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Strategic Plan - Vision/Program Goals
Spiritual and Ethical Education and Academic
Rigor
 The vision of the school
is the starting point of the planning process because it
is the vision that drives the program, and it is the program
that in turn drives the needs of the school. The following
four goals have their root in the school’s mission
statement and provide the foundation for the centerpiece
of the Plan: spiritual and ethical education grounded in
academic rigor. The transformational nature of a Moorestown
Friends School education is a hallmark of the MFS experience.
This has been affirmed by our students, parents and alumni.
By building on this strength, the overarching theme of spiritual
and ethical education can move the school, its graduates
and its faculty forward to greatness. Viewed in this light,
the goals of the “Examined Life” program, academic
rigor, service learning and diversity have emerged as the
engines that working together will drive the Strategic Plan.
Plan Goal #1
Design and implement a distinctive and compelling program
in spiritual and ethical education that
develops students who have learned to live an “Examined
Life,” characterized by dedication to critical thought,
openness to the Spirit, ethical development, and resilience.
Rationale
The phrase “Examined
Life” is drawn from Socrates’ axiom: “The
unexamined life is not worth living.” The goal of
such a life is to integrate a tough mind and a tender heart
with the result that our students go out into the world
as compassionate problem solvers enlightened by spiritual
discernment and are able to draw on the power of their intellect
to make moral and ethical decisions.
Strategies
• Integrate spiritual, ethical, and religious study throughout
the PS-12 curriculum with programs designed to teach critical
thinking skills, conflict resolution skills, and to support
problem-solving behavior.
• Provide on-going formal training and instruction for students
and faculty in ethical and moral development and leadership
that supports the centerpiece of spiritual and ethical education.
• Support the development of personal integrity, empathic
practice, openness to the Spirit, and moral leadership across
the community.
• Provide a structure in which spiritual insight can be examined
and can lead to action.
• Design a program supporting the development of resilience,
defined as “the capacity to face, overcome, and even
be transformed by adversity.”
• Pursue opportunities to publicize this program and have
it serve as a national model.
Plan Goal #2
Design and implement a unique and inspiring program in service
learning that teaches students
how to identify and meet community needs as well as intentionally
reflect on the underlying structure that creates or prevents
real change.
Rationale
Students learn best through
first-hand experience. In no area is this more the case
than in their gaining understanding of the problems and
needs of others through community service, often called
service learning. Students provide important assistance
to those in need and in the process, gain knowledge and
skills, advance their own personal development, and learn
how communities address problems and issues. This effort
will build upon and significantly enhance the school’s
existing community service program.
Strategies
• Create
a program in which each student can identify his or her
own areas of strength and interest as well as community
needs.
• Create opportunities to develop and demonstrate leadership
in community service by providing training for students
and teachers in leadership skills.
• Provide opportunities for MFS students to have the profound
experience of intensive, off-campus, service projects in
which they work closely with other MFS students in unfamiliar
settings.
• Create connections between students' service and the social
problems that make the service necessary.
• Require intentional reflection about service learning experiences
by each student as a foundation to examine themselves, their
society, and their future.
• Develop a plan to promote and communicate the service learning
program and have it serve as a national model.
Plan Goal #3
Enhance the level of
academic rigor at every level throughout Moorestown Friends
School.
Rationale
Moorestown Friends seeks
to serve students who are capable and are clearly college-bound.
The academic program does a very good job of preparing students
for college, a conviction buttressed by the surveys completed
by young alumni. This goal is aimed at increasing even further
the level of academic rigor for all students and particularly
for gifted students, helping them realize their full potential.
Strategies
• Study a variety of ways to offer accelerated courses including
Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and honors
courses and implement the programs that will work best for
MFS.
• Enhance the level of instruction and curriculum in foreign
language.
• Require
each academic department to develop a scope and sequence
for grades K to 12 to ensure cohesiveness throughout the
curriculum.
• Enhance the effectiveness of the college guidance department
in the preparation of students and families for the college
selection process.
• Implement programs to enhance student performance on college
entrance exams.
• Explore and implement other avenues for academic challenge
(on and off campus) outside of the school day including
competitive summer programs, contests and fairs, off-campus
and online academic courses, and travel.
• Improve the size and quality of the applicant pool.
Plan Goal #4
Increase the diversity of students and faculty at Moorestown
Friends School to a level
that compares favorably with that of other large Pre-school
through Grade 12 independent schools. Diversity in this
case includes race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic
status, and sexual orientation.
Rationale
The Mission Statement of
MFS makes a clear commitment to diversity, and the importance
and value of diversity is widely recognized by most independent
schools and especially by Friends schools. Serving students
from a wide range of backgrounds benefits all by sharing
the experience of an MFS education with underserved communities
and exposing the more privileged students to a more vibrant
mix of cultures and issues. For the same reasons, a diverse
student body is best served by an equally diverse faculty
and staff.
The annual Inquirer “Report
Card on Schools” reveals that the non-white student
population at MFS is greater than most independent schools
in the Philadelphia area. However, MFS has a lower proportion
of African-American and Hispanic students than most of our
peer schools.
Strategies
• Increase
the population of students of color by 5 percentage points
overall (to 30% of enrollment) with emphasis on increasing
the African-American and Hispanic population PS-12.
• Create
an environment of acceptance for gay and lesbian students,
faculty and families.
• Provide more inclusion education for students, faculty,
and parents.
• Develop a program to publicize the school's openness to
students of all faiths.
• Increase by at least one teacher per year the number of
faculty of color with emphasis on attracting males of color.
• Increase the Quaker population among students.
• Increase
financial aid to 15% of operating budget to attract a broader
socio-economic mix of students.
• Drop the current 50% cap on financial aid grants.
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110 E. Main Street Moorestown, NJ 08057-2949 Phone: (856) 235-2900