EXPLO Elevate shares good ideas, practices, and wisdom to help schools and their communities flourish.
Dear Friend,
I am married to a photographer. He’s taught me many things over the years, but one of them is perspective taking. I’ve learned to see differently, which has made the world a more interesting place. More enchanting. More complex. More infinite. More connected. More menacing. More kind. At heart, I’m still a pragmatist, but regularly taking flight to see things from a different perch helps me think through some gnarly problems with others. There’s always another path. Some well worn, some not so much. But more often than not, there is reason for hope. With the New Year upon us, I hope you make this a year to practice seeing from another perch.
Floating Dumpster, David Torcoletti
The Beauty and Power in Masterfully Combining High Standards With Support
Speaking of seeing, a few days ago I stumbled across a beautiful short film (23 minutes) by Ema Ryan Yamazaki. It’s a captivating piece set in a Japanese elementary school. It’s full of humanity, masterful teachers, students rising to a challenge, and caring for one another in the process. There are so many poignant lessons in Instruments of a Beating Heart that I’m using it at an upcoming staff retreat. (I’ve put together a few questions to beginthe discussion.)
Instruments of A Beating Heart, Ema Ryan Yamazaki
One of the reasons I’m so taken with the film is that I’ve been speaking with many school leaders around the country struggling with what might be called post COVID- standards. Adam Grant, in a recent article,No, You Don't Get an A For Effort, writes about some of his Ivy League students asking for a better grade because, “My grade does not reflect the effort I put into the course.” To Grant, the quality of their work left something to be desired. He’s not blaming his Gen Z students for confusing effort with quality. He thinks some of this expectation around grade and effort comes from a misreading of Carol Dweck’s research on persistence and a growth mindset, which was published well before COVID. But during the pandemic, many schools relaxed standards because it seemed like the humane thing to do and now they are finding it difficult to raise them back up.
I don’t pretend there is an easy answer to raising the bar, but I do think there is some wisdom to be found in David Yeager’s book 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People. Yeager is an acclaimed developmental scientist out of the University of Texas at Austin. Through research and storytelling, he explains what many of us get wrong in working with young people – whether they are our students or children. From explaining the essence of the “adolescent dilemma”, to stress-can-be-an-enhancing-belief versus stress- can-be-a-debilitating belief, to developing a mentor mindset, Yeager’s book is packed with research based practical advice. One area that he takes on is how to set high standards AND what is needed to help young people reach them.
Approaching Strategy as Hypothesis
Ross and I often caution schools about structuring a “strategic planning” process that results in exhausting the community before the work of implementing the strategy begins. In many ways, the heavy lifting begins once a strategy is chosen. All schools hope that the bet(s) they make on strategy will work, but since they are projecting into the future, they can’t be sure if their well reasoned wager will deliver as originally conceived. Over time, it may well need modification. I like Amy Edmondson and Paul Verdin's approach to strategy as a hypothesis that you are constantly in the process of testing. The key with a hypothesis is that it can only be tested through action.
One capability virtually all schools could deepen is organizational adaptability. As many schools are now in the midst of searching for new senior leadership team members, evaluating whether candidates have experience and comfort with change is important.
Here are some interview questions that may help you evaluate candidates on this front.
New Year. New projects. Getting started is always the hardest. Reach out if you want to talk about how EXPLO Elevate can help. Whether it’s short term or long term coaching; strategy; quantitative and qualitative research, data collection and analysis; or helping you sort through myriad challenges, our team can help. The best thing is to just begin a conversation with us.
Ross and I are working with schools across the globe and one vital ingredient to ensuring you are a genuinely forward facing school is a high functioning leadership team. Join us and Tung Trinh, Dean of Faculty at the Collegiate School (VA) in June. We are designing this experience for both inspiration and to equip you with highly practical skills and tools to deliver on your vision.
Join Moira as she talks with Lorraine Besser, Ph.D., January 15 at 8p ET. Besser, a popular professor at Middlebury College, is the author of The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Pursuit of the Good Life. In addition to exploring the emerging field of psychological richness, Moira will ask, “Should schools be helping young people develop a life of psychological richness? And if so, how?”
Will you be in Nashville at NAIS Thrive in February 2025? Let’s connect! Julie Faulstich and Moira will be presenting on the complex dance between heads and boards at 11a on Friday, February 28. Moira will be in Nashville starting the 25th as part of a panel for ICAISA. Reach out and let’s find a time to meet!
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