Thought Leadership – Page 11 – A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

Even though I am adjusting to a more traditional “Northeast” calendar, with later beginnings and endings, it is still startling that we are down to the last eight weeks of this remarkable year! There are still so many signature events still to come and so much amazing work to do, and yet here we are…the home stretch has officially begun.

And so, I would like to begin my annual series of “Transparency Files” blog posts which begins with my own evaluation, soon moves to reveal the results of this year’s Parent Survey, continues with a discussion on next year’s new initiatives and concludes with a conversation about next year’s faculty and schedule.

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As head of school, I have the responsibility for performing the evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as head of school. Please know that I have already shared the results and analysis with the faculty and have sent the full unedited results to our Board’s Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for my evaluation.

In future years, I will invite you to begin by reviewing last year’s post. This year’s self-evaluation is based on goals created for this year (which was done months ago in consultation with the Head Support & Evaluation Committee). You will not find a complete laundry list of my day-to-day responsibilities. You will find selected [there are more goals in each area than I am highlighting here] components for the 2017-2018 OJCS academic year:

Executive Leadership & Organizational Management

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Identify appropriate benchmarks and standards across the curriculum.
Create and disseminate survey instruments to measure OJCS graduates’ transitions and successes (or failures),
Launch planning process to re-imagine teaching and learning at OJCS / innovation process.
- Develop prototype of a light Makerspace with Jewish content integrated.
- Purchase and experiment with 3D printer.
- Amplify use of Google Classroom.
Develop collaboratively additional evaluative tools (outside of CAT-4 and curriculum-driven assessments) for measuring academic success and instituting a process for tracking and sharing information over time.
- Revise exams for Grades 7 & 8 to incorporate all of Jewish Studies.
Ensure all in-house professional growth is embedded, ongoing and meaningful.
- Provide frequent and varied professional development opportunities for all teachers (conferences, workshops, classroom exchanges, etc.).
- Connect Jewish Studies Faculty to Prizmah.
Each teacher will have a Professional Growth Plan with artifacts, deliverables and accountability.
Explore the possibility of accreditation through OFIS, CIS and CAIS. (Likely CIS).
Work with SJCC, Ganon, Federation, etc. to lay the groundwork for OJCS to initiate JK transition beginning in 2018-2019.

I am pleased to say that we have achieved many of the above (and more)! Without going through each one individually, as many of my blog posts this year have been about them, let me share some general thoughts…

…the conversation around “benchmarks and standards” has shifted as we, instead, began with work clarifying our core values. When that work is complete (see the ad below), we can then drill down. We want to begin asking ourselves questions like, “Do these benchmarks bring us closer to what we believe to be true about teaching and learning or not?” Please remember (or know) that we are never talking about discarding or ignoring the Ministry of Ontario standards – we are talking about ensuring that they are simply the beginning of the conversation; that they are the floor and not the ceiling of our expectations.

…we are so grateful to our teachers and parents for their willingness to dive deeper into Google Classroom…we believe that open and frequent communication between school and home is the key to a successful school experience. We also are not sure that Google Classroom is the best platform for what we ultimately wish to do educationally. Stay tuned.

…we made the decision, but may not have adequately explained, to move our standardized testing window to the fall to come into line with when other private schools in our community take them. We will have a conversation next year about which tests we take, which grades, why we take them, how the data will be used, etc.

Advancement

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Launch annual campaign
Steward major donors
Hit the match through MATCH
Build capacity with the Development Committee through Prizmah coaching

It is the work we do in this area that determines how much we are able to achieve in all the others. There is no private school in North America who subsists solely on tuition revenue. That is why there is no private school in North America who does not have some kind of annual campaign, asking those who can, to do. And in a Jewish day school where we aspire to ensure that finances not be the reason a child is unable to attend, we need to raise that much more. And we do. Our lay leaders worked this year and last with a Prizmah Coach to launch this year’s annual campaign. And I am proud to announce that we raised enough to qualify for matching funds from the AVI CHAI Foundation! Thanks to all who gave what they could this year!

Next year we hope to increase the percentage of families who participate because we want to show all our donors and supporters that no one cares more about the school than its families. Even the smallest contribution matters…we look forward to more conversation on this topic next year.

Public and Community Relations

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Teach a “Parent University” course to all interested parents/caregivers.
Develop a “Parent Ambassador” program which can serve as a way of disseminating information, mentoring new parents, guiding tours, etc.
Blog weekly, Carpool line daily, twice-yearly meetings with all parents, meeting/phone calling as needed and as proactively as possible.
Be a presence at all our local synagogues/form a Rabbinic Advisory Committee.

I think this has been an area with some big successes and big fails. I am pleased with how the blogging is going and people’s responses to it – especially as it is new for our parent community. I am outside each and every morning as part of carpool and glad to be there. It is the best way to start each day and a critical engagement point. I have worked hard to be a presence at all our community’s synagogues and enjoyed speaking at most of them at some point during the year. It is new (for me) working in this kind of communal context and I have stretched myself religiously in order to be present. It has been worth it in ways big and small. We have also succeeded in creating a Rabbinic Advisory Committee that is playing a vital role in helping us enhance the “J” in “OJCS”.

The biggest fail in this area has been with “Parent University”. Normally it takes a few years to get sick of me, not a few weeks! After launching with a robust number of attendees, it began to dwindle down to a number too small to work meaningfully with. Feedback was much more about timing than content, and figuring out how to engage working parents is a huge issue. Similarly, although some constructive work was done in further developing our PTA, we were not yet ready to launch a formal “Parent Ambassador” program. Finally, although I think we have had an opportunity to meet with many, if not most, families many times throughout the year, I do think we need to at least formally invite each family in a couple of times each year to really be sure we are meeting needs and hearing concerns.

Finance and Operations

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Revise budgeting process to be more proactive, less reactive.
- Work with Committee to initiate the process earlier.
- Develop a budget for the school we want to be as a strategic first step.

The paradigm shift – which we are actively in now – is budgeting for the school we dream of being, at least as a first draft, instead of the one we currently are. We have actively engaged our full administrative team, relevant staff, and board to dream the high dream. Of course there are fiscal realities we must attend to, but without knowing what we are aiming towards, there can be no plan to get there. As mentioned above, I’m encouraged by resources being marshaled to deliver on the OJCS promise.

Those are just some highlights; you will also get an additionally honest look at my shortcomings when I share back results from the Annual Parent Survey. As always, your feedback – whether publicly commented here, privately shared with me through email or social media, or directly shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I told our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

Let’s Talk About the “J” in “OJCS”: The Jewish Studies Town Hall

As promised, we held a Town Hall on Thursday, April 26th to share back the results of our investigations, thus far; to discuss what we currently believe to be true; and to sketch out next steps. We were pleased by the turnout and with the candor and seriousness of the conversation (see more below). We would be happy to share out the entire slide deck from the town hall so that folks who were unable to attend can be in the know. Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) with your request. What I would like to do here is walk you through the highlights and offer you the chance to add your voice to the conversation by commenting below.

A few caveats as prologue…

The spirit of this conversation is one of “transparency” – a value we have discussed in depth in prior posts.

You can read an earlier post about why this is a pressing issue for our school.

Let’s restate the fundamental issue…

Unlike the work we do in secular education (which is also going through revisiting and re-clarifying), there is no external set of benchmarks and standards that we are required to follow.

There are no universally adopted textbooks or curricular materials shared by all Jewish day schools (or even by traditional groupings of Jewish day schools). We have to translate our school’s mission-vision-philosophy into self-created (or borrowed) academic benchmarks and standards.

We have to build a schedule around those outcomes. We have to choose curricula based on what we believe to be true about teaching and learning.

There are also no norms for Community Day Schools on how to meet the needs of a diverse Jewish population. If there was a “best model” out there for a school of our size with a population such as ours…we would be happy to borrow it!

What does Jewish Studies currently look like at OJCS?

K: 10/40 Periods in Hebrew
1-3: 5/40 Periods in Hebrew & 8/40 Periods in Jewish Studies
4-5: Core: 5/40 Periods in Hebrew & 8/40 Periods in Jewish Studies (w/English as the language of instruction; Extended: 13/40 Periods in Jewish Studies (w/Hebrew as the language of instruction.)
6-8: 5/40 Periods in Hebrew & 8/40 Periods in Jewish Studies

What kinds of data collection are we doing to better understand the issues?

Grade 9 Alumni Surveys
Grade 12 Alumni Surveys
Annual Parent Surveys
Conversation with Synagogue Partners
Anecdotal Testimonials
Exit Interviews (pending)

What have we learned thus far?

We know that the questions we have historically asked don’t give us much data on answering the hard questions. Two difficult truths we have to acknowledge about the recent history of our school:

Most graduating students don’t speak fluent Hebrew.
Our children are not entirely well-prepared for B’nai Mitzvah (regardless of denomination).

For many of the parents who shared critical feedback, these were the issues most flagged as being of concern.

What couldn’t wait for process?

We felt that some things simply couldn’t wait for the fuller discussion to unfold, so we immediately restored brachot and tefillah to the best of our ability and launched Extended Hebrew pilots for Grades 4 & 5 at the beginning of this academic year.

Hebrew we will get to below, but in order to work on tefillah in a school such as ours, we needed to engage our wider community:

We invited our entire community’s pulpit rabbinate to join an ad-hoc “Rabbinic Advisory Committee” (RAC) of our board to help us tackle the challenge of revisiting our Jewish Studies mission and vision, to strengthen the relationships between our school and our community’s synagogues and to help us think through the challenge of meeting the spiritual needs of a diverse Jewish community.

We were blessed with full participation, rich conversations, respectful disagreements, sage advice and collective wisdom across our three meetings, thus far.

The end result of our work so far with our RAC, with the input of our Jewish Studies Faculty, and board, is the proposed re-launch of meaningful tefillah next year.

The OJCS Tefillah Prototype

Prologue

There are two really important things to keep in mind…

We are committed to the idea of not letting the “great” get in the way of the “good”…our prototype for next year is not great. There is a lot still to be figured out and we are open to ongoing critical feedback to help it eventually get great. But we believe it is good…and that good is at least one step further ahead than our current location.

There are very few Community Day Schools left in North America that view their Jewish missions to extend to the furthest reaches of its community. We did a lot of research and in most communities of our size, particularly when there is an Orthodox Day School, the Community Day School simply aims towards the center of the population that exists from the perceived edge of the Orthodox school through to the left. It is really important to know that The Ottawa Jewish Community School remains committed to klal yisrael and believes we can and will continue to be a home for all Jewish families. Doing so both makes the work more challenging and more vital.

Schedule

With budget and schedule being the leading indicators for value, we intend to restore tefillah to our formal schedule next year by recapturing at least 30 minutes (daily) out of the current schedule and repurposing them for tefillah. This will be a net gain of at least 30 minutes of Jewish Studies “time” without impacting other academic time. In the Lower School (K-5), timing would be more flexible (during a larger JS academic block). In the Middle School (6-8), timing would be fixed (likely mid-morning) and shared to provide opportunities for full Middle School participation.

We will additionally look to schedule more opportunities to bring families in for special services, like Friday Kabbalat Shabbat, or Middle School Shacharit.

Staffing

With support of qualified administrators, the teaching and facilitation of tefillah at OJCS will remain with its Jewish Studies Faculty. We could explore additional mentoring/support from our local clergy (including hazzanim) once we are clear on matbeah and nusach/tunes. We could also partner with clergy if/when we introduce targeted sessions on ta’amei ha’mikrah.

Gender

OJCS is committed to the idea that both boys and girls will have the same academic requirements for tefillah and have the same opportunities for religious performance.

This represents a logical extension of the status quo. For example, we will continue to require boys to wear kippot and continue to offer support for girls who express an interest to do the same. When engaged in morning minyan, we would honor each child’s sense of personal obligation to wear tallitot and don tefillin regardless of gender.

This extends to the leading of brachot, birkat ha’mazon, Shabbat rituals, etc. We believe as a rule of thumb that we should continue to employ more of a developmentally appropriate, unspoken egalitarianism of this nature (assigning co-leaders, co-hazzanim, equal distribution of brachot and rituals, etc.) in the Lower School and more of an intentional egalitarianism of this nature (checking with students and likely parents about comfort levels) in the Middle School.

On a final note, we should, perhaps, as a next phase of this work extend the conversation to address hetero-normative, gender-normative and LGBT perspectives as we serve children from all kinds of families. The images and language that we use, even something that can feel as benign as a weekly “Abba & Ima” can feel exclusionary for children being raised by a single parent or same-sex parents. Their spiritual wellbeing is worthy of our consideration as well.

Structure

We imagine that most tefillah in the Lower School will take place at the class/grade level and that most tefillah in the Middle School will take place as a middle school. The goal in the Middle School would be to offer two daily, halakhic minyanim: Traditional Egalitarian and Traditional Non-Egalitarian.

What do we believe to be true about Jewish Studies at OJCS?

We believe we will need to collect more data over more years to better answer questions and address concerns.
We believe that for some families nothing short of a Judaism that looks and feels like theirs will satisfy and we will have to figure out what that means – for those families and for OJCS.
We need to ensure that we don’t overly focus on structure and lose sight of why we want our children to engage in meaningful Jewish experiences in the first place!
We will need to dedicate time and resources to ensuring that joy, music, Jewish camping wisdom, creativity, student ownership, etc, receive as much attention as the formal learning. They are all required for the outcomes we collectively hope to achieve.

Pivoting back to the larger questions, what can we do next year?

We will increase the rigor and immersive experience of what contact time with Hebrew we presently make available. We will move K-5 to an “ivrit b’ivrit” [technically “Hebrew in Hebrew”, but better understood as Jewish Studies with Hebrew as the language of instruction] model (with next year’s Grade 5 grandfathered out) and explore additional streaming in Grades 6-8 to increase contact with Hebrew during “Judaics” classes.
We will be able to adjust our schedule to add contact with Jewish Studies (without coming at the expense of other academic time) to build tefillah back into the schedule.
We will wait until the Middle School Retreat to launch the new Middle School minyanim so as to lay the proper ground for our students to be set up for success.
We will provide additional extracurricular contact time with Hebrew through clubs, lunch, etc.
We will look to launch prototypes around parent engagement and social justice.
We will work with parents, faculty, board and Rabbinic Advisory Committee to explore additional areas of our Jewish Studies program in need of exploration, re-imagination and innovation. Next up? Our Middle School Jewish Studies Curriculum!

We had in attendance at the “town hall” our full administration, our Board President and several board members, and a good mix of parents who represented different age groups, different views on the school’s Jewish mission and vision, but who demonstrated a shared sense of the issue’s importance, provided meaningfully constructive feedback and exhibited a genuine desire to partner with the school to get it right.

We took good notes from the serious conversation that followed the presentation and I have opened a GoogleDoc to track the feedback and recommendations that we hope continue to come in (see below). Here are some highlights from that night’s conversation:

Although turnout on a weeknight was good, there was a real desire to see the school invest more resources in engaging parents in this conversation. We need more voices and more buy-in as we move the work forward. We will have to look towards additional forums (including virtual ones) to onboard more folk on this journey.
There were questions raised about how the school values religious diversity among its administration, teaching faculty and board. And though the status quo (in all three) does reflect denominational diversity, it is a fair question about whether that was strategic or happenstance, and how to embed that value moving forward.

So…here we are 1,800 words or so later.

This is where you come in. We desperately want to know what you think…

…what questions did this answer for you?

…what questions did this raise for you?

…what do you want to know more about?

…what else do you want us to know?

We cannot encourage you more to email, comment or come in for a conversation. We need all voices heard as we work towards clarifying and enhancing our Jewish mission and vision – next year and in the years ahead.

By the way…if you like Town Halls (and you know you do!)…

Stay tuned for a Town Hall later in May where we will share back the results and the plans we’ve been working on to clarify our value proposition and how it will impact the 2018-2019 school year!

If you have not filled out your Annual Parent Survey (and 70 already have as of today!), please do so by April 30th if you want your feedback included in the report.

The State of the School: Midyear-ish Edition

What a busy time of year!

We came steaming out of February Break with Grades 7 & 8 Basketball Tournaments, Spirit Week, Purim (that’s me getting soaked by students during our Purim Carnival), our second site visit from NoTosh, and STEM Fair…and we are headed full speed towards Pi Day, Middle School Night, Grade 6 Leadership Class “Movie Night”, and then Passover takes us to break.

Whew!

Let me first offer congratulations to our STEM Fair winners:

Grade 8

Mimi B. (Gold): “Fluid Pods on Hockey Helmets”
Joseph N. (Gold): “Can We Re-Oxygenate Ocean Dead Zones?”
Julia S. (Bronze): “Which Listening Device is Safest for Your Hearing?”

Grade 7

Noah B. (Gold): “What Material Insulates Heat Best?”
Jacob S. & Samuel K. (Silver): “Can We Make an Eco-Friendly Spray to Prevent Rust?”
Tallulah B. (Bronze): “Do Standing Desks Improve Cognitive Learning and Accuracy?”

Their projects were diverse in topic, but united in excellence. All OJCS students participated one way or another in STEM Fair and we thank all our teachers of Science, but especially Josh Ray our STEM Fair organizer and Grades 7 & 8 Science Teacher for all the work that went into coordinating the event. Additional thanks to our fifteen illustrious judges, including alumni, for giving of their time.

Let me second inform you that enrollment for 2018-2019 is looking promising indeed! Thanks to all of you who enrolled by the first deadline! I’ll update you on numbers soon, but with great thanks to our Admissions Director Jennifer Greenberg, we have a robust and growing Kindergarten class and with great thanks to our entire amazing faculty and staff, we are looking at improving retention rates and adding new families. Stay tuned!

Let me third catch you up on all the excitement of the year so far and paint a picture of all the excitement that is to come…

And just in case you didn’t make it all the way through the slides…

Save the Date: Town Hall on Strengthening the “J” in “OJCS” on April 26th at 7:00 PM in the Chapel.

Les Fichiers de Transparence: L’assemblée de Français

As promised, we held a “town hall” on Thursday, February 8th to share back the results of our investigations, thus far; to discuss what we currently believe to be true; and to sketch out next steps. We were pleased by the turnout and with the candor and seriousness of the conversation (see more below). We would be happy share out the entire slide deck from the “town hall” so that folks who were unable to attend can be in the know. Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) with your request. What I would like to do here is walk you through the highlights and offer you the chance to add your voice to the conversation by commenting below.

A few caveats as prologue…

The spirit of this conversation is one of “transparency” – a value we have discussed in depth in prior posts.

You can read an earlier post for a more in-depth history of French education in Ottawa and at the OJCS.

Let’s restate the fundamental issue…

Unlike our Hebrew and Judaic standards, which are entirely our own to determine and whose outcomes are entirely ours to assess, our French standards come from the Ontario Ministry of Education and the schools our graduates attend perform assessments. So why is this so confusing and chronically debated?

What does French currently look at OJCS?

K: 10/40 Periods in French

1-3: 6/40 Periods in French

4-5: 6/40 Periods in Core French & 8/40 Periods in Extended French

6-8: 6/45 Periods in Core French & 9/45 Periods in Extended French

What kinds of data collection are we doing to better understand the issue?

Grade 9 Alumni Surveys
Grade 12 Alumni Surveys
Conversation with SRB & Ashbury
Conversation with Knoxdale
Anecdotal Testimonials
Exit Interviews (pending)

What did we learn from the Grade 9 Alumni Survey?

74% of Grade 9 students were enrolled in Core French with an additional five students in Immersion and one in Extended French. Of the children enrolled in Extended or Immersion French, no parent reported they needed an extra tutor or extra assistance.

At this point in time, we can see of the six students taking more advanced French, there is no issue with them keeping up.

What did we learn from the Grade 12 Alumni Survey?

Fourteen respondents are attending a public high school in Ottawa, with the vast majority at SRB. One student is attending Ottawa Torah Institute.

Four students indicated they were in Extended French and another two in French Immersion. (This was before SRB dropped “Extended”. Those four “Extended” students are now either in “Core” or “Immersion”.) There was one respondent who did indicate they hired a French tutor to help with Extended French.

The rest of the students (44%) were in Core French.

What did we learn from our conversations with Sir Robert Borden High School?

Students are placed in Grade 9 as recommended by OJCS.
Some students experience a temporary culture shock transitioning from “Extended” to “Immersion”.
Some students see a temporary dip in their grades in Grade 9, but typically recover by Grade 10.
Many students come in “super strong”.

What did we learn from our conversations with Ashbury College?

“Marks in French are strong.”
1/3 of OJCS students who go to Ashbury graduate with one of their two bilingual diplomas. (Anecdotally, we believe the other 2/3 self-select out, but more data collection will be needed.)

What did we learn from our conversations with Knoxdale Public School?

OJCS students who transition into Grade 4 for “middle immersion entry point” are well-prepared for success.
Grade 4 is an arbitrary entry point, susceptible to changing public school norms.
Students can be accepted into Knoxdale at any point and placed into immersion upon parental request.

What additional/ongoing data collection will be necessary to better refine our understanding of true French outcomes?

It will take additional years of data collection before our sample sizes will allow for more definitive conclusions. Additional data points that we will collect include exit interviews (families who transition out prior to graduation), testimonials from alumni and alumni parents (we have plenty of positive, anecdotal evidence, but we need a uniform protocol for collection), and adjusting our parent survey data to better determine how many families these issues impact. We also need to do a deeper dive into the details. For example, not only how many students earn a bilingual certificate, but do they score well enough to succeed at the next level?

What do we presently believe to be true about French at OJCS?

We believe there is a path from here (OJCS Extended French) to there (Grade 9 French Immersion). We believe we need to better illuminate that path, as well as being open to creating additional paths.
We believe that we have passionate, talented, capable, and responsive French teachers who are part of the solution.
We believe we need to be more transparent about what needs to be true during the year of transition to set (more) students up to be successful.
We believe we will need to collect more data over more years to better answer questions and address concerns.
We believe that for some families nothing short of full immersion will be satisfactory and we will have to meaningfully address what that means – for those families and for OJCS.

We believe we can make significant improvements to our current program, and plan to, beginning as soon as next year.

What can we do next year?

Conversations with parents about their hopes and expectations for maximal French contact time need to begin during the admissions process. Students who may require additional support to place into “Extended” need to be identified early.
The selection process in Grade 3 will be more rigorous, begin earlier, come with more parental engagement, etc., so that students who do continue into “Extended” for Grades 4 and higher are even better prepared for Grade 9.
We will increase the rigor and immersive experience of what contact time we presently make available. We need to squeeze every moment of immersive French possible.
We will provide additional extracurricular contact time with French through clubs, lunch, etc.
We believe we will be able to adjust our schedule to increase contact time with French. Stay tuned.

We had in attendance that night our full administration, our French department and a good mix of parents who represented different age groups, different views on the ultimate value of French education, but who demonstrated a shared sense of the issue’s importance, provided meaningfully constructive feedback and exhibited a genuine desire to partner with the school to get it right.

There was a strong feeling that using Grade 4 as our arbitrary split into “Core” and “Extended” is unnecessary and that we are missing an opportunity to increase the immersive exposure in Grades K-3 when it could potentially have even more value.
There was a very positive response to the idea of OJCS offering French enrichment as part of an after school program and/or as part of a summer day camp experience. This seems like a no-brainer for us to jump on right away.
We have energized parents who bring a research background to the conversation and who are willing to help us craft better survey instruments and conduct more thorough analyses to address the issues raised above by way of data collection.
A Grade 4 OJCS “middle immersion entry point” may not be a crazy idea.

So.

This is where you come in. We desperately want to know what you think…

…what questions did this answer for you?

…what questions did this raise for you?

…what do you want to more about?

…what else do you want us to know?

We cannot encourage you more to email, comment or come in for a conversation. We need all voices heard as we work towards clarifying and enhancing our French mission and vision – next year and the years ahead.

By the way…if you like town halls (and you know you do!)…

Stay tuned for a Town Hall after Passover where will share back the results and the plans we’ve been working on to clarify and enhance the “J” in OJCS!

The OJCS Announces $50,000 Innovation Gift

“An older couple walk into a Jewish Federation…” is not the beginning of a borscht belt joke…but it just might be the beginning of the future of education in Ottawa. I am not normally the b’sheret type of person. I don’t often subscribe to the notion that the “universe” responds to what you put out there. I am not even sure I believe that you “make your own luck”. But I am paying attention now…

When I got an email from our Jewish Federation’s Executive Director, Andrea Freedman, that an older married couple had expressed interest in contributing to the future of Jewish education in Ottawa and did I have anything to propose, I tempered my enthusiasm. Not due to their age, simply out of having had the prospect of a meaningful gift floated many times without landing. But I definitely had ideas…

I just so happened to be sitting on two innovation proposals and with much help from Andrea and her team, we managed to put something compelling in front of the couple (they have expressed a preference to remain anonymous) in short order. And thanks to Andrea’s stewardship, not only did they agree to fund them both…they also agreed to do more.

We have consistently described the school as being engaged in three critical conversations in this year of transition. The first is a clarification of our Jewish mission and vision, the work of which continues to be shared out. The second is an honest examination of our French outcomes, the work of which is ongoing with a first deliverable expected in early February. The third is (probably) the most important of the three and if schools were not living creatures, would likely have launched first. However, since change management in schools is analogous to fixing an airplane whilst flying it, it had been parked on the runway. This conversation cuts to the heart of the very value proposition of the school and attempts to answer one very simple and consequential question: “What does the OJCS believe to be true about teaching and learning?”

The answer to this question lives in the messy world between mission statement and curriculum (both of which we presently have). The answer to this question serves as the connective tissue between our pedagogical choices and our academic benchmarks and standards (both of which we kinda-mostly have). The answer to this question anchors the school in a vibrant present while leading with clarity, strategy and purpose towards an innovative future.

The answer to this question is the work and the work just got real.

It is important to know your limits. Is something I try to remind myself of in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep, night-dreaming of all I want to do. Here in my third headship, with all the lessons learned working with schools all across North America and a deep-dive into innovation, I have tried on patience. I know that the system can only manage so much change in a given year and that it takes time to lay the ground for what’s to come. I know what I believe to be true about teaching and learning, but that simply imposing that on a school is doomed to failure. That is why so much of my focus this year is on systems and structures and processes. I am in the weeds with the nuts and the bolts and the fire-putting-outs.

We have introduced “bandwidth” to our shared vocabulary here at OJCS because its maintenance is an important reality check against all proposed change. And I have it as well. So when it became clear to me early on that in order to get us from here to there we’d need a little help from our friends, I knew exactly who to turn to for proposals. You are going to get to know them all much better in the months ahead, but let’s introduce the partners who are going to help the Ottawa Jewish Community School become the most innovative school in Ottawa.

Sometimes it’s the haystack you need to find, not the needle.

NoTosh is a global consultancy with a passion for learning and a conviction that innovation and creativity can change the way people think, the way they learn and the way they work – as individuals, teams, organizations and communities. NoTosh was established in 2009 to improve student engagement by challenging the status quo of teaching and learning in schools.

Beginning in January, NoTosh will work with the OJCS leadership team and faculty to:

Unpack some of the big questions that need answered to achieve its ambitious goals;
Co-design some of the nuts and bolts that will help get the school up and running with design thinking at the heart of its approaches;
Unpack what the unique value proposition of the school is and how does it stand apart from all other schools in the area.

Research has proven that a reflective learning culture is one of the best indicators to increase student learning.

Silvia Tolisano is a leading global educator and proponent of the documentation of learning as part of the learning process. [She has also been a colleague and inspiration during my last three stops. As part of my faculty at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, part of my team at the Schechter Day School Network and at Prizmah, and cofounder (along with our third partner Andrea Hernandez) of edJEWcon, I can attest firsthand to what an extraordinary educator she is.] The work we will do with Silvia beginning in the Fall of 2018 will be a powerful learning opportunity allowing teachers to experience that shift in their learning and make documentation, reflection and sharing part of their practice.

Selected faculty will build a learning network, and share their practices, successes and failures to benefit the school community, including parents, colleagues and students. While there is no one magic solution to excellence and this process will take time, developing a culture of shared documentation is the key to building an innovative school ready to tackle the challenge of preparing students to be successful in the 21st Century. It creates the spine upon which student, faculty and parent culture and communication thrive. It sets the conditions for project-based learning, collaboration and integration of new literacies. This is the future of education and we are ready to lead.

What’s this “more” you were referring to in the opening?

Great question!

In addition to funding these two amazing proposals which will transform teaching and learning at our school, this remarkable couple is also enabling us to double the number of iPads in the school. The great news is that our teachers are already doing such wonderful work with them that we can take advantage of this blessing immediately…and will.

As we enter Winter Break and the end of a (secular) calendar year, it is natural to look a bit back and dream a bit forward…

With a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears from our talented and loving faculty, administration, and board, it is starting to happen. We can feel it in the walls and hear it in the parking lot. We see it in the new students joining us this January and the tours being booked for next year. The blessing of this gift will accelerate and amplify what has already begun. We meant it when we said that the future of education will be written at the OJCS. That future just got closer…

Thinking About Kindergarten? Readiness + Fit = Success

With the temperature dropping and Winter Break looming, we are entering prime time for parents – particularly parents of pre-kindergarten aged children – to explore and make decisions about schooling. With this age in particular, these conversations typically focus on two important ideas: “readiness” and “fit”. With regard to “fit” the research is clear: the most important factor in determining a child’s future academic success isn’t the school, but the fit between the child and the school.

“Readiness,” however, is more slippery.

Young children’s development is irregular and episodic, and difficult to accurately assess, particularly using conventional tests at a single point in time. Their performance is highly susceptible to immediate and transitory circumstances and can also be affected by physical health, nutrition, and living conditions. Over time, these contextual factors may also affect their knowledge, skills, and behavior. Children’s pre-kindergarten experiences are highly unequal, whether in the home and community or in preschool programs. Thus, the “supply” of readiness skills children bring to kindergarten varies widely. However, the impact of these variations depends on the demands that kindergarten and grade one place on children, and these also are variable. There is a lack of agreement regarding the implicit and explicit demands of teachers, schools, provincial standards, and readiness tests. Children who are seen as ready in one classroom or community—whether the result of a cutoff date or specific assessment—may not be similarly viewed elsewhere.

Let’s bring “fit” and “readiness” together. A definition of readiness must encompass what is “good enough” in each domain, while recognizing the unevenness of early development. Every child need not meet the highest readiness standard in every domain, and a distribution of abilities is to be expected. Despite our best efforts, some children will be less well-prepared than others. By carefully defining readiness in terms of expectations for children and schools, it may be possible to improve the preparation of both, and create a much better match between children and schools so that more children succeed and maximize their learning during the kindergarten and grade one years.

That’s why it is so important for parents to really get the feel of the different schools they are considering for their child(ren).

Here at the Ottawa Jewish Community School, we are excited to think about all the wonderful new faces we are meeting and will be meeting as parents go about their due diligence to discover which is the right school for their child(ren). We are always honored to be included in the search and we are confident that for many children, we will be that right choice – that best fit. We are confident that no one will know your child better than us and no one will be better able to ensure that there truly will be a floor, but no ceiling for your child.

The Transparency Files: Let’s Talk About the “J” In OJCS

How amazing it is to have five full days of school in a week!

As joyous as the holiday season is – both here in school and at home – it is a lovely thing to be able to resume the regular rhythms of school. This time of year it almost feels like a second beginning to the school year as we are now able to fully inhabit schedules and string together sufficient contact time to bring meaningful projects to life. It is also wonderful to have put behind us much of the business of carpool lines, Google Classroom, hot lunch, parent communication procedures, PTA structure, behavioral expectations, care of the physical facility – so many of the preconditions for the transformational work ahead are sliding into place that we can take a collective breath and move forward.

We have discussed in prior posts as well as through many public and private forums of the need for OJCS to clarify its “Jewish mission and vision”. Let’s take a few minutes to unpack what that means…

Doesn’t OJCS currently have a Jewish mission/vision?

Yes.

From our Parent Handbook:

Vision Statement:

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is dedicated to enriching the life of its students along with strengthening their character and instilling their love for Israel. Inspired by Jewish values and heritage, a love of learning, and guided by teaching excellence, students reach for their potential, in order to become the leaders of tomorrow, and responsible citizens of the world.

Mission Statement

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is an all day, trilingual elementary school that aims to develop academic and personal excellence in its students, in an inclusive, caring, and pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

The school’s mission is summarized in the OJCS community themes;

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, REACHING FOR EXCELLENCE.

CORE VALUES

Talmud Torah / Love of Study: Lifelong learning rooted in Jewish and secular studies, emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.

Kevod HaBriyot / Respect for Humanity: Living and learning in ways defined by decency, kindness, respect for oneself and others, and honouring diversity.

Ahavat Yisrael / Love of Israel: Centrality of the State of Israel to Jewish identity, and a deep connection to its people, land, and history.

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

Tikkun Olam / Repairing the World: Instilling social responsibility and an engagement with the global community built upon the foundation of tzedakkah (charity), chesed (good deeds), compassion, and courage.

Mi Dor Le Dor / From Generation to Generation: Fostering Jewish continuity and instilling Jewish identity and a sense of peoplehood by transmitting traditions, participating in rituals, and engaging with the Jewish community at home and around the world.

So what’s the problem?

Let’s take a closer look…

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

There are many ways OJCS could seek to live this value. What does “recognition” really mean? Does it mean that all students should learn to speak, read and write modern Hebrew? Does it mean that all Judaics classes should be taught with Hebrew as the language of instruction? What are the outcomes for Hebrew literacy that parents should expect through this core value?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

…pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

What does OJCS believe to be true about “pluralism”? What is a “pluralistic environment”? Does it mean recognizing the diversity of our students as an audience? Does it mean the responsibility for creating experiences reflective of each denominational affiliation (as well as unaffiliated)? Are we a melting pot? A stew? Individual bowls?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

OK, so we go ahead and clarify our values. Is that the task?

Not entirely.

Time is a zero sum game. So even if/when we clarify each value and/or add new ones…how do we know what to prioritize by way of our time and outcomes?

For example…

Is Hebrew the most important academic subject within Jewish Studies? You might think so by virtue of its mention in the overall mission as a “trilingual” school. But is it? And should it be? It is likely true that our school would look very different, especially at the K-5 level, if Hebrew literacy was the highest value.

What else?

Where does tefillah live in all of this? It is interesting in and of itself that it is not explicitly named in the mission, vision or values. And yet from our conversations with parents and rabbis, there is clearly a felt need that students who attend a Jewish day school should come out with basic prayer and synagogue fluencies. If that is true, it will need to wind up as an explicit value with a specific curriculum and schedule. (In the meanwhile, as we have shared, it has been restored to the daily schedule.)

What does this have to do with the day-to-day teaching and learning?

Great question, hypothetical question-asker!

Unlike the work we do in secular education (which will also require revisiting and re-clarifying), there is no external set of benchmarks and standards that we are required to follow. There are no universally adopted textbooks or curricular materials shared by all Jewish day schools (or even by traditional groupings of Jewish day schools). We have to translate our school’s mission-vision-philsosophy into self-created (or borrowed) academic benchmarks and standards. We have to build a schedule around those outcomes. We have to choose curricula based on what we believe to be true about teaching and learning. Etc.

But the school is 69 years old. Surely it already has all of those things.

Kind of.

Like we have discussed in prior posts, the school has frequently added layers of program on top of program…it has done a great job of cluttering…not the best job of de-cluttering. So, yes, there are written descriptions of different strands of our Jewish Studies curriculum, but there really is not one coherent document – either for internal or external purposes – that actually describes what we do. And that’s a problem.

By the way, it does not mean that excellent teaching and learning isn’t happening in each of our grades in Jewish Studies! No one should think that this is some kind of lost year. We have talented and dedicated teachers working hard to provide a high-quality rigorous Jewish academic education and meaningful Jewish experiences. Good things are happening. But we need to move from “good to great”.

How will the work of clarification take place?

That’s where you (will) come in.

There are a number of critical stakeholder groups that we will call upon to contribute to this work. They include our community’s rabbis, soon to be invited to an Ad-Hoc Rabbinic Advisory Committee. They include our Jewish Studies Faculty, already beginning to do its due diligence on what was, what is and what could be. They include our institutional partners, synagogues, our pipeline schools and Federation. And they include our families – current and prospective. Vehicles will be created to onboard the feedback and recommendations from all these critical stakeholder groups.

The process through which these groups form and do their work will be shared and transparent. The feedback and recommendations will ultimately go to the OJCS Board of Trustees who, ultimately as charged by their role, will (re)establish the Jewish mission and vision for OJCS. That, too, will be proudly and transparently shared out with our full community. With that clarification will come the charge to the administration and faculty to bring that mission and vision to life. And, surprise, that will also be transparent.

If we are passionate about this, what can we do in the meanwhile?

Talk about it! Share your thoughts! (Comment on this blog post.) Make an appointment to come see us. What can be better than talking with people who are invested in our Jewish mission and vision? What topic can be more important for us to discuss?

At the end of the day…there is no reason for this school to exist if not for the “J”. We realize that that doesn’t necessarily mean that the “J” is everyone’s first priority. But, still. There is no reason for OJCS to be a Jewish day school, if not to be Jewish. Not Jew-ish. Jewish.

What does that mean? We’ll find out together.

Where Does Healthy Parent-School Communication Live? (Hint. Not in the parking lot or on WhatsApp.)

I recently described in a post an activity we did as a faculty which introduced Roland Barth’s concept of the “non-discussible” and the “discussible”. A “non-discussible” is something that is discussed in all the wrong places and all the wrong times preventing the issue from being resolved in a healthy and constructive manner. In the context of faculty, it is about all the things teachers talk about in the lunchroom instead of with the administration (although the administration almost always knows the conversations are happening about them/without them). In the context of parents, it is about all the things folks talk about in the parking lot or on social media instead of with the school (although the school almost always knows the conversations are happening about them/without them). In both cases you gauge the health of the culture by the degree to which you move your “non-discussibles” into “discussibles”. The more willing we are to discuss what matters most in a constructive, healthy, transparent manner with the people who have the ability to address those issues honestly and responsibly, the healthier our culture. The healthier the culture – whether we are talking about teacher-administration or parent-school – the more successful the school.

I was inspired by one of my rabbi’s sermons over the holidays to revisit a powerful idea from Martin Buber which I think informs this conversation. [Buber “was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship.”]

The basic idea (and I realize that I am butchering it for the sake of brevity) is that when we treat others as objects, we are in an “I-It” relationship; when we treat others with recognition of the divine within them – when we acknowledge that we are all created in God’s image and treat each other as such, we are in an “I-Thou” relationship. Taking a deeper step (according to this idea) would be to say that when we treat each other with love, we invite God’s presence into our relationships. Not merely as metaphor, but as an existential fact.

Now that takes a lot of energy. So much so that it is perfectly natural to have “I-It” relationships or moments – sometimes I just want to pick up my allergy medication and go home; I am not seeking to have an “I-Thou” relationship with my pharmacist. I do, however, want to have “I-Thou” relationships with my wife and children and it serves as a useful and sometimes painful reminder of how hard that can be when Jaimee and I (like many busy couples) are forced to use email or text to communicate because we are two ships passing in the night. It is hard to invite God’s presence into an electronic communication…

Our success in building a culture which facilitates the transition from “non-discussible” to “discussible”, I would suggest, will be determined by whether or not we see each other as “Thou’s” and not “It’s”. Have we done the work necessary from the start of school to develop “Thou” relationships with our teachers? With our students and their parents? We’ll know if we are able to identify the good that comes with each student and share it with his or her parents. We’ll know if we are able to share the difficult truths which are our responsibility to share and have them received in the spirit in which we will surely wish it to be received. We’ll know if we are able to hear difficult truths about ourselves in the spirit in which they will surely be given, the spirit of genuine partnership where only the wellbeing of the child is important. The spirit of seeing the best in each other, even when it takes a little more energy. The spirit that exists when we see each other as a “Thou” and not an “It”.

Ken yehi ratzon (May it be God’s will.)

Finally, during these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we engage in the act of teshuvah – the complicated act of acknowledging past wrongs, correcting past mistakes, promises of changed behavior, etc. Here, in the most public of forums, please allow me apologize to all those I have wronged or hurt, intentionally or unknown over the past year.

Easy fasts for all who do so…meaningful reflections for all who feel the need.

What Problem Does Our School Exist to Solve?

Preamble…

For three years, during my time at Schechter and at Prizmah, when I was not a head of school, it seemed so easy calling on folk to take seriously the responsibility and the power of blogging. Now that I have been back in the headship for all of seven weeks, I can’t imagine when I will ever have time to blog again! I know what kind of person people say Karma is, but s/he should really meet my good friend Hubris.

Getting back into weekly blogging, apparently, is harder to do than it is to type, but slowly, slowly, I will get back into shape. In the meanwhile…

THERE IS SO MUCH HAPPENING AT OJCS AS WE GET READY TO WELCOME TEACHERS NEXT WEEK AND STUDENTS THE WEEK AFTER!

If you are a parent, I strongly encourage you to read carefully the email from this past Monday and the handbook it came with. If you have any questions or concerns, I even more strongly encourage you to email or call us sooner than later. We really want the first day of school to be as smooth and celebratory as possible. Let’s deal with any confusion or preparation beforehand for all our collective sakes. Also, remember (or know) that we have “Back to School” Night super-early this year – September 14th – so you will have ample opportunity to ask additional or deeper questions about the calendar, schedule, program, discipline, homework, curriculum, Google Classroom (hint, hint), etc., sooner than later. You don’t have to stress about each detail by the first day of school – let’s focus on a positive, enthusiastic, ruach-filled beginning to a terrific year. The conversation begins on the first day, it never ends.

Pivot…

Finding the problem is an essential part of learning – one that students miss out on when we pose the problem to them first. – Ewan McIntosh

The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer. – Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM

You might think from the above quotes that I am going to launch into an educational conversation about teachers and students and learning. And perhaps in a future blog post I will – there is much wisdom to apply to shifting paradigms, flipping classrooms, student-centering and passion-driving in our classrooms. But in this year of change, I actually want to zoom out a bit and ask us to consider how creating a healthy culture of “problem finding” will ensure we engage in the right kinds of conversations to move our school forward into its next phase of growth, innovation and renewal.

I have spent much of the last few weeks meeting with teachers, parents, board members, rabbis, donors, Jewish community colleagues, volunteers and just folks who care enough to share an opinion (which I genuinely appreciate). Those conversations often feel (to me) like the process of pulling back the leaves of a never-ending onion (which kinda sounds delicious). One layer takes us to another as we peel away initiatives, programs, schedules, budgets, and eventually assumptions just trying to figure out what that layer was originally put into achieve. In other words, we frequently seem to be offering a chain of solutions in search of the right problem.

Let me try to walk through one relatively benign example that impacts such a small number of our students, you may not even be aware it exists…

We offer a pull-out, one-period-a-week, mixed grade (3-6), “Special Interest Learning” (SIL) class for “gifted learners”. It provides them an “opportunity to be creative, innovative, (and) think critically”. [BTW – I am not offering an opinion or making a decision about SIL. It just lends itself to this conversation.]

How many questions does this raise?

Why one-period-a-week? Which period? Why those grades (in a K-5 & 6-8 school)? What interests? Don’t all our students deserve an opportunity to be “creative, innovative…” and to think critically?

What problem was SIL in search of solving? What problem does it actually solve? What problems does it unintentionally create?

Etc.

Again, that is a benign example. There are critical and more highly charged examples whose examinations are overdue.

What problem is our voluntary, middle school “Orthodox” and “Traditional Egalitarian” minyanim trying to solve?

What problem is Core and Extended Hebrew trying to solve?

What problem is Extended French trying to solve?

What problem does OJCS exist to solve?

You get it.

As we prepare to welcome back our teachers next week (the subject of next week’s blog), I am encouraging and inviting us to find the right problems…

Let’s be brave enough to ask questions we might not know the answers to or whose answers we might not like. Let’s be open enough to revisit our core assumptions and proud enough to assert what’s currently excellent. Let’s have the courage to show up for difficult conversations and the vulnerability to really show up. Let’s take risks and make mistakes. Let’s dream boldly and work tirelessly. Let’s advocate for our children and respect our teachers. Let’s make this the beginning of something special.

One thing I know for sure. The future of education isn’t coming to OJCS. It is OJCS. Be excited.

10 Quotes to Inspire Innovation in Education

[Originally posted in my Prizmah blog, “Innovation Alley“.]

“In quoting others, we cite ourselves.”
― Julio Cortázar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds

As we (Prizmah) continue to work on our plans for next year, which we look forward to sharing out upon readiness – and I look forward to discussing its connection to ongoing activity in the innovation space as discussed previously – I wanted to make sure that some of the learning that my team has done this year about innovation was captured and documented. We have had the blessing to collectively read a variety of books, speak with a variety of folk and even visit a variety of places as part of our process. I thought it might be fun (wee!) and possibly useful to those who like to keep quotes handy as triggers for meetings, blog posts, papers, etc., to share our learning through the quotes we actually collected and shared with each other during this year of learning.

So without further adieu and in no particular order, I hope you may be as inspired to think differently about teaching and learning, schooling, and leadership as we were…

“As leaders in education, our job is not to control those whom we serve, but to unleash their talent. If innovation is going to be a priority in education, we need to create a culture where trust is the norm.” – George Couros, The Innovators Mindset

“The first step in teaching students to innovate is making sure that educators have opportunities to be innovators themselves.” – Suzie Boss, Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World

“You cannot empower students to be self-directed, responsible, critical-thinking people if they can’t ask their own questions. At that point, you’re teaching compliance rather than responsibility.” – A.J. Juliani and John Spencer, LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student

“What doesn’t work any longer is our education system’s stubborn focus on delivering a curriculum that’s growing increasingly irrelevant to today’s kids, the outmoded standardized assessments we use in an attempt to measure our success, and the command-and-control thinking that is wielded over the entire process. All of that must be rethought.” – Will Richardson, Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere

“Curiosity is, therefore, strongly correlated with intelligence. For instance, one longitudinal study of 1,795 kids measured intelligence and curiosity when they were three years old, and then again eight years later. Researchers found that kids who had been equally intelligent at age three were, at eleven, no longer equal. The ones who’d been more curious at three were now also more intelligent, which isn’t terribly surprising when you consider how curiosity drives the acquisition of knowledge. The more interested and alert and engaged you are, the more you’re likely to learn and retain. In fact, highly curious kids scored a full twelve points higher on IQ tests than less curious kids did.” – Amanda Lang, The Power Of Why: Simple Questions That Lead to Success

“One of the most important questions any school or teacher can ask is simple: ‘How can we be more thoughtful about what we do?’ Unfortunately, it’s not the question we ask most frequently. The question schools and teachers have fallen in love with—’What more should we be doing?'” – Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need

“What did they know? They knew that human qualities, such as intellectual skills, could be cultivated through effort. And that’s what they were doing—getting smarter. Not only weren’t they discouraged by failure, they didn’t even think they were failing. They thought they were learning.” – Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

“You can lament the changes that are happening today—tomorrow’s history—convincing yourselves of the negatives and refusing to be a part of a constantly changing culture. Or you can shake off your technochondria and embrace and accept that the positive metamorphosis will continue to happen, as it has so many times before. Young people today are building a new language, not demolishing an old one. And as you will soon see, developments like these new words are helping create significant and meaningful new communities and new relationships that are an essential part of our changing culture and our wireless future.” – Nick Bilton, I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works: Why Your World, Work & Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted

“The new survival skills—effective communication, curiosity, and critical-thinking skills—“are no longer skills that only the elites in a society must muster; they are essential survival skills for all of us.” – Yong Zhao, World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students

“Establishing prototyping as a core competence for innovation, requires more than creating a research and development department or team. It requires school wide value for innovation, understanding of innovation processes, and that the bumps and disruptions are worthwhile discomforts of relevant student learning and success.” – R&D Your School: How to Start, Grow, and Sustain Your School’s Innovation Engine