The RCDS Institute - RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

How might we continue to evolve and innovate in order to provide an excellent education that prepares students for the future?

How might we catalyze faculty-led efforts to imagine, explore, and launch new ideas, programs, and innovative methods that advance the School?

How might we create meaningful leadership and professional development opportunities that inspire collaboration as well as passion and enthusiasm for our tasks/roles as educators?

How might we find ways to identify the cross-sections of our initiatives and principles throughout our program, and facilitate their efficient and practical implementation and curricular integration?

How might we best identify and understand the skills, perspectives, and traits needed for students to thrive now and in their future?

Mission

The RCDS Institute for Innovative Teaching and Learning encourages and empowers Rye Country Day School faculty to lead, collaborate, and innovate as they develop and implement ideas that advance the school’s mission and values, thereby ensuring ongoing programmatic evolution, professional growth, and transformative experiences for students.

Objectives

Rye Country Day School launched the Institute for Innovative Teaching and Learning in 2016 to support faculty innovation and collaboration in the implementation of the school’s initiatives and mission. The Institute grew out of the school's strategic plan, Bold Vision: 2020. From the outset, the Institute has sought to:

Cultivate a deep commitment and collaborative approach to school values by tying together current and future strategic initiatives and priorities.
Promote a thriving faculty by creating opportunities for faculty to lead, collaborate, and innovate while delivering the School’s mission, recognizing that in order to thrive, faculty must feel empowered and supported in taking initiative, and must have meaningful opportunities to contribute, learn, and grow.
Facilitate the development of and ongoing support for innovative and integrated programs, curriculum, and instruction.
Contribute to and learn from the global dialogue on education, and form partnerships with educational institutions around the world.

Institute Fellowships

The RCDS Institute for Innovative Teaching and Learning has overseen 20 faculty-led projects since its launch in 2016. As of 2019-20, 35 RCDS faculty members have served as Institute fellows.

Each year, the School solicits proposals from faculty for projects that extend their passions and ideas beyond their individual classrooms and disciplines. The RCDS administration selects five projects for the Institute to fund and support. Institute fellows have one summer and the following school year to grow their projects from idea to implementation. The Institute then supports the integration of successful projects into the School’s program. The Institute serves as an innovation lab for faculty and is based on the belief that encouraging creativity, innovation, and leadership amongst teachers is critical to providing an excellent education to students.