Exactly on year ago, I jumped off a cliff. I packed my Prius and drove east to visit more than 60 schools over three months and 10,000 miles. I had a couple of parachutes: some financial sponsors and the moral support of family and friends. It was a long trip, lonely drives punctuated by jolts [...]
Once again, I have found a way to visit a remarkable school, share the details with all of you, and NOT pack my Prius and drive around the country. EdJourney continues, this time with a charter school that is pioneering and sharing a remarkable arc of student-owned, differentiated, competency-based learning, and doing it with a [...]
As I am writing chapters to my book and an article for Independent School Magazine, I find threads from both inside and outside of education weaving together into a tapestry of future vision that is both exciting and inevitable. I came across two more such threads today, or more accurately confirmation of threads from two [...]
A key takeaway from my EdJourney last fall and subsequent work with hundreds of educators this spring is that changing how and what we teach is not "hard"; it is "uncomfortable". I won't reprise the argument here; it is in my TEDx talk if you have not seen it yet. I also heard so many [...]
As many of you know, I formally resigned my position at Francis Parker School this spring after almost a decade and a half in a variety of leadership positions. I hope to continue my association with Parker, which my great aunt and uncle founded 100 years ago, in informal ways. For now, and following on [...]
I will be interviewed in a Google Hangout hosted by Whipple Hill this Thursday, 5/9, starting at 2 PM Eastern Time. Register here. Peter Baron of Whipple Hill has been following my journey around the country to visit more than 60 schools last fall, and the subsequent synthesis of the insights I gained from that [...]
Tell me again why strategic planning takes a year, costs tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees, and produces inside the box ideas? Another way? Read on! Yesterday I was happy to work with a group of faculty, staff, and trustees at Poughkeepsie Day School who are generating the schools updated strategic plan. On [...]
Moon-set at dawn from "my" porch. Every time I am in a new place of quiet beauty I thank God for waking early in the morning when the world is new, when the mist is still rising off the lake, two paddling loons trail V-ripple wakes across the shimmering reflection of the setting [...]
First moral of this story: don’t book your travel with me. If I were a sailor, the crew would have thrown me overboard by now. Last Sunday: watched Denzel Washington crash land a plane in “Flight”. Last Wednesday, Dallas to Richmond. Emergency landing in Nashville, no real explanation. Fly to Atlanta with a connection to [...]
St. Christopher’s School is a K12 boys school in Richmond, VA. They celebrated their centennial last year, have strong admissions demand, and are considered in the top tier of schools in the Richmond market. So why does a school like St. Christopher’s embark on a path of innovation to change what and how they teach? [...]