Strategic Growth Initiatives (SGIs)


Unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees, these strategic growth initiatives (SGIs) represent transformative areas of focus for the school in three key areas: Early Childhood Education, Creativity, and Access and Inclusion. Nearly 100 members of our community—trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, and parents/guardians—provided input that helped shape these initiatives to guide Evergreen's future. Work continues with a steering committee and three working groups, one for each initiative. Below, learn about progress so far, updates, and ongoing goals. 

Creativity

Educate students to develop the competence to engage productively and collaboratively with hard problems through the generation, testing, and improvement of ideas, effective solutions, and impactful expressions of imagination. 


The Why:

  • Creativity is a precursor to innovation and one of the most in-demand skills for the 21st century. 
  • Young children show great capacity for creativity and imagination, but this diminishes as children grow older and falls further still in adolescence. But, like critical thinking and approaching challenges with curiosity, creativity is a skill that can be taught and cultivated.
     

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Progress to Date:

The Creativity Committee began with a comprehensive literature review and visits to schools that focus on creativity, and progressed to crafting a working definition of creativity for Evergreen, implementing ongoing professional development for all faculty and staff, and working to develop a rubric to assess student creativity in classroom activities.  

 

Still to Come:

In addition to continuing professional development and implementing new systems for building in creativity throughout our program, the team is excited for another step. Once the new Early Childhood Center is built, we will renovate vacated spaces on the current campus specifically to support creative expression, potentially including visual arts gallery space and performance spaces. ​​

Early Childhood

To become a leader in the field of early childhood education (ECE) for highly capable students, Evergreen must stay current with best practices in the field and make meaningful investments in the program.

 

The Why:

  • The foundation for a child's development—cognitive, physical, social-emotional, and language and literacy—is established during these earliest years. 
  • High-quality early childhood education has profound impacts on student outcomes.
  • Taking a deep dive into our ECE program was long-planned and is now coming to fruition.  

 

 

Progress to Date:

Since 2022, when preschool and prekindergarten faculty began working with a nationally recognized ECE consultant, this team has made enormous progress. Some changes have already been implemented, among them creating an updated program philosophy statement, revisions to classroom layouts and outdoor spaces to optimize existing spaces, adjusting teacher schedules to improve joint team planning time, and enhanced professional development for teachers.  

But the joint conclusion of our consultant work and internal research supported Evergreen's plan to invest in Early Childhood with a new, dedicated building as well as a division head for the program. The division head will start at Evergreen in July 2025, and plans for the Early Childhood center are well underway. 


Still to Come:

In addition to the new spaces, professional development work continues for our early childhood educators, including the kindergarten teaching team as well, with a focus on documentation of student learning as part of deepening their understanding of the Reggio Emilio system.  

Access and Inclusion

All community members will experience a deep sense of belonging and will be able to gain full access to the Evergreen experience. This goal will ensure that when everyone can fully participate and feel included, all students can reach their full potential—and the community benefits as a result. 

The Why:

  • Every student who enrolls at Evergreen should have access to the full Evergreen experience, and access is predicated on each student having a genuine sense of inclusion and belonging. 
  • Then, students are empowered to engage fully in the life of the school, allowing them to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. 

 

 

Progress to Date:

Beginning with assessments and moving to identifying transformational actions, we have moved on to implementing recommendations. Evergreen has added a DEIB program manager, a BIPOC teaching fellowship, increased financial aid funds, begun the work of aligning SEL and DEI elements throughout the curriculum, and created a new DEIB Strategic Plan.
 

Still to Come:

Going forward, we will continue regular assessments, professional development, and education with our parent/guardian community, and we will continue to work through our list of transformational actions.