26-27 Tactics

Learning with Purpose

1. Launch Signature Diploma Distinction: Design and launch Davidson Day’s signature Diploma Distinction Program to advance purpose-driven learning and differentiated student achievement.
2. Reimagine Schedule and Time to Enhance Teaching & Learning: Partner with K-12 Change Lab to lead a cross-divisional task force in developing core recommendations that optimize a schedule and calendar that support deeper learning.
3. Develop an Educational Technology Roadmap: Partner with ATLIS to develop a vertically-aligned ECH-12 educational technology roadmap grounded in age-appropriate learning enhancement, balance, creation over consumption, digital citizenship, and future-ready skill development.
4. Cultivate a Culture of Civil Discourse: Formalize partnership with Davidson College’s Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI) to provide Upper School students with structured practice in dialogue, deliberation, and principled civic engagement.
5. Embed Executive Function Wheel and Metacognition in ECH-12: Integrate the Executive Function Wheel and metacognition practices into the ECH-12 curriculum to cultivate reflective, self-directed learners across all grade levels.
6. Develop a Future-Ready Parent Task Force: Establish a school-wide task force to research emerging workforce trends and define competencies that will inform a world and work-ready Portrait of a Graduate. Participants will include parents, trustees, alumni, and industry experts, etc. 
7. ACES Talent Framework: Establish the ACES framework (Accountability, Compensation, Evaluation, and Support), including the development of a Portrait of an Educator, aligned evaluation systems, and a mission-driven compensation model.
8. Launch College Advisory Board: Utilize college/university admission professionals’ expertise to enhance and strengthen curriculum design, college counseling strategy, and relationship building.

Growing with Character

1. Codify and Strengthen Upper School Advisory: Leverage expert practitioners to codify, refine, and elevate the Upper School Advisory Program, with a fully revised advisory model and implementation system ready for launch AY27-28. 
2. Develop a Wellness & Character Assessment Tool: Design and implement a research-informed assessment tool to measure key non-cognitive indicators of wellness, resilience, and character development. 
3. Establish Honor Code & Freedom of Expression Framework: Partner with the authors of E.E. Ford’s Thriving in a World of Pluralistic Contention and Davidson College’s Institute for Public Good to develop and adopt a new School Honor Code and Freedom of Expression Statement. 
4. Strengthen Our Service Learning Program: Design and implement a cohesive, mission-aligned Service Learning framework that centers authentic experiences while deepening students’ sense of purpose, civic responsibility, and community engagement across divisions.
5. Launch Parent Education Symposium: In partnership with Dr. Denise Pope and Stanford University’s Challenge Success program, design a parent education symposium grounded in the SPACE framework to strengthen parent partnership and student wellbeing.
6. Develop a Curriculum of Character: Drawing from the research and frameworks of thought leaders Angela Duckworth and Marc Brackett, design and begin implementation of a comprehensive Curriculum of Character focused on gratitude, kindness, honesty, purpose, social intelligence, and emotional intelligence.
7. Embed CORE Values in Patriot Pal Program: Redesign the Patriot Pals cross-divisional mentorship program to intentionally align with the school’s CORE values and Curriculum of Character.

Investing for the Future

1. Develop Comprehensive Enrollment Management Plan: Utilizing NAIS Market View research, design and implement a comprehensive Enrollment Management Plan that establishes strategic enrollment targets, strengthens market positioning, and codifies new policies and procedures governing tuition assistance to ensure mission alignment and long-term financial sustainability.
2. Conduct Comprehensive Campus Space Audit: Lead a full campus space audit to assess current utilization, identify opportunities for increased instructional square footage, and develop a strategic plan to optimize and actualize campus capacity in alignment with enrollment growth goals.
3. Explore Strategic Space Partnerships (Grades 7–12 Emphasis): Identify and evaluate partnership opportunities in close proximity to Davidson Day that expand classroom capacity and learning environments, with particular emphasis on grades 7 through 12.
4. Establish Longitudinal Alumni Outcomes Program: Design and implement a comprehensive longitudinal tracking system beginning with the senior exit interview and extending through higher education and the first five years of graduates’ careers to assess preparedness, persistence, and post-secondary impact.
5. Modernize Safety & Security Systems: Continue to conduct a comprehensive yearly review of school safety and security systems and implement updated protocols, infrastructure improvements, and training procedures to ensure a proactive, layered approach to on and off-campus safety practices.
6. Publish 1803 Mecklenburg Hwy Property Overview: Develop and publish a definitive overview of the property located at 1803 Mecklenburg Hwy that presents a factual historical account and clearly articulates the School’s current position and strategic perspective regarding the property.