Newsletter – May 11th

Belated wishes for happy May Holidays!! I hope all enjoyed the weekend and for those that connected to the festivities here in Moscow, I hope you were engaged in the cultural experience that is a big part of Russia and particularly, Moscow.

We also completed some important work last week during our annual meetings revolving around the school’s strategic plan. The Core Planning Team (CPT), the lead group overseeing the work of the plan during the last 5 years, reached some wonderful conclusions that affirmed all of the work of the school under the three original strategies of 2011: Learning, Systems, and Communication. After reviewing reports of each division and department of the school, they confirmed the belief that the expectations of the original strategic plan had been largely met and that the work going forward was to retain these new practices through regular evaluation and review. The work on Personalized Learning, Systems Review, and our commitment to the Mission and Vision of the school therefore will continue as part of our school culture – embraced and embedded.

Next, we presented the Core Planning Team with work that they requested at last year’s meeting. In essence, they charged us with doing research and design work to suggest the next level of Personalized Learning. All year, a special group convened around this work and, with the help of consultation, have completed it and presented to CPT the next strategic work of AAS. The CPT enthusiastically recommended this work to go forward to the Board as a core strategy under a new approach to strategic work in the coming years.

In meetings with the Board the following day, these two recommendations from CPT were considered and fully adopted by the Board. They have, therefore, accepted the “Learning at AAS” strategy beginning with the 2016-2017 school year and continuing beyond as the next large body of work. We will begin looking for opportunities in the coming weeks and at the beginning of the next school year to involve all stakeholders in this work, as we did with the previous strategic plan. Look for future updates and website based materials that will guide you in our work going forward.

Many thanks go to the members of the Core Planning Team, the Design Team, and to all the members of the administration and faculty who assisted in demonstrating to the CPT and the Board how we are continuously growing and developing as an entire school community.

It’s an exciting time to be a member of the AAS family!!