Futures Plan: 2018-2019 DRAFT Goals

The Building Futures Plan provides vision for the future that is flexible enough so that the school can be responsive and proactive to a changing reality. As a deliverable, our Building Futures Plan entails three-year commitments to Strategic Pathways, annual commitments to goals associated with each Pathway, and a rolling review and projection process whereby each year the school re-commits to good work ongoing and adapts and/or develops goals for the third year of the plan. Central to the planning process is broad-based stakeholder involvement.

Last Thursday the Planning Team gave feedback on the 2018-2019 Goals of the Building Futures Plan. Please see these goals here.

If you’d like to read the entire Building Futures Plan, which also shares the story of its creation, please click here. Please note this is not in final draft yet.

Please share your feedback with us on the 2018-2019 Goals? What opportunities do you see? What challenges might arise? Do you have any other feedback?

Futures Planning Update

Yesterday, Thursday, February 22, the Planning Team met for an all-day meeting where the leadership team updated the Planning Team on the progress of this year's end results, and then in the afternoon the leadership team explained the 2018-2019 goals around the 10 pathways that were shared in the last blog post.

Watch here for more updates on the Futures Plan!

Futures Summit Takeaways and Futures Plan 2018-2021

Future Summit Takeaways

Last December while working with Katherine Prince from KnowledgeWorks, we gathered clarity around the near and distant future around work and how we can prepare our graduates.

We came away from this experience with the following three crucial understandings:

1. Our Mission and Vision for the AISC Learner are built for the future of teaching and learning at AISC.
2. A crucial next step for us as a school will be to define the competencies that we expect of ourselves and our students to assure student success within the framework of our Mission and Vision for the AISC Learner.
3. Our Strategic Pathways for Learning will appropriately drive us to continue to stay relevant as a learning organization.

This helped us verify that we were on the right track creating our Futures Plan 2018-2021. Below you can see our pathways, which align with each of our Strategic Objectives: Learning, Resources, Talent and Community.

Strategic Pathways

Strategic Pathways articulate three-year vision statements around core priority areas. Annual Goals and Actions Plans will support the vision in our Strategic Pathway Areas.

Strategic Objective: Learning
We will align expected outcomes, assessment, teaching, learning and reflection on practice in order to support our mission and student learning objectives.

Pathway: Learning & Experiential Opportunities (Sectional)
AISC develops programs for students to deepen their capacity to contribute with courage, confidence, creativity, and compassion to a diverse and dynamic world.
Person(s) Responsible: Each Principal

Pathway: Learning & Innovation in the System (Sectional)
AISC implements innovative learning experiences incorporating the inquiry framework and transdisciplinary skills, and alternative schedules to engage the vision of the AISC learner.
Person(s) Responsible: Each Principal

Pathway: Learning & Vision for the Learner (Inter-Sectional)
AISC integrates the vision for the learner as a means to achieve the mission.
Person(s) Responsible: Each Principal

Pathway: Learning & Inquiry in the Curriculum (All School)
AISC integrates the inquiry framework and project-based learning into the curriculum (development process).
Person(s) Responsible: Director of Teaching and Learning

Pathway: Learning & Wellness (All School)
AISC creates an integrated student wellbeing program that promotes and fosters healthy habits, self-awareness, self-management and positive relationships.
Person(s) Responsible: Director of Teaching and Learning

Strategic Objective: Resources
We will strategically use all possible resources* to create a learning community aligned with our core values and mission.

Pathway: Resources & Data (All School)
Develop and evolve systems and processes to facilitate the convergence of data collection and use, assuring that stakeholders have access to beneficial data to make informed decisions.
Person(s) Responsible: Director of Technologies and Innovation

Pathway: Resources & Building Spaces  (All School)
AISC implements the Building Spaces 2020 Plan approved by the Board of Directors in November 2016.
Person(s) Responsible: Chief Business Officer

Strategic Objective: Talent
The school will hire, develop and retain staff members who embody the school mission and core values.

Pathway: Talent & Professional Growth (All School)
AISC develops a professional growth, well-being, and evaluation framework that is aligned to best practices and to the vision for an AISC learner, incorporates faculty learning and development.
Person(s) Responsible: Head of School & Director of Teaching and Learning

Strategic Objective: Community 
We will actively communicate, support, and contribute to our core values, mission and vision for an AISC learner so that our community lives the shared vision.

Pathway: Community & Advancement (All School)
AISC enhances its reputation locally and globally and expands engagement and support across all stakeholder groups.
Person(s) Responsible: Director of Advancement

Pathway: Community & Environmental Sustainability (All School)
AISC enlists the participation of all stakeholder groups to incorporate environmentally sustainable policies, practices, and programming in alignment with our mission and core values.
Person(s) Responsible: Head of School & Director of Technologies and Innovation

Tell us what you think? What ideas resonate with you? What questions might you have?

Finland Thinks It's Designed the School for the Future

The school of the future...It's like looking into the crystal ball. What attributes, elements, characteristics will schools need to have to create students ready to tackle the world they will encounter as adults? Since the world is changing at such a fast pace, this is a true challenge for educators and communities.

Finland has been at the forefront of many conversations and media regarding innovative schooling. Read more about Finland's current iteration of what they think the school of the future looks like.

What do you think about Finland's schools? Are they truly the schools of the future?

The Accelerating Rate of Change of the World Today

In a talk at Singularity University’s Global Summit in San Francisco, SU cofounder and chairman Peter Diamandis told the audience, “Tomorrow’s speed of change will make today look like we’re crawling.”

He then shared his point of view about some of the most important factors driving this accelerating change.

Based on these factors of change,  please share your thoughts on some opportunities and challenges that our world will face in the coming years. 

Futures Planning Update

As our strategic plan is ending in 2018, we are in the midst of creating our new Futures Plan 2018-2019. Below is the most recent version of our thinking: 

A.Strategic Objectives

Strategic Objectives are the long-term focus areas of the current Strategic Plan and the emergent Futures Plan.

B.Strategic Pathways

Strategic Pathways articulate three-year vision statements around core priority areas. Annual Goals and Actions Plans will support the vision in our Strategic Pathway Areas. 

Strategic Objective: Learning

We will align expected outcomes, assessment, teaching, learning and reflection on practice in order to support our mission and student learning objectives.

Pathway: Learning & Experiential Opportunities (Sectional)

AISC develops programs for students to deepen their capacity to contribute with courage, confidence, creativity, and compassion to a diverse and dynamic world.

Pathway: Learning & Innovation in the System (Sectional)

AISC implements innovative learning experiences incorporating the inquiry framework and transdisciplinary skills, and alternative schedules to engage the vision of the AISC learner.

Pathway: Learning & Vision for the Learner (Inter-Sectional)

AISC integrates the vision for the learner as a means to achieve the mission.

Pathway: Learning & Inquiry in the Curriculum (All School)

AISC integrates the inquiry framework and project-based learning into the curriculum (development process).

Pathway: Learning & Wellness (All School)

AISC creates an integrated curriculum for students to incorporate social, cultural, physical, and emotional student well-being.

Strategic Objective: Resources

We will strategically use all possible resources* to create a learning community aligned with our core values and mission.

Pathway: Resources & Data (All School)

Develop and evolve systems and processes to facilitate the convergence of data collection and use, assuring that stakeholders have access to beneficial data to make informed decisions. 

Pathway: Resources & Building Spaces  (All School)

AISC implements the Building Spaces 2020 Plan approved by the Board of Directors in November 2016. 

Strategic Objective: Talent

The school will hire, develop and retain staff members who embody the school mission and core values.

Pathway: Talent & Professional Growth (All School)

AISC develops a professional growth, well-being, and evaluation framework that is aligned to best practices and to the vision for an AISC learner, incorporates faculty learning and development.

Strategic Objective: Community 

We will actively communicate, support, and contribute to our core values, mission and vision for an AISC learner so that our community lives the shared vision.

Pathway: Community & Advancement (All School)

AISC enhances its reputation locally and globally and expands engagement and support across all stakeholder groups. 

Pathway: Community & Environmental Sustainability (All School)

AISC enlists the participation of all stakeholder groups to incorporate environmentally sustainable policies, practices, and programming in alignment with our mission and core values. 

We'd love to hear thoughts on our big ideas. Please leave a comment below. 

AI is Going to Change Your Life

As we head into the holiday season, it is a good time for reflection. How much has my life changed over the last year? What will my life look like in a year?

The World Economic Forum recently published an article, AI is Going to Change Your Life. In it, Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera and an adjunct Stanford professor who founded the Google Brain Deep Learning Project, says that "AI is the new electricity."

There is already an abundance of stories that support this, but here are a few more from the last few weeks.

Rwanda is building a droneport.

Nvidia’s new AI creates disturbingly convincing fake videos

New robots can see into their future

I wonder how AI will impact my life in the year to come? What challenges and opportunities might it create.

In the comments below share your thoughts on the changes that we might see in just one year.