Strategic Plan 2025-2030

List of 6 items.

• OUTDOOR EDUCATION

  The newly formalized outdoor education program at Annie Wright will invite our community to leave behind the online world and venture into the wondrous Pacific Northwest. Within local forests, along distant shorelines, and under wide open skies, our students will discover not only the natural world but their own strength, curiosity, and courage. They will develop the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the wilderness, working together to travel farther than they imagined possible. Families will see their children return with increased confidence and a deeper sense of connection to nature, others, and themselves. For AWS employees, the outdoors will become a stage for inspired teaching and authentic relationships, creating an education that prepares students for lives of purpose, resilience, and stewardship.
  
  

  1. Prior to the start of the 2026–2027 school year, develop a strategic plan for Annie Wright Outdoors that maps the growth of the program over the course of the next five years.
  2. To complement the outdoor offerings currently available to Upper School students, the school will begin offering outdoor opportunities for students (and families) in the Lower and Middle Schools.
  3. Launch the “Extreme GOAT Summer Experience” through which participating students adventure into the world, tackling particularly unique, rigorous, and memorable outdoor experiences.
  4. With a site now identified, develop a roadmap for AWS to acquire a wilderness property.

• FOSTER A CULTURE OF WELLNESS

  Wellness is the foundation upon which learning best occurs, and strong communities are healthy communities. Recognizing these two truths, AWS develops in its students and employees the self-awareness to identify their mental, physical, and emotional needs and the confidence to find and utilize tools that address these needs. This occurs through intentionally designed wellness curricula, guidance, and support provided by highly-skilled professionals, and state-of-the-art wellness facilities. The end goal is a resilient community, one that values and embraces holistic health.
  
  

  1. AWS will conduct a thorough review of the role technology plays within the life of a student’s AWS experience and generate a report on how, when, and where technology best supports, and where it potentially hinders, student development. In this review, AWS will outline a way to more intentionally partner with parents to inform them on best practices regarding a student’s at-home technology use.
  2. Acknowledging that school becomes more sedentary as students get older, AWS will launch a physical activity initiative that ensures consistent physical activity for all students Grades 6-12. In this program, the School will consider how to utilize (or repurpose) current outdoor spaces to serve as “playgrounds” for MS and US students.
  3. Ensure a continued commitment to supporting students’ mental health. This includes, but is not limited to, excellent on-campus staffing, a continued partnership with a third-party counseling group, and the effective integration of SEL programming into a student’s AWS experience.
  4. Articulate a set of “character education standards” to which all AWS students will be held accountable for upholding.
  5. Evaluate the current Health & Wellness (“holistic health”) offerings at the school—such as mental health, nutrition, physical activity, etc.—and work to solidify them into a cohesive and comprehensive scope and sequence.

• MAKE OUR STRONG ACADEMIC PROGRAM STRONGER

  Annie Wright Schools' academic program has long proven effective at serving its students. Such strength is borne from an exceptional faculty, the International Baccalaureate program, and a deeply held institutional belief that all students are capable of achievement. To extend this excellence, the school will advance its commitment to best practices in teaching and learning, impactful adult-student relationships, strategic academic partnerships, and purposeful travel-based experiences.
  
  

  1. The Learning Support Team will investigate and recommend for adoption an approach to pedagogical differentiation that will be embraced school-wide and infused into the professional development received by all AWS faculty.
  2. Form a Board-led task force to determine school-wide guidelines and expectations that ensure a consistent curricular and pedagogical approach to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) throughout a student’s academic experience.
  3. Recognizing that the foundation of academic success is built upon a set of basic behaviors, AWS will identify and articulate these behaviors and then assess students’ ability to consistently demonstrate these behaviors.
  4. Develop a system that tracks AWS alumni as they progress through college and beyond. This work will focus on, among other things, college-readiness, academic performance, social confidence, extra-curricular participation, pursuit of advanced degrees, and employment outcomes.
  5. Design academic enrichment opportunities for students across the school who want to push beyond their current academic levels, particularly in reading, math, and science.

• ENSURE THE SCHOOLS' THRIVABILITY

  In its 142nd year of operation, Annie Wright finds itself in a position of strength, a strength that cannot be taken for granted. The school must remain committed to those practices that generated this strength: delivering an excellent education to students, hiring and retaining an exceptional faculty and staff, managing the school’s finances effectively and strategically, addressing physical plant and campus needs, reducing dependency on tuition dollars, and ensuring strong relationships with key constituencies, most particularly its alumni.
  
  

  1. Recognizing that AWS’ strength is in no small part borne from the generosity of those who came before, and also recognizing tomorrow’s strength must involve the generosity of those today, the school will significantly increase participation in “Heritage Society,” its planned giving program.
  2. Draft a report that identifies the direct steps (and associated costs) the school could take to become more environmentally sustainable, particularly those investments that would provide long-term financial savings.
  3. Identify potential actions that could be taken to mitigate against the most likely institutional risks the school will face in the next decade, such as an economic downturn, a natural disaster, rising home prices, instability in the international market, etc.
  4. Leveraging the School’s facilities and expertise, AWS will investigate, and potentially launch, initiatives that generate value for the community and revenue for the school.

• ENGAGE THE TACOMA COMMUNITY AND WIDER WORLD

  The relationship between Annie Wright Schools and Tacoma began with the school’s founding in 1884. Over the last 142 years, our students have learned from, and alongside, the Tacoma community. It is our privilege and our responsibility to nurture community intersections and partnerships that serve our families, as well as those families with whom we share our city. Such connections serve to broaden horizons, develop appreciation for all communities, and help students see that addressing global challenges starts with taking local action. Whether venturing into the neighborhoods of Tacoma or the major cities of the world, the awareness gained at AWS equips students with empathy for the human experience and curiosity for the human story.
  
  

  1. Develop a community-focused Upper School elective class, modeled after the Realize Tacoma summer program, that allows students to learn directly about and from the Tacoma community.
  2. Given the historical and cultural significance local tribes play both in the South Sound region and in the curricular experience of AWS students, AWS will explore ways to formalize and deepen its tribal connections and the support it provides to its native students.
  3. Utilizing its off-campus housing options and its deep connections with local nonprofits, AWS will launch “AnnieCorps” (in the spirit of AmeriCorps), providing recent college graduates (and AWS alumni) an opportunity to both support Tacoma’s most pressing needs and to facilitate involvement for current AWS community members in these nonprofits.
  4. The school will remain committed to vibrant internationalism by enhancing and maturing its current programming (Global Alliance, Language-Based Exchange Partners, etc.) and actively seeking new opportunities (AWS Pyeongtaek) that bring mission-aligned value to the school.
  5. Institute a “community engagement” graduation requirement, thus ensuring that all Upper School students invest in learning from and with their local communities.
  6. Create community engagement “teams,” each of which supports a different Tacoma non-profit organization through monthly volunteer service. Participation on a team would be available to any member of the AWS community.

• ENHANCE A CULTURE OF BELONGING

  As the school works to build a culture of belonging, it looks to its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mission Statement. Part reality, part aspiration, this statement provides clarity around the culture Annie Wright wants to foster—a culture where members feel a sense of belonging, where their voices are heard, and where they feel valued for their individual and collective contributions. To accomplish this, the school actively works to identify those within the community who are (and are not) thriving, tailoring specific initiatives, policies, and actions to improve outcomes and experience for all students. The strength of AWS should be enjoyed by all who stand within our walls. Committing to a culture of belonging works to do just that.
  
  

  1. With the first cohort of Tacoma Scholars now in college, the school will develop and deliver effective programming that supports these students through their undergraduate years and into their first post-college job.
  2. Clearly articulate how “belonging” is understood and assessed, for students, faculty, and staff, at AWS and remain stalwart in working to ensure a sense of belonging permeates the AWS experience.
  3. After the successful development of the Student Thrivability Measure, bring the same data-driven approach to understanding which groups of AWS employees are thriving and, more importantly, which are not.
  4. AWS will adopt an approach by which on-campus professional development targets specific thrivability issues surfaced by Divisions and Departments.
  5. While a quantitative analysis of the AWS experience is critical, it is equally important to hear the experiences and stories of community members to ensure the data isn’t masking broader concerns. To best do this, AWS will develop the practice of conducting third-party “empathy interviews” with students, faculty, and staff.