Strategic Plan
Welcome to the Woodlynde of today...and the Woodlynde of tomorrow.
Bold plans are the foundation upon which Woodlynde School was built, emerging as it did from the determined hearts and minds of educators at the shuttered Booth School in 1976.
The impetus: the unmet needs of young people with learning differences.
We are a school long committed to the pursuit of groundbreaking interventions, novel methods, and innovative solutions, all of which have been undertaken in the name of empowering students who learn differently to become strategic thinkers and self-advocates.
Woodlynde is changing as well.
Woodlynde 2026 continues that tradition and brings us to our fiftieth year. It arrives at an unprecedented moment in both our societal and institutional history. A world in the throes of a dramatic evolution marked by rapid technological change, sociopolitical unrest, economic inequality, and environmental crisis unfolds around us. At the same time, research progresses at a breakneck pace, and we find ourselves with a clearer understanding than ever before of how children learn, grow, adapt, and thrive.
We've deepened our commitment to the school’s mission by reframing learning differences to reflect insights drawn from psychology, neuroscience, and the practical experience of our teachers.
A student’s learning difference is the filter through which every part of their being necessarily passes. Their academics. Their habits and behaviors. Their social-emotional intelligence. Their personal experiences. Their interpersonal interactions. Such a view sets Woodlynde apart from contemporaries who would understand learning differences in a vacuum. Our passion is understanding young people with learning differences in their wholeness and, in so doing, transforming their relationship to learning, life, and lifelong learning.
That passion has led us to continually assess and improve our college-preparatory curriculum. It breathed life into a $12 million capital transformation. It emboldens us to pursue ever-greater inclusivity in our practices and our policies, bringing us full-circle as an institution founded to promote belonging and destigmatize difference. It drives us to want to share our approach with the world and draws more and more philanthropic supporters to us year after year.
Woodlynde finds itself in a position of unparalleled strength.
Our response to this moment is not an evolution, but a revolution—in student engagement and learning, in knowledge sharing and teacher training, in service provisioning and sustainable institution building.
The truly revolutionary is never all new. It strikes a delicate balance between time-tested tradition and nascent discovery, the very vanguard at which Woodlynde has built its reputation as a school that was doing it before it was a buzzword. Paving the way to our half-century mark, Woodlynde 2026 charts a course for Woodlynde School along this leading-edge, setting the stage for the next fifty years and seeding the ground for the century after that.
Our vision is to exponentially increase the number of lives meaningfully transformed by Woodlynde School’s approach to learning and teaching.
Priority I
The Woodlynde Student
Supporting and challenging students to be ready to engage with learning and life
Priority 2
The Woodlynde Teacher
Inspiring passionate faculty and mentors to further their craft and deepen their expertise
Priority 3
The Woodlynde Campus
Creating and curating spaces and programming that reflect our mission and values
