Parker is undergoing administrative changes with the addition in Fall of a new Teaching and Learning Council (TLC). The council will be composed of teachers and administrators throughout the school with the main goal to create a more structured and similar curriculum across each grade, according to Principal Dan Frank. It will contribute to achieving the three main goals outlined in the newly adopted Strategic Plan, which paves the way for the future of the school.  Interim Upper School Head and Assistant Principal Ruth Jurgensen will oversee the council.

Goal one is to provide outstanding progressive education. Goal two is to widen access to a Parker education for all students. Goal three is establish structures and resources that will sustain and enrich Parker’s ability to implement goals one and two.

Principal Dan Frank informed the community through email, prior to Christmas break, that the TLC will be created over the next year. The purpose is to provide a forum where all of the primary academic leaders of the school can meet to work toward implementing the three goals of the Strategic Plan.

Currently, department chairs meet regularly to discuss curriculum, but there is no central forum in which the department chairs and other key administrators, such as the principal, assistant principal, division heads, Directors of Studies for both the Middle and Upper School, and the Technology, Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship for Society (TIDES) and Diversify Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Domain co-chairs can join together and share ideas.

The TLC is a way to bring everyone together, according to Frank, and “to make sure that the TIDES initiative that cuts across grade levels and departments and the DEI coordinators, who cut across grade level and departments aren’t siloed,” Frank said. “And are not separate from those major conversations of teaching and learning.”  The council is meant to be “where all good things come together,” Frank said. The educational leaders of Parker will talk and share ideas and initiate changes across all grade levels. Everyone will work together for consistent change.

Frank explained that Jurgensen’s responsibilities as the leader of the council will include overseeing the educational programming of the school. She will aim to ensure that the programming is organized and responsive to the needs of the students. In addition, she will oversee communication with all faculty and administrators.

The council will also aim at making sure that the curriculum offerings and in particular, the subject areas, are consistent across the different divisions of the school. Subcommittees maybe formed at some point for other people to get involved, such as students and parents, according to Frank.

The different components of the council will “grow organically” over time, Frank explained.