GOAL - STUDENTS & EMPLOYEES
Friends Connects students and teachers. We will provide our students with a personalized and transformative education alongside a talented and diverse group of educators.
A Friends School education has always been characterized by transformational learning. In the years ahead, we will continue to be on the leading edge of the national and global conversation about the art and science of learning.
On-going research in brain-based learning, classroom practices, technology, and teaching methods will inform the daily work of teachers and students. Time-honored Quaker principles such as mindfulness, reflection, and deep listening have created an enduring foundation onto which these findings can be added. Through the initiatives associated with Friends Connects, we will further personalize the learning experience of our students and adults, to give them the ability to pursue areas of particular passion, and to make learning relevant and meaningful every day.
As a part of Friends Connects, we will take the necessary steps to create a desirable and compelling professional environment for highly skilled, curious, diverse, and innovative educators.
And, in order to provide our students and faculty with the richest possible environment for learning and growth, we will redouble our efforts to cultivate a campus community that is inclusive both in demographics and in mindset.
INITIATIVES
In 2017, Friends School of Baltimore became one of the first group of public, charter, and private schools in the world to enter into a three-year Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy partnership with the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. As the only Baltimore-area partner school, Friends now commits itself to making research-informed teaching and learning the central focus of faculty professional development, curriculum, and program design. Each summer, Friends School teachers and leaders attend a five-day Academy that features leading university researchers in Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) science on topics such as memory, emotion and cognition, mindsets, and neuroanatomy as it relates to learning.
As a partner school for the Academy, Friends School teachers and school leaders participate in a research study designed by the Science of Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University and become members of the Neuroteach Network; educators from around the world who are seeking to enhance how they design their classes and work with each individual student using research-informed strategies in the field of Mind, Brain, and Education Science.
Friends School of Baltimore is excited to be named a partner school of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL), winner of the 2016 International Mind Brain Education Society Mission Award. As the only Baltimore-area partner school, Friends now commits itself to making research-informed teaching and learning the central focus of faculty professional development, curriculum, and program design.
RESEARCH AND DESIGN (R&D) TEAM WORK
Enhanced Benefits: this group has been working to define the benefits provided by the school and to helop educate both current and prospective employees about these benefits.
School within a School: this group has been investigating more targeted ways to support students, and is examining various models in Baltimore and other Quaker Institutions.
Personalized Education: this group is researching and designing ways to personalize learning across all three divisions.
TASK FORCES
Inspired Task Force: this group is working to build a culture of responsible dialogue on campus that will both model best practices for building and sustaining community, as well as prepare the School for fuller engagement in wider civic conversations.
Brain-Based Learning Task Force: this group is responsible for furthering the faculty’s knowledge and use of research-informed teaching practices based on what we know about how the brain works through professional development sessions and sharing resources.
Schedule Task Force: this group is responsible for facilitating the defining, prototyping, and testing that’s necessary for the creation of a whole school schedule.
Racial Awareness Task Force: this group is responsible for creating a program that will develop campus-wide understanding around foundational language and skill development around the identifier of race, as well as developing a racial equity lens that can be applied by faculty and students.
Sustainability: this group is responsible for producing a multi-year Sustainability Strategic Plan, contributing to the Campus Garden Plan, as well as building relationships across campus to increase awareness of the school’s sustainability practices.
Quaker Curriculum: The Quaker Principles Committee is guiding a process to design a comprehensive curriculum in Quakerism for the Friends School community.
