Skip To Main Content

Header Holder

Header Sticky

horizontal-nav

Breadcrumb

Strategic Plan

Montessori for a Changing World

Aidan’s strategic plan introduces ten strategic initiatives across four domains that are fundamental to Aidan’s ability to maintain its Montessori strengths and evolve to better meet the needs of all children in the community.

The domains are Community, Environment, Diversity and Inclusivity, and Talent. The last strategic plan, Aidan 2020, served as a valuable guide to investing in our Children, our Culture, and our Community and remaining committed to Montessori excellence. Its conclusion meant that it was time to once again step back and think deeply about the future vision for Aidan and the investments and work necessary to progress towards that vision.

Now, in Aidan’s 60th anniversary year and beyond, we look toward the next ten years with purpose and direction.

asd asd test test

Community

Aidan is both a home for families and a leader in the broader Montessori movement — so initiatives in this domain are focused on strengthening our internal school community and continuing to lead in our external community as well.

Both of these communities have changed over the last decade. Internally, the community of families at Aidan has diversified ethnically, racially, and economically, with more families enrolling in which both parents work outside of the home full-time. Externally, several public Montessori schools have opened in DC, and more children are enrolled in Montessori programs than ever before. Aidan will evolve to reflect these changes. The initiatives in this domain aim to better engage all families in the school, strengthen communications, and provide consistent visibility into children’s classrooms and the Montessori approach. Externally, Aidan aims to continue to learn and lead in the Montessori movement in DC and nationwide.

01

Enhance the Aidan community for families, focusing particularly on engaging new families and families with varying ability to devote time to school events; provide a consistent Aidan community experience for families with children across age bands.

02

Engage with the Montessori community in DC and beyond to learn and lead in the Montessori movement nationwide.

03

Focus and improve Aidan communications with families to ensure consistent visibility into child’s classroom activities, and to convey the ways Aidan incorporates and responds to family perspectives when making decisions.


Environment

Montessori education is founded upon self-directed experiential learning. Both prepared classroom environments indoors and access to the natural outdoors provide the parameters in which children’s curiosity blossoms and project-based learning happens. As an urban Montessori school in the heart of Woodley Park, Aidan is unique and must continue to find ways to deliver faithfully on the Montessori model while taking advantage of the rich opportunities the city has to offer. Aidan will continue to augment its access and use of both indoor and outdoor spaces to design the best possible Montessori environment for its students.

04

Augment students’ experiences by making targeted improvements to the current facility.

05

Enrich students’ Montessori learning by increasing access to and use of outdoor spaces.


Diversity & Inclusivity

At Aidan, we believe that educational excellence requires an inclusive and diverse community. We have long been committed to the principles of respect, equity, justice, humanity, peace, and personal responsibility. To prepare our students to be contributing members of the global community, we are strengthening our efforts to build a diverse family, student, faculty, and staff community, and to embrace and celebrate differences. We know the work of honoring diversity and opposing discrimination is never done, and we will work diligently and strategically to continue to improve.

06

Prepare all Aidan students to be productive members of society by further training staff for “teachable moments” and increasing the inclusiveness of school activities and events.

07

Incorporate supplemental materials into the learning experience in order to make it more inclusive while maintaining Montessori principles.

08

Invest in increasing the diversity of Aidan’s faculty and staff.


Talent

The highly-trained, experienced, enthusiastic, caring staff and faculty are the heart of the Aidan experience. Investing in attracting, retaining, and creating the best possible experience for Aidan’s talent is critical to Aidan’s nurturing and rigorous Montessori education.

09

Attract and retain the best possible Montessori talent.

10

Endeavor to always keep Montessori principles in mind when staff, faculty and administration engage in the work of the school.


Learn More about our 10 Strategic Initiatives

Thank you to our parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees who supported the development of Aidan’s new strategic plan by participating in surveys, interviews, and focus groups. We would also like to acknowledge the team at EdOps led by Natalia Bovkun and Vera Krimnus for their guidance throughout the strategic planning process. A special thanks to members of our Board Strategic Planning Committee, Strategic Planning Steering Committee, and Strategic Initiative Sub- Committees focused on Community, Environment, Diversity, and Talent.