Strategic Vision

Our plan for Penn Charter's future is organized around six goals, each with a set of strategies.

GOAL 1: QUAKERISM

Deepen our identity and actions as a Friends school — and our students' understanding of Quaker values — to prepare our graduates to live lives that make a difference.

Our Strategy

The centrality of "that of God" in each person and of Meeting for Worship continue to ground our community and relationships, just as reflection and the habit of silence continues to nurture learning and spiritual well-being. Quaker practice guides us to plan for a healthy balance for students, teachers and staff in the school schedule and curriculum.

We have integrated service learning into the curriculum, pre-K to 12, and, as a private school with a public mission, created a Center for Public Purpose, a place where our students and the wider community advance issues of equity, social justice and peace.

In addition, we:

Model and teach integrity, truth-telling, conflict resolution and ethical choices.
Achieve a diversity of people, including an increased presence of Quakers.
Prioritize environmental stewardship in the daily life of the school and in long-range decisions about building and remodeling projects.
Seek opportunities for collaborations that enhance global competency through a commitment to Philadelphia and the world.

GOAL 2: PROGRAM CONTENT

Advance our educational program to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a complex and changing world.

Our Strategy

Our curriculum continues to prepare students for admission to their top-choice colleges, but it evolves to position them for success after college by expanding beyond the walls of the school and connecting them with the world. The recent implementation of Portrait of a PC Learner which articulates the skills, attitudes and competencies Penn Charter seeks to nurture in all of our divisions.

In addition, we:

Utilize current brain research about how children learn best to develop more strategies for individualizing learning within the curriculum and through learning support services.
Develop a distinctive identity for each division that is built around an age-appropriate experience.
Collaborate locally, nationally and internationally to enhance learning and leadership opportunities for Penn Charter students.
Educate students for global competency through classroom experience, service, student exchanges and travel.
Teach environmental awareness and develop advocacy for environmental sustainability.

GOAL 3: TEACHING

Promote excellence in teaching by supporting faculty to develop and advance their professional practice.

Our Strategy

The student-teacher relationship is at the heart of Penn Charter. We will hold tight to this essential relationship -- even as we see a new vision for a 21st century teacher.

In Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World, educators advocate a shift in the teacher's role "from that of the information provider to one of a catalyst, model, coach, innovator, researcher, and collaborator with the learner throughout the process."

In a classroom open to the world and supported with technology, the teacher's role has been expanded. To promote excellence in teaching, we build a faculty of lifelong learners who collaborate with students in a process of continuing revelation and joyful learning.

We developed the Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) which promotes excellence in teaching by providing faculty with accessible and meaningful professional development offered daily.

In addition, we:

Refine faculty evaluation to better align with desired student outcomes, and encourage and reward innovation and leadership.
Support faculty professional development, including summer work, faculty mentors and leadership coaching.
Provide structured opportunities and ample time for the development of cross-divisional and interdisciplinary work as well as collaboration among teachers and between students and teachers.
Strengthen faculty use of technology to further excellence in teaching and learning.

GOAL 4: TIME

Reimagine the use of time.

Our Strategy

The hours students spend each day on their education has been restructured to create an experience that focuses on meaningful content and 21st century skills.

"Who seriously believes that locking 25 student in a small room with one adult for several hours each day is the best way for them to be educated?" Prakash Nair asks in Don't Just Rebuild Schools--Reinvent Them. "In the 21st century, education is about project-based learning, connections with peers around the world, service learning, independent research, design and creativity, and, more than anything else, critical thinking..."

Our new school-day schedule makes time for project-based work, interdisciplinary and cross-divisional work. And it allows for flexibility, as the classroom continues to expand through use of the Internet, outdoor campus spaces, internships and other learning opportunities and resources in metropolitan Philadelphia.

In addition, we:

Rethink and refine learning outside school hours, including homework, to engage students in meaningful work.
Plan time for reflection and mindfulness.
View a students' day and year holistically, supporting balance and a healthy pace.
Support the tradition of strong student-teacher relationships.

GOAL 5: SPACE

Develop and repurpose space to serve the changing needs of the Penn Charter Program and mission.

Our Strategy

A 21st century curriculum required a reconsideration of the Penn Charter campus.

The Strategic Vision called for a state-of-the-art Lower School. And beyond that?

We are blessed with a 47-acre, green campus in one of the largest cities in the country. The campus offers obvious advantages, including acres of playing fields, and hidden treasures such as the wetlands on the Strawbridge campus. We developed and repurposed space to fit the needs of a dynamic new curriculum including a new lecture style classroom in L1, a new track, a new turf baseball facility, and a state-of-the-art Athletics & Wellness Center.

In addition, we:

Develop facilities plans that supports our educational program
Create environmental plans that fosters environmental stewardship and develops systems and processes to ensure all decisions are evaluated in light of their environmental impact, with consideration of affordable and sustainable alternatives.
Expand educational opportunities beyond the is 44-acre campus to include off-site learning with academic, cultural and corporate institutions in metropolitan Philadelphia.

Spaces Update and Architectural Drawings

GOAL 6: FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Provide for financial sustainability and support the mission of the school and the goals of the Strategic Plan.

Our Strategy

According to the Opinion Leaders Survey of the National Association of Independent Schools, the following are the keys to financial sustainability for an independent school in the 21st century:

Financial: More efficient, less costly
Environmental: More green, less wasteful
Global: More networked internationally, less parochial
Programmatic: More skills and values, less traditional content
Demographic: Inclusive, not exclusive.

We will developed a financial master plan that examines our reliance on major revenue sources such as tuition, endowment and fund-raising; evaluates current and future budget policies and resource allocation; and develops a more entrepreneurial approach to create new and alternative sources of revenue.

Our campus is 47 acres of green and landmark buildings. That is extraordinary. We will seize this opportunity and preserve the future of this treasure.

A New Lower School

Our campus transformation is driven by plans for a new lower school designed especially for the way we teach.

View the plans

Athletics

The superior facilities of the William A. Graham IV OPC '58 Athletics & Wellness Center – opened in Sept 2021 – support physical education, health, sports and training.

View the plans

Campus Master Plan

Our campus transformation will preserve existing buildings, repurpose vacant spaces, open new spaces for outdoor learning, and build on the ecology of these 47 acres.

View the plans