GISB Strategic Plan

Table of Contents

GISB Strategic Plan

— Letter from President of the Board of Trustees, Professor Dr. Stefan G. Tullius

— Prologue

— GISB Strategic Plan

• Community

• Faculty

• Curriculum

• Enrollment

• Facility

• Development

• Governance

• Organizational Structure

All photographs in this plan are by Kayana Symzak and courtesy of Stiftung Bosch.

Welcome,

In June 2017, the Board of Trustees of German International School Boston unanimously approved a visionary Strategic Plan for GISB. This plan was drafted during the 2016-2017 school year by the Strategic Planning Committee with input from all stakeholders at GISB addressing a four-year period (2017-2020) in our School’s development.

Following an extensive process of interviews, surveys, forums, conversations and feedback, our Strategic Planning committee identified critical areas of focus for the coming four years. Each area represents a strategic objective for our School, with strategies, measures and outcomes to reach those goals.

The purpose of this structure is to provide the Board of Trustees, staff and the entire GISB community with a living and dynamic plan to guide and prioritize our work. We are well-positioned to implement this plan, using specific measures to track our progress. The Board of Trustees will provide updates to the community with opportunities to comment and help shape the ongoing development of our goals.

This strategic roadmap will guide us in our core mission supporting academic excellence, future leaders and world citizens. I invite you to explore our vision for the future of our School and I hope you will be energized by our ambitious goals.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of German International School Boston, I wish to express our appreciation to many who have enthusiastically contributed to this ongoing process. We are grateful for the community’s thoughtful participation, and spirited support of our School.

Professor Dr. Stefan G. Tullius President and Chair of the Board of Trustees

Letter from the President

of the Board of Trustees

Prologue

GISB was originally founded to serve the needs of the German expatriate community, in a belief that “the quality and high standards of the German school system … will attract many American students.” (Bodo Reinisch, Co-Founder, May 1998). It has since evolved to welcome families of all origins with an interest in a bilingual German education. This dual focus is a cornerstone of our School’s mission.

The purpose of this strategic plan is to guide the School toward further success. The planning process engaged the Board, administration, faculty, and parents in an examination of the current situation and of opportunities for ongoing growth over the next five years.

The plan offers goals in eight separate areas of importance for the school:

Community Curriculum Facility Governance

Faculty Enrollment Development Organizational Structure

Each goal is supported by one to five different strategies. The strategies have an average of six action items to be completed over the next two years. Each year, as action items are completed, the plan will be refreshed with new action items to pursue the strategies. About 20 members of the Board of Trustees and staff have responsibility for individual action items.

In this way, just as the plan was broadly developed across the GISB community, a diverse group of people will also lead implementation.

This strategic focus on ongoing improvement of the factors that already make the school an exemplary educational and cultural institution will nurture GISB’s ongoing success.

Promote and embrace an atmosphere of inclusiveness.Contemporary Germany offers a model of openness to and inclusion of diverse cultural influences. With an essentially German character as our foundation, our School will continue to expand beyond languages and traditions to celebrate all forms of diversity. We will strengthen our sense of community and improve communication and inclusiveness on all levels.

Strategy 1: Encourage and celebrate the diversity of our community. GISB is grounded in contemporary German culture, and values diversity for the benefits this offers our School community and for the model this promotes for our children’s future international community. By embracing our differences, we come to better understand not only each other, but also ourselves. Our children learn to expect that there are differing perspectives on complex issues, and they come to think more flexibly and creatively.

Strategy 2: Strengthen our internal sense of community. Strive to ensure that all families—including those with diverse backgrounds, those who are new to the U.S. and those who do not speak German—feel welcomed and valued as members of our community.

Strategy 3: Review and enhance internal communications. Continuously refine School communications so that our digital platform becomes an accessible, integrated source where parents and staff can go to communicate and to find all relevant information.

Strategy 4: Strengthen connections with the cultural resources of the local German-speaking community. GISB has deep roots in the New England German community. Strengthening our bonds with our partner organizations benefits the whole German-speaking community and allows wider visibility and access to the resources each organization offers.

Community

Promote and support teaching excellence.Excellent teaching is the foundation of our School. GISB faculty come from both the German and American educational systems, bringing richly complementary backgrounds, experiences, and strengths, but also challenges – in maintaining consistency and managing the assumptions and expectations of the faculty.

Strategy 1: Identify, recruit, and retain excellent teachers.Our School is committed to hiring, promoting and retaining skilled and talented teachers. Our most talented teachers and role-models should feel attracted by appropriate incentives to remain for a career.

Strategy 2: Prioritize faculty recognition.Our faculty is our School’s most important asset. To communicate the value we place on dedication, inspiration, and morale, we will recognize and reward these qualities in our faculty and staff.

Strategy 3: Take best advantage of professional development time and budget.Professional development is part of each faculty member’s annual review and plan. We will expand professional development leadership training opportunities for faculty.

Strategy 4: Support new faculty in transitioning into GISB. Ensure that new faculty are well supported, and that they understand and are trained in cultural nuances and in the requirements for schools in the U.S.

Strategy 5: Develop ways of analyzing our teaching methods and outcomes, using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Evaluation of teaching and learning will help us to celebrate our faculty and promote our school.

Faculty

Curriculum

Embrace the finest aspects of both our German and American systems.Families come to GISB for the benefits of an international, bilingual, education. Our School satisfies the requirements of both the German International Abitur and the American high school diploma. As our Upper School grows we will broaden our choice of courses, allowing us to accommodate an even wider range of academic interests.

Strategy 1: Communicate how GISB’s academic excellence fulfills expectations for a challenging Upper School curriculum. GISB fulfills and exceeds expectations of the German and American curricula. We will publicize more broadly this important advantage for GISB graduates. We will enhance our college counseling function and inform parents clearly about how GISB students are well positioned for the college admissions process.

Strategy 2: Enhance curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities to accommodate a broader range of student interests in Middle and Upper School. We will respond to the broadly ranging interests and needs of our students to ensure that all students have the opportunity to explore their particular interests through options within our School, or in partnership with local organizations and institutions.

Shape enrollment to best serve the mission and enhance the sustainability of GISB.GISB students benefit from a challenging curriculum, excellent teaching and an enriching peer environment. All members of our community play an important role in the dynamic process of attracting and retaining a student body that best serves the educational and social environment of our School.

Strategy 1: Grow the Upper School to expand its appeal to students and families.While remaining small, attract and retain Upper School students with differing academic and extracurricular interests while offering a varied social environment.

Strategy 2: Expand the Elementary & Middle Schools to support the optimal size of the Upper School.Develop programming to allow non-native German speakers to enter GISB in the higher grades of Elementary School and Middle School. This will support a pyramidal base for an Upper School of an optimal size.

Strategy 3: Maximize retention.Work to understand and address all attrition not to due to relocation, to strengthen and cultivate our strong academic and social environment. While part of our character as an international school is to embrace the mobility of our families, we are committed to making GISB attractive as a long-term choice to all students and families.

Enrollment

Expand GISB’s campus to serve the growth of our School. GISB has grown steadily through sixteen years, and we must expand our campus to allow further projected growth. This has been a key focus area for our Board and will remain a priority as we develop a long-term solution to house our fully expanded School.

Strategy 1: Develop a plan for campus expansion.Develop a long-range plan to align space needs, enrollment goals, and financial capacity that includes growth in facilities to keep pace with increases in enrollment.

Facility

Partner with our community to develop a culture of philanthropy.German government support has enabled the founding of our school and the growth of our robust Abitur program. Our generous founders and supporters have since played a critical role in the expansion and development of our school. We now strive to work closely with our community to craft a development plan at GISB that will support our faculty and facilities, and that will sustain our level of excellence.

Strategy 1: Assess and strengthen the foundations for a culture of philanthropy at GISB.Fundraising at GISB must draw upon an understanding of both the American and European approaches to philanthropy. Our objective is to generate and sustain enthusiasm for the support of our School.

Strategy 2: Establish an Annual Fund to foster a culture of giving at GISB.Our Annual Fund will embrace the broadest possible group of donors and will become the foundation for all fundraising at GISB.

Strategy 3: Foster a sense of connection and community among alumni. Alumni—not just graduates, but all former students—and their families form a vital part of our community. Our strategy for growth will include nurturing a network of alumni in a culture of participation, contribution, and giving.

Strategy 4: Develop fundraising efforts, such as planned giving, capital giving, and an endowment fund. We will explore traditional approaches to fundraising as part of our mid-range development plan. These will be shaped to reflect varied cultural expectations within our community.

Development

Position the Board to best serve the School.The role and function of the Board of Trustees has evolved in parallel with our School’s exceptional growth. Our administration is now professionalized and has assumed many functions previously managed by the Board. This is an ideal juncture at which to re-examine the role and operations of the Board.

Strategy 1: Support the Board in taking our School to the next level. Our Board has evolved as GISB has matured, shifting its attention from operational management to governance. In re-sponse to this development, the Board will expand and formalize its governance structure and responsibilities.

Strategy 2: Expand the function of Trustees in their role as ambassadors for GISB.Advocacy for GISB and participation in development activities is an important stewardship role for Trustees.

Governance

Configure operations to sustain excellence.Over the past two years, we have added administrative capacity to support our School’s growth and to maintain our academic excellence. As we continue to expand, we will further refine the structure of the administration to optimize effective operations and to support the School as a whole.

Strategy 1: Coordinate the efforts of management to achieve annual objectives in support of excellence.The expansion of our administrative team brings new opportunities for collaboration and efficiency within our team.

Strategy 2: Use professional development resources for senior staff and administrators.To promote teamwork and effectiveness, we will encourage professional development as a part of each staff member’s annual review and plan.

Organizational Structure

Vielen Dank!