A smart FUTURE

A Three-year Strategic Plan for Winchester Thurston School

2011–2014

2011–2014

Today, more than a decade into the 21st century and in WT’s 125th anniversary year, we are in the midst of an educational revolution, preparing our students for a world marked by vast, unpredictable change. Such an environment calls for each and every one of us to embrace the same pioneering spirit, idealism, tenacity, and innovation our founders embodied.GARY J . NIELS , HE AD OF SCHOOL

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Winchester Thurston School

DOMAIN ONE

great teaching

DOMAIN TWO

programmatic innovation

DOMAIN THREE

reputation & resources

DOMAIN FOUR

competitive & sustainable facilities

DOMAIN FIVE

generative thinking

This three-year strategic plan (2011-2014) builds upon the

successes of the past decade to take WT to a new level of

excellence. With a deep and shared commitment to WT’s

students, the faculty, trustees, and administrators will develop,

implement, and support initiatives that enhance our dynamic

learning environment and sustain WT as the smart place

to learn and the smart place to teach.

Through strategic efforts in FIVE DOMAINS, we will

create a smart future.

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greatIn their study of the Holocaust, eighth graders learn about this important

event in world history through the lens of individual experience, developing

empathy and global perspective. Through planning and constructing their

own multimedia Holocaust Museum, they become researchers, curators,

memoirists, artists, and critics. They apply new skills and a broader world

view to current events as they plan and host a symposium on genocide for

their peers from other schools. This culminating City as Our Campus project

is enhanced year after year by the Middle School faculty, who have assembled

impressive partnerships that deepen student learning — from the designers

of the August Wilson Center to the anti-genocide activists Enough! in

Washington, D.C.

teaching

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DOMAIN ONE

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DOMAIN ONE great teaching

Creativity now is as important as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.SIR KEN ROBINSON, AUTHOR , SPEAKER , AND INTERNATIONAL ADVISOR ON EDUCATION

The national conversation about quality teaching underscores one

clear truth that WT has always known: great teachers bring out the best in their students, instilling a love of learning

in the classroom and beyond. WT firmly embraces this tenet and

believes in the practice of continuous collaboration, innovation, and

renewal. FINDING, FOSTERING, AND AFFIRMING THE MOST

TALENTED, PASSIONATE TEACHERS safeguards WT’s long-

standing tradition of inspiring and preparing students to become the

next generation of global citizens, scholars, and entrepreneurs.

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Assuring Great Teaching Maintain, develop, and recognize a uniformly talented faculty by:

"Attracting and retaining talented faculty from diverse backgrounds, reflecting the character of our global society

"Providing competitive salaries and benefits

"Offering a robust Professional Development program that integrates 21st century skills and practices, through engaging and relevant teaching methods

"Empowering and supporting WT teachers in enhancing their practice through a meaningful, collaborative, and continuous Formative Development program

"Recognizing and rewarding faculty excellence

programmaticinnovation

Mr. David Nassar is adept at teaching his students to write code. But it

is his conviction to propel them to real-world challenges that fuels WT’s

Android App Lab. There, students develop and apply problem solving,

communications, and design skills to invent and program applications for

Android devices. In conjunction with City as Our Campus, Android App Lab

has spread to three other schools, enabling WT students to acquire new

skills as they lead other students in the learning process.

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DOMAIN TWO


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DOMAIN TWO programmatic innovation

For 125 years, Winchester Thurston has remained open and

adaptive to the most current findings on developing critical thinkers, able researchers, and impeccable communicators. With these fundamental competencies at the

core of our rigorous college preparatory curriculum, we recognize

the need to integrate new skills as the world and workplace change:

Collaborative problem solving, global competence, media literacy, and

digital citizenship are critical to our students’ futures. By CULTIVATING

CUTTING-EDGE PROGRAMS and enhancing City as Our Campus —

the engine of innovation and student engagement at WT — we pledge

to ensure a curriculum that places our students confidently at the helm

of 21st century learning.

We need to choose our century. The students have chosen theirs.HEIDI HAYES JACOBS , AUTHOR OF CURRICULUM 21: ESSENTIAL EDUCATION FOR A CHANGING WORLD

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Keeping Pace with Change Prepare students for a world that demands the ability to

collaborate, solve complex problems, think imaginatively and

critically, and innovate in a global society, through programs in:

"S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

"Global Citizenship

"Educational Technology

"Diversity

Utilize the educational and cultural resources of WT’s

neighborhoods, city, and region to enhance WT’s Mission of

actively engaging students in a rigorous learning process, through

expansion and enhancement of City as Our Campus.

As one of only two schools among the 1,400 members of the

National Association of Independent Schools to have received both

the Edward E. Ford Foundation Leadership Grant for educational innovation

and a Malone Scholarship Endowment by the Malone Family Foundation,

WT proudly celebrates its place alongside some of the nation’s greatest

independent schools.

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DOMAIN THREE

reputationresources&

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Robert Hallett, Executive Director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, listens as WT students reflect on their City as Our Campus learning experiences.

DOMAIN THREE reputation & resources

The record shows: WT leads the way in our work with gifted

and talented students, our distinctive campuses, our innovative programs,

and our long-standing commitment to socioeconomic diversity. Add

to this our pioneering efforts in faculty development and 21st century

learning, and it’s no surprise that our growing reputation as THE smart

place to learn and teach stands on solid ground. While remaining true

to our mission, core values, and credo, we will EXPAND OUR REACH

and celebrate our accomplishments through STRONG PARTNERSHIPS

with alumnae/i, parents, friends, and the wider community. These efforts

will ENSURE THE RESOURCES and support that will accompany WT

on our path to being one of the nation’s truly great independent schools.

In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.MA X DEPREE, BUSINESSMAN AND WRITER , AUTHOR OF LE ADERSHIP IS AN ART

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Sustaining our Mission Position WT competitively in the marketplace, diversify and

grow WT’s revenue streams, and provide resources to assure

a thriving future, by:

"Promoting WT as a national leader in academic learning

"Implementing competitive pricing

"Offering generous but sustainable levels of financial aid

"Exploring and examining ways to provide services to international students

"Developing programs that leverage core assets, and enable WT to reach a wider market

"Increasing our Endowment to provide income in perpetuity that supports the school’s strategic priorities

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competitivesustainable

DOMAIN FOUR

WT Kindergarten teacher Ms. Caitlin Evans proposed to transform the

Early Childhood playground at the City Campus into an outdoor classroom.

Her integration of physical space and curriculum will unleash the imagination

and curiosity of her students, inspiring them to explore and contemplate the

natural world. The Outdoor Classroom will engage young students in active

learning that readies their minds for the intellectual rigor ahead. Supported

and encouraged by the WT community, her idea is now in the works, and

won the Mary Houston Griffin Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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&facilities


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DOMAIN FOUR competitive & sustainable facilities

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Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.JOHN W. GARDNER , U.S . SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE (1965 –1968),

PHIL ANTHROPIST, AUTHOR , AND EDUCATOR

WT is proud of recent enhancements to our campuses,

and we will continue to attend to this important dimension of 21st

century learning. Each day, more than 500 boys and girls stream through

the Main Building of the City Campus, which was designed for 350 girls

nearly half a century ago. Important spaces in this building, such as the

auditorium and athletics wing, no longer adequately serve the needs

of our students and faculty. In the context of a long term Master Site

Plan, we will REVITALIZE KEY FACILITIES in this magnificent,

iconic building. And we will FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY in all

WT facilities, eventually serving as a model to other schools seeking

to green their physical plants.


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Assuring High Quality Learning Environments Support our innovative faculty in their pursuit and provision

of a dynamic learning environment, build competitive position,

and improve sustainability by:

"Undertaking targeted renovation projects in the Main Building of the City Campus in a manner consistent with current priorities and in context of a longer term Master Site Plan

"Improving sustainability practices and systems school-wide, in a comprehensive strategy that results in modifications and enhancements to reduce carbon footprint, and realize cost-saving energy efficiencies

"Securing LEED for Schools certification

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generativethinking

DOMAIN FIVE

Like all sound blueprints, WT’s strategic plan is a living document, guided,

revisited, and supported by leadership that is focused both on the execution

of current priorities and on the challenges and opportunities on the horizon.


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DOMAIN FIVE generative thinking

Committed to a lasting vision of programmatic innovation and financial

vitality, Winchester Thurston’s Board of Trustees will continuously

lead and engage in generative thinking processes

to IDENTIFY, EXPLORE, ANALYZE, and recommend new ideas

that nurture the unfolding of our three-year strategic plan over the

longer term.

Learn as if you will live forever.MAHATMA GANDHI

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Generating the Future Envision long-term educational, programmatic, and fiscal

opportunities that ensure an ongoing commitment to

sustainability by:

"Developing a structure and system to consider long term strategies and fold new thinking, learning, and data into future strategic plans

"Generating long-term ideas that build upon the initiatives in the current Strategic Plan

"Appointing a Task Force to research and analyze a set of longer term strategies, and recommend priorities for the next iteration of the strategic plan, beyond 2014

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MISSION AND CORE VALUES

Winchester Thurston School actively engages each student in a challenging and inspiring learning process that develops the mind, motivates the passion to achieve, and cultivates the character to serve.

We activate our Mission through a learning environment that promotes these five Core Values: Critical Thinking; Integrity; Empathy; Community; and Diversity.

CREDO

Think also of the comfort and the rights of others.

2011-2012 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Douglas A. Campbell, PresidentKathleen W. Buechel, Vice PresidentJohn B. Christie-Searles, Vice PresidentDouglas H. Ostrow, Vice PresidentIlana Diamond, TreasurerElizabeth S. Hurtt ‘74, Assistant TreasurerDusty Elias Kirk, SecretaryElsa Limbach, Assistant SecretaryGary J. Niels, Head of School

Deborah L. Acklin ‘80Ralph L. BangsRonald J. BartlettBarbara Abney Bolger ‘52Simin Yazdgerdi CurtisPaul DobsonRobert I. GlimcherRosanne Isay Harrison ‘56, EmeritusDiane P. HolderIan JamesVincent O. JohnsonJanet Harrison Kuzmishin ‘87

Deepak KotwalCarole Oswald Markus ‘57, EmeritusLinnea Pearson McQuiston ‘69Kathleen L. Metinko ‘91Deesha PhilyawDavid L. PorgesHenry Posner III, EmeritusMartin E. PowellSusan Santa-Cruz ‘60Nancy T. ScottJane Arensberg Thompson ‘57, Emeritus

BOARD OF TRUSTEES STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

Dusty Elias Kirk, ChairDouglas H. Ostrow, Vice ChairRalph L. BangsIlana DiamondElizabeth S. Hurtt ‘74Diane P. Holder

Janet Harrison Kuzmishin ‘87Deesha PhilyawMartin E. PowellNancy ScottJane Arensberg Thompson ‘57, Emeritus

Gary J. Niels, Head of SchoolMaura Farrell, Associate Head for External AffairsM. David Wollam, Director of Finance and OperationsJennifer Scanlon, Director of Institutional Advancement

Winchester Thurston School555 Morewood AvenuePittsburgh, PA 15213-2899

t: (412) 578-7500w: winchesterthurston.org

2011–2014

A smart FUTURE

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