Goal 1 - Montclair Kimberley Academy

Goal 1: Program

MKA will transform the lives of our students by providing a program that: focuses on growth-minded development of the whole person; develops students’ curiosity, creativity, discovery, innovation, and ability to analyze and inquire; enhances students’ understanding of varied and multicultural perspectives; and encourages students to use their education to positively engage with the world.

Implementation Goals

Design and transform program at MKA to provide new types and levels of challenge for MKA students

Define and develop a Pre-K-12 multicultural curriculum that reflects and affirms the identities of our students and provide professional development to the faculty to support implementation

The committee’s leaders attended the NJAIS Diversity Institute at the Pennington School during the summer of 2019 as well as the Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice at Fairleigh Dickinson University. They used these professional development experiences, in conjunction with other research about best practices with multicultural curriculum, to plan and produce a new Summer Institute for MKA teachers, the Multicultural Education Institute, held in late August. The institute will afford faculty an extended period of time to engage in multicultural curricular practice in a collaborative setting.

Multicultural Committee

Multicultural Committee

Identify, evaluate, and advance the STEM or STEAM experiences and opportunities at MKA

The STEM or STEAM Strategic Planning group has worked to define what the terms STEM and STEAM mean at MKA. Because these terms have many meanings and associations, it is important to clarify how MKA defines them before considering specific implementation goals.

STEM or STEAM Committee

STEM or STEAM Committee

Continue to integrate sustainability concepts and practices into the curriculum and community life

In the beginning of April 2019, a group with committee representatives from each campus traveled to St. Paul, MN to attend the Green Schools Conference. Here, they picked up valuable ideas and approaches from schools around the country. Members also attended a workshop with Brian Dunbar from Colorado State University on the Whole School Sustainability framework being used for the Strategic Plan recommendations (Brian is a potential excellent outside consultant that could help MKA streamline and coordinate our sustainability efforts).

Sustainability Committee

Sustainability Committee

Highlight and support the structures and processes that promote creative and strategic program design at MKA

This committee is meeting to generate content toward achieving this goal.

Strategic Design Committee

Strategic Design Committee

From Collaboration to Innovation

At MKA, the how is often as important as the what. That’s one reason MKA always seems to be in motion – we collaborate constantly and generatively and then innovation follows

Foundation for Lifelong Learning

"An education at MKA is the foundation for critical thinking, authentic inquisitiveness, and exploring a variety of learning [and] teaching styles."

-Drew Jennings '04