A leader among New England schools

photos: day one of the spring session of Tuesday Common Ground, 2019. Thirty-eight students, age five to fourth grade, are participating in this affinity group this spring. Tuesday Common Ground combines games, guided conversation, and unstructured play to provide students of color with opportunities for cross-grade friendship, mentorship and leadership.

On Tuesday, April 23rd, Gordon will host over sixty education professionals for a day of workshops organized in partnership with the Association of Independent Schools of New England.

 

The conference is titled Systems and Structures to Advance Equity and Inclusion: Creating Communities of Authentic Belonging, and features pioneering work done here at Gordon along with work from the White Mountain School and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School.

 

The morning workshop focuses on Family Individualized Tuition, Gordon's effort to reshape the independent school financial model to better reflect the school's mission and goals. FIT has drawn a great deal of interest from throughout the school community, and this workshop is just one way Gordon is addressing the demand for more information.

 

In the afternoon, Gordon will be part of a panel talking about affinity groups in independent schools. Gordon was a pioneer in this work when Common Ground began in 2006. That race-based program has now grown to include students in all three divisions of the school, and Gordon has since added Heritage Language for students who speak Spanish at home, as well as Latinos Unidos for Latinx Middle School students.

 

Gordon is proud to play a leadership role in equity and inclusion work in independent schools, and faculty and administration have been tireless in their efforts to share their expertise. Next week, Gordon will host educators from five independent schools for a Peer Educator Roundtable, where they will hear from Gordon students and teachers about how Gordon's mission comes alive in the classroom every day.