2020 Vision

Historically, predicting the future of education in America has been pretty simple. Looking into a crystal ball and predicting "more of the same" for the schooling of children in this country would have been a pretty safe, and pretty lucrative, way to make a living over time. Nevertheless, we are now in a time of unprecedented change in the way instruction is being delivered, and in the ways in which it will be delivered in the future. Detroit Country Day School will be a leading voice in shaping the best practices in the educational future of our country and the world.

 

During the 2012/2013 school year, DCDS began laying the groundwork for building a new Strategic Plan for all aspects of the school's future. We started with the surveying of faculty and staff, then students and parents, and finally kicked off Strategic Planning in the fall with back to school meetings that involved members of the Board of Trustees, our school administration, and all faculty and staff. Our goal is to create a vision and a plan for the execution of that vision that will carry us through the year 2020. The working vision statement is to "Be the globally recognized leader in innovative educational excellence", and various stakeholder groups of the school are working together to build the plan that will support that vision.

 

During a lunch meeting today, members of the board, our Headmaster, the leadership of each academic division of the school, and the teacher members of the Curriculum Leadership Council (CLC) met to discuss our plans and goals for the academic pillar of our school. The level of engagement demonstrated by our board, administration, faculty and staff has been tremendous in the planning process, and today was no exception. As we worked to build a vision of what our school will be in the year 2020 and beyond, it was immediately clear that the schools of tomorrow will not closely resemble the schools of yesterday. DCDS will be a leader in shaping the new future of education in the world.

 

More than ever in the history of the world, we must prepare our students to be global citizens. The world is more connected, or "flatter", than ever, and preparing students to be productive citizens of such a world presents unique challenges. We must prepare students to creatively solve problems which we cannot yet imagine. We must prepare students to not only use technology, but to build and create new technologies. We mustn't lose sight of our obligation to one another as humans, and to our planet, and sustainability of our resources - both human and otherwise, will be of critical importance. Our 2020 Vision is for a school that does all those things and more, without compromising the values and traditions that make Country Day unique.

 

The soothsayer looks into the future to see what will happen to us, the visionaries look into the future to shape it. At DCDS our goal is to build an innovative instructional environment that maintains traditional values. Traditional values and innovative instructional excellence will shape a new model for delivering instruction that will sustain our school, our nation and the world. That's having "20/20" vision...

Diversity, shmersity....we're all the same???

The first thing that struck me as really unique about Detroit Country Day School was the amazing diversity of the student population. On my first visit to the school I was fascinated not only by the many different cultures and ethnicities represented, but by the seamless integration of students of different religious and cultural backgrounds. Although we sometimes refer to ourselves as being in the protective "bubble" of DCDS, in reality our students have an opportunity to experience the world as it is outside the protective confines of our school - a melting pot of religions, cultures, ideas and world views. Given all of this, I was interested recently while meeting with a DCDS alum who told me that really all of our students have one thing in common.

While our school is sometimes thought of as the "athletics" school, the "arts" school, or as the "math and science" school, when I was having lunch with our art department and DCDS alum Jeremy Sasson ('03), he told us that really all of our kids are the same in one way - someone in their life cares deeply about their education, and cares enough to make sure they have access to Country Day. That idea really resonated with me, as I see the commitment our famlies make to this school. While our students come from different places, different economic circumstances, and different world views, the one thing they do have in common is that someone in their lives cared enough to support them attending this amazing school. Unfortunately, not all young people in our country or the world can say that they have an influence in their life willing to make that kind of commitment. Aside from their own drive and aptitude, and the resources of this school, perhaps the most important ingredient to the success of our students is the support they get that allows them to attend DCDS.

In a world where we often focus on what makes us different, it's refreshing to search for those things we have in common. At least at DCDS, it's a great reminder that despite our superficial differences, a fundamental similarity is the belief in the power a quality education has to influence the course of lives.