Year 6 Goals: (2023-2024)
As we look ahead to Year 6 of Redefining Excellence, we are excited to set new goals and continue our journey of learning and growth. Building upon the successes and lessons of the past year, we are inspired by the unwavering support of our community and aspire to achieve the following in the coming year.
To further orient the Hackley program toward enduring habits of “character, scholarship, and accomplishment,” we will:
Examine possible points of intersection between the Mastery Transcript model and Hackley’s School Competencies to understand whether a culminating document can represent achievement measured against areas within each competency.
Revise the History 9 curriculum to be a modern, globally oriented course to strengthen and align foundational knowledge for subsequent history courses, better integrate with the Hackley K-12 competencies, and create content-based opportunities for future revisions to the 20th Century World History course.
As we create opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching and learning, we will explore ways to create interdisciplinary units through Big Experience initiatives by continuing to support the Lower and Middle School Big Experience interdisciplinary curriculum trips and by exploring Upper School Big Experience opportunities, such as a ninth grade overnight trip. The Interdisciplinary Studies Department launched during the 2021-2022 academic year to provide a departmental home for exciting courses that span two or more disciplines.
To deepen Hackley’s focus on students’ local, national and international responsibilities, we will:
Host at least one Middle School Roundtable session.
Hold at least one humanities interdepartmental professional development session on student-centered learning and civil discourse.
To examine and reframe assessment practices to best support desired learning competencies and experiences, we will create opportunities for faculty discussions around faculty and student feedback that will contribute to the ongoing examination of assessment models and practices, as well as the development of a measurement tool for competencies.
In support of elevating forms of creative expression and the creative arts, we will:
Complete a Lower School public art project.
Invite Hackley’s third creative resident to campus to work with students as part of our Creative Residency Program.
Plan for a possible overnight visual arts and performing arts trip.
Plan for our third science and visual arts field trip to Storm King Art Center.
Partake in an AP Studio Art trip to Ireland.
Foster further collaboration between the Computer Science, Visual Arts and Performing Arts department chairs and the Director of Operations and Campus Planning during the construction phase of the Center for the Creative Arts and Technology.
Gauge student interest in developing an Art Show app in collaboration with the Computer Science department.
To create a series of culminating Big Experiences for students at important transition points, we will:
Implement the expansion of the Big Experience to the Upper School, including communication to faculty, students and families.
Explore the financial and logistical possibility of implementing two trips for the Middle School Big Experience, one in the fall and one in the spring.
Build up the Middle School Big Experience environmental citizenship curricular connections or expand Middle School Big Experiences to include additional subject areas.
Financially and logistically support the Lower School Big Experience theme of “citizenship.”
To further broaden student travel and culturally immersive experiences, we will:
Expand in-class “Traveler Teach-Ins” wherein Casten traveling students share their experiences with their peers across divisions.
Strengthen relationships with international peer schools via Round Square and by having each Casten Trip with a peer school connection foster at least one student-to-student follow-up touchpoint.
Continue to support the Global Context Course and build community awareness and partnerships with other departments.
Empower students on the Global Affairs Student Committee to use club times to generate programming and reach out to peer partner schools.
As we further develop the schoolwide service-learning program and create a sustainable model for Hudson Scholars, we will:
Continue to develop and strengthen a sustainable leadership structure with a focus on additional leadership support.
Strengthen our partnership with the Tarrytown school district to find ways to support Scholars.
Further refine and formalize the role of the Teaching Fellows.
Pilot new initiatives to support our high school-aged Scholars and support our Hudson Scholars families.
To maximize the educational capabilities of the Hackley Forest and surrounding natural ecosystems, we will:
Continue the work that the Pollinator Club began during the previous academic year, including honey-spinning in February in the Upper School with plans to also introduce it to the Lower School. The Pollinator Club will continue to educate the community through the “Pollinator of the Month” bulletin board and posters around the School.
Continue to host campouts for all grade levels through HEAL (Hackley Earth Action League).
Offer a new Global Contexts minor course: America’s National Parks.
Continue to examine the possibilities for AFER (Advanced Forest Ecology Research) students to collaborate with seventh grade science students.
Work with biology students and the Upper School art program to build sculptures for the Hackley Orchard and the library, and also install in the orchard the senior projects which include a large art mural and tree signs.
Introduce hive work to Upper School biology classes. The pilot program will run in partnership with Hudson Scholars.
Work with the Middle School advisory program to incorporate orchard time.
Work with Seniors for bulb planting and rock markers in the orchard.
To strengthen our culture of professional development and collaboration, we will:
Develop a model for long-term professional growth and development tracking in the years between evaluation years.
Launch a second cohort of online-learning science professional development.
Develop networks and relationships beyond Hackley to enrich faculty professional growth and the student learning experience.
Continue to explore Hackley participation in Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning professional development experiences.
Continue outreach to local universities and graduate schools of education to develop partnerships.
Develop a model for a Hackley think-tank on K-12 education, leveraging both existing and new partnerships to convene initial conversations at a Spring 2024 roundtable.
To reimagine the rhythm and use of time within the school day and academic year, we will:
Optimize student and faculty learning by collecting feedback on the adjusted schedule, with a particular focus on crossover teachers and the differing Middle School/Upper School schedules.
Collect feedback on the effects of decoupling the common Community Time period on the divisions and whether the Lower and Middle School pairing yields the expected collaboration.
As we continue to execute Redefining Excellence with boldness and transparency, we will share updates on the growth of our students and our School through our dedicated microsite www.redefiningexcellence.org.