• Action Plan

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Our Strategic Action Plan
has 3 focus areas:

Program and Professional Development

The three defined goals are: Strengthen Our Care And Support, Windows And Mirrors In The Academic Journey Of All Students, Develop And Deepen Cultural Competency


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Working towards our goals

List of 2 items.

  • 4

    Defined Goals

  • 36

     Introduced Actions

Goals for Program and Professional Development

    • Equality

      #equality

Lower school
PK 3-5th grade
Middle school
6th-8th grade
Upper school
9th-12th grade
Faculty/Staff
Teachers, Administrators, Staff
Community
Family, Friends, School Partnership, Parent/Guardian, Alumni
Leadership
School Administrators
Trustees
Guardian of the School’s mission and financial sustainability

Goal: Ensure that our academic program accurately reflects the experiences and backgrounds of all members of our community, providing “windows and mirrors” in the academic journey of every student.Thorough review and revision of the Pre-K to Twelfth Grade curriculum to incorporate the voices, experiences, history, and contributions of both Black and other historically underrepresented individuals and communities.

In Progress
Lower, Middle, Upper, Faculty and Staff: 
Our school supports its mission by ensuring that our curriculum provides windows and mirrors, is factually accurate, includes multiple perspectives, and inspires critical thinking.  We have begun identifying and vetting external experts and consultants to assist with curriculum and its revision with training to faculty, staff, and leadership throughout the year.
On October 2nd, 2020, the Academic Leadership Team looked at the implementation of the Social Justice Standards, a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K–12 instruction, to provide a common language and organizational structure our teachers can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable. 
Our goal is to assess the school's curriculum and content across all grade levels with external consultants' assistance in providing an antiracist approach to education.

List of 5 frequently asked questions.

  • Racial Literacy Pollyanna Workshop
    Faculty/Staff

    January: All Faculty and Staff
    “Why is there a need to raise racial literacy?” by Pollyanna: Through the presentation, we reviewed the historical context of race and systemic racism in the United States to enhance awareness of how these powerful social constructs and collections of policies inform the present and impact our work as educators.

  • Lower School Window and Mirrors Curriculum Opportunities
    Lower School

    August 2020
    The Lower School faculty have received diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculum targets and resources aligned with our plan. Our new LS DEI coordinator intervenes in the classroom to support new lessons teachers incorporate into their curriculum. There is now a more intentional path to introducing Black culture beyond bondage and slavery. For example, in the 5th-grade classes, students explore a social studies unit on Windows into Black American History: units covered included What is "race"? Slavery, the Civil War and Aftermath, little known heroes, and exploration of: How does history affect your life today? Whom do we believe and why? Whose stories aren't told and why? Are all Americans treated equally? How do people/groups justify unequal treatment?

    August 2020

    • The Lower School guidance collaborates with counselors and DEI coordinator on Life Skills lessons aligned with the Pollyanna’s Racial Literacy and Learning for Justice Curricula centered around: race, ethnicity, religion, ability, class immigration, gender and sexuality, right and activism, bullying and bias. 
    August 2020

    • Lower school adopted the Read4Respect program which helps students learn an essential “4th R” -Reading, wRiting , aRithmetic and Respect. This year’s Read 4 Respect initiative will focus on race, designed to get adults and kids talking to each other about how we can put an end to name-calling and bullying and start that conversation at an early age. The school is starting its library.
    April 2021

    • The Lower School is looking for ways to expand global learning in our curriculum that goes beyond reading stories from different cultures.
    PK3, JK4,SK5,1st , 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade: students are learning about their backgrounds, family traditions, and cultural differences. Through interactive, hands-on learning, students discover our diverse community through on-campus adventures and off-campus learning experiences.
    Global Learning Programs:
    •  Week of Possibilities:
    • Our Community – Where Anything is Possible!
    • Connecting Cultures, Connecting Friends
    • Chasing Talents, Pursuing Passions
    • We Are the World: Bridging Countries, Connecting People
    • Year-long theme of community -Diversity, discovering our world together
    • Understanding by Design Unit: Who Am I In The Community And What Is My Role?
    • Global Citizens: Early Childhood Curriculum Under Construction

  • Middle School Window and Mirrors Curriculum Opportunities
    Middle school

    The Middle School effectively uses a team approach to create in-class, as well as outside learning experiences for its students. Focusing on thematic units, Middle School students participate in a multitude of activities that not only help them to understand others, but to also better understand themselves.
     
    • 6th grade thematic units, activities, and global learning opportunities:
      • Pedro Pan experience and visitors to campus
      • Humanities study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
      • Summer and school year readings centered around Africa
      • Financial literacy units in math focusing on inequality around the world, use of data sets, questions
      • from PISA international benchmark test
      • Model UN class offered as Middle School elective, as well as club
     
    • 7th grade thematic units, activities, and global learning opportunities:
      • Celebration of the Day of the Dead, its history, meaning, and literature – hands on creation of altar.
      • World history used as an introduction into US History, the age of exploration
      • In-depth study of the Incan population and other indigenous populations of South America
      • Literature transcending culture, ie Romeo and Juliet as Mexican legend
      • Presentation of math instructional techniques from other countries, ie international students showing teaching methods from their home countries
      • Use of our community's international background to inform other students about how their previous schools run, their values, and how they compare to what we see at Miami Country Day School
      
    • 8th grade thematic units, activities, and global learning opportunities:
      • Team visits of Little Havana, study of Miami Cuban culture
      • Team visits of Little Haiti
      • Holocaust Day – study of event and visit by Holocaust survivors
      • Oratorical program focused on human genocide
      • Multicultural Club excursion to Immokalee indigenous reservation
      • Study of globalization and multiculturalism
      • Thematic approach to advisory program
      • Sports as an influencer on cultural movements
      • 8th grade trip to New Orleans, Civil Rights Tour, and Southern Supper for all families
      • iBelong inclusivity program (for all Middle School grades)
      • End-of-year cultural day
      • Literary authors of authentic voices writing about their own foreign cultures
        • Amal Unbound-Celia C. Perez
        • American Street- Ibi Zoboi
        • A Place at the Table-Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
        • Call Me American-Abdi Nor Iftin
        • Everything Everything- Nicola Yoon
        • Flying Lessons & Other Stories- Ellen Oh
        • I Am Malala- Malala Yousafzai
        • Merci Suárez Changes Gears- Meg Medina
        • Running- Natalia Sylvester
        • Strange Birds- Celia C. Perez
        • The First Rule of Punk-Celia C. Perez
        • The Sun is Also a Star- Nicola Yoon
        • The Namesake- Jhumpa Lahiri
        • Too Young to Escape-Van Ho and Marcha Forchuk Skrypuch
        • With a Star in my Hand- Margarita Engle

  • Upper School Window and Mirrors Curriculum Opportunities
    Upper school

    The Upper School offers a variety of courses that focus on the world beyond our borders and, in doing so, help our students to make meaning and connections between cultures, to understand “the other,” and to see the value of walking in someone else's shoes. Below are courses that speak to the study of other cultures, as well as the work around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
    • The Global Citizen: Diversity, Equity, and Cultural Norms
    • Word Literature
    • World History
    • World Languages levels 1-AP: French and Spanish, including Heritage Learner for Spanish
    • Chinese 1-4
    • Introduction to the Italian Language and Culture
    • Introduction to the Japanese Language and Culture
    • Literature of Identity and Differences
    • Contemporary African American Literature
    • Literature of Social Activism
    • Migration Literature
    • European History
    • Human Geography
    • Revolutions throughout History
    • Latin American History
    • Ancient Civilizations
    • Women Activists in American History
    • Holocaust Studies
    • Modern Human Migration
    • Women in Islam
    • Art History
    • Model UN
    • Race in America
    • Women in Islam 
    • Contemporary African American Literature
    • Literature of Social Activism
    • Holocaust Studies
    • Women’s & Gender Studies
    • Social Art: Creating Change
    • Latin American History
    • Worlds in Motion: Migration Literature
    • Modern Human Migration
    • Women Activists in American History
    • Confronting Global Issues
    • Honors Confronting Global Issues

  • GATEway & GATEway Jr., GATEway Mini!
    Lower school Middle school Upper school

    Miami Country Day School supports the Whole Child in its quest to become a global citizen. To that end, GATEway, or Global Access To Education, offers programs that support, enhance, and develop our students' view of the world, its diverse cultures, and its people. Through academic and cultural immersion programs, we broaden our students' perspectives of life beyond our borders in order to foster a mutual understanding and appreciation among all individuals, both at home and abroad.

    • X-Term: Falling under the GATEway umbrella, X-Term offers Upper School students the opportunity to explore a whole child passion not typically found in the traditional curriculum. Opportunities exist on campus, in the greater Miami community, and at domestic and international locations. X-Term transports students to experiential endeavors where the real world serves as the classroom and education is re-imagined.
    • Helsinki, Finland Student Exchange
    • Honduras Nuevo Paraíso Orphanage Service Learning Opportunity
    • The History of Jazz in New Orleans
    • Beyond the Silk Road – China
    • Eco Tourism in Costa Rica
    • Exploring Machu Picchu
    • Origins – The Galapagos Islands
    • Art History in Rome
    • Marine Lab Science in Bermuda
    • Yoga and Wellness
    • A Taste of Miami – World Culinary Experiences
    • The Undiscovered Latin Miami

    • Action Plan > Diversity

      #diversity

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Goal: Develop and deepen anti-bias, anti-racism education and cultural competency development for students, faculty, staff, administration, the Board of Trustees, and parents through continued training, professional development and education in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Continuing to work with organizations and consultant services to provide training to adults and students on how to create a school culture that values and respects all individuals and serves all groups.

List of 6 frequently asked questions.

  • Professional Development for Faculty and Staff
    Faculty/staffLeadership

    IN PROGRESS
    The school continues to provide robust programming for faculty and staff through the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Current initiatives include:
    • One Diversity Coordinator in the Lower School and the DEI Director, available to provide resources, hear concerns, and facilitate training and conversations in the 3 divisions.

  • External Consulting
    Middle SchoolUpper SchoolFaculty/staffCommunityLeadershipTrustees

    The school has retained Lawrence Alexander: search consultant, diversity, equity, and inclusion practice. Lawrence serves as the practice leader for Carney, Sandoe & Associates' Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practice. Lawrence will work closely with the school:
    • To support our work and help operationalize the DEI work at MCDS that may be daunting for one person to get off of the ground while serving students directly (i.e. professional development for faculty, board workshops, parent programs, etc)
    • To help the MCDS board see how DEI work increases their value proposition and how more support of the office and the work is needed.
    • To support the Head of School in helping the MCDS community see how unifying DEI work can be.

    Lawrence Alexander has been contracted from April 2021 to December 2021

  • DEB Office programming in the Middle and Upper School
    FacultyMiddle SchoolUpper School

    Integrates developmentally appropriate student training in antiracism, racial equity and social justice across all divisions. Our DEI programming in the Middle and Upper School has enriched conversations within advisories. Students have reported rich discussions thanks to productive workshops offering practical tools for better navigating complex conversations on race, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Students and faculty gained a better understanding of how racial inequity and economic disparities have shaped America’s Education and Criminal Justice systems and how it shapes the current experiences of Miami’s Black and Brown youth. The DEI office had also provided education around informed civil discourse, the use of social media and the role of bystanders in creating an antiracist community. 

    Faculty and Students Workshops 2020 2021 academic year: 
    October: Upper: Equity and Inclusion as an Action: In school facilitation: A session uncovering deep foundational patterns of white supremacy, anti-blackness, and anti-indigeneity that can be found in the events spotlighted in 2020 and our everyday lives. Collaborating with participants to generate a space to gain knowledge, actively listen to individual experiences, and identify action steps towards growth and accountability.
     
    November: Upper: The Social Justice X-Term Series: launched by the office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and CAUSE student leaders, introduces a series of dialogues focused on self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of trained students, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, allyship and networking principles. Peer facilitators will present topics that encourage critical thinking, provoke healthy dialogues, and challenge assumptions.

    November, January: Upper Gender Inequality in 2021: in school facilitation: It's 2021, and gender inequality is still a very prevalent issue in society. According to the UN, 1 in 3 women will experience some sort of sexual abuse in their lifetimes. What can we do about this? In this discussion-based activity, we will discuss the gender inequality of women relating to sexual abuse, rape culture, and the importance of believing people's stories.

    January: Middle, Upper: History of Miami: Our school is partnering with Bridge Builders 305: a training and leadership development consultancy helping entities better understand the intersections of organizational culture, social justice, equity, and innovation. To present an interactive and engaging history of Miami and Miami-Dade County that seeks to explore why there are “Many Miamis”—the key events and people that have shaped our diverse yet fragmented community.

    January: Middle, Upper: What’s YOUR Miami?: Bridge Builders 305: To connect our community’s tumultuous history to the challenges students will inherit as the future leaders of our community. Students learn how the past has shaped our present and the tools they can use to create social impact in Miami’s future.
    February: Upper: Facilitating Difficult Conversations:Bridge Builders 305: Students Leaders and Faculty: To provide practical tools for better navigating complex conversations on race, equity, diversity, and inclusion. 

    February: Upper: Who Has Access to the American Dream? Bridge Builders 305: Education and the Criminal Justice System Explored: MCDS students gain a better understanding of how racial inequity and economic disparities have shaped America’s Education and Criminal Justice systems, and the way it shapes the current experiences of Miami’s black and brown youth.

    April: Middle, Upper: Our school is partnering with Facing History and Ourselves, which addresses racism, antisemitism, and prejudice at pivotal moments in history; the organization helps students and educators to connect choices made in the past to those we will confront in our own lives. During our afternoon faculty meeting, Middle and Upper School faculty and Upper School student leaders will have the opportunity to continue exploring these DEI topics essential to our community.

    May: Middle, Upper: The Power of Language: Bridge Builders 305: In this two-part workshop, students will gain a greater understanding of how the words they use can contribute to larger systems of oppression through the lens of microaggressions and racial inequity. Additionally, students will learn why simply “not being racist” no longer cuts it. Through dialogue, reflection activities, and interactive conversations, students will see why the active role of anti­-racism, with its emphasis on addressing racial abuse in all its forms, must be the work of all young changemakers.

    Speaker Series and Exhibits 2020 2021 academic year: 

    Upper School: Safe School Miami: LGBTQ+ Panel Discussion Forum November 2020

    Middle and Upper: Breakthrough & Bridges Miami dialogues: Safe space brings together students from diverse schools and communities to engage about the challenges their community face. November 2020, March 2021

    Faculty and Staff: Dr. Anita Sanchez: Best Seller Author:The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times November 2020

    Upper School: Best Buddies Student Webinar: promote inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with guest speakers from Best Buddies South Florida.December 2020

    Upper School: Christo Brand: Author: Doing Life with Mandela December 2020
    Faculty and Staff, Upper and Middle:Creating Black History through the eyes of Unknown Black History facts and firsts: YPOD Affinity group Art Exhibit February 2021

    Faculty and Staff, Upper and Middle: Women Beyond the History Books: Art Exhibit:features important women of history who are often not given the recognition they deserve in American classrooms: Girl Up affinity group March 2021

    Faculty and Staff, Upper:Saroo Brierley: Best selling Author: An autobiographical account of his experiences, A Long Way Home, was published in 2013 in Australia, released internationally in 2014, and adapted into the 2016 Oscar-nominated film Lion February 2020

    Faculty and Staff, Upper: Best Buddies: The R-Word is a purposeful look into the long-reaching history and lasting implications of the word March 2020

  • DEI School delegations to conferences and institutes
    Faculty/Staff

    Our school is committed to exploring issues of diversity with conference participants where we take a critical look at ourselves, others, and society at large. We examine the range of diversity, including age, ability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression and identity, and socioeconomic class. We have dialogues on how these identifiers impact cross-cultural communication. We empower participants to develop action items for our school. The skill-building, networking, and exploring of ideas enables participants to develop strategies for creating dialogues at school and in our community. 

    • NAIS People of Color Conference December 2020
    • SAIS Diversity Institute February 2021
    • Women Leadership Institute April 2021
    • The Wildwood Multicultural Leadership Institute June 2021

  • Re-launch SEED
    Faculty

    INTRODUCED
    Re-launch SEED as a professional learning opportunity for teachers and consider creating a SEED group for parents Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity partners with schools, organizations, and communities to develop leaders who guide their peers in conversational communities to drive personal, organizational, and societal change toward social justice.

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