Parker’s Strategic Plan: A Conversation With Division Heads
Paul Barsky, Dan Lang and Bob Gillingham have a great deal in common. Yes, of course, there is the obvious: race, gender, probably educational background. And similar jobs: all experienced and successful educators, Division Heads of Francis Parker School’s Upper, Middle and Lower Schools. But another thing they have in common right now is a sincere excitement and enthusiasm for a relatively new common mission: carrying out Parker’s heady, ambitious Strategic Plan. I met with them recently to discuss that Strategic Plan and all three leaned in to the discussion, engaged, sitting at the front of their chairs, persuasive, almost marveling at the tasks ahead, enjoying the challenge.
Yet here’s where the three differ: their charges, and the unique challenges of carrying out this strategic plan depending on which age-group they are educating. Bob Gillingham manages a campus full of the youngest learners, and welcomes the opportunity to examine everything Parker is doing with an eye to doing it even better: “Where might these students go then?” he wonders.
Dan Lang at the Middle School, educates adolescents moving “sideways through most of their day.” The Strategic Plan helps inform the Middle School about where these kids are, where they need to go. It is a roadmap for moving forward.
Finally, for Paul Barsky at the Upper School, the Plan allows more clarity about who is coming in and what they need, but also offers critical space to open up educational opportunities beyond the classroom, in technology, the arts, entrepreneurship, and internships.
For all three, their common challenge will be weaving the Strategic Plan’s educational possibilities together to create a Francis Parker School graduate who will truly make a difference in the world.
When discussing the plan, Barsky, Lang and Gillingham agree with each other a lot, back each other up in conversation and even finish each other’s thoughts. This easy conversational choreography is a good thing because this task they are assigned – a long-term reworking of school priorities, curriculum, and schedule – requires immense collaboration and coordination between the Divisions.
The top priority, of course, is academics. An ambitious program is laid out in the Strategic Plan to define, refine, and evolve a “rigorous academic program that equips students to learn, think critically, reflect and innovate.” How to do that? There are action items, responsible individuals named, and clearly defined metrics of success written into the plan. There must be documented evidence of improved teaching, for instance, accountability revealed in student assessments, greater transparency in curriculum, and grading consistency. So, the first question: doesn’t this set you, as the responsible Division Heads, for the risk of not meeting these clearly stated goals?
Paul Barsky: “It’s an opportunity!”
Dan Lang: “ It’s a good thing. We welcome a fully public and fully living document. It is only real if you put in metrics and responsible parties. It is easy as educators to drift day to day, dealing with families and kids, the everyday details. This kind of long term plan keeps us looking forward, looking up.”
Paul Barsky: The trick is finding the right metrics and measurement, to create the support we all need to meet these goals.”
Bob Gillingham: “It is beyond just that. We’ve determined our own metrics to really see what could be accomplished. We’ve lined up the appropriate people to have one person accountable. We have to make the process manageable to really have an accurate and fair test of whether we could accomplish these goals. It is big. Can we accomplish this? The very best thing about the plan is that there is no set number of years. It will continue to live, breath and change. I like that.”
Dan Lang: The metrics are not intended for a “gotcha” purpose. The intent is to have a reference point, a guide for the work. If it is not something that bends and flexes to reality, then these metrics and goals are not useful.”
It is big. Can we accomplish this?
The metrics are not intended for a “gotcha” purpose. The intent is to have a reference point, a guide for the work.
One of the key academic goals set out in the plan is to map out a consistent curriculum from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 12 in all subject areas. This is sometimes called “curriculum mapping,” but that is a term these Division Heads don’t like. A more appropriate term, they say, is “scope and sequence” whereby the Division Heads and Department Chairs determine what each grade is supposed to learn, and the essential skills to be gained, in each subject, in each grade. So that a Grade 5 teacher knows what to expect from incoming students in math; a Grade 10 history teacher knows where to pick up after Grade 9 Topics in Social Studies ends, etc.
Parker already does that, of course, but, according to Kevin Yaley, there is “no limit to better.” The Strategic Plan embodies a new thinking about Francis Parker School, Yaley explains, a sense of the JK- Grade12 experience at Parker as a consistent educational whole: three Divisions on two campuses comprising one school. With that newly unified concept in mind, Yaley explains that Parker needs now to “take the time to critically evaluate how well we are doing in terms of providing students from JK- Grade 12 with a comprehensive sequenced program and curriculum that ultimately will prepare them for college.”
Bob Gillingham: It is good but painful. We realized we could do more. All of us recognize that the school is doing a great job, but we’re also curious: if we examine everything we’re doing with an eye to doing it even better, where might students go then? Linking curriculum, linking essential skills. It is an exciting process.
Dan Lang: This is less about a map than it is about alignment. We need to better align the Middle School to the Lower School so that we are ready to challenge the kids at the appropriate level. Let the Upper School know what they are getting. Yes, we were doing this before but not with the specificity we want and need.
Paul Barsky: Coordinating JK through Grade 12 curriculum will be a tremendous boon. It is not just the core skills, but we are also examining homework loads, wellness criteria for students. With the new STEAM program (a new program in the Strategic Plan to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math courses into the curriculum) it will be really interesting to see students exploring the intersection between art and science in the Upper School. There will be more opportunities for kids to take advantage of programs such as this.
With mapping out curriculum goals and essential skills metrics, there is sometimes a tension though between that roadmap and the famous, sometimes brilliant independence of teachers in an independent school. How do Division Heads orchestrate the symphony of what has been described as “wildly different” teaching styles and student experiences and make sure the symphony rings true? Acknowledging that tension, Kevin Yaley offers some help, “There is a science and art to teaching, and we trust the art. This is bringing the science. “
Paul Barsky: The scope and sequence part of the Plan just makes sense. In fact the teachers are champing at the bit to get started. This offers tremendous professional growth for instructors. Teachers are looking for new ways to connect with their peers.
Dan Lang: Our teachers currently teach in isolation. Connecting those teachers with each other makes us better on an order of magnitude. Parker is a game changer for so many students and this can only make us better.
Bob Gillingham: I have no concern about, say, having three rich and very diverse teachers in one grade. I am confident that I can place students with teachers with whom they will resonate. And then I can expect the same outcome at the end of each grade level.
Dan Lang: Every student is guaranteed the same learning outcome while every teacher is able to perform at the top of his or her ability. The most exciting thing to see is where we overlap and where the gaps are. We are not talking about a task. We’re talking about a way of being. We will establish the architecture for continuing to improve at Parker in a very intentional way. We will continue to hire outstanding teachers, but we will now have the framework in which to place them.
We will establish the architecture for continuing to improve at Parker in a very intentional way.
By laying the groundwork for greater collaboration and coordination between Divisions, the Strategic Plan also has new goals for community building within the entire School, and a renewed focus on student wellness, and on optimizing the daily student schedule. Even in its early stages, the Plan has had an impact:
Bob Gillingham: It has already changed many things. At the Lower School we’ve shifted schedules to allow teachers more time together, to examine what they are doing. We’re created new connections between the Upper School, Middle School, and Lower School, reinforcing the idea that this Parker experience is not just a LS experience. This is challenging teachers in a good way to reinvest in Parker.
Paul Barsky: The Strategic Plan comes at a perfect time. It codifies many things. In terms of the student schedule, we are looking very hard at the schedule change already implemented at the Middle School. Middle School and Upper School teachers are meeting frequently to discuss the change, building upon a sense that we can do so much more than the traditional schedule. We need to establish a better pace, to allow more collaboration among teachers, to align the schedule better with the Middle School. We need to create more space in the day for things like the Parker Design Lab (another Strategic Plan innovation to encourage entrepreneurial projects).
Dan Lang: Lower School curriculum changes in math are already and suddenly being felt in the Middle School, with no warning. We’re in our third year now of receiving students far better prepared in Math. The effect for us is that this year, we have the largest eighth grade group in geometry ever. So innovation at the Lower School pushes us at the Middle School with their new level of readiness. We will now know what to expect.
The Strategic Plan comes at a perfect time. It codifies many things.
All parties in this discussion agreed that the central focus of everything that is done at Francis Parker School is the student experience with the twin goals of inspiring academic excellence but striving to achieve a greater balance in student life. Kevin Yaley explains that a key goal of the Strategic Plan is to “ensure that we are placing our kids in an environment that is ideal for their learning and doing whatever we can to make sure these kids can excel.”
Student experience loomed large in the discussion between Division Heads on the importance of the new Strategic Plan. Paul Barsky and Bob Gillingham were first asked, what would each do if given temporary assignment in each other’s jobs.
Bob Gillingham (as Upper School Head): I would strengthen the connections between the Lower School and the Upper School. I would take great pains to study what is being taught in those classrooms to inform my work at the Lower School. I see so much potential for strengthening the school.
Paul Barsky (as Lower School Head): I would look forward to learning a lot. How do kids create? How do they think? How to teachers foster that enthusiasm? I would use that as a springboard for ideas in Upper School teaching. I’d look at STRIVE, the Lower School Ethics program and ask how can I infuse those ideals and replicate that program in the Upper School. I’d look for ways to build a sense of community in Upper School, the way they do at the Lower School with Monday flag raising. I’d like to find a way build upon the sense of community which exists between teachers and students at the Upper School.
But then, the conversation circled back to the Middle School, that transition sequence in which children become teens, change, transform, take on identity, become the beginning of who they are to be:
Dan Lang: Middle School is a formative space. Kids are going sideways most of the day. We need to figure out how to move them forward. This is really the last period in which families participate as kids establish their own identity but are not quite ready to be released.
Bob Gillingham: Kids are nervous going into Middle School, leaving the Lower School environment. Then, two days later they come back saying how happy they are. Once again, wellness and balance are key. These middle school kids are juggling so much, between school and athletics, and community service. We can’t just drop them into that and expect them to be successful.
Dan Lang: Curriculum alignment will really help me to know where we need them to get to, and at what rate can we release them, keep them healthy. Given appropriate amount of independence.
Bob Gillingham: Between the three Divisions, there is real potential to create well-balanced adults.
There are many other critical elements of the Strategic Plan that weren’t covered in this discussion: efforts to improve and enhance technology education, financial sustainability, diversity, public purpose, global studies, culture of philanthropy, and leadership and character development. But one more intangible part of the plan was touched on with virtually every topic – the Parker identity. The Plan aims to “heighten Parker’s visibility and its unique identity in the community. “ And it seems the drafting of this plan has helped to clarify and articulate what that identity is.
Parent and Board of Trustees Member, Dee Anne Canepa led the 18-month volunteer effort to research and develop the Strategic Plan. Here is what she found out about the Parker identity: “We are different. We want our kids to compete in the ways that matter, but internally we have a different metric for what is an acceptable graduate. Our Parker graduate needs to be more engaged, more civic-minded, more balanced, more well-rounded.” And clear action items to reach this goal were embedded in the strategic plan.
It was also clear in the conversation with the Division Heads that, as committed as they obviously are to the success of Parker’s mission, the Strategic Plan has helped to inspire them:
Dan Lang: We are trying to be more like Parker. We want to deepen our own identity. That’s what our plan helps us do. Our greatest asset is our faculty. We find what is unique in a child and find a way to make that happen. Other schools may try to mold a child. Let’s us find out who you are and make that blossom.
Paul Barsky: The Strategic Plan has true vision. It is encouraging us to take chances and supporting us along the way. It goes back to the progressive roots of the school and, with this Plan, we can become a true model, and have a national footprint.
Bob Gillingham: People can feel it when you step onto campus. Everyone is committed to advancing the students. The campuses are warm and welcoming. We want to convey the idea that extraordinary things are going to happen for you here.
It is hard for anyone associated with Parker to define the Parker Identity. But those things that Parker has learned over the years that can create an environment for students, a certain type of experience, those things are embedded in this plan, according to Head of School Kevin Yaley. He echoed Bob Gillingham, in a way, saying, “come on campus, you’ll understand.” The plan is an ambitious project to carry Parker forward into its second century, and it is rooted in a tremendous pride and self-confidence. As Kevin Yaley puts it, “We aren’t becoming something else, but just becoming a better Parker.”
We aren’t becoming something else, but just becoming a better Parker.
Click here to Download a PDF file of this article.