My beloved informs me that my last Headlines was a little too philosophical. This week I focus on the practical.
There is an old saying, “An unaimed arrow always finds its target.” While true, this found target is accidental at best, a disaster at worst, with a wide range of dead ends and failed ground in-between. Schools are notorious for their unaimed arrows: in the selection of curricula and staff, in the management of resources, in the application of values. Educators regularly launch initiatives without the benefit of strategic thinking. Best intentions, while they make us feel good, are no substitute for effective planning and thoughtful action.
At Baldwin, we are strategic in our thinking. While it may not always be obvious in the present, in due time our planning is revealed. For example, our authorization as an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program was years in the making. Shifts in pedagogy and assessment required rigorous training and action, in a precise sequence. We had to reorganize teacher leadership and administration. We had to redesign our professional development model. We had to alleviate long-standing infrastructural concerns. We had to develop a whole range of new policies and procedures. We had to redesign our entire curriculum using a precise methodology. We had to alter mindsets. The same is true for our Middle Years and Diploma Programs. And this is only the beginning.
We've taken a similar approach to campus infrastructure, to technology, to college admissions, to our business model. We master plan our campus, and strategically plan as a Board. We have a projected five-year budget that accommodates the growth of all programs, and a five-year plan for summer projects. We sought first to redesign our electronic infrastructure from the ground up: every fiber optic cable, every server, every battery back-up, every wireless antennae and access point. We now deploy tablets and a variety of bluetooth devices, along with ever more precise software, that fill targeted needs. And speaking of software, we're choosing applications that allow us to mine our data for trends: in admissions, in procurement, in assembling appropriate lists of colleges for rising seniors, in determining learning gaps for elementary children.
This is the time of year when, even as we celebrate student accomplishments, we turn our attentions to the summer in preparation for a new year and the advancement of all programs. We've been planning this summer's projects since the end of last summer. Now we are staging essential personnel, supplies, contracts, etc. to leverage a narrow window of opportunity. Timing is everything if we want to be ready for August. We have some cool things in store for our new year. We'll leave a few surprises for the fall.
We will soon debrief our year, and affect necessary corrections to current problems and practices, even as we future plan to achieve long term goals. We are committed to continuous, strategic improvement. After all, your children deserve our best, and we intend to be just that!
See you around campus.