Frequently exchanged at New Year, the blessing 望子成龙 wàng zĭ chéng lóng “May Your Child Become a Dragon” wishes a life of success for your child. With the hard-won wisdom that comes from four decades of pioneering Mandarin immersion, CAIS is distinctly positioned to define just what success looks like. Through decades of groundbreaking work in Chinese immersion, we have evolved from basic markers and metrics of success to a nuanced view of the whole child and, importantly, how they will make a difference in the world. These lessons and community insights have led not only to the directives outlined in this Strategic Vision, they have also informed the evolution of our Mission and the codification of Core Values.
Community-wide Process
Upon successful completion of the 2014–18 Strategic Vision, CAIS had seen tremendous progress and growth (including the creation of a new Middle School campus). Reflecting on having fulfilled the promise of that vision, the CAIS community looked to the future emboldened with an energized feeling of “What next?” Working closely with consultant Bill Jackson and the Board of Trustees, Head of School Jeff Bissell crafted a thoughtful, expansive, and inclusive process to tackle this heady question and build on the school’s enormous momentum and strength.
In addition to scores of individual meetings with CAIS faculty and parents, the Strategic Vision process included the creation of a Vision Advisory Team with representatives from key constituencies (trustees, parents, teachers, administrators, staff, alumni, current students and even a peer educator). The Vision Advisory Team met monthly to review the Strategic Vision as it progressed and provide a vital sounding board for Jeff Bissell and the Board of Trustees. The entire community was invited to participate in a Strategic Vision Roundtable and in surveys. A number of deans at area high schools were interviewed to learn what qualities they saw in our students and what attributes were important to the institutions where our alumni will move on to after CAIS.
The firehose of valuable data that streamed in from these sources was funneled through successive rounds of review with the Vision Advisory Team, the Educational Leadership Team, faculty meetings, and the Board of Trustees. We are proud of our thoughtful, dedicated community and we hope that you see some of yourself and your contributions in this Strategic Vision. With the strength of experience and incredible community input, we are uniquely positioned to reimagine what success looks like. As illustrated by our Core Values, we have even reimagined dragons. 望子成龙 indeed!
重新构思中美，重新构思成功
过年时，大家经常说 “望子成龙”，意思就是希望自己的子女能在将来有成就。拥有四十年的中文沉浸式教学得来不易的智慧，中美很有资格给成功下定义。数十年来在中文沉浸式教育领域的不断创新，我们对成功的看法已经从基本的衡量标准演变为重视整个孩子的成长过程，更重要的是，重视他们将来能如何贡献给这个世界。这些累积的经验和社区成员的见解不仅帮助我们拟定了“策略愿景”中的方针，而且还进一步的为我们的办学宗旨带来新的面貌，更制定了中美的核心价值观 在成功完成《2014-18年策略愿景》后，中美获得了长足的进步与成长（包括建立了新的中学校园）。兑现了对此愿景的承诺，中美社区热烈地期待 “我们的下一步是什么？” 校长Jeff Bissell与顾问Bill Jackson以及中美理事会密切合作，打铁趁热，充分利用学校的广大资源，精心设计了一个周全、广泛而包容的流程，来研讨这个重要的问题。 除了与家长和教职员举行的个别会议之外，此“策略愿景”流程还包括成立 “愿景咨询团队”，团队的代表包括中美理事、家长、老师、行政人员、学校职员、校友、在校生以及一位教育同行。团队成员一个月会面一次来研讨《策略愿景》的进展状况，并为Jeff Bissell和理事会提供重要的意见和建议。整个中美社区成员都应邀参加策略愿景的讨论会议和问卷调查。此外，我们也对附近高中的行政人员进行了采访，来了解他们在我们的学生中看到了什么素质，以及他们认为中美学生还需要哪些重要特质来支持“后中美”阶段的学习。 愿景咨询团队、教育领导团队，学校的教职员工和理事会的成员透过许多程序来审核、整理并分析这些来自各方的宝贵资料。对中美思虑周到而尽心投入的社区我们感到非常自豪，并希望您能看到您自己在《策略愿景》中的贡献。 凭借着学校多年来丰富的经验和令人难以置信的社区投入，我们得以重新构思成功的定义。正如我们的核心价值观所呈现，我们实际上也给 “望子成龙” 下了一个新的定义。