The Bush School

Strategic FrameworkA Path to a New Century

Overview

Building on Bush’s core values, the strategic framework articulates aspirations for building on the school’s 100-year old tradition of experiential education. The five strategic priorities incorporate how we relate to one another and the world as a K-12 community, focusing on students' intellectual growth and emotional health, as well as deeply investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental sustainability.

Background

The 2021-2025 Strategic Framework modifies The Bush School’s previous framework (2018-2020) and updates our priorities to extend through 2025, the year of the school’s Centennial. The strategic framework identifies the most salient areas to address as a school to ensure immediate and long term success. 
 
The framework serves as a guide for the school’s leadership to build a measurable action plan. With the school’s values and students at its center, the framework is flexible and responsive.

The process for creating this framework was led by the Board’s Strategic Planning Task Force. Engaging with constituents from across the Bush community, the task force reviewed climate surveys and listened to students, faculty and staff, parents/guardians, alumni, the senior leadership team, and Trustees. The task force analyzed qualitative and quantitative feedback and hosted conversations with key constituents to craft a forward-focused strategic framework anchored in a deep love for our school. 

The school’s strategic priorities incorporate the voices of The Bush School — our aspirations, ambitions, and vision for the future. The 2021-2025 Strategic Framework calls on the school to inspire learners, elevate experiential education, build and nurture community, create dynamic learning environments, and cultivate and steward resources. 

Embedded within each priority area is a commitment to how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) informs teaching, learning, community engagement, as well as operational, governance, and fiduciary practices. Our health as a school depends on our fulfilling this commitment.

In addition, we have a moral and ethical obligation for the preservation and care of the natural, non-human world. We will emphasize environmental sustainability in the design and construction of our campuses and in our educational programs.

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Inspire Learners

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  • We will teach students to develop empathy, to think critically, listen actively, and self-advocate.

    Goals
    • Teach students to engage in a diverse community of learners 
    • Support student wellness and emotional health, providing resources to help them navigate today’s world
    • Amplify student voice and agency, educating students to lead by making a difference in the world
    • Use leading pedagogical strategies to make curriculum accessible to neurodiverse students 
    • Identify opportunities realized through the COVID-19 pandemic to nimbly meet the needs of learners through future crises 

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Elevate Experiential Education

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Build and Nurture Community

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  • We will build relationships and community while prioritizing support for ethnic/racial, LGBTQIA+, and socioeconomic diversity to honor all voices.

    Goals
    • Commit to supporting ethnic/racial, LGBTQIA+, and socioeconomic diversity and a sense of belonging among families and students
    • Connect and build relationships for K-12 students and faculty across all three divisions
    • Celebrate the school’s Centennial; actively engage our broader community; tell the history of Bush through diverse voices; meaningfully engage the community to cultivate a closer connection to the school
    • Build robust learning opportunities in the community to serve as an educational resource throughout Seattle and the Methow Valley 
    • Include Board representation from the range of ethnic/racial, LGBTQIA+, and socioeconomic diversity, from the Methow community, from recent alums, and from non-parents as well as past and current parents

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Create Dynamic Learning Environments

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  • We will optimize space, design, and place to create connectivity and flexibility for an exceptional student experience.

    Goals
    • Create and envision learning spaces on the Seattle and Methow campuses and beyond that align with and enhance the evolving needs of experiential education
    • Ensure that current and new spaces supported by the Board Campus Design and Development Committee result in dynamic centers of learning for inquiry-based, experiential programming
    • Embrace the two campuses and communities around them as essential spaces and opportunities for teaching and learning
    • Strive to make our campus and planet healthy and sustainable

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Cultivate and Steward Resources

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  • We will ensure a solid financial foundation for a diverse, engaged, and robust learning community and environment.

    Goals
    • Develop a long-term financial plan to chart a path for a healthy, sustainable financial future that also allows the school to achieve various elements of the strategic plan
    • Sustain commitment to a need-based financial aid program, which includes tuition and cost of attendance items, making a Bush education accessible to students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds while also cultivating an equitable and inclusive school culture
    • Review and revise the existing Education Master Plan to address short and long term campus needs within the context of a 5-10 year resource projection
    • Ensure that compensation is competitive with regional and national peer schools in order to attract and retain a diverse and talented faculty and staff
    • Ensure that our resource investment and allocation reflects our mission, values, and strategic priorities while allowing for flexibility to adapt to the school’s evolving needs

Mission

To spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities

VALUES

Invite Perspectives, Blaze Trails, Nurture an Open Mind, Cultivate Community

Vision

The Bush School is committed to preparing students to lead purposeful lives, setting them on a path to change the world. Founded on the principles of progressive education, our experiential program inspires students to drive inquiry, actively engaging their teachers, curricula, and environment.

Educational Foundations

  • Critical, independent, and creative thinking
  • Ethical judgment and action
  • Intercultural fluency
  • Local and global citizenship
The Bush School
The Bush School is an independent, coeducational day school located in Seattle, WA enrolling 735 students in grades K–12. The mission of The Bush School is to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities

3400 East Harrison Street, Seattle WA 98112 (206) 322-7978
The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment, recruitment, admissions, or administration of any of its programs on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. In addition, The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment on the basis of age or marital status
© 2022  The Bush School