Many independent schools struggle to maintain momentum in faculty professional growth as the academic year draws to a close. Traditionally, evaluations exacerbate initiative fatigue and don't have dedicated time and space for meaningful reflection.
Kim Chaloner, Dean of Faculty at Grace Church School (NY), identified three challenges her school sought to address after joining Folio Collaborative in 2020:
🌱 A Need to Decouple Evaluation from Growth: The school aimed to shift away from a traditional model where professional development was conflated with evaluation, seeking a platform where they could truly focus on the "goals and aspirations of our teachers."
😩 Cognitive Overload: We decided to select one theme for faculty to focus on, and ask for only one goal to be defined each year, helping us both focus on aligning school-wide initiatives, and on supporting teachers in honing in on one goal with more depth and time to process.
⏰ The Year-End Crash: Faculty often feel the year "doesn't wind down; it winds up," which results in end-of-year meetings for which faculty are arriving already drained of energy. This pressure means reflections are often forgotten until the last minute.
Grace Church School needed to intentionally design an end-of-year gathering that helped faculty feel that their reflections are purposeful, and that their ideas and contributions are a part of what makes our community cohesive. For Kim, this was about creating the space to reflect, celebrate wins, and recognize the time and effort everyone at Grace Church put into their personal growth plans that year.
