Learning and Strengthening Well-Being and Belonging with a Visit from Challenge Success

Over the course of three days in January, Taipei American School welcomed Dr. Brandon Wiley, our school’s coach from Challenge Success (CS), to campus for a series of listening sessions, collaborative work meetings, and community dialogues. His visit marked an important moment in TAS’s ongoing effort to better understand how students, families, and employees are experiencing school, and to thoughtfully translate those insights into action.

Challenge Success, an organization affiliated with Stanford University, partners with schools to examine academic, social, and emotional experiences through survey data and structured conversation. Our work with Challenge Success began during the 2024–25 school year, laying the foundation for an important and transformative conversation about student engagement in our community.

At TAS, this work serves as a mirror rather than an evaluation. It helps our community notice patterns, ask better questions, and make informed decisions that strengthen well-being, engagement, and belonging.

From Data and Dialogue to Action

As SY25–26 began, TAS launched three divisional Challenge Success Teams, each bringing together students, faculty and staff, parents, and divisional leadership, and meeting during the first semester.

During Brandon’s visit, these teams reconvened and worked across divisions to review survey findings, identify high-impact themes, and narrow their focus to a small number of priority areas for the spring.

Rather than pursuing broad or immediate fixes, the teams began designing developmentally appropriate pilot efforts focused on improving student well-being, engagement, and belonging in concrete and measurable ways. These pilots are now moving into refinement and implementation planning. More details will be shared soon, including how success will be defined and how feedback will inform future decisions.

Strengthening Partnership with Families

In addition to working with the taskforces, Dr. Wiley met with families across divisions through parent sessions and dialogue events. These gatherings created space for shared language and understanding around what students may be experiencing, especially related to stress, sleep, engagement, and belonging.

Designed around listening rather than quick fixes, the sessions reinforced the importance of the home–school partnership in supporting students in meaningful and lasting ways.

Considering the Adult Experience

As part of this work, we are also considering how adult well-being serves as a model for student well-being and engagement.

In a dedicated employee dialogue, Dr. Wiley emphasized a core principle of the Challenge Success framework. When people experience strong well-being, engagement, and a sense of belonging, they are better able to learn, contribute, and thrive. This applies to students and adults alike.

The session highlighted several strengths within the TAS community, including strong professional relationships and generally high levels of engagement. It also surfaced patterns that merit deeper exploration, particularly related to belonging, stress, workload, and time pressure. The data does not provide answers. Instead, it helps the school ask more focused questions and examine systems and practices that shape daily experience.

As a next step, TAS is in the early stages of forming an employee-focused working group to further explore the adult experience through a solutions-oriented lens.

Looking Ahead

In the months ahead, TAS will continue sharing updates as each division moves forward with its spring pilot work, including what is being tried, why those focus areas were chosen, and how the school will learn from the outcomes. Families and employees can also expect continued opportunities for dialogue and partnership as this work evolves, along with clear communication as adjustments are made along the way. Above all, this phase reflects a shared commitment to listening carefully, learning together, and taking thoughtful steps to strengthen the day-to-day experience of both students and adults across our community.