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

How can you use AIM?

Schools use AIM in assessing inclusivity and multiculturalism for three practical purposes:

1. As a stand alone exercise orchestrated by the school’s Diversity Task Force or board-empowered committee.
2. As part of a school’s larger self-study for accreditation purposes.
3. As a data-gathering element for a school’s strategic planning process.

AIM can help schools do the following:

• 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.

How does AIM work?

AIM is more than a self-assessment and survey tool. It is a comprehensive assessment process. AIM takes up to one year to complete. It involves a commitment of the entire school community, a commitment that will lead to real, tangible data on where your school stands and how it can become more inclusive. There are two parts of AIM, the Self-Assessment Process and the campus-wide Online Climate Survey.

AIM Self-Assessment

The AIM Self-Assessment Process is similar to a school’s accreditation or re-accreditation process. It is completed by Discovery Committees that include involvement by all affiliation and affinity groups within the school community. These Discovery Committees discuss and report on the following aspects of the school:

• School governance and leadership;
• Policy and administration;
• Admissions, including financial aid;
• Faculty/Teacher;
• Teaching and learning;
• Student life;
• School publications and environment;
• Staff involvement and life;
• Parent/guardian involvement; and
• Alumni involvement and investment

AIM Online Climate Survey

The AIM Online Climate Survey engages your community in a confidential online survey that asks each constituency group to give feedback on school climate and culture. AIM then delivers to your school summarized survey results. These results come in an easy-to-digest format the school can put to use in strategic planning and in follow-up training and programming.
 

Steps to Take AIM

1. Mail/fax your completed AIM Registration Form.
2. Appoint an AIM Coordinator for your school.
   This individual will take part in a training session by conference call. He or she will then coordinate the administration of both the Self Assessment and the Climate Survey, and serves the point person for any issues throughout the course of AIM.
3. NAIS will send the User’s Manual, training information, and the Self-Assessment tool to your school’s AIM Coordinator via e-mail within two weeks.
4. Your AIM Coordinator, Head of School, and other designees will take part in training via conference call.
5. The school’s Discovery Committees will complete the Self Assessment.
6. Your AIM Coordinator will facilitate logistics for the campus to complete the Climate Survey.
7. NAIS will send your school’s Climate Survey Report.
8. With the AIM data (the Self-Assessment Report and Climate Survey Report) in hand, your school can build on the results for strategic planning and for further training and development.