2022-2027 Strategic Plan for Norwood School

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Our Priorities for the Future

Equip Norwood students with the tools to become empathetic, ethical, and self-aware leaders who contribute meaningfully to their communities.

List of 5 items.

  • 1. Fortify Norwood’s identity as a national thought leader for child-centered PK-8 education.

    • Clearly articulate and strategically communicate what child-centered education embodies at Norwood and how students are known and supported throughout their individual development arc.
    • Leverage Norwood’s new, state-of-the-art Marriott Early Childhood Building to facilitate the development of training, research, and curriculum initiatives for the early childhood education field.
    • Strengthen and celebrate middle school student milestones to engrain the middle school tradition at Norwood as a unique and culminating achievement.
    • Elevate and expand Norwood’s existing arts and athletics programs to become signature components of Norwood’s child-centered curriculum.
  • 2. Engrain Norwood’s commitment to diversity, equity, and belonging into the fabric of the community.

    • Ensure a holistic approach to the school environment with meaningful cultural proficiency, connection, and authenticity to support each student’s well-being, personal identity development, and full potential.
    • Identify and create additional on-ramps to the Norwood community to equitably reflect the diversity of communities in which we serve students and families.
    • Broaden our communication strategy around diversity, equity, and belonging to establish more channels for dialogue within our school community.
  • 3. Leverage our expansive campus as an outdoor classroom and learning lab further elevating Norwood to a regional leader in environmental education.

    • Enhance Norwood’s science curriculum to integrate environmental stewardship more deeply throughout each student’s academic journey.
    • Design and create classroom and activity spaces that provide hands-on learning experiences for students of all ages and for all subjects. 
    • Develop and implement new opportunities to incorporate renewable energies that move Norwood toward a net-zero carbon footprint.
  • 4. Position Norwood as a premier educational employer by offering compelling compensation, benefits, and professional growth opportunities that meet the needs of our faculty and staff.

    • Foster a professional culture that is attentive to faculty and staff work-life balance and provides an equity of responsibilities and opportunities.
    • Focus on compensation and benefits for faculty and staff through a holistic audit to identify areas of opportunity and priority. 
    • Align the professional development program with the goal of lifelong learning to ensure continuous professional advancement throughout a Norwood career.
  • 4. Develop long-term sustainable systems that will propel Norwood’s mission, strong PK-8 reputation, and financial foundation.

    • Maintain the strong culture of philanthropy and sustained giving within the Norwood community to support reinvestment in faculty, facilities, and financial aid.
    • Increase and diversify non-tuition sources of revenue to facilitate ongoing programmatic innovation.
    • Evaluate Norwood’s current marketing and enrollment management strategy to identify new areas of prospective student engagement and elevate Norwood’s public profile as the PK-8 leader.
Located in Bethesda, MD, Norwood School develops students in grades PK-8 into confident lifelong learners who have the academic, character, and leadership skills to succeed in high school and beyond. Recognizing that children are multi-faceted, Norwood provides many opportunities for safe risk-taking, exploration, discovery, and growth in a nurturing, supportive, and inclusive school community.