The International School of Panama (ISP) has launched its Strategic Plan 2026–2029, a community-built roadmap for the next three years and what it means for every student and adult. Shaped through surveys, World Cafés, and feedback sessions with members of the ISP community, alongside accreditation findings, educational best practices, and market research, the plan sets a focused direction around three strategic themes: Learning, Well-being, and ISP’s Value Proposition.
Looking Ahead: ISP’s Next Strategic Plan
Strategic planning is a fundamental part of how ISP operates. As our previous planning cycle concludes, we have developed our next roadmap to build upon our ongoing commitment to growth.
This new plan carries our mission forward: to inspire and challenge every learner to reach their full potential and become curious, independent, and compassionate citizens of the world. The result is a framework that is evidence-based, community-informed, and deeply aligned with ISP’s identity.
How the community was involved in shaping it
The Strategic Plan is not a document written behind closed doors. It reflects what the ISP community said matters most, drawing on four sources:
- Community listening: Surveys, World Cafés, and feedback sessions with diverse members of the ISP community.
- Accreditation findings and educational best practices: To identify areas of strength and gain broader perspectives.
- Market research: The industry landscape, evolving family expectations, and the current and future needs of students.
- ISP’s mission and Core Values: To make sure the school’s direction stays true to who it is.
A core part of this consultation process was the recent strategic planning retreat, which brought together a diverse range of voices from across the ISP community. As school leaders, parents, teachers, and students highlighted in a recent video, this collaborative event was essential for evaluating our progress and shaping the school’s strategy for the next five years. Student participation was especially vital, ensuring that our direction remains deeply student-centered and focused on our ultimate goal: preparing students to be educated, ready, and global citizens of the future.
Watch the video below to hear from Head of School Dr. Audrey Menard; former PTA President Indira Arias; teacher Andrea Marchosky; student Ximena Wilson; Board Chairman Rafael Quinn; and Strategic Planning Consultant Abigail DeLession on how community collaboration is shaping the future of ISP.
Theme 1: Learning
At ISP, learning is a journey of authentic discovery to develop understanding, skills, and character. It is iterative, meaningful, social, and exciting. This theme focuses on creating a consistently meaningful, aligned, and future-ready learning experience for every student.
What this means day to day
- The ISP Definition of Learning in every classroom: ISP’s definition of high-quality learning will be implemented consistently across all classrooms, as outlined in the ISP Way.
- Skills that bring the mission to life: ISP will identify and embed the competencies that help students become curious, independent, compassionate citizens of the world. These skills will be explicitly taught, practiced, assessed, and reported across all grade levels.
- A coherent experience, whatever the classroom: Curriculum, teaching, and assessment will be aligned so your child’s learning feels coherent and purposeful regardless of teacher, classroom, or division.
- The whole community as partners in learning: Students, families, faculty, and staff will share responsibility for living out ISP’s learning commitments, moving from awareness to a lasting part of the school’s culture.
Theme 2: Well-being, the heart of learning
At ISP, well-being means an environment where people feel safe, valued, and connected. Every member of the community is supported in building the habits, systems, and relationships that make living ISP’s Core Values sustainable.
What this means in practice
- Well-being as ISP’s operating system: Rather than a standalone initiative, well-being becomes a lens for how the school hires, structures the school day, allocates resources, admits students, and defines success for students and adults.
- A culture of care: Clear, consistent, and proactive support systems for students, faculty, staff, and families, grounded in trust and reviewed regularly to meet real community needs.
- Measuring what matters: ISP will establish a baseline and regularly gather well-being data from every group in the community, then use it to design targeted support.
- Less complexity, more room to grow: Structures, expectations, and demands on students and staff will be streamlined, so deeper learning, meaningful relationships, and sustainable well-being can flourish.
- Thriving adults, thriving students: Professional learning that gives faculty and staff genuine voice, choice, and agency, because a thriving adult community is what makes a thriving student community possible.
Theme 3: Value Proposition, committing to what makes ISP exceptionally unique
ISP will clarify and consistently deliver a set of commitments aligned with its mission, Core Values, and definition of learning. These commitments will guide decisions in admissions, hiring, program design, and resource allocation.
What this means in practice
- An honest, consistent value story: A clear description of what makes ISP unique, based on what the community actually experiences, shared consistently inside and outside the school.
- A whole-child experience through multiple pathways: Strong co-curricular, experiential, and academic programs, including VAPA, STEM, athletics, outdoor learning, service learning, and college pathways, with core experiences and meaningful choices for every student.
- An innovative, forward-thinking non-profit international school: As a non-profit that reinvests in its students and community, ISP will keep questioning how education has traditionally looked, leading rather than following and preparing students not just for college, but for the world.
- A culture of belonging: Systems, programs, and practices that help every student, family, and staff member feel they truly belong.
- Excellent teachers: Recruiting, retaining, and developing mission-aligned educators, who are sought out, valued, and challenged to grow.
How the three themes work together
The three themes are one connected plan. Well-being is described as the heart of learning: students learn best when they feel safe, valued, and connected, and adults can only support that when they are thriving too. The Value Proposition then makes sure the experiences, programs, and people that make ISP unique are delivered consistently, so the school families hear about is the school their children actually live.
What the plan means for families who choose ISP
For current and prospective families, the plan translates into clear commitments:
- Consistency across grade levels: Learning that is coherent and purposeful regardless of teacher, classroom, or division.
- Skills for life, not just for exams: Curiosity, independence, and compassion taught and assessed on purpose, preparing students for college and for the world.
- Care for the whole child: Well-being built into how the school makes decisions, with support systems for students and their families.
- A school that delivers on its promise: A value story based on what the community experiences every day.
How to follow the plan’s implementation
The plan will guide ISP’s work over the next three years, and the school will share progress with the community along the way.
