- In 2013 CAIS committed to building out a portfolio of robust global programs with integration into the classroom curriculum. Today we send about 120 students each year to Taiwan and Mainland China and we host 40-50 Taiwanese students at CAIS. More than 30 CAIS faculty members have designed and taken part in professional learning in Taiwan and China as part of our China Faculty Institute program launched in Yunnan Province in summer 2015.
- In spring 2019 we began to explore ways to “frontload” language learning during children’s most receptive years. In August 2021 we began the school year with full immersion in our Preschool.
- In the fall of October 2020 we took our first steps toward securing our “forever home” at 19th Avenue. In September 2024 we opened our doors to a (mostly) completed new campus with an enrollment increase of 10%.
These are but three examples of CAIS initiatives that were guided by the School’s strategic planning. There are many others. The point is, strategy matters. Over the years, the CAIS Board of Trustees’ long term strategic visions for securing the future of our School and its mission have informed decision making and planning that has fundamentally shaped our school’s programs.
Now that we are firmly ensconced in our new home, it is time to look ahead to the next five years and begin a new cycle of strategy making. While the CAIS Board of Trustees is ultimately charged with approving the School’s strategic vision, the process of strategy making draws input from a wide variety of stakeholder groups—students, employees, trustees, alumni, and of course CAIS families. That process began in late fall of 2024 when a small working group of CAIS trustees and administrators selected consultants Lana Guernsey and Gilbert Wai to lead our community through the process of developing CAIS’s next strategic vision.
Since March 2025, Lana and Gilbert have been gathering information from our community to identify potential themes to be explored in more depth during the 2025-26 school year. This has included extended input sessions with the School’s leadership team, Board of Trustees, and all employees as well as a survey that was sent to School stakeholders including Middle School students and parents (and will be shared with alumni). Thank you to the almost 100 families who responded to the survey (for reference, CAIS had 418 families at the School in 2024-25, so the response rate was just over a respectable 23%).
In responding to questions about those things that people valued and prioritized most about the School, parents mentioned the following with the most frequency:
- Sense of Community at CAIS
- Quality Teachers and Staff
- Student Success
- Mandarin Immersion and Chinese Culture
- Campus and Facilities
- Arts and Athletics
As I said at the outset, strategy matters. CAIS’s next strategic vision will create priorities that will guide decision making for the next several years as we work to secure the future for our School in challenging times. I look forward to working together with the Board and our community on this important project.
Learn more about our Strategic Vision process at cais.org/vision