Strategic Plan 2024-29

You cannot predict the future, but you can engage with it to better understand

what might emerge to affect your students and their schooling1.

1McTighe, J. and Curtis, G. Leading Modern Learning. Solution Tree Press, Bloomington, IN. 2019.

Introduction

What intentional, collective impact can we have on our students that will prepare them well for the increasingly uncertain future they will encounter? This question served as the catalyst for a strategic planning conversation focused on a futures-oriented vision for the Scarsdale Public Schools. Being future-oriented means having a range of transferable skills and possessing the dispositions to deal with change, disruption, and conflict. During the 2023-24 school year, our students, faculty, staff, parents, and the broader community were invited to participate in events designed to develop our collective understanding of the forces impacting teaching and learning, identify what we value most about a Scarsdale education, and contemplate new or novel approaches to our work. This input was then shaped into a multi-year strategic plan.

Ultimately, the purpose of this strategic plan is to support our vision and mission and empower our students to create their desired futures, and successfully meet the challenges they will face in those futures. This provides a roadmap for how we will thoughtfully determine and enact educational changes in a systematic and sustainable way that best equips Scarsdale students to be successful in achieving the future they desire.

Essential and Guiding Questions

The following questions framed the design of the input process and guided the discussions that took place to surface the important priorities and areas of emphasis that eventually made their way into the Strategic Plan.

How might we determine and enact educational changes in a systemic and lasting way?

How do we develop a powerful and informed view of the future to drive our vision for teaching and learning?

How do we collaboratively plan (backwards) from the vision and mission to purposeful actions?

Sources of Input

There were four major inputs to the plan. First, there were a series of World Café events held with faculty and the community intended to facilitate open and intimate discussion, and link ideas within the larger community to access the collective intelligence and wisdom of our stakeholders. Second, we deployed a survey to students, faculty, staff, and parents related to belonging (note- summaries of survey results are presented separately from this document). The survey was designed around the Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships framework, which supports the notion that high-quality, positive relationships with parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, and peers, help students develop resilience in the face of obstacles, grow, learn, and develop social-emotional skills. Third, District leadership took stock of what we are currently prioritizing and focusing on, and identified which priorities should continue and therefore be included in the plan. Finally, the fourth input was an internal assessment of our capital assets and financial position. We also incorporated student input through ongoing structures, including our student government, student advocacy priorities, suggestions for course electives, course selection preferences, and various surveys.

Plan Format

The strategic plan builds off of our existing Mission statement, but introduces a new Vision statement. The vision is an aspirational description of our fundamental purpose as a school district. It is designed to be stated succinctly while conveying significant meaning to the work of learning and teaching. The use of the seal of Scarsdale Public Schools, which consists of a shield, a text, and a torch, with the motto Non Sibi (not for self alone) written on a banner below the shield, is purposefully leveraged to bridge past and present while emphasizing the three big ideas that serve to organize our work over the next five years--Learning, Living, and Leading. [Click for a video explanation]

The big ideas are articulated and expanded upon in three ways. First, we have developed a short description of what each of the big ideas means. Second, we coupled with that a statement that describes what we aspire to accomplish within this domain. These statements do not necessarily describe the current state of things, rather they hold up an ideal that we will use to measure our progress over time. Third, we have written a goal for each area that is designed to inspire, direct, and focus action toward the big idea.

Finally, the plan lays out Key Action Areas for each of the big ideas. This is the area of the strategic plan that contains the major projects and priorities that will be undertaken at both the building level and district-wide. While there are items already identified within this component of the plan, it is designed to be flexible enabling future additions, substitutions, and modifications. For example, there are discussions underway even now that will undoubtedly become priorities that are included below, just as there are unforeseen needs that will emerge during the life of this strategic plan. The design and format are such that these can, and will, be incorporated within the overall framework of the big ideas and aspirations.