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Edu505 FVE Case Study

Easton Country Day School

Laura Lennon
Post University
Professor Rebecca Waters

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Future Vision Of Education

Easton Country Day School (ECDS) is an independent, private co-educational

school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. The educators who founded ECDS,
sought after an academic and social infrastructure that provided intellectual growth,
within a safe learning environment. Students are taught to reach their full academic,
moral, creative and physical potential (Easton Country Day School, n.d). ECDS is a
diverse community designed for students and parents who need a small classroom
environment with teacher support. The demographic of ECDS is from Fairfield County,
surrounding counties across the state and from Massachusetts and New York. With
students coming from a wide range of locations, the community varies from medium to
high-income families who pay full to partial tuition and families from low-income
communities that are provided with scholarships. ECDS strives to maintain a
multicultural and diverse community, including a student population of approximately
75% Caucasian, 10% African American, 6% Spanish, 5% Asian, 2% Muslim and 2%
Indian.
History
In the summer of 1993, parents and educators Jody Smith, Donna Phillips and
Martha Thompson pulled their children from Unquowa School in Fairfield, CT. They
wanted to either homeschool their children or figure out how to start a program that
would provide their children with an improved education from the current system.
Concerned with the priority most school systems placed on standardized testing and
universal manufacturing of a students needs, Smith, Phillips and Thompson developed a

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program centering vertical integration, individualized programming and higher level
curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students. Due to the late nature of enrollment, they
first registered as a homeschool group under the name of Phoenix Institute of Parent
Guided Education. After finding a school building and employing teachers, they began
their education journey starting in September of 1993 (Easton Country Day School, n.d).
Dr. Fred Donaldson then joined to teach Original Play. Coined by Dr. Fred Donaldson,
Original Play is a psychological and physiological process that combines cognitive,
emotional and sensory-motor learning by seeking to improve relationships between
individuals (Original Play, 2008). Smith, Phillips, and Thompson modeled this program
around Original Play, by giving strong focus to social and emotional needs of each
student through the support of traditional programming. One year later, they applied for
certification and accreditation through NEASC, and renamed the school Phoenix
Academy. Suellen Inwood took over Martha Thompsons position in 1995 and now
works as the director along with Jody Smith.
For the next 17 years, Phoenix Academy developed and grew into a larger
community, still following in congruence of the same mission. Phoenix Academy was
then renamed Easton Country Day School in 2012. Easton Country Day School
accomplishes their mission by providing small classes with a 6:1 student/teacher ratio,
employing highly qualified and dedicated teachers, vertical integration of studies, active
partnership with parents, a multicultural community and providing a non-sectarian
spiritual environment (Easton Country Day School, n.d). K-12 enrollment is
currently around 140 students, which includes two separate programs taught within the
school, Arrowsmith and Praesto Prepatory. These programs fit the needs of special

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education students. Many parents seek out ECDS as the most appropriate place for their
children due to the individualized curriculum and focus on social and emotional goals.
Each homeroom classroom follows the vertical integration model containing two separate
grades in one and students are placed in academic classes contingent on their intellectual
placement. For example, a 2nd grader can be placed in an 8th grade math class if it suits his
or her placement. All classrooms are equipped with sensory areas or fidget boxes that
provide students with relief to stress or anxiety. ECDS successfully meets the needs of
the community by providing students and teachers with support and professional
development.
Educational Trends
Easton Country Day School (ECDS) is an independent, private co-educational
school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, which relies on economic stability to
secure the future of the non-public organization. For the past 23 years, ECDS has relied
solely on tuition fees and donations to maintain the security of the establishment
including administration, staff and students. Due to economic fluctuation that the United
States has experienced, private institutions must uphold a commitment to the flexibility
of varying trends and understanding the need of supplementary funds.
Technology Trends
Project-Based learning has been a core piece of curriculum based units being
used at ECDS in many recent years and is becoming more critical with the impending
population of new students every year. As Baccarini noted in A Holistic View on
Learning in Project Based Organizations, The field of project management can be
regarded today as a mature academic discipline of some diversity and complexity,

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consisting of many varied interrelated parts (as cited in Backlund&Chroneer,2015,p.
61). Literacy is defined by technology as a tool, (Public Broadcasting System, 2011), and
teaching through project-based teaching reaches multiple intelligences and schools of
thought. Becoming a successful teaching organization, Marsick and Watkins (1999) state
that to satisfy this concept is to modify the culture of the institution and to implement the
tools, methods, and techniques to support this process (Backlund&Chroneer,2015).
Through the strategy-based curriculum, students explore real-world problems and
challenges while using cross-curriculum skills.
ECDS achieves success through this train of thought by allowing teachers to
design their own curriculum based on abstract concepts. Without being constrained by
state mandated guidelines, teachers execute this freedom by teaching an entire years
curriculum content through designing classroom based proposals of imagined selfsufficient countries or companies. This strategy is widely used throughout the grades
ninth to twelfth at ECDS, however, the younger grades also take part in a Social Studies
Fair which is taught for half of the year. Using classroom designs, teachers develop each
project through chosen literature, science and history relative to each project to then
showcase at the fair. Through using the Project-Based teaching method, each classroom
also focuses on student-centered learning technology, designing a curriculum that best fits
the culture of the class.
As years have passed, ECDS remains determined to fulfill the needs of all
students. In The New Medias Consortiums Horizon Report: 2015 discusses different
technologies that are currently being practiced at ECDS. Currently being used

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istheBringYourOwnDevice(BYOD)technologythroughouteveryclassroom
(Johnson,AdamsBecker,Estrada&Freeman,2015).Studentsofeveryageareinstructed
tobringtheirowndeviceonadailybasis.OneofthepresentedchallengesoftheBYOD
technologyisfundingandstudentsbeingabletosupplytheirowndevicesbasedon
income(Bruder,2014).Duetothecommunitybeingofmediumtohighincome,most
studentsdonothaveaproblemsupplyingtheirowndevices;however,forourlow
incomestudents,devicesareprovidedforthemfromscholarshipordonationsfromother
families.Acomputerlabhasbeenreplacedwitharesourceroomtobetterthestudents
needs.Dealingwithstudentswhohavearangeofeducationandbehavioralneeds,
personalizedtechnologyallowsstudentstofeelcomfortablewithintheclassroom
(Johnsonetal.,2015).Classrooms have been redesigned with better technology and
implementing the BYOD technology, students rely on their own devices to complete
their work throughout the social studies fair and utilize cloud-based systems to submit
their work. As Christensen, Johnson and Horn said, Computers have made almost no
dent in the most important challenge that they have the potential to crack: allowing
students to learn in ways that correspond with how their brains are wired to learn, thereby
migrating to a student-centric learning environment (as reported in Leer & Ivanov, 2013,
p. 18). Designing individual spaces to fit the needs of the students should consider the
flexibility of the dynamics of the room, enabling the space the stay current to time trends,
inspire students to remain creative at all times and the classroom should support different
functions to teach different mediums (Gonzales&Young,2015). By considering the
creative space of the classroom, students feel supported, providing a personalized
environment allowing student-centered learning to flourish.

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Economic Trends
The global system is currently facing many different levels of instability including
rising costs, failing states and increasing migration (Glenn,2014). Children are direct
influences on the choices made individually and politically, as money is being outsourced
to unnecessary means. Private institutions rely exclusively on tuition and donations to
ensure the longevity of the administration, staff and student population. ECDS has
currently been faced with the question of raising the tuition costs to maintain the stability
of the system and stay afloat in a failing state. Private education may be headed on its
way out or headed for dramatic shrinkage and kindergarten through twelve enrollments
are shrinking 13% from 2000 to 2010 (Chester, 2013). If an institution cannot remain
relevant for societal growing issues or find a niche to fit specific trends, they will face
closing their doors. In the past ten years at ECDS, a high school as been added onto the
original, kindergarten through eighth-grade structure, to fulfill debt issues and maintain a
growing staff. ECDS currently remains a thriving establishment due to the
overwhelming eagerness to promote individualized learning and continues to take on a
more challenging community of students. Therefore, resources must be supplied to meet
these students needs. Parents looking for these individual needs may seek out a private
institution or other school choices to seek specific goals for their child. Public schools
have a greater difficulty meeting many individual needs based on the number of students
they services and state parameters. Parents bring their children to ECDS due to our
achievement in individualized learning and regions send contracted students as well to
have their needs met.

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To maintain a paradigmatic model of individualized learning and a student-centric
environment, students need to feel understood and treated as equals. Through teaching
equality and equity-based morals, students are taught to eliminate bullying and
competition between different groups. Equality denotes and connotes sameness, stating
that all students are entitled to high-quality teachers, access to technology and the same
supports and resources (Ford, 2015). In Multicultural Issues, it raises the subject of
diversity of gifted students of black and Hispanic descent and that these children are
greatly under-represented in gifted child programs. There needs to be a greater
understanding of the need to preach equity of all students regardless of race, academic
differences and gender choice. To be equitable is to be free from bias or favoritism, to be
fair to both men and women, showing preference to neither (Irby & Koch, 2002). Both
males and females should be given the opportunity to acquire the most socially valued
characteristics and skills that most jobs, roles, and activities expect. ECDS has a very
diverse population and preaches a very strict bullying policy for all students; achieving
success through curriculum based subjects on gender and race equity and also holds a
girl empowerment after school club. ECDS strives to maintain a multicultural
population that meets the needs of students of all different learning groups.
Demographic Trends
There are two key demographic trends that are pertinent to the prospect of
educational success the future of ECDS; the growing concern of healthcare and increase
in immigration.

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The population of this country has doubled since 1950 and there is a developing
need to proper healthcare (Shrestha&Heisler,2011).Duetothehighcostforinsurance
coverage,familiescomingfromlowincomecommunitiesarechoosingtonotprovide
theirchildrenwiththeproperhealthcare,whichputlargegroupsofstudentsatriskin
schools.Justrecently,ECDScurrentlymadethedecisiontodropprovidedhealthcareto
thestaffduetotherisingcostsofinsuranceaswell.Whilemaintainingstaffnumbers
underfifty,theylegallywereabletostopprovidingthesebenefitstotheteachers,which
inturncostthemanumberofhighlyskillededucatorswhochosetoleavetheirstaffing
positions.Therefore,itlefttheremainingstafftoenrollintotheFreeCareAct,paying
moreforequalinsurancepolicies.Thisisamajorproblemthathasplaguedthis
institutionforthepasttwoyearsandprovidesanexcellentsnapshotofacountrythat
providesinsufficientaccesstohealthcare.
ImmigrationisanimportantcomponentofpopulationgrowthintheUnitedStates
andcontinuestoriseas12.5%ofthepopulationnowbelongstoforeignbornindividuals,
withonethirdlivingillegal,provingaflawedsystem(Shrestha&Heisler,2011).Many
studentsareenteringoureducationalsystemculturallyandlinguisticallydiverse.
Roughly22%ofHispanicstudentsand11%ofAfricanAmericansarenotcompleting
highschool,whichraisesaconcernofeducationalsuccessandeconomicfutureinour
systemsforstudents(Yates,2008).Thisleavesinstitutionstoprovideproperassistance
andeducationaltoolsinanattempttofixthecrisisoffailingeducational.ECDSpresently
providesscholarshipstomanylowincomefamiliesofvaryingculturesandlanguage
discrepancies.ThereareagreatnumberofstudentsthatEnglishisnottheirfirst

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language,whothenareprovidedwithlanguagetutorsandspeechprograms.Scholarships
areprovidedtothesestudentstoprovidethemwithanopportunitytofurthertheir
educationandaccessopportunitiesthatwouldnotbepossibleinthecommunityspublic
system.
ECDSmustfocusonremainingeconomicallystableduringglobalbyproviding
propersolutionstodeterminetheprosperityofitsfuture.Consideringthecurrentissues
beingpresentedinachangingsociety,equippingteacherswiththepropertoolsallow
studentstobegivenappropriateeducationalresourcesandthemostqualifiedfuture.
Methodology of Scenarios and Scanning

Easton Country Day School (ECDS), an independent, private co-educational

school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, has continuously looked into the
future of its educational structure for the past twenty-three years. As ECDS shapes its
progressing system, there is an importance for the school as an institution to build a
futuring model that fulfills the potential to provide options for change. Planning for the
future in a proactive manner will result in becoming the catalyst for connecting people to
relevant knowledge and disciplines (Sobero, 2004). Easton Country Day School will use
futuring techniques that allow administration and staff to discuss the expected result,
desired change and what needs to happen for these changes to occur. This allows the
institution to grant development in a social, economic and technological manner.
Every education organization must take part in the act of futuring to determine
each structures sustainability in the long run. Futuring is the science of exploring and

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evaluating probable future possibilities (Boyd, 2011). With the economy presenting past
unrest and future uncertainty, there is a great concern in determining future assets of an
institution. The impact and consequences of decisions and scenarios built within futuring,
frame the viability for future generations (Sobero, 2004). The changes occur globally
through technological development and economic success with the utilization of scenario
building, environmental scanning, and implementing trends and technologies.
Easton Country Day School is committed to using futuring to identify indications
of change and monitor ongoing effects of the change. These characteristics of change
affect the enrollment process, revenue, staffing and advancement in technology through
programs and electronics.
Scenarios
Proposing a prospective outcome depends on an institutions willingness to
recognize flaws and weaknesses to better improve the outcome of its future. Tomorrow
will inevitably be better because of several trends that improve human nature creating a
more stable social order (Clardy, 2011). There are six current popular paradigms that
each proposed scenario may fall under; Progress; the driving force in human civilization,
Anti-Utopian; a technology of complete totalitarian control, Dystopia; conflict and
epidemic are common, Revolution; population and society exist of chronic warfare,
Collapse; back to a primitive world and New World; knowledge of the inevitable future is
obtained (Clardy, 2011). Each paradigm offers extraordinary foresight of the future, based
on different theories and allows people to understand what the future may hold. Scenarios
are hypotheses of how trends, strategies or wild card events will create different
situations (Boyd, 2011). Creating scenarios prepare individuals to recognize the

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uncertainties that lie ahead and rehearse different responses to each possible future
(Mietzner & Reger, 2005). Although creating scenarios assists organizations to discuss
the future of their program, futuring can also present possible pitfalls:

Pros

Cons

-Scenario planning allows preparation to

-Scenarios based on one technology can be

think ahead in a 10-year time span.

a limited view.

-Scenario building is a tool for decision

-Current trends and movements can sway a

making for possible future environments

futuring scenario, but may not be relevant

(Mietzner and Reger 2005).

10 years after.

-Creates a data-driven model for better

-Danger in the simplistic, paradigmatic

analysis.

thinking about the future becomes resistant

to modification (Clardy 2011)

-Impact scenario thinking has on the

current generation to improve how

-Data-driven results can lead to

teachers are instructing.

assumptions.

-Scenario building must consider all

-More professional development paid days

components of each institution that affect

to teachers for data taking and evaluation

one another.

affecting income scales.

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-More professional development options.

-Collaboration between colleagues.

Although creating scenarios have many positive characteristics in building a

better future of educational programs and institution, leaders and administrators must
allow flexibility in discussing specific scenarios and scanning techniques. At Easton
Country Day School, careful scenario planning takes place to better the needs of the
student body and staff. A co-educational private school can endure longevity by creating
data-driven scenarios to understand all components that affect one another for a more
positive direction in its educational structure.
Scanning
Scenarios provide the capability to look ahead and plan specific outcomes;
however scanning provides the evaluation of the data obtainable from scenario building.
Using the scanning technology for futuring allows for monitoring the environment,
analyzing internal and external assumptions, creating multiple scenarios on important
issues, development of forecasting, writing issue briefs, assure staff are ready to address
the changes and using the results to create continual improvement (Sobero, 2004).
Scanning the environment includes observational and research based data in each
community. Effective futuring leads to decision-making and effective time framing of the
highest program priorities.

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Through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), ECDS
completed the re-accreditation process in the 2015-2016 school year. Within this process,
the school was to evaluate the mission, governance, enrollment, academic program,
experience of students, resources, early childhood, faculty, administration, assessment,
health and safety, communications and infrastructure (Commission on Institutions of
Higher Learning, 2011). The faculty formed together to create scenarios and use
scanning techniques to evaluate data received to write a self-study of the school. The goal
of a written self-study using futuring for accreditation was to allow evaluation of the
system and scanning to identify indications of change. This process is completed every
10 years, granting the process of monitoring and tracking data, which becomes the
method of ongoing organization determining the relevance and impact of how the
structure performs (Sobero, 2004).
Although scanning data to analyze internal resources presents many positive
aspects, institutions must allow administration to look beyond just data and statistics.
Scanning results can create a narrowing viewpoint on many components that work
together as one system. Only looking in one area creates a limited picture and to progress
in a positive direction, an educational system will want to implement larger trends that
will impact the structure in a long term effect.
Effective futuring leads to higher quality decision-making (Sobero, 2004). Using
the science of exploring and evaluating future possibilities, ECDS may make decisions to
change systematic positions and technologies to remain influential to the student body.
Through scenario building and scanning, an institution must remain willing to correct
weaknesses to balance working components in an integral system.

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Easton Country Day School 2021

A vision is animageofwhatmightbeanidealthatisuniquetoapersonor
organizationandrecognizesdissatisfactionwiththepresent,acatalystforaction,
reflectingcorevalues(Hayden,2007).The future of Easton Country Day School is
determined on the educational structures willingness to recognize its flaws and create
solutions to strengthen its weaknesses. Through scanning of current educational and
economic trends, ECDS must incorporate several movements to further the progression
of the institution. Specific technology must be integrated to support the individualized
needs of each student. While ECDS currently implements the BYOD technology, this
model needs to be expanded on a larger scale for curriculum-based lessons depending on
these devices. Accessible programs and a faster Wi-Fi system must be installed to
support this wider use of technology. With the concept of a student-centric environment,
personal programs can also be utilized on these devices as to use this technology as an
integral connection rather than just a support system. The goal of personalized learning is
to enable students to determine the strategy and pace at which they learn (Johnson et al.,
2015). This model will allow students to bring to school varying different devices to
support his or her own needs, and use content such as game-based lessons to reach the
impact of students further.
ECDS must remain wise in their spending to stay economically balanced. With
over-spending to meet the needs of so many different students, ECDS must hire
additional support staff with skilled special education training and foundational
background to meet the needs of the current population. Also, to remain committed to

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supporting their staff, ECDS must implement a better solution to the healthcare
dilemma and provide better benefits to current personnel.
Although ECDS has shown devotion to reaching the needs of many students, they
have also reached a number of challenges that must be faced.
Challenges:
1. All teachers must be on board to implement more technological devices in all
classrooms, K-12.
2. Teachers will need further professional development and training to learn more
computer-based programs.
3. Implementing technology-based curriculum will need the support of
communication and collaboration of all academics and electives to meet a better
project-based model.
4. Maintaining a balanced fiscal system of revenue to support further staff and
support.
5. Continuing a scholarship program for students of low-income communities
without a balanced income.
Opportunities
1. Furthering an individualized learning model with more support and program.
2. Teachers will feel further approval and accomplishment in their classrooms and
among staff.
3. Teachers will learn how to become more experienced and skilled at using and
applying technology.
4. With a more balanced fiscal system, ECDS will be able to provide a healthcare
system to staff.
5. Students will thrive from the project-based model that will suit the needs of a
growing technological population.
If ECDS does not meet these growing concerns, they face the obstacle of losing

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more skilled and long-term staff. Also with the rapid rate of the population growing at
this institution, if the student needs are not met properly at the same rate, the enrollment
will suffer. An institution that survives solely on tuition and donations will not be able to
sustain itself without the proper enrollment numbers.
Plan For Change
1. Evaluation of classroom atmosphere and technology currently placed in each
room. Donations or money must be allocated to place better working smart boards
and a better Wi-Fi system.
2. Evaluation of the fiscal system to see how funds need to be properly used to
replace healthcare and benefits.
3. Upon student acceptance, there must be assessment process to assure support is
provided to each student before attendance.
4. Placement of a promoting ECDSs name and mission on social media and in the
community to further revenue and donations.
5. Mandatory professional development on individualized learning, technology
advancement, and project-based models.
Call To Action
Administration and organizational leaders must agree to make changes to see
success in growth of the framework of ECDS. As an institution, there has been a
focused direction of meeting the needs of students who do not fit the mold or are on
the spectrum. While ECDS has done this exceedingly well, there are many parameters
that have not been met or have been lost in this direction. Personnel have left in
recent years and numerous teachers are in need of further support and tools. The
administration must understand the growing concerns they are facing to meet the
needs of a sustainable system where all components, including students and staff, are

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balanced. The first step ECDS needs to take immediately is replacing a full Wi-Fi
school-wide system and implementing better technology in each classroom such as
updated Smart Board interactive whiteboards, designated desktops that provide
game-based curriculum, and assistive devices for physical and mental challenges that
further individualized learning. The next step ECDS must make is taking donations
and/or raising tuition to provide this technology in each classroom to continue
student-centric learning for the next ten years to come. Professional development
must be provided to teach these technologies to the teachers. Educators must be ready
to evaluate past failing processes and approach these ideas for improvement. Teachers
need to be willing to accept the direction that the current educational system is going
in to reach success for the future and maintain a sustainable balanced infrastructure of
Easton Country Day School.

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Bruder, P. (2014) Education Digest. Gadgets Go To School: The Benefits and Risks of
BYOD, Vol. 80 (Issue 3), p15-18

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