Recently, several of us attended the NAIS Conference in Boston. The theme of this year’s conference – Design the Revolution: Blending Learning, Leading & Innovation – made it clear that the conversations we have been having at Hillbrook the past five years are increasingly finding their way onto the national stage. An entire section of the exhibit hall was devoted to Maker Spaces, for example, an affirmation of the Making program we have been developing as a school. Of course, this is a conversation that has been a part of Hillbrook since 1935, when our earliest students built the Village of Friendly Relations – the original Makers Movement project.
Indeed, the conversations we are having about topics including individualized learning, learning spaces, the meaningful use of technology, and making place us squarely in the forefront of a national dialogue that is challenging us to reimagine schools. Furthermore, our attention to the craft of teaching and our focus on professional development has created a team of teachers that are not only participating in but leading these conversations themselves. A few weeks ago, for example, Director of Technology Bill Selak and CTE Research Designer Ilsa Dohmen were featured in a webinar about agile learning spaces that was viewed by more than 250 educators around the world. As another example, this past Monday, more than a dozen Hillbrook administrators and teachers led sessions at the CAIS Conference in Oakland.
One of the more thought-provoking sessions at NAIS involved a panel discussion with four university presidents speaking about the future of higher education. NAIS President John Chubb asked them what elementary, middle and secondary schools should be doing to prepare students for college. President Pamela Gunter-Smith of York College encouraged our schools to focus on two things – preparing students to be part of a community and teaching them the self-advocacy skills needed to be independent, self-confident learners. President Rebecca Chopp from the University of Denver agreed with Gunter-Smith, adding that the students she sees today are less socially mature and self-aware than earlier generations, and that they show a need for instant gratification. She added that schools are seeing incredible rates of depression and anxiety. Chopp also noted that schools are looking for students who can write.
Perhaps the most provocative comments came from Paul LeBlanc, the President of Southern New Hampshire University. He believes that higher education is beginning to undergo a disruptive change, and argued that in 10-20 years, the entire industry will be different. He believes that technological innovation and the unbundling of what he termed the “coming of age experience” and “education” will lead higher education to become more affordable and accessible. In essence, he noted that business as usual will no longer serve universities well and, by extension, he suggested that all of us in education need to be thinking about how to respond to a rapidly changing world.
The collective comments made me reflect on what I see as Hillbrook’s fortuitous space in the independent school market. Our intentional approach to social emotional learning, our emphasis on collaboration and collective problem solving, and our focus on preparing students not only for school but for life helps our students develop the maturity and self-awareness necessary to be valued members of their future communities. Our rigorous and well-articulated writing program, starting with Writer’s Workshop in the Lower School and evolving into a high-school level analytical writing program in our Middle School, ensures that our students leave well on their way to becoming highly proficient writers. Finally, while we have a storied history and financially stability, we remain entrepreneurial and nimble, continually looking for ways to strengthen our program and willing to take risks and try new things in order to keep ourselves at the leading edge of the educational conversation.
This coming Monday, the first group of 8th graders will share reflections at Flag. This relatively new tradition provides an opportunity for our soon-to-be graduating students to share thoughts about who they are and about where they are at this moment in their lifelong educational journey. Over the course of the remainder of the year, 4-6 students will share reflections at each Flag. I invite you to attend at least one Flag during the remainder of the year as it will offer you a window into the thoughtful, articulate, and talented young people that make up the Class of 2015. Like 78 classes before them and like future classes that will come later, these young people vividly reflect the values that are at the core of the Hillbrook experience.
Knowing these students, I am incredibly optimistic about their future and the future of our school.