College

• The Teaching Excellence Center has engaged more than 80 percent of College faculty members on topics such as instructional strategies, assessment, classroom technology, and teaching under the semester calendar.
• New general education requirements are now in effect. Revised for the first time in decades, they are designed to better prepare learners for the 21st century.
• A full-time reading instructor is now actively engaged with students individually and in small-group instructional settings as part of the evolutionary development of a Student Learning Center.
• Twelve faculty are pursuing terminal degrees; 75 percent of faculty will hold PhDs (or their equivalent) by the end of the 2012–13 academic year.
• The College’s Christian Science Movement course has returned to the curriculum. So far, the course has consistently been oversubscribed.
• Dialogue with a likely partner institution is expected to lead to an initial master’s degree offering.
• A redesigned orientation, focused on Principia’s core ideas, was introduced in the fall of 2011 as part of a more intentional engagement with students (and the community) on character unfoldment, Christian Science, and Principia’s purpose.
• The first online, for-credit courses taught remotely by Christian Science faculty from other institutions to students on the College campus began in 2010–11. Courses were also conducted this way in 2011–12, and more are expected in the coming years.
• Five non-credit, online courses were held in 2011; three more are scheduled for the spring of 2012, and others will be added to the calendar soon.
• Several immersive, for-credit field study programs in language and biology were held during the 2010–11 academic year; these will continue and others will be added.
• Study of possible satellite locations continues with focus on Africa and South America.

School

• “Enduring understandings” have been established as part of a school-wide curricular revision. Focus for this effort is now turning toward identifying the knowledge and skills necessary to develop these understandings.
• All faculty have received training in differentiated instruction (DI) and are working on implementing DI into their instructional strategies, lesson plans, and assessments with the goal of thoroughly engaging all learners—those ready to advance beyond standard requirements and those working toward mastery of the fundamentals.
• The interdisciplinary Freshman Year Experience, now in its second year, is helping students acclimate to high school academic expectations, explore subjects more deeply through experiential learning opportunities, and build connections across academic disciplines in order to reinforce the development of skills and understandings.
• Phase I of the Middle School renovation is complete. Students and teachers are enjoying improved learning experiences made possible by their new art classroom and library.
• Educational trips to New England (Mrs. Eddy’s homes and The Mother Church), New York (exploration of the arts), and Williamsburg (colonial history) were among those added to the curriculum in 2010–11. These successful trips will continue, and others will be added as part of an emphasis on experiential learning beyond the classroom walls.
• Teachers and students have thoroughly integrated the computers provided through the School’s one-to-one computing initiative into everyday teaching and learning. Technology training and support for teachers will continue as we work to ensure the most effective use of technology in support of learning.
• Teachers are now members of Professional Learning Communities—usually made up of their subject-matter peers. These groups are designed to provide teachers across levels regular opportunities to link curricula, share teaching and differentiation strategies, develop assessments, and integrate and improve learning experiences as much as possible.