I have been thinking and writing a lot about the need to introduce the discussion of value proposition into how we think strategically about our schools. The consideration of institutional value is quite different than the consideration of strategic goals as practiced by most schools. Importantly, value directs us outward to the view of our [...]
We work at schools to make a difference in the lives of young people, not to teach them what we know, but to help them find their passion to learn what will be meaningful to them, and to apply it to their future lives. As an administrator, I don’t get the chance to engage students [...]
How many speeches by graduating high school seniors have you heard in your career? Tens? Dozens? There are three varieties. One offers insight into the heart of the speaker. The second suggests that the class should go out and do wonderful things with their lives and talents. The third looks back and summarizes the yearbook [...]
High school graduations speeches tend to all sound the same. Bless the students and guest speakers, but after sitting through 15 graduations in the last 15 years, most of the wisdom and reflections are worn out. Yesterday, Carson Scott, the valedictorian of our Francis Parker School graduating class provided two words that will stick with [...]
Innovation Excellence let us know that Florida opens a business incubator in Gainesville, a place for people to set up shop and share ideas on getting their dreams off the ground. Why don’t we have these for education, or why don’t we, as educators send our people to hang out in these places and share [...]
Most of my readers live in the U.S., but some do not. Regardless of nationality, remembering those who have sacrificed their lives in service of their country, as Americans do on Memorial Day, is something we share across borders and time. This weekend we remember. On these days we don’t argue about the value of [...]
As I told my Falconer students in the Upper School ASB class last week, effective problem solving requires accurate problem definition. When we think about how to instill 21st Century skills in our students and educational programs, we have immediately defined the problem incorrectly. The skills that we refer to as “21C” have ALWAYS been [...]
The research last week that appears to have busted our ideas about the bell curve of human performance will continue to resonate in many ways (links on last week’s post). Here are two more, prompted by media reviews and Twitter traffic on two important topics. The media was buzzing last week about the Harvard-MIT online [...]
I recently wrote an article for the NBOA publication Net Assets on implementing an enterprise risk management program. It is a hot topic; I have probably had 40 business officers and others email me for more information. We all know we need to look at this, but it is a hard road to start down. [...]
I have had some fascinating discussions this week with educators from around the country about how we might do a better job of incorporating, and really teaching, the skills of reflection, introspection, self-assessment, and self-awareness in our core educational programs. If this interests you, read on! In creating an outline for my next book (which [...]