Love of Learning
We commit to:
Foster a love of learning that drives intellectual curiosity and academic excellence.
We will educate, empower, and inspire students and adults in our community to make a positive impact in the world.
The Priorities
- Examine all academic, arts, and extracurricular programs. Include regular reviews of curriculum and program to strengthen and enhance the outstanding MCDS academic experience. Clearly articulate the curriculum and philosophy to all families.
- Emphasize cognitive skills and competencies including collaboration, problem-solving, growth mindset, and leadership. Leverage project-based interdisciplinary learning and encourage deep thinking about complex questions.
- Continue to attract, retain, and value our outstanding faculty and staff by strengthening our financial model and non-tuition revenue sources to provide exceptional compensation and benefits packages.
- Expand our professional development program to continue best practices in teaching, learning, and assessment.
- Strive to understand and care for our neurodiverse community with the latest research and a strong MCDS-family partnership.
Empathy & Well-Being
We commit to:
Cultivate a culture of compassion and empathy in our community that fosters listening and understanding.
Address our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
The Priorities
- Refine the way self-awareness, mutual support, and emotional security are integrated into the curriculum. Emphasize the development of essential non-cognitive skills including resilience, openness, and mindfulness.
- Maximize the use of our physical space, especially our natural surroundings, to support and nurture the mental, social, and emotional health and well-being of our community at large.
- Affirm mastery and skill-building over excessive achievement pressure. Partner with families and peer schools to emphasize the continuum of lifelong learning and the balance between healthy achievement and pressure.
- Enrich the MCDS/family collaboration by developing community-wide education and engagement opportunities.
Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
We commit to:
Cultivate an inclusive and equitable community where every voice is valued and children and adults feel they belong.
We will examine how we celebrate diversity, advocate for justice, and serve the people in and around our school community.
The Priorities
- Challenge students to demonstrate growth in listening to and understanding divergent points of view. Teach them to build bridges through active listening, cultural awareness, media literacy, and conflict resolution.
- Deepen community connections with our inspiring faculty and staff. Demonstrate our appreciation of and respect for their talents and dedication to the students and school.
- Work toward achieving a diversity of faculty/staff that reflects the student community.
- Deepen opportunities throughout our curriculum for students to understand different aspects of their identity.
- Develop a model that measures and analyzes engagement and belonging among students, families, faculty and staff. Thereby advance equity among Black, Indigenous, and people of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and people from diverse economic circumstances.
- Find more ways to build socioeconomic diversity, including by growing the endowment and exploring non-tuition revenue streams, thereby decreasing tuition dependency.
Cherish the Natural World
We commit to:
Take responsibility as stewards of the earth and find new ways to advocate for our natural world.
We will inspire and equip students to address climate change and environmental sustainability with scientific knowledge, collaborative problem-solving, and creativity.
The Priorities
- Leverage our unique natural campus environment to deepen our sustainability curriculum and give all students the inspiration and expertise to have a positive impact over their lifetimes. Establish the MCDS curriculum as a model for other schools.
- Optimize our outdoor education program to demonstrate best practices and foster environmental stewardship and action.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive campus environmental action plan and engage students in the process.
- Determine the optimal path to enhancing sustainability by evaluating areas such as food waste, transportation, water use, and energy conservation.