GFS AIMS Composite for pdf.indd

320 Pages·2017·10.32 MB·English

Garrison Forest School
AIMS Self-Study
September 2017
Garrison Forest School
Self-Study Guide
Table of Contents
I. PROCESS ............................................................1
II. CORE MISSION AND VALUES ......................................... .9
III. GOVERNANCE ......................................................14
IV. TEACHING AND LEARNING ..........................................29
V. SCHOOL CLIMATE ............... ...................................183
VI. SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY .........................................216
VII. BOARDING AND HOMESTAY ........................................237
VIII. COUNSELING ......................................................245
IX. PERSONNEL .......................................................258
X. ADMISSION AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ...........................265
XI. ADVANCEMENT, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY ....276
XII. HEALTH ...........................................................290
XIII. INSTITUTIONAL TECHNOLOGY ......................................300
XIV. PLANT, SAFETY AND TRANSPORTATION .............................304
XV. SUMMARY .........................................................312
AIMS ACCREDITATION FALL 2017
SPECIAL REPORTING NOTES

We made an effort to organize our report to reflect, as closely as possible, the way our school
is organized. Furthermore, with approval from AIMS, we made some changes to a few
questions in the Teaching and Learning section and the Financial Sustainability section of
our report. Below are our special reporting notes:

Chapter X was divided into two chapters as follows:
▪ Chapter X – Admission and Financial Assistance
▪ Chapter XI – Advancement, Financial Management and Sustainability

Chapter XII was divided into two chapters as follows:
▪ Chapter XIII – Institutional Technology
▪ Chapter IV – Plant, Safety and Transportation

Changes to Financial Sustainability Questions
▪ Replace Question 1
→ Question 1: How do you stay informed about the strategic environment?
→ Replace with: What is the school’s compensation model? How does the school
evaluate the impact of its compensation model on financial sustainability and its
ability to attract and retain talent?
▪ Replace Question 3
→ Question 3: Do these big-picture challenges inform your planning? If so,
how? If not, why not?
→ Replace with: How does the school prioritize and fund its programmatic
goals?
▪ Edited question 5 as follows:
→ What can be learned from the “stress test”? Example questions might
include: Are the school’s cash reserves adequate? Is the School’s student-
faculty ratio sustainable? Is the school’s use of annual giving, endowment
and auxiliary resources sustainable compared to other comparable
independent schools?
Changes to Teaching and Learning Questions
▪ Replace Question A2
→ Question A2: As a whole faculty, please also develop a list of the characteristics
relevant to teaching and learning of the student body currently enrolled, observed
over time and informed by research.
→ Replace with: How do the school’s Core Values (Be Authentic, Be Brave, Be
Compassionate, Be Curious, Be Spirited) guide teaching and learning?
▪ Replace Question B4:
→ Question B4: Is there appropriate balance among the core academic disciplines,
including English on language arts, math, science, and history or social studies, and
other content areas defined by the school? Again, please provide examples to support
your answer.
→ Replace with: Describe experiential learning and the process through which
experiences result in enduring knowledge, skills and understanding.
▪ Replace Question C12:
→ Question C12: Please tell us how teaching strategies align with student
characteristics enumerated in 2 above. (Note: question 2 has been replaced)
→ Replace with: How effective is the school’s program at fostering a growth mindset in
students? What opportunities do students have to struggle, take safe risks, fail and
build resilience?
▪ Add a Question to section E – Student Learning:
→ How is critical thinking cultivated? What specific assignments and activities foster
critical thinking?
__________________________________________________________________

I. PROCESS
__________________________________________________________________

PREPARED BY: Jenny Rao, Director of Academic Affairs, Chair
Natalie Froman, Upper School Academic Dean and English, Co-Chair
Alpana Chhibber, Upper School History
Catie Gibbons, Assistant Director of Admission
Erin Hirsh-Viana, Fourth Grade
Meredith Klein, Middle School English
Stacy Mohn, Controller
Shannon Schmidt, Middle School Academic Resource Coordinator
Rachel Waller, Chair, Performing Arts Department

HOW PREPARED (PROCESS):

The co-chairs drafted responses to the questions and incorporated feedback from the other
members of the committee.

1.Write a description of the process followed to prepare the self-study. Include structure
and composition of committees and subcommittees, frequency of meetings, how
information was gathered, and an outline of the schedule the school followed.

In February 2016, the Head of School appointed the co-chairs for the AIMS Accreditation
process. The leadership team decided to select the Accreditation Guide 7.0 Edition and be part of
the small group of schools piloting the new accreditation process. In anticipation of the Spring
Design Conference with AIMS, the school’s Academic Council met to decide on the format to
present the school’s Curriculum, the process to assemble and analyze three years of teaching and
learning data for Math, English and World Languages and the design of optional teaching and
learning questions to pursue deeper and more relevant issues through the Self-Study. The co-
chairs assembled the materials required for the AIMS Design Conference, which took place in
March 2016 where all the school’s proposals were approved.

In April 2016, all faculty and staff received an email extending the opportunity to be a part of the
AIMS Steering Committee. From the list of interested employees, the leadership team assembled
a team of nine people that represents all divisions, faculty and staff to lead the accreditation
process. The leadership team also helped the co-chairs assemble the committee rosters for each
report. Every faculty member was assigned to at least one committee with most serving on two
or more committees. The necessary Board of Trustee members, alumnae and staff members were
Garrison Forest School 1 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 1 AIMS Evaluation 2017
also added to committee rosters. In addition, committee leaders for each report were identified.
Employees received an email presenting the committee rosters for all the self-study reports.

At the end of April 2016, the Steering Committee convened for the first time and covered three
topics. First, members were asked to read the Accreditation Guide 7.0 Edition. Second, they
received their committee assignments, with each serving as a steering committee liaison assigned
to support three or more committees. Third, they were charged with meeting with the leaders of
the committees they support to prepare committee leaders for their first meeting. In addition, the
school created a Google account titled “AIMS Accreditation 2017.” In that account, co-chairs
created Google-docs for each report. Finally, the steering committee prepared a light-hearted
video to present to faculty and staff at the close of 2015-16 to kick-off the GFS AIMS
Accreditation process.

Preparing for the Accreditation process was an important focus of the school’s end-of-year
faculty and staff meetings in June 2016. Every committee met for the first time and logged into
its respective google-doc to become familiar with the required questions. Committee leaders
were charged with giving their committees a pre-writing assignment to prepare for their formal
writing day in the fall of 2017.

On November 28, 2017, GFS devoted the entire Professional Development Day to committee
meetings. Committees were charged with completing a draft of their report. All meetings were
two-hours long, occurred in the same building and used a staggered schedule of meetings to
avoid double-booking committee members as much as possible. Steering Committee members
set up a help-desk staffed for the duration of the writing day to support all committees.

In December 2017, the Steering Committee had a one-day retreat to read over all reports. At the
beginning of the day, the committee reviewed the goals of the proof-reading task: to be thorough
yet brief; ensure the writing was clear and adhered to the school’s style guide; and make sure that
strengths, weaknesses and recommendations were well organized and succinct. All reports were
proof-read by at least two steering committee members and comments and questions were added
to reports.

In January 2017, all committees met again to address the comments of the steering committee
members. Later that same month, the steering committee reconvened to ensure that all comments
had been satisfactorily addressed. When needed, steering committee liaisons met with committee
leaders in person to work on strengthening and editing reports.

To create the All School Curriculum Guide, the Director of Academic Affairs held eleven
department retreats during the months of December through February. K-12 Departments met to
Garrison Forest School 2 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 2 AIMS Evaluation 2017
collaborate on creating a one-page overview of their discipline’s philosophy, essential questions
and skills K-12. The Preschool also met as a Department and created a one-page overview.

In the spring of 2017, all reports were converted from Google-docs to Word documents and sent
to the school’s former Communications Director, not freelance writer and editor, to serve as the
final editor and ensure that the whole report is written in one voice. In addition, the steering
committee met again to brainstorm on the themes that had emerged from the self-study. The
thinking from that brainstorming session resulted in the summary chapter.

The leadership team received a draft of the entire self-study report in June 2017. At the August
leadership team retreat, the senior leadership of GFS offered final minor edits to the report which
were incorporated. The report was finalized and shared with the school community at the end of
the summer.

Attached is a list of committees, their participants and a time line for the completion of this
report.

STRENGTHS:
● The Self-Study was widely inclusive and offered leadership opportunities to many faculty
and staff members.
● The process was very well organized and clearly explained to all, thus it did not seem
burdensome to anyone in the community.
● The Steering Committee was a high-functioning team and lead this process in a cohesive
and effective way.
● Despite an unusual amount of change happening during the writing of this report, the
quality and depth of thought was unaffected.

WEAKNESSES:
● The departmental Teaching and Learning reports included questions that were not
necessarily relevant to departments.
● It was not easy to present the school’s co-curriculum in the format of this report.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
● Continue to use a steering committee, versus simply a chair or co-chair, to lead the Self-
Study process.
● Consider ways to shorten and better tailor the teaching and learning questions to better
meet the school’s needs.

Garrison Forest School 3 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 3 AIMS Evaluation 2017
TIMELINE

March 16, 2016 AIMS Design Conference
April 6, 2016 Steering Committee Organizational Meeting
HW: Read assigned chapters of the AIMS book and bring questions
about section to next meeting
End of April 2016 Steering Committee AIMS book/chapter debrief
Committee members connect with their committee leaders to prepare
them for their August Committee meeting
Summer Institute Present to whole faculty answer to Question 1A – Teaching &
2016 Learning Section
Introductory Committee Meetings, prepare for Nov 28 writing day
Department Meetings to begin work on All School Curriculum Guide
Oct. 2016 Dept. drop- Department Meetings continue work on All School Curriculum Guide
day
Nov 28, 2016 PD Day All School AIMS Self-Study writing day in committees (google-docs)
December 2016 Steering Committee reads reports and creates question for committees
Thursday a.m. in Committees reconvene to answer questions from Steering Committee
January 2017
January 2017 Steering Committee reviews assigned questions to finalize them
February 2017 Steering Committee meets to finalize full report to send to final editor
March 2017 Transfer all google-docs into one Word document
April 2017 Final editor reviews entire report to give it one-voice
Write summary and process chapters
May 2017 Finalize up-dating and organizing required documents
June 2017 Finalize draft report and share with AIMS and Leadership Team
August 2017 Leadership Team makes final edits to report

Garrison Forest School 4 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 4 AIMS Evaluation 2017
AIMS COMMITTEE ROSTERS

PROCESS Sachs
Rao * Shriver
Froman
ENGLISH
CORE MISSION AND VALUES Maranto *
Roberts * Ackerman
Ackerman Beckford
Cowling Behrens
Fleck Froman
Froman Imani
McCullough Kesler
Oppenheimer Klein
Leary
GOVERNANCE Miller
Roberts * Stapleton
Brennen Eisler
Gamber
Herdson HISTORY
K. Jackson Ruekberg *
Shafer Baughman
Daly Burns
Chhibber
CO-CURRICULUM Corbin
Perry * Elzinga
Ackerman Lynn
Davis Misera
Harris Oppenheimer
Havlik Snyder
Misera
Strauss LOWER SCHOOL
Waller Hutton *
Welling S. Brown
Jenkins
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Kesler
Kelland * Livne
Hawkins Lynn
O’Boyle Moran
Scanlan Thoeni
Shriver
MATHEMATICS
ENGINEERING Whitman *
Audette * Beam
Beam Blatchley
Mendenhall R. Browne
Garrison Forest School 5 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 1 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Kenyon Lapp
Livne LeVasseur
O’Gorman Molina
Riesenfeld T. Trinh
Welling Wilks
Wolfe
SCIENCE
MIDDLE SCHOOL Khanchandani *
T. Trinh * Audette
Beretta Blair
Blatchley Brocato
Fleck McQuiston
Kelland Mendenhall
Meyers Meyers
Misera Oleisky
M. Smith Segelken
Spiegel
PERFORMING ARTS
Waller * UPPER SCHOOL
Alexander Wilks *
Cicconi Beam
Flynn Blair
Malone-Wolf Burns
Scott Castro
Havlik
PHYSICAL EDUCATION Maranto
Marlor * Riesenfeld
Cline Ruekberg
Freidrich Sachs
Hall
VISUAL ARTS
PRESCHOOL LeVasseur *
Andrews * Ko
Baldwin McElderry
Goldstein Sachs
Fulford Yu
Holford
Marsh WORLD LANGUAGES
Peichert Lapp *
Stoute Beretta
Castro-Posner
PROGRAM Lin
Rao * Rios
Andrews Rodriguez
Hawkins L.Smith
Hutton M.Smith
Garrison Forest School 6 AIMS Evaluation 2017
Garrison Forest School 2 AIMS Evaluation 2017