Dear Sidwell Friends School Students, Parents, Employees and Trustees:

We are asking members of the Sidwell Friends community to participate in a confidential online survey that will help assess the School’s climate and culture as it relates to inclusivity and multiculturalism.  As we continue our work with the strategic planning, the School’s Diversity Advisory Group (DAG) recommended that we see how well we are meeting our diversity objectives and how we can become a more inclusive community for all of our members.  We have decided to use AIM, a tool developed by the National Association of Independent Schools for this type of assessment.

The Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM) is a comprehensive assessment tool that engages the school community in evaluating inclusivity and multiculturalism.  It delivers tangible results the school can use to strategically plan for building and sustaining inclusive independent school communities.  The specific goals of AIM are to:

• Determine progress in meeting diversity and multiculturalism goals;
• Identify current diversity and multiculturalism initiatives;
• Encourage participation of all affiliation and affinity groups in assessing the school’s level of inclusivity;
• Facilitate meaningful dialogue;
• Provide benchmarking opportunities; and
• Support a positive community building process/experience (www.nais.org).

AIM then delivers summarized survey results to the school, which can be put to use in strategic planning and in follow-up training and programming.  The strategies that we develop from the assessment will help empower us to build a community reflective of Quaker values and the School’s mission.  We are asking all faculty, staff, administrators, Trustees, recent alumni, and students in grades 7-12 to participate in this survey.  In order for this survey to provide comprehensive results, it is crucial that we get as much participation as possible. 

Please go to http://www.insightlink.net/aim-sidwell/to complete the survey.  It should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.  The survey is available in English and Spanish.  Thank you for taking the time to complete this important survey.

 Sincerely,

Tom Farquhar

Head of School 

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