Invests Includes Includes Home
Invests Inspires Includes Home
Invests Inspires Includes Home
Invests Inspires Includes Home

Welcome to Urban Thrives 2030, Urban School’s new strategic plan. Recently approved by the Board of Trustees, the plan is the culmination of many months of analysis and discussion. Urban Thrives 2030 identifies fundamental priorities, and is both a guide for the school’s continued evolution and a living, breathing document, open to revision to meet changing times and priorities.

Urban Thrives 2030  |  Urban Includes

URBAN INCLUDES

  • Continue to advance the recruitment, support, and retention of a diverse range of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees across a broad spectrum of identities.
  • Provide tuition and non-tuition assistance to 30% or more of the student body while maintaining an average tuition award of 67% and support across a range of demonstrated need.
  • Continue to evaluate evolving non-tuition expenses for students receiving financial assistance and streamline/reinforce distribution processes.
  • Enhance regular and ongoing equity-focused professional development for faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees.
  • Evaluate and enrich the integration of culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy across disciplines and grade levels.
  • Reinforce and increase familiarity with existing core values, policies, and practices related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) through strategic communication to all school constituencies.
  • Develop and integrate transformative justice practices and responses to address moments of exclusion and cultural insensitivity.
  • Develop and deploy regular, formative tools for assessing the efficacy of our DEIB-focused programming and policies across all constituent groups.
  • Regularly assess budgetary needs to support DEIB-related programming and goals.
Urban Thrives 2030  |  Urban Inspires

URBAN INSPIRES

  • Evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of the four- and five-day academic schedule including instructional time, pacing, homework load, and opportunities for community gathering and advisory periods.
  • Develop multidisciplinary electives that challenge departmental silos and foster experiential learning within and beyond the traditional classroom.
  • Evaluate and enhance academic and co-curricular programming to best support the transition of new students academically and socially.
  • Assess and reimagine the optimal role of internal committee and meeting structures to further curricular vision and implementation.
  • Develop a comprehensive curriculum mapping system to evaluate scope and sequence within and across departments.
  • Cultivate and model for students the ability to consider and empathize with differing viewpoints, individually and collectively.
  • Seek further opportunities and means to cultivate and sustain students’ sense of agency and engagement in broader social issues, within and beyond the Service Learning curriculum.
  • Assess and enhance existing programming and curriculum that supports the emotional and social well-being of students.
  • Further boost community spirit and engagement through tradition-building and school-wide celebrations.
  • Assess and integrate AI as a tool to support existing institutional and pedagogical priorities.
Urban Thrives 2030  |  Urban Invests

URBAN INVESTS

  • Design and initiate an endowment campaign to support the school’s mission-driven priorities, particularly financial assistance and employee compensation.
  • Develop a consistent benchmarking mechanism to evaluate and support staff and administration compensation while sustaining competitive faculty compensation relative to peer schools.
  • Elevate alumni participation and engagement in the school’s fundraising initiatives, including the creation of a planned giving program.
  • Evaluate and complete relocation/repurposing of available space to include additional classrooms, offices, and a fitness center.
  • Assess demographic trends, marketplace perceptions, and potential marketing strategies through regular use of independent, external consulting.
  • Deepen/develop Urban’s institutional relationships with local non-profits and neighborhood organizations.
  • Explore expansion of summer programming for both marketing purposes and non-tuition revenue.