EDUCATION MATTERS—SANFORD SCHOOL'S PRIVATE SCHOOL BLOG

What if you had to choose whether your child would learn to understand algebra or be a kind person, but not both? Fortunately, we don’t have to make those kinds of decisions because good schools teach both academic skills and interpersonal skills. Most parents have an understanding of the academic concepts taught at schools and can find more specifics in a curriculum guide or a set of grade-level standards. But, where do you look to find out what schools are doing to help kids grow up to be kind and responsible adults? How do you get a sense of how kids treat each other at a particular school?

Authentic learning is messy, loud, and somewhat chaotic as students grapple with application of their ideas and classroom learning to solve a problem. Authentic learning is active, creative, and fun. 

What Does Authentic Learning Look LIke?

Student teams discuss their thinking, develop and implement a plan of action, and get to work. Some plans fail, and students learn to quickly adapt their thinking and craft new solutions as they work within time constraints.

This ebb and flow of successes and failures is part of authentic learning, and students learn more from failures than successes.

 “What do you do in a makerspace?

The simple answer is you make things.

• Things that you are curious about.  
• Things that spring from your imagination.  
• Things that inspire you and things that you admire.  

With all the attention to global issues and STEM in education these days, we can't help but be mindful of the roles of awareness, inquiry, collaboration, and appreciation of diverse points of view when solving problems. These approaches require a degree of outer-directedness and empathy, which any healthy school culture seeks to promote in its student body, staff, and greater school community. Service learning encourages these same attributes as students develop awareness of and attend to the needs of others both locally and globally. Students who participate in service learning develop into ethical, responsible, and caring human beings. They learn the importance of working together to support their communities by giving their time to help others. Research demonstrates the benefits of service learning. 

Over the last few years, it seems every book about leadership, education, or personal development mentions Stanford professor Carol Dweck and her theory of Growth Mindset. Essentially, “in growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” 

In other words, people are always improving and learning. This is an important value for schools to remember and put into practice. Children, our students, come to us as works in progress. They are growing, developing and learning at their own unique pace. It is up to us as educators to meet them where they are and help them be the best versions of themselves—helping them to rise to the challenges in the classroom, learn from their missteps and celebrate their successes. 

Fixed Mindset

I recently learned about a school that separates its homeroom classes based on standardized test scores. This is the ultimate “fixed” mindset —one group is smart and the other not so much or at least labeled in this way at this particular school. I imagine this mindset must creep into the psyche of these children. Which group do you think will work harder? Which students do you think enjoy coming to school each day? 

Growth Mindset

In a growth mindset school, like Sanford, all students should see themselves as skilled and capable. Perhaps their talents are developing in certain areas, but “I can’t…” or “I’m not good at…” is not part of the lexicon. Some may need more time to master skills and content, but with master teachers at the ready to encourage and reinforce, students find their own personal success. 

Ways Schools Can Use Growth Mindset

• Offering No Cut policies with athletics and an athletic requirement that sends the message that you can and will be on a team.
• Providing multiple levels of core courses – regular, honors, and Advanced Placement, with significant student and parent input as to what is the right level for a student. Class placement is not based on a placement test but on the students' desire to challenge themselves.
• Creating a culture where students celebrate one another’s success. This is a culture where students do not feel threatened by a fellow student’s success.
• Asking for feedback—how is the school doing? How can the school be better? This candid feedback is essential. Just as important—the school should listen. Just like we expect students to take our feedback and learn from it, we as educators should be learning and growing.
• Ensuring that students know that their process is as valuable as their product. They should not be judged on their standardized test scores or raw aptitude, but on their work and on how they persevere through the learning process.

The core of Sanford’s culture is growth—in our students as well as our educators. Hard work, effort, persistence, and a positive attitude are valued and encouraged. These elements of student success are timeless. This is where good teaching and learning stem from and what parents should expect to see in their child’s school.

Mark Anderson is the Head of Sanford School. Mark and his family moved to Delaware in 2011 when he assumed the headship at Sanford.  He received his bachelor's in Elementary Education from the University of Missouri and earned his M.A. in Educational Leadership from Maryville University.

Additional resources:
Carol Dweck Revisits the 'Growth Mindset'
Mindset, The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck

I’m bleeding down my leg, and my bike shorts are ripped, while I can barely hold onto my handlebars due to the road rash on my palms. My back wheel, untrue because of all the weight (50+ pounds) I have tied on top of it, is rubbing against the brake pads, slowing me down and making a sound like a rusty screen door. At an altitude of over seven thousand feet with a sunburnt neck, I have zero cell phone reception and am trying to stick close to the roadside shoulder as cars and RVs zip by me inches away.

Private schools will always hit you with the same buzzwords: Small class sizes, rigorous academic curricula, engaging teachers, and accessible extracurriculars. They aren’t wrong. These core tenets of private school education are what make private schools so attractive to parents wanting the best for their children and  for students who are eager to grow. Yet, after being in a private school for twelve years I have come to realize that the most valuable aspects of private schooling are the most intangible ones.

Private school students are exposed to new ways of thinking.
A product of the relationships I have formed with my teachers is the level of respect and maturity they both treat me with and expect from me in return. My teachers do not shy away from delving into conversations about real-world issues out of fear that I cannot handle them. Rather, this type of discourse is encouraged, and with it comes the expectation that the conversation will remain civil, that all perspectives will be regarded seriously, and that the end goal is to learn from one another rather than to prove someone wrong. I’ve learned that different perspectives are not wrong, or offensive, just different, and that all are to be treated with respect. As a result of this mutual comfort I am not hesitant to share my opinions or have in-depth conversations with people much older than I, which is something that I value as I prepare to graduate high school and expose myself to so many different types of people.

When the school year ends, there is often a celebration of students’ year-long achievements. But when students walk out of the school’s door for summer, what happens over the next 10 weeks can be just as important. As a parent and educator, I wonder what I can do for my children to keep them academically engaged and not just staring at a screen.  While there are options to fill every perceived need a child may have from day camps, sports camps, overnight camps, religious camps, and STEM camps, summer enrichment programs may be overlooked by parents.  Parents often want their children to maintain academic readiness or continue to move forward.  While younger students collaborate in reading and math groups, high school classes are offered to broaden one’s experience or allow focus on preparing for college testing.  

When looking at an institution to supplement academic gains, there are four items to consider:

I spend a lot of time thinking about school, not just my school, but all schools. Education in our country gets a lot of attention—from parents, from media, and from politicians. This makes sense, because of course we all want what’s best for children—and their performance in school will have a direct impact on our nation’s future success. Unfortunately, and sadly, after decades of study, laws, and billions of dollars, the American K-12 education isn’t very good for most of our nation's children, and it’s far from being great.

There is one exception, in my opinion, and that is our private schools:

As a head of school for fifteen years, I have worked with many classroom teachers, from the experienced veteran to the new and eager rookie. Part of my role as a school leader is to hire classroom teachers and welcome them to the faculty – much like a coach would bring new players in to the fold of a team. Like a good team, a strong faculty is made up of a collection of individuals who have different skills, styles, and experience. However, in my view, all great teachers share three qualities – and these are the things I suggest parents look for when they visit schools. 

1. They Connect with Students.

A master teacher knows his/her students – who they are as people. These are the teachers who talk to kids before or after class, not about class necessarily – but about life. Teachers who connect with their students go to their games and concerts. In their classrooms there is an air of mutual respect that is both intentional and subtle. Students rise to the occasion and meet or beat expectations because of their high regard for their teachers.