Moravian Academy | Strategic Plan 2023-2028

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MORE TO EXPLORE: Strategic Plan 2023-2028

Strategic Plan Update: September 25, 2024

Last year, we launched our 2023-28 Strategic Plan, a blueprint we believe will be instrumental in fulfilling our mission and vision for Moravian Academy in the years ahead. The initiatives at the heart of this plan center around our people, our programs, and the places where it all happens – our campuses. While many of these initiatives will unfold over the next five years, their impact will extend well beyond this timeframe. I would like to highlight the areas of the plan that we will specifically focus on in the 2024-25 academic year:

List of 4 items.

Academic Excellence and Consistency

Establish key indicators of academic outcomes to ensure consistency across campuses. We will adopt the Portrait of a Graduate framework, engage in curricular review, and develop methods to demonstrate academic success. Skills will be considered for vertical and horizontal alignment in the curriculum. While testing is just one indicator of academic outcomes, we recognize the importance of assessment in monitoring the academic progress of our students. Testing results will be utilized by faculty to adjust curricular and pedagogical approaches as well as target areas of support for our students.
Learning Support for Gifted and Non-Traditional Learners

In this post-pandemic era, more students than ever before need greater differentiation to reach their intellectual potential. Our strategic plan has prioritized the design and implementation of enhanced learning support for gifted and non-traditional learners. In the coming year, we will assess our current program, research exemplar schools, and determine a model that aligns best with the needs at Moravian Academy. This year, we will pilot summer and afterschool programs as we work to grow our program schoolwide.
Belonging and Collective Well-Being
In the fall of 2023, the school engaged the support of MehtaCognition to conduct a DEJIB audit and work with us to create a DEIJB strategic plan. Trainings were held for the Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty. MehtaCognition reviewed foundational documents and then visited campus to conduct focus group meetings for further data to develop a needs-finding report. In follow-up to that report, a DEIJB task force is being recruited that will receive guidance from the Educational Leadership Team to discuss and make recommendations regarding policy, programs, and professional development. During the 24-25 school year, in alignment with our all-school theme of Creators of Community, we plan to:
1. Conduct student engagement surveys from 5th-12th grade
2. Continue teacher professional development, including a focus on differentiation
3. Expand programming and wellness initiatives to support students' personal growth and well-being
Design and Establish a Center for Civic Leadership and Innovation

With signature programs in leadership, civil discourse, sustainability and climate change studies, and exponential technology, this initiative was identified as a long-term priority. This year, we will inventory programs and curricula that currently exist from which we can build while also identifying resources that will serve as foundational support to the Center.

List of 3 items.

Recruit, Support, and Retain Exceptional People

A school can only ever be as great as its people. For hundreds of years, it has been the people of Moravian Academy who have made a distinct difference in the lives of our students, launching them to success beyond what they ever might have imagined. In an effort to support our employees to keep them at Moravian as well as to recruit exceptional new faculty when needed, we are forming a compensation modeling task force to explore our current compensation model, examine new approaches, gain feedback from our teachers and if warranted, adopt a new approach. In addition, as a companion to our Portrait of a Graduate, we will create a Portrait of a Moravian Academy Employee to highlight those skills and competencies we want all of our employees to embody. This will serve as a framework for hiring practices and support our employees' professional growth.
Ensure Financial Sustainability
To ensure that Moravian Academy can meet its mission, it must be financially sustainable. Schools across the country are grappling with the dual challenges of compensating their professionals well while also maintaining a tuition structure that ensures their schools are accessible. Over the coming year, we will be focusing on the following priorities:
1. Launch a Tuition Modeling Task Force to research different tuition models to ensure the school is accessible, diverse, and financially sustainable
2. Explore the potential for a year-round early childhood program
3. Further expand external program revenue through “MAXimizing” summer programs and optimizing MAX Fall, Winter, and Spring
4. Strengthen our strategic enrollment management practices and strategically apply financial aid to meet enrollment goals
5. Spreading the word throughout the Lehigh Valley and beyond about the extensive opportunities available to students at Moravian Academy
Ensure Excellent Facilities that Enable and Inspire our Programs to Thrive

Facilities improvements over the past year took place across all three campuses, from a new roof, brick, and landscaping at HDC Lower School Main to recoating Barnaby Roberts Drive at MSC to a new outdoor fence along the early childhood playground and classroom upgrades at SC. Apart from these significant projects, there were many smaller projects that improved aesthetics across our campuses. As a three-campus school with beautiful yet aging facilities, we must plan well as we consider both maintenance and improvement efforts.

In the year ahead, we will conduct a facilities planning study to explore what remains relevant from the 2009 master plan, examine current needs, and plan for the future. During the course of this work, we will be engaging the community in this exploration to ensure that plans align with community priorities.

We want all of our Moravian Academy families to take part in building our future and improving our school. Later this fall, we will invite you to participate in our third annual parent survey. We encourage you to participate so that your voices can be heard. We all share a deep commitment to the health and vibrancy of our school. This plan demonstrates how Moravian Academy is thoughtfully and sustainably growing each year. We greatly value your perspectives and invite you to actively participate in our efforts to build a truly world-class education for every student.

In partnership for the education of your children,

Adrianne Finley Odell
Head of School

Adopted by the Board of Trustees September 9, 2023

A year in the making, the strategic plan was developed to provide a long-range view of future school priorities created through a highly inclusive and participatory process. We are grateful to the sixteen volunteers who served on the Strategic Planning Executive Committee and volunteered their time and talents to engage with internal and external research including trends in the independent school and the education sector.

Armed with a situation analysis and a stronger understanding of the needs of the school, six areas of strategic focus were established by the executive committee. From there, over 100 community members including trustees, faculty, staff, alumni, students and parents participated on design teams to propose initiatives for consideration rooted in the research.

Our process culminated in September of 2023, with the steering committee reviewing proposals from the design teams, synthesizing them down to a smaller set of priorities for the future. As strategic priorities were developed, key school leadership expanded upon them to outline specific initiatives, action plans, and a series of sequenced priorities. Finally, the Board of Trustees engaged with the plan and ratified it on September 9, 2023. The final strategic plan has been organized into three key areas of focus:

Enhance Our Foundation
Expand Our Impact
Elevate Our Sustainability

Within each of these focus areas, we have prioritized initiatives that we believe will be instrumental to fulfilling our mission and vision for Moravian Academy in the years ahead. The initiatives center around our people, our programs and the place where it all happens–our campuses. Much of the focus for realizing these initiatives will be over the next five years; however, many will extend well beyond then. Bringing this ambitious plan to fruition will require the support of our entire community. We invite you to engage with us in achieving this vision by offering your expertise, your connections and your philanthropic support.
We are excited about the future of Moravian Academy and the impact that these initiatives will have on our young people. Thank you for believing in our students and their bright futures.

Strategic Priorities

List of 3 items.

Enhance our FOUNDATION
- Recruit, support, and retain exceptional people.
- Foster an environment that prioritizes inclusivity, belonging and collective wellbeing throughout our community.
- Establish key indicators of academic outcomes and consistency across campuses aiming to provide the best foundational framework for developing future leaders.
- Enhance the quality and effectiveness of project-based and experiential learning across our campuses to improve learning outcomes and prepare students for the future.
Expand our IMPACT
- Ensure financial sustainability through plans to diversify revenue, increase enrollment and manage tuition.
- Ensure excellent facilities that enable and inspire our programs to thrive.
Elevate our SUSTAINABILITY
- Design and establish a Center for Civic Leadership and Innovation with signature programs in 1) leadership training and development, 2) civil discourse, 3) exponential technologies, and 4) environmental and climate change studies.
- Design and implement learning support for gifted and non-traditional learners.
- Establish strategic partnerships beyond our classrooms to enhance our learning environment and better connect our school with mission-congruent organizations.