Be innovative.
That’s the injunction we gave to ourselves as the fourth plank of Vision 2015.
The impetus, to my mind, came from two places. First, we recognized that one of the primary conversations today in schools is the need to embrace disruptive innovation. A term coined by Clayton Christensen, disruptive innovation refers to changes – cell phones, for example – that did not simply improve on existing technology but transformed an industry. Used your landline lately?
For too long, schools have been trapped in a traditional paradigm, with a teacher – the so-called sage on the stage – standing in front of the class and “filling” student heads with knowledge. Clearly, that is not the Hillbrook experience nor has it been the Hillbrook experience for the past 75 years. We realized, however, that as a school we needed to intentionally call out the need to be innovative if we wanted to ensure that we would remain at the forefront of best practices in teaching and learning. Since the building of the Village of Friendly Relations in the 1930s, we have always been ahead of the curve – we don’t want to stop now.
The decision to adopt a 1-to-1 iPad program in the Middle School, for example, represented an opportunity to fundamentally shift a key component of the experience for our students. Current conversations about the “flipped classroom,” a concept popularized through Sal Khan and his Khan Academy, is another example of something we are exploring as a school. Our new iLab space – something you will be hearing about increasingly in the months ahead – is yet another opportunity to think differently about how we use space to foster collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
I should add that I don’t necessarily believe that we have implemented disruptive innovation in the way that Clayton Christensen meant the term, but I do think we are at the forefront of schools that recognize that we are moving through a period of unimaginable opportunity in education. The best schools will be the ones that are willing to take risks and embrace new ways of teaching and learning, while always remaining focused on their primary mission – to provide an extraordinary educational opportunity for each student.
The other impetus to innovate was location. We are fortunate to live in the most innovative and entrepreneurial place on earth. We believe that as a school we need to be an active part of Silicon Valley, not just a school that exists in Silicon Valley. We are looking for ways to engage in the spirit of risk-taking and to tap into the remarkable resources we have here in the valley, including our own parent body.
So – how are we planning on meeting the charge to be innovative?
Today I am excited to announce that we will be launching the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) in the 2012-2013 school year.
The CTE will consist of three parts. The core of the CTE will be the Resident Teacher Program, which will bring aspiring teachers to our campus to work with our talented teachers. The second part will be Educational Conferences that will make Hillbrook the site for important conversations about teaching and learning. The third part will be a Speaker Series, bringing leaders in a variety of fields throughout Silicon Valley to our campus to engage in thought-provoking dialogue with students, parents, and teachers.
The Resident Teacher Program will be a two-year program. Next year’s cohort will consist of four residents, and we hope to add a second cohort of four residents the following year. Within 3-5 years we expect to have 10-12 residents on campus. Residents, primarily recent college graduates from top schools around the country, will help us to further individualize our program in the classroom, will nurture collaboration, and will allow our teachers to serve as mentors and, in the process, deepen their own understanding of their practices. As the old saying goes, the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.
Two committees – a board committee, chaired by long-time board member Chuck Geiger, and a faculty committee, chaired by Lower School Head Stephanie Deitz, have been working behind-the-scenes for the past six months to help us develop this concept initially outlined in Vision 2015. Through numerous conversations and site visits to other schools we have seen examples of how different portions of this program can be realized.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a small number of visionary families who believe in the powerful impact this program will have on our school, we have raised sufficient funds to cover the first year’s operating expenses involved in this ambitious, innovative, and ultimately transformative program.
Overall, the benefits to Hillbrook are three-fold. First, it will foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and reflection, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of best practices in JK-8 education. With this program, an already excellent school with excellent teachers will become ever better. Second, it will deepen our connection to Silicon Valley and deliver on our vision of becoming a school that could only exist in this area. Finally, it will help us realize our vision as a school to meet our public purpose by supporting the development of teaching and learning not only at Hillbrook but throughout Silicon Valley and beyond.
In the year ahead, you will hear much more about the CTE and about the extraordinary impact it will have on our school. It is an example of innovation as we think it should be – thoughtfully conceived, intentionally designed, and carefully implemented. In a nutshell, a carefully conceived innovative idea that has the power to make our good school ever better.