Strategic Plan 2011

Archived Strategic Plan information from 2004, 2005, and 2007

Moorestown Friends School is a community rooted in Quaker values and dedicated to the pursuit of educational excellence for a diverse student body within an academically rigorous and balanced program emphasizing personal, ethical and spiritual growth.
Mission Statement approved by the School Committee on May 18, 2004, updated May 2011

The convergence of the 225th anniversary of the founding of Moorestown Friends School and a new Strategic Plan has more than symbolic importance. On the one hand, the school can look back at its traditions and achievements and on the other it looks forward to the challenges of a new century in which an increasingly “flat world,”  the rapid emergence of new technologies and the accessibility of information are transforming the society into which our children will graduate. The 2011 Plan, building on the “twin pillars” of academic rigor and the Examined Life identified in the 2004 Plan, addresses this mission: to educate young people who are grounded in Quaker values and ready to succeed in a challenging, rapidly changing environment. The Plan also recognizes that the economic events of the past three years have a limiting effect. As the school explores and implements new programs and strengthens those already in place, it must be attentive to the importance of maintaining a solid financial footing.

The challenges facing the school mirror the challenges facing today’s students. They are growing up in a world that demands flexibility and creativity as well as moral and ethical courage - and one in which economic realities may be a limiting factor. This Plan proposes to address these challenges by infusing the curriculum with the development of 21st Century skills while keeping Quaker principles alive in the school.  One of those principles, simplicity, suggests a way to address current financial limitations - doing the best job possible with the resources available - using creativity, collaboration and entrepreneurship - 21st Century skills!

Focusing on 21st Century Skills – The careers of the 21st Century and the responsibilities of citizens in this era require a set of skills that are quite different from the past.  The Strategic Planning Committee has embraced the outlook of Tony Wagner, the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.  Wagner and the Change Leadership Group, an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have identified the 21st Century survival skills students urgently need.  Through the implementation of this Strategic Plan, MFS will strengthen and explicitly identify ways students can learn, practice and refine their proficiency in these skills, which include:

• initiative and creativity
• collaboration and student leadership
• effective oral, written and visual communication
• accessing and analyzing information

MFS will embark on a review of existing curriculum, develop scope and sequence models to identify each of these skills, and prepare new curriculum to systematically support the teaching of these skills.  The school will explore assessments for these skills, including the College Work Readiness Assessment and the High School Survey of Student Achievement to benchmark student progress.

Highlighting the Quaker Dimension – Moorestown Friends is a transformative educational experience.  The school’s commitment to Quaker principles as identified in The Examined Life Program is a vital differentiator in the educational world.  Through this Strategic Planning process, the school seeks to highlight the facets of this program, in which the school is both direct and intentional in educating students and families about Quaker principles.  Although the number of Quaker students, faculty members and trustees has declined significantly in recent decades, MFS seeks to serve as a beacon for Quaker education.  MFS graduates are compassionate problem solvers and leaders who are able to draw on the power of their intellect, informed by spiritual and ethical discernment.  The school’s history and the stories of our graduates are vibrant examples of Quakerism in action, and this Plan calls for the addition of the words “rooted in Quaker values” to the mission statement to spotlight that fact.

A Fundamental Constraint - The Plan includes many important and exciting ideas for program expansion.  These ideas are tempered by the reality that the country is just now beginning to emerge from the worst economic recession in over 75 years, and the ability of MFS to fund new programmatic initiatives through additional tuition revenue are highly constrained.  Thus, program expansion will need to be done frugally.  Fortunately, many ideas can be implemented at little or no cost.  Others that carry a hefty price tag will be funded, as possible, by revenue from new, entrepreneurial initiatives or by savings from the laying-down of less important programs.  The Plan encourages the School Committee and administration to maintain the fiscal health of the school, including enrollment, tuition, fundraising, compensation and benefits, financial aid, physical plant, and measures to contain costs.  The Plan further directs the school to explore new revenue opportunities through the development of innovative and extra-curricular programs.

The Planning Process – The 2011 Strategic Plan is the result of an analysis of data generated by over 1,000 strategic plan surveys by students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and trustees and of recommendations prepared by six Working Groups.  In addition, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyses were conducted by the Strategic Planning Committee, School Committee, Head’s Council, Department Chairs, and Alumni Association.  The Working Groups, which met in January, February and March, focused on the following major areas of study:

• 21st Century Skills
• The Quaker Dimension
• Diversity and Community
• Technology and Communications
• Fiscal Integrity
• Innovative and Extra-Curricular Programs 

One hundred members of the school community, including students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, parents of alumni, friends and members of Moorestown Friends Meeting participated in the Working Groups.  The entire planning effort was led by the 20-person, representative Strategic Planning Committee, clerked by Associate Head of School & Academic Dean Barbara Caldwell and Assistant Clerk of the School Committee Naoji Moriuchi ’94.  The Strategic Planning Committee began its work in August 2010, and was assisted during the process by Stephen DiCicco of Educational Directions Inc.

The Strategic Planning Committee is excited to encourage students, faculty, staff, parents, trustees and alumni of MFS as they begin the work to implement the Plan and bring its goals and strategies to life.  A process of this magnitude requires checkpoints and milestones as numerous implementation groups work on the Plan goals.  The School Committee and administration will establish monitoring and evaluation systems and mechanisms, as well as expectations for documenting evidence of progress, especially for less quantifiable goals.  These measures will provide the foundation from which school leadership can assess and measure progress on Plan goals and strategies.

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