Inclusion:
  • Director of Equity and Inclusion senior leadership position created. National search yielded nearly 50 interested candidates. Five candidates participated in all-day campus interviews. Victor Cota appointed Director of Equity and Inclusion effect August 1, 2018.
  • Return visit from Rosetta Lee to consult on Director of Equity and Inclusion position and cultural competency framework.
  • Curriculum development included new Upper School English electives: The Color Line (focusing on African American literature and culture) and Native American Poetry. Pilot lessons designed through Innovation Summer Grants included the Ethnic Heritage Project and units on racial housing segregation, the institution of slavery and Chinese cultural literary context.
  • Cultural Competency Workshop conducted for Grade 9 students as part of new service learning model.
  • 18 faculty and staff members attended the NAIS People of Color Conference and five students attended the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Two Middle School faculty members presented at PoCC on integrating cultural competency skills into the classroom.
  • Diversity recruitment efforts extended to Carney Sandoe Diversity Recruitment event in Philadelphia and International School Services event in New York.
  • Next Steps: Focus on successful transition of Director of Equity and Inclusion, diversifying the faculty, development of cultural competency framework and prioritization of cultural competency initiatives.
STEAM and Entrepreneurship:
  • Dr. Jen Ross Viola completed first year as STEAM Fellow. Introduced after-school AppJam+ coding program for Grades 5-8, expanded Lower School Family STEAM Night, brought STEAM night to Marco Forester Middle School through Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano, resurrected FTC Robotics Team in Middle and Upper School, brought UCI GradSlam speakers to campus for Girls in STEAM Night and expanded STEAM programming for Lower School conference weeks.
  • STEAM block piloted in Grade 5 with water conservation challenge and Imaginology projects.
  • Launched Upper School entrepreneurial studies semester course. Included two experiential case studies with Rise Bar (founded by St. Margaret’s alumnus Peter Spenuzza ‘00) and EON Reality. Students then developed their own business models using design thinking, received coaching from alumni and community entrepreneurs, and pitched to venture capitalists.
  • Middle School Tartan Tank expanded in Grade 8 to include student Demo Fair and evening Demo Night for finalists who pitched to panel of entrepreneurship experts.
  • Relationship with UCI Applied Innovation expanded to include visit from Grade 8 Tartan Tank students, GradSlam speakers at Girls in STEM Night and entry into Wayfinder incubator program for Tartan Tank winners.
  • Next Steps: Expand Girls in STEAM Night to one-day symposium, expand Lower School STEAM Block to Grade 4, explore expanding Tartan Tank to regional Middle Schools, create prototype of US Incubator Program, introduce eSports Team, utilize Innovation Block for design sprint challenge.
 
Professional Development:
  • Professional development budget increased by 35 percent.
  • Faculty participated in individual professional development experiences across the country.
  • Experts brought to campus for divisional and departmental professional development in STEAM early childhood education, Readers and Writers Workshop implementation and English Department literature workshop.
  • All-school professional development included schedule redesign and partnering with independent school parents.
  • Preschool director and faculty participated in Reggio Emilia International Summer School at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre in Reggio Emilia, Italy through generous donor funding.
  • Next Steps: Professional development overseen by Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives with focus on alignment with Strategic Plan goals and providing additional professional development experiences at the division level per faculty and staff feedback from the design thinking process.
 
Campus Master Plan:
  • Johnson Wallis Visual Arts Center completed and opened fall 2017.
  • New student parking lot completed and opened fall 2017.
  • Upper School renovation phase I completed fall 2017.
  • Next Steps: Second phase of Upper School renovation including new student furniture, classroom display screens and remodeled Upper School science labs; construction of new Upper School Science lab; creation of Lower School STEAM Center including remodeled science classroom, ICE Lab and CUBE; construction of new Kindergarten Outdoor Classroom; and relocation of Wee Tartan Center to the Early Childhood Development Center.
 
Additional Highlights:
  • Artist in Residence Jesse Colin Jackson from UCI spent a week in the Visual Arts Center, continuing the “In Residence” model of Scholar in Residence Rosetta Lee from the 2016-2017 school year.
  • 10 students participated in outdoors Independent Senior Project backpacking trip to Jennie Lakes in High Sierras.
  • Strategic Plan information communicated through regular updates at Board of Trustees meetings, all-school faculty and staff meetings, PTF meetings, Fireside Chat, student convocations, website and Highlander Magazine.
  • Leadership team including Board President and Head of School presented at CASE-NAIS Independent Schools Conference on “Setting Your Institutional Compass: Values-Based Strategic Planning.” 
  • Article by Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives published by NAIS Independent School Magazine online: “Using Student Shadow Days for Ethnographic Research."
 
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St. Margaret’s Episcopal School

31641 La Novia Avenue
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
(949) 661-0108
 
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An Independent Preschool Through Grade 12 College-Preparatory Day School in Orange County California

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