Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan

Diversity & Inclusion Mission Statement

Berkshire School strives to create a global community that reflects the world around us and the backgrounds, experiences, identities, genders, perspectives, races, religions and talents that each member brings to our school. We believe that a diverse and inclusive community supports and respects all cultures, ethnicities, languages, philosophies, political views and sexual orientations that exist within and beyond our school.

Below are the strategic priorities along with the action steps and metrics to ensure our School's accountability.

INCREASE ENDOWMENTS

Strategic Priority 1: Increase endowments to ensure and support our most diverse community of adults and students.

Action Steps

1. Develop and articulate a clear message to potential donors about the critical importance of diversity and inclusion at Berkshire.

2. Cultivate fundraising support for students through Financial Aid and the Alden Fund.

3. Cultivate fundraising support for faculty and staff in compensation, professional development, and diversity and inclusion programming.

4. Engage a more diverse group of adults in our community to provide additional support to students beyond financial aid.

Metrics and Accountability

1. Measure all engagement and fundraising messaging against the School’s Mission Statement and Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement.

2. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends that Berkshire strives to meet the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) benchmark of increasing its financial aid commitment by 5% annually, beginning in 2020.

3. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends that Berkshire strives to meet the NAIS benchmark of increasing its faculty endowments (and/or support of faculty) by 5% annually beginning in 2020.

4. Parent and alumni “ambassador” positions established prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year.

RECRUIT AND RETAIN

Strategic Priority 2: Recruit and retain a more diverse student body, faculty and staff, administration, and board of trustees.

Action Steps

1. Continue to expand admission recruitment territories, both domestic and international, to include new markets that support increased student diversity.

2. Continue to identify, recruit, and cultivate families of color, including those with resources to afford a Berkshire education.

3. Identify and recruit students from a more diverse group of public and independent schools.

4. Increase salary, benefits, and compensation for all faculty and staff, with special focus for faculty and staff of diverse backgrounds. [Benchmarked against ABOPS 20 salary data]

5. Engage HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and HSI (Hispanic-Serving Institutions) to recruit new faculty and staff.

6. Increase the diversity of the board of trustees across all identities.

7. Establish a graduate school partnership(s) with Berkshire to recruit a more diverse faculty and to support their professional development while at Berkshire; e.g. Brown M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching), Mount Holyoke M.A.T., Dartmouth M.A.L.S. (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), etc.

Metrics and Accountability

1,2,3. Quantify and track the demographic diversity of students, faculty and staff, administration, and board with people of color to reflect at least 25% of these respective groups. Further, the Strategic Priority Committee recommends that Berkshire strive to increase our domestic students of color to 20%. [Harvard Graduate School of Education “Critical-Mass Theory” research]

4. Utilize NEMNET (New England Minority Network) or similar teacher placement agencies benchmarks to inform our salary setting for faculty/staff of color. Initiate a longitudinal retention study for faculty/staff of color, appointed over 2014-2019, and compared against NAIS and TABS (The Association of Boarding Schools) standards.

5. Associate HOS, Dean of Faculty, and Hiring Committee to track these visits annually.

6. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends that trustees of color represent at least 25% of the board. In addition, diversity across all identities (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic, religion, age, and ability) should be quantified and tracked annually as well. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends consideration of a young alumnus/a of color trustee position(s) to support this diversity effort.

7. New graduate school partnership(s) established prior to the start of the 2022-23 school year.

DESIGN AND LEADERSHIP

Strategic Priority 3: Empower students from diverse backgrounds to share in the design and leadership of Berkshire’s community.

Action Steps

1. Invite student participation with appropriate standing committees to create opportunities for students to be heard, to provide input, and to feel that they can impact institutional change.

2. Include all identities represented in our student body in the design of academic assessment models, department curricula, and teaching practices.

3. Establish an alumni mentorship program that helps students partner with alumni mentors to support the student’s education at Berkshire and their life after Berkshire.

4. Require diversity and inclusion training for all student leaders. Encourage student participation in annual diversity and inclusion conferences, forums, and workshops.

Metrics and Accountability

1. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends that appropriate standing committees welcome student participation and input, beginning with the 2020-21 school year.

2. Students to be included in Department Chair discussions which discuss/review academic assessment models, beginning with the 2019-20 school year. Consider using student feedback through existing Panorama survey tool to annually gather supporting data and to provide an avenue for student input around curricular changes.

3. Establishment of a formal alumni mentorship program to start the 2020-21 school year.

4. Continue climate survey for all students each spring to measure the impact and progress of the School’s diversity and inclusion programming, training, and school culture.

CURRICULUM, PEDAGOGY, AND ASSESSMENT

Strategic Priority 4: Ensure that our academic curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment models are multicultural and diverse in perspective and scope.

Action Steps

1. Conduct a formal review, by academic department, of current curricular offerings to identify opportunities to enhance existing multicultural offerings or to implement new programs or offerings.

2. Engage Department Chairs on these initiatives; require training for best practices of diversity and inclusion; provide professional development funding and time.

3. Explore the introduction of a global initiatives program, with dedicated faculty responsibilities, to facilitate global opportunities, elective offerings, and/or global competencies throughout the curriculum.

Metrics and Accountability

1. All academic departments continue to study and measure their annual progress in incorporating diversity and inclusion practices into their teaching and curriculum. Using the recent 2018-19 review, implement changes for the 2019-20 school year and with 2020-21 course offerings.

2. Require summer 2020 diversity and inclusion training for all Department Chairs.

3. The Strategic Priority Committee recommends establishing a global initiatives program, with job description for the position created to support 2020-21 hiring.

LISTEN, COMMUNICATE, AND ENGAGE

Strategic Priority 5: Cultivate institutional trust, guided by our core values, to listen, communicate, and engage across cultural, ethnic, and racial divides.

Action Steps

1. Create engagement and programs that bring all members of our community together and highlight the full diversity of our community.

2. Create affinity group meeting spaces and time around all facets of diversity and identity.

3. Ensure that visiting speakers reflect the full diversity of our community.

4. Require ongoing diversity and inclusion training for all faculty and for all staff leadership positions.

5. Continue to conduct an annual climate survey, taken by all members of the community in the spring of each year, to measure and track progress in supporting our most inclusive community.

Metrics and Accountability

1. Schedule these programs on a comprehensive school calendar shared with the full community each year.

2. Develop an internal outline and calendar, approved annually by the administration, for affinity groups, their meeting times and spaces.

3. Utilize the For Life Committee to develop a comprehensive annual calendar for visiting speakers to ensure a full diversity of messages and presentations. Share this with the full internal community early in each school year, beginning with 2019-20.

4. Develop a menu of professional development opportunities in diversity and inclusion with participation in at least one required of all faculty and of all staff leadership positions in their first 3-4 years of employment at Berkshire and at ongoing intervals going forward. Possible programs to include: SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), NAIS Diversity Leadership Institute, POCC (People of Color Conference), Diversity Directions, Deepening the Discussion about Race, etc.

5. Measured and tracked over time with annual reporting to the full community.

Click here to download a PDF version.

Former trustee Angel Pérez, Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Akilah Edgerton, and faculty member Michael Bjurlin led Berkshire's Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.

"Berkshire School’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan is a guiding star that states who we aspire to include in our community, and how each voice can be equally represented, heard, and validated. It is important we cultivate a generation of young people to thrive in a diverse, creative, and complex world."

Angel Perez
Berkshire School Trustee, 2016-20
Chair, Diversity & Inclusion Committee

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Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan

Diversity & Inclusion Mission Statement

INCREASE ENDOWMENTS

Strategic Priority 1: Increase endowments to ensure and support our most diverse community of adults and students.

Action Steps

Metrics and Accountability

RECRUIT AND RETAIN

Strategic Priority 2: Recruit and retain a more diverse student body, faculty and staff, administration, and board of trustees.

Action Steps

Metrics and Accountability

DESIGN AND LEADERSHIP

Strategic Priority 3: Empower students from diverse backgrounds to share in the design and leadership of Berkshire’s community.

Action Steps

Metrics and Accountability

CURRICULUM, PEDAGOGY, AND ASSESSMENT

Strategic Priority 4: Ensure that our academic curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment models are multicultural and diverse in perspective and scope.

Action Steps

Metrics and Accountability

LISTEN, COMMUNICATE, AND ENGAGE

Strategic Priority 5: Cultivate institutional trust, guided by our core values, to listen, communicate, and engage across cultural, ethnic, and racial divides.

Action Steps

Metrics and Accountability

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