It’s not just students who get report cards. Every seven years, our school is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS). At the end of the process, members of the visiting team of school leaders share a report with all employees and members of the Board of Trustees. Their report, grounded in a thorough review of our Self Study and three days visiting classrooms and interviewing community members on campus, outlines the school’s notable strengths and provides recommendations to help us further strengthen our program. Our moment of truth was the afternoon of Wednesday, February 12. The Visiting Team started by saying how gratifying it was to accredit a school with such a strong commitment to a shared vision and mission, and then they proceeded to provide an exceedingly positive report that affirmed what we have long known – Hillbrook is an extraordinary place for children and adults.
The process began in June 2019, when all faculty and staff spent a day together producing collective answers to several of the questions CAIS poses to school, including how our vision and mission play a role in major decision-making, what are some of the recurring ritual and traditions that are important to the school, and what would a team of campus anthropologists discover if they were to visit our campus. In total, the Self Study asks 120 generative questions of its member schools, challenging us to review our practices, and show our work, in five broad areas – institutional purpose and core values, teaching and learning, financial sustainability, operations, and institutional stewardship and leadership. Each section is an opportunity to share both our strengths and areas for growth, rooted in evidence of where the school has grown most over the last seven years and where we know we hope to still grow. Following a thorough review of this Self Study, members of the Visiting Team, all school leaders from other leading JK-8 schools around California, spent three days on campus, immersing themselves in our school and meeting with a broad range of community members, including faculty, staff, Board members, parents and students, all in an effort to see how our written reflections matched their on-the-ground assessments.
Their visit and review process will culminate in an official report to CAIS, which will be available to us later this year, the major points of which they read aloud this past week to all employees and several Board members. They led by sharing how inspiring it was to accredit a school that has such a strong shared vision, and is led by a team of school leaders, teachers, and staff members who approach their work in a calm, deliberate, and intentional manner that reflects a deep commitment to children and to the school. They were inspired by the teachers and students they met, and the overwhelming evidence of strong relationships and innovative, student-centered learning experiences that they saw across the grades.
A few of the specific takeaways they spoke to included:
- Everyone, from students and faculty to Junior and his team at Epicurean (our lunch and snack food service provider), live out our vision and values in ways that are immediately visible to visitors to our campus. They experienced a school where adults ask questions, share ideas and engage in productive exchanges that reflect an authentic effort to hear and be heard. A school where children run, fall down, take risks, use their voice, are kind and are the leaders of their own learning journey, connected richly in partnerships and projects that extend beyond campus.
- Myriad instances in which faculty challenge students to be their best. They remarked on the expertise of our teachers, who offer a well-differentiated curriculum in flexible environments that allow students to capitalize on their strengths. They noted that our teachers clearly know and value each child and recognize when to step in and push, and when to step back and allow for productive struggle. The learning experience was deliberately messy at times, and the depth of learning and the breadth of connections profound and palpable.
- Evidence of our commitment to respect and inclusion, with social-emotional learning woven throughout the curriculum. Students spoke about the care and kindness they experience each day on campus. A student shared how they were overwhelmed by the welcome they felt as a new member of the 6th grade, while another student shared that during a difficult personal time in their lives their teachers provided help before they even realized they needed it.
The visiting committee also applauded us for the strategic, innovative and reflective approach that we are taking in our approach to strategic planning and continuous improvement. They made a point of highlighting that we clearly had a strong track record of thoughtful change, driven by inclusive decision-making and a preference for growth over comfort, pointing in particular to the significant, positive changes that have emerged through Vision 2020, including the design and implementation of a new schedule, the growth of the Middle School, the strengthening of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the soon-to-be completion of the Hub. They shared that they had full confidence that we would respond thoughtfully and deliberately to the recommendations they provided for the next phase of our school’s journey. Those recommendations included:
- The establishment of assessment tools to evaluate the progress of key mission-based initiatives, including the integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion into every facet of Hillbrook’s program and operations, the impact of reach beyond programming on student learning, and integrating the work of the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship into our program.
- The development of further curriculum documentation that allows faculty and families to have clarity around Hillbrook grade level expectations, standards, and learning outcomes.
- The design and implementation of a professional growth model that builds upon our best-in-class professional development program and provides faculty with feedback and accountability for continuous improvement
- Sustained focus on growing the school’s endowment and major gift fundraising to support the school’s strategic priorities
- Support for continuing exploration of a Hillbrook Secondary School recognizing the value to students and families as well as the school’s ability to fully deliver on the promise of its vision and mission for all children.
Heartened by the reflective and thought-provoking self-study process, the visiting team’s time on campus, and their exceedingly positive report, we look forward to entering a strategic planning process during the next school year. This process will, as with the process for Vision 2020, create space for a broad range of community voices to help us identify the key strategic needs of the school and lay the foundation for future initiatives. Look out in the months ahead for more information about how you can participate in this exciting and important process.
The accreditation process and the report from the Visiting Committee provided a powerful affirmation of the exceptional work happening at Hillbrook, and a testament to the school’s longstanding commitment to being at the leading edge of independent schools with a clear focus on meeting our vision – to inspire students to achieve their dreams and reach beyond themselves to make a difference in the world. I am profoundly grateful to be part of this community.