Another View of Strategic Design in Schools
March 8, 2016Strategic design is the term I have coined for an inclusive, transparent, imaginative, and transformative process that builds real capacity for innovation and change in schools. Have another glance, this time at The Bolles School in Florida. Sure, the video is a bit of a sales pitch for the school, but imagine this kind of…
How Does TIME Support Innovation at Schools?
March 5, 2016I was honored to guest host the very popular #SatChatWC this morning (Saturday mornings, 7:30 am Pacific Time; hosted by Shelley Burgess and Dave Burgess of Teach Like a Pirate fame). It is a “west coast” chat, but always seems to have great representation from educators from pretty much every US and Canadian time zone. My…
What is Your School’s “Extra Chunky”?
March 1, 2016Does your school have the courage to invest in the extraordinary? That was the thesis question posed by independent thought and practice leader, Tim Fish of McDonogh School last week at the NAIS conference. I have known Tim for more than ten years, but had never seen him present. It was so succinct, so precise, and…
Vodcast: How We Can Reimagine “Time” in Schools
February 29, 2016In my ongoing conversation with Canadian schools on how they can best change to meet the needs of the future, here is my second weekly vodcast with Garth Nichols and Justin Medved. We talked about how schools view “time”, and how they can re-imagine use of time to better meet their learning goals. Follow along…
Very Big Deal: Busting the Dam of College Admissions
February 26, 2016For educators, this might be one of those moments you remember for many years to come: when you heard that we are going to radically change and improve how we break down the dam to school innovation that we call the college admissions process. You heard it here first! Yesterday at the NAIS annual conference, Scott…
Must Read “The End of Average”
February 24, 2016What if one of the most important pillars supporting how and what we teach is wrong? What if you knew that most of our systems of grading, assessment, and promotion are based on faulty assumptions and bad math? What if the emperor had no clothes? This is what Todd Rose sets out to prove in…
Follow Canadian School Leaders as They Imagine #Project2051
February 22, 2016I am really excited to have connected with colleagues in Canadian schools who are taking a truly hard, sustainable, and determined look at the future of schools. The Canadian Association of Independent Schools new Project2051, brings together many educators and thinkers from outside of education to wipe the board clean, imagine what schools might look like in…
Giving People the Option to Get Off the Bus
February 17, 2016How can a school leader invite faculty and staff who want to align to the vision to stay, and “dis-invite” others to leave? This is one of the thorniest, least comfortable parts of transforming a school, and many leaders avoid the discomfort and potential disruption until retirements make it moot. But that is not what is needed.…
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
February 16, 2016I REALLY hate to quote Donald Rumsfeld, but he was right when he said we don’t know what we don’t know. Over the last two years I have held workshops with well over 5,000 K-12 educators. The schools and districts these people represent cross the spectrum from wealthy, autonomous, and successful, to poor, girdled by…
Next Generation Strategic Planning: Strategic Design
February 13, 2016If your school is still doing strategic planning the same way you did five or ten years ago, you are robbing your community of perhaps its most powerful opportunity for the future. What does inclusive, collaborative, imaginative, design-based strategic thinking amongst a community of educators look like? Check out this post from Trinity Episcopal School in…
Students are Our Hidden Strategic Resource
February 12, 2016If you are not using your high school students as strategic partners, you are absolutely leaving a valuable resource on the bench. Every time I work with students in design mode, inviting them into the process of designing how to align teaching and learning more closely with the skills and content that is most valuable…
Tangible Progress at Progressive Winnetka 36 District
February 6, 2016It is always GREAT to see proof that expansive design-based thinking leads to tangible change. Last June I was honored to spend nearly three days with the faculty and staff of several schools in Winnetka School District 36. Winnetka has a decades-old commitment to progressive education rooted in the legacy and presence of none other…
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