GLP BLOG
Equity in Learning: Essential Reading from Rob Riordan, High Tech High Graduate School of Education
Conversations about equity in schools continue to be of interest and importance. We notice these conversations often focus on related cultural, political, and social prescriptions, via specific curricula and programs for adults and students. We wonder about other approaches to thinking about equity.
On Anecdotes, Exceptions, and Outliers: Harnessing the Power of Story from Multiple Perspectives
I had the very good fortune this July to attend a Challenge Success Summer Leadership Seminar. As it happened, the Principal and Vice Principal of my own children’s public middle school were also in attendance. After a busy morning of workshops, I took advantage of the lull before lunch to share with the two school administrators an anecdote with my perspective on the preceding school year. To sum up, my story went something like this: “I just wanted to say that overall I am very satisfied with what I assume is the school’s policy to not assign homework over holidays and long breaks, with one exception. For the winter and spring breaks both of my children, in grades 6 and 8, were asked to complete sections of a review book for the state math assessment. What concerns me is the message that it sends about the values of our school. We say we have a commitment to breaks as downtime for students and their families to unwind and spend quality time with one another, without the stress of homework. But when that commitment is measured against the requirements of standardized testing schedules, we allow the test to take precedence. We are in essence communicating that we value performance on a standardized test more than we value the need of families to have quality time with one another while on vacation.”
Fall 2018 Reading List
Return to Preikestolen: Musings on Vision and Strategy
If you’ve read Creating Schools That Thrive (and if not, please do!) you may recall my story of hiking Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen), Norway in March, 2009. The story of the hike became my metaphor for strategic design -- for distilling the language of strategy and helping clients make sense of the process to design and execute strategy.
Taking Our Own Advice
You know the joke about the carpenter's house never being finished or the doctor who doesn't follow her own advice? Last month, in a flurry of work and new engagements, I realized we had the same issue at GLP as the carpenter has with his partially built home. So - in the midst of the heaviest work schedule this year - I called for a one day retreat with the team and planned it much in the same way we would with our clients.
Summer 2018 Reading List
Our Summer 2018 Reading List is here and we are eager to share some great suggestions, both new and old. As usual, some of our choices are education focused and others take a broader view to issues that we think matter for schools. And of course, we must put in a plug for our own book coming out in mid June: Creating Schools that Thrive: A Blueprint for Strategy.
Make 2018 the Year for Feedback
Resolutions abound around January 1. We commit to all sorts of new behaviors, we set goals, and we feel the excitement of starting anew.
I’ve found that one resolution always worth making is to commit to better feedback practices. Make a commitment to request and offer feedback effectively. If you are already doing it, how can you do it better? And if you are not doing, how do you start?
Data-driven decision making (NOT data-driven madness)
In December 2015, the cheekily named “Study of Maternal and Child Kissing (SMACK) Work Group” published a study titled “Maternal kisses are not effective in alleviating minor childhood injuries (boo-boos): a randomized, controlled and blinded study” in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.
Although the journal is real, the study is (of course) a spoof - a mocking jab at the cool data-driven objectivity of empirical studies taken to an extreme.
Leading from the Inside Out A Report from Leadership Lab: Cohort II
In July of 2016, GLP launched its Leadership Lab for new heads of school with the belief that a small, intimate and personalized approach to leadership preparation was needed for independent school heads. The program provides time to retreat and look inward, to build deep relationships with other leaders, and to prepare for the real work of headship. We prototyped our vision with cohort I---and this July cohort II continued this work – but with a modified design to incorporate suggestions. So together, we gathered four new Heads in bucolic Connecticut to reflect, prepare, practice and offer feedback to each other as they entered the first year of headship at their new schools. As was the case last year, cohort II was invited to be intentionally small and, though not intentional, was again all women.
Slow Innovation: What Really Drives Value in Schools
GLP is happy to welcome Kirk Greer as a member of the GLP team and guest blogger this summer. Kirk is currently the upper school history chair at the Latin School of Chicago and previously served as its Director of Studies and Professional Development. He is also a new board member at Baker, a progressive JK-8 independent school on Chicago's North Shore.
Earlier this week, I had the chance to share a beer (or two) with a colleague who reflected on changes he had made to his communication style with students. Having read research that detailed how vital the teacher-student relationship is to the success of students of color in predominantly white schools, my white colleague invested more time in cultivating positive affect and personalizing his communication and encouragement so that he might connect more authentically with all his students.