Leadership Expressions

LEADERSHIP EXPRESSIONS

ACTION RESEARCH

Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools 2015-2017 Graduating Cohort Justin Brandon David Calamaro Maggie Chiles Christen Higgins Clougherty Angela DiMaria Page Fahrig-Pendse Natan Gottesman Mamadou Gueye Dennis Haupert Rachel Kane

Lydia Frances Maier Katherine Marion William Nisbet Rebecca Niszczak Celeste Payne Chris Searle Rachel Wellborn Toni Graves Williamson Alexandra Zinnes

What is the Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools?

The Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools was created by the Friends Council on Education as a strategic network of Friends school leaders working together in a learning community.

Throughout the two-year program, members strengthen their capacity and skills for the unique role of Friends school leadership and the peculiar art of sustaining the Quaker value-based ethos of a Friends school. Institute members collaborate as learning partners with heads of Friends schools and conduct action research projects that benefit the network of Friends schools. This booklet contains summaries of action research conducted by members of the 2015-2017 cohort of the Institute.

What is Action Research?

Action research is a dynamic process for conducting research over time using action and reflective learning to pursue understanding and, ultimately, change. The action research process is cyclic and spiral, alternating between action, critical reflection, and new action. It is an emergent process, continually evolving as understanding increases. It generally involves participation with those who actually inhabit the system in which the action research is conducted.

The true measure of success in action research is learning and change at the individual level and the systems level. An “unfinished� project may, in fact, stimulate ideas for others and be useful in different contexts.

The core of action research is the reflective inquiry approach, in which every turn of the spiral influences a potential transformation of practice. Through every cycle, a deeper understanding of the issue, the nature of change, and potential creative responses evolve from critically reflective learning.

I am an independent school alum, and I am driven to support students in the same manner that I was mentored. My professional career has afforded me the opportunity to teach in a variety of educational settings ranging from a military boarding school to a Quaker day school. I have held numerous roles in independent schools that have provided me with a comprehensive understanding of educational leadership and classroom instruction. I have served as a Director of Diversity, Form Dean, Upper School Director, teacher, advisor and coach. I was formally introduced to Quaker education in my twelfth year as an educator. My current role as Upper School Director at Moorestown Friends School has helped me become more reflective and thoughtful in my approach as a division head.

Justin Brandon

Upper School Director, Moorestown Friends School, Moorestown NJ

Creating and Sustaining Maker Spaces Background: As a product of a Montessori education, I have always been drawn to non-traditional assessments and the value of learning from multiple perspectives. My affinity for project-based learning, group work, public-speaking and reflection was supported by my liberal arts undergraduate experience. I attended Macalester College, where I was taught the value of multiple perspectives. My interest in experiential education was also supported by my role as a chaperone, coordinator and current vice-chair of the Global Youth Leadership Institute (GYLI). GYLI asks high school students to consider their place in society (personally, in community and globally) through a three-year process. The lessons learned from Macalester College and GYLI have inspired me to challenge myself to teach to a variety of learners. While teaching a wide range of history courses, I have been able to introduce a balance of traditional and alternative assessments to create more inclusive learning experiences for my students.

As a career educator, I have seen many “cutting edge” concepts come and go. I have been very interested in the pedagogy behind maker spaces and project-based learning. Both practices seem to be a natural match to my educational philosophy. As I began to research, attend workshops, and visit schools, I wondered how these practices can be initiated and sustained. Given the reflective and thoughtful approach to Quaker education, I also wanted to know what place these programs had in Friends schools.

1. When and why did your school adopt project-based learning and/or a maker space?

2. How was the concept introduced?

3. How was faculty buy-in achieved?

4. What professional development has been provided?

5. How did this change support your school’s mission?

6. Has this new program(s) changed the culture of your school?

Exploration/Learning: The guiding question for my research was, “How are initiatives created and sustained in schools?” Years ago, I was intrigued by the discussions surrounding the creation of maker spaces and the new emphasis on project-based learning in order to support a growth mindset. I wanted to learn how schools would support this latest area of focus in educational pedagogy. I was drawn to the idea of maker spaces as a tool to teach collaboration, risk taking, brainstorming and creating a safe place for students to fail outside of the traditional classroom setting.

I thought many independent schools would embrace maker spaces as a way to continue the discussion on 21st century skills that need to be taught to our students. As an educator I viewed this topic as an opportunity to re-imagine the skill set needed for students in the future. I quickly learned that this kind of institutional pedagogical change takes time and

needs to be a grass roots effort. Most schools with whom I spoke mentioned the challenge of faculty buy-in. My conversations with faculty around the country referenced three different types of faculty members: the early adopters, the undecided, and the nay-sayers. Although, everyone agreed that it was not imperative for all faculty members to be open to change. Many thought the nay-sayers may be reluctant at first, but would ultimately adopt a growth mindset that would lend itself to the use of maker spaces and opportunities in project-based learning.

My research then shifted to identifying how maker spaces can be successfully implemented in K-12 schools. I had the opportunity to visit one of the standard bearers in this field, the Nueva School in California. They are known for their student-centered approach, their emphasis on project-based learning and their maker space curricula. As I toured their campuses I was amazed to see their commitment to provide spaces for students to collaborate, imagine and create.

I also visited schools that were closer to the traditional college preparatory profile, many of whom recently created maker spaces. There was a common theme with all of the schools where maker spaces were thriving: organic faculty buy-in. Each school shared how the initiative was started by a small group of teachers attending a local workshop. That same group of teachers would then discuss how to replicate what they learned on their campuses. Their conversations continued during faculty meetings to connect this work to the missions of their schools.

I then learned the next step in creating a successful maker space initiative is to provide professional development for all teachers to introduce the benefits of maker spaces and project-based learning assessments in every discipline and division. This was successfully achieved when time was given at department chair meetings, divisional faculty meetings or simply training a group of teachers to lead the initiative. Most teachers viewed the role of the administration as one that should provide in-house professional development opportunities, create time for meetings during the school and, of course, designate financial resources to create the space and dedicated personnel.

The benefits are vast for these initiatives, but they also need financial support and time to meet, explore and create.

A common thread throughout my research was that maker spaces thrived when faculty felt empowered to teach each other and were given ownership over the spaces. This grass-roots approach to maker spaces has created opportunities for faculty to re-imagine curricula, develop new courses with a focus on using the maker spaces and designing projects where students can study real world issues. Use of maker spaces has evolved to connect students and faculty with other areas in their schools like service learning, teaching and learning centers and offices of public purpose.

Next Steps I will use my findings to learn how my role as Upper School Director can support faculty initiatives. I am eager to learn how maker spaces and project-based learning will continue to shape the way students learn in order to prepare them to be thoughtful leaders in the world. I look forward to using the leadership skills I observed in order to work with faculty members to create future initiatives.

I am blessed to have spent the last 21 years at Delaware Valley Friends School growing into various teaching, coaching and administrative roles. I now cover a lot of territory on any given day--everything from strategizing with a colleague about a challenging class dynamic, to parent coffee discussion groups, to teaching students digital audio recording, to committee work...the variety energizes me. Mostly, though, I am buoyed by the knowledge that I am a part of something truly great: a caring Friends community that deeply empowers students with learning differences. It would be difficult to overestimate the daily impact of these brave and resilient young folk on my life. I am grateful to have found home in the mighty community of Quaker educators.

David Calamaro

Associate Head and Academic Dean, Delaware Valley Friends School, Paoli PA

Giving Voice to Learning Differences and Quaker Education My life’s work has been in service to students with learning differences at Delaware Valley Friends School (DVFS). The central Quaker tenet of the inherent worth of every individual is a guiding principle that has elevated the work of my colleagues to essential status, especially with the weight of the knowledge that students with learning differences (LD) are too often grossly underserved in environments where their particular educational needs are not or cannot be met with excellence.

I also straddle two distinct, slightly overlapping educational communities: Friends schools, and the community of schools for students with learning differences. In 2012, at the Carroll School Leadership Summit (a gathering of educators who work in the field of LD), I contributed to what was to be a potential Op-ed piece called “The Dyslexic Manifesto.” This white paper attempted to document the common threads running through all LD schools in the interest of helping the world better understand the kind of communities and approaches that students with learning differences require. I loved this notion. And, as a representative of the only Friends school in attendance, I had a nagging sense that our Quaker community was, in the words of executive function specialist Sarah Ward, “same but different” and uniquely situated to embrace students who have learning challenges.

Those several days at the Carroll School planted the seeds of focus for my action research project, which has been to explore more deeply those essentials for educating students, especially adolescents, with learning differences. Specifically: from the perspective of LD educators and from the students themselves, what are non-negotiable tools, strategies, approaches and mindsets that teachers must bring to the table each day? How might a Quaker environment be similar to or distinctive from non-Quaker LD environments? And, how might this information be useful for improving the learning experience for students with learning differences in all schools?

Exploration/Learning In the winter of 2016 I took my first “action steps” through the halls of my own school, DVFS. As Clerk of our Faculty Growth Committee, I coordinated a data-gathering process with the help of colleagues on the committee whereby we polled middle school and upper school student groups about attributes of “the best teachers and teaching.” Discussion groups, Google Forms, and open-ended written responses were used to gather data. Then, I created a Google Form to poll DVFS teachers about non-negotiable “musts” for teaching at DVFS. Together, this data was used to create the basis of a new faculty evaluation system. From the faculty data, four priorities for faculty rose to the top: 1) Empathy and compassion; 2) Flexibility in meeting individual students’ needs; 3) Use of research-based pedagogical approaches; 4) Having optimism and a growth mindset. From the students’ perspective: 1) Knowledgeable about “how to teach;” 2) Being non-judgmental and respectful; 3) Staying consistent in expectations for students; 4) Having a strong rapport and flexibility with students.

My next exploration took me to New York in June of 2016. While at Friends Academy for the Quaker Blended Learning Conference I was fortunate to organize an hour-long discussion group with six Mary McDowell Friends School faculty members and one learning specialist from Tandem Friends School about the necessary philosophical underpinnings of teaching LD students. I listened and took notes. Several key findings can be distilled as follows: • The emotional impact of a learning challenge on students must always remain at the fore of the teacher and the school community; • School communities must lead with optimism about the abilities of LD students; • It is critical to support metacognitive development in LD students; • LD students require a unified faculty that fully buy into the premise of meeting students according to each one’s specific needs--flexibly and patiently, and in different ways.

Before my trip to Friends Academy, I was asked to co-clerk the first Friends Council Special Learning Needs Educators Peer Network, which met in November of 2016. This day, which brought together over 30 LD educators from 12 Quaker schools, served as a good opportunity to continue my action research. The gathering itself featured a breakout meeting with members of Quaker LD schools representing Orchard Friends, Stratford Friends, Mary McDowell Friends, Delaware Valley Friends and the Quaker School at Horsham. We discussed and illuminated the advantages of a contained LD school environment for students, including: the smallness of our schools facilitating personalization; a focus on skill instruction; intentionality of approaches that are fully geared for the LD learner. After the conference, I sent a Google Form poll to participants and asked again: “What are the three top, non-negotiable qualities or skills that educators of students with learning challenges at your school must possess?” Over a third of the conference attendees responded.

I paired this data with information that I gathered through an email exchange I had with four other Quaker school learning specialists representing three additional Quaker schools. The coded data revealed these essentials as rising to the top: 1) A full, empathic understanding of LD students; 2) Flexible, multimodal and differentiated approaches; 3) A striving to see beyond the learning challenge to the strengths that LD students possess.

Next Steps Realizing that more student and non-Quaker voices need to be represented in my action research, I have created yet another Google form to hopefully mine the opinions of middle and high school voices at two Quaker LD schools and three non-Quaker LD schools. As it has been over a year since last surveying DVFS, I extended the poll to DVFS students. To date, I have only received data back from one other, non-Quaker school. I will likely need to explore and initiate more opportunities to connect with my colleagues at non-Quaker LD schools so that I can compare Quaker and non-Quaker LD environments, as that query remains unaddressed. I also hope to follow up the initial momentum generated by the first FCE Special Learning Needs Educators Peer Network by helping to coordinate a follow-up conference, perhaps with a deeper dive into some priorities illuminated by my action research (for example, breakouts on flexible, differentiated instruction and strengths-based learning models).

The polls, the discussion groups, the conversations that I had with learning specialists have all produced “essential” findings that stress the synergy between Quaker values and education for students with learning differences. While this is not news to many of us, perhaps this project will further compel both LD and non LD Quaker schools to query about the depth to which their communities look for that of God in all of their learners. Personally, I have learned how small steps into action research accumulate in value. I feel more affirmed and secure in my understanding of what needs to be foundational in any school that aims to educate our wildly creative and talented students who learn differently.

I have been a teacher for over 20 years and am fortunate to have had Greene Street Friends School as my professional home for 15 of those years. I came to Greene Street because I felt called to work in a school environment that supported both the academic and spiritual growth of its students. In my daily work with students I feel deep gratitude that I can weave the tenets of Quakerism into my instruction, and my overall classroom culture. During my time at Greene Street I’ve been able to grow as an educator and leader. I’ve been provided with opportunities to collaborate with colleagues within different divisions and departments and think strategically about how to enhance and grow program.

It brings me great joy to support and guide the students in my care, as well as collaborate with my colleagues to explore and implement systems that inspire institutional growth.

Maggie Chiles

Fourth Grade Teacher, Greene Street Friends School, Philadelphia PA

Best practices for supporting new teachers and staff: enhancing support systems for those new to a school culture Background: In my time at Greene Street I’ve worked with a handful of new faculty as grade partner teachers. I enjoyed stepping into an unofficial mentor role, welcoming them to Greene Street Friends and helping them navigate their first year in a new school culture. However, due to the fact that there was no formal mentoring program at Greene Street, I never knew how best to support the new faculty member. As I began to develop my action research project I felt motivated to explore effective practices to meaningfully support new faculty and staff.

I began with these initial questions: 1. To orient means to find one's position in relation to new and strange surroundings. How do schools set up a successful support system that allows for new teachers to do just that?

2. How is a school culture, program and practice learned?

3. If new teachers were surveyed within their first year(s), what would they say was clear and easy to learn, or challenging and difficult to figure out? Would there be common desires among new faculty?

I also wondered if the size of the school dictated or shaped the kind of support systems put in place. My hope was that through my research I would help to shape a more substantive mentoring program at Greene Street Friends.

Exploration/Learning I began my exploration by both looking more closely at how effective the current supports for new faculty and staff are at Greene Street Friends School, while at the same time learning about established mentoring programs at a few different Quaker schools that varied in size. At Greene Street, I conducted focus groups, gathering information from faculty and staff who were new to the school within the past three years. My guiding questions asked the participants to give their feedback about what type of support they received within the first year of teaching at Greene Street, and from whom they received this support. They also had a chance to talk about what was lacking or needed enhancing in terms of support. What was common within the feedback was that faculty felt supported through the relationships they established with their grade partner teacher, and through the guidance they received from their supervisor. What was lacking was an established “go to” person who would serve as their guide as they transitioned into the new school culture and position, as well as time allotted for more official meetings with the person who would serve this role.

While conducting these focus groups, I also spoke with a few individuals at different Quaker schools who oversee their mentoring programs. The mentoring programs at each school were unique and shaped differently, but all of the contacts spoke of the importance of having a defined program. The commonalities within all three programs were:

1. The role and responsibilities of the mentor were defined.

2. New faculty had a secure time to meet with their mentor.

3. Mentors were selected by administration or the coordinator of the mentoring program.

As a next step, I pulled out the important threads from the conversations I had conducted and presented my findings to the associate head of school, Ryan Kimmet. I then proposed establishing a mentoring program at Greene Street Friends School. Within our discussion on the development of the program, I lifted up the importance of defining the roles and responsibilities of the mentor, defining expectations for the number of official meetings within the first trimester, and outlining possible foci for meetings. Ryan was supportive of moving forward with a pilot program. In partnership with him, and keeping in mind our school context, I shaped my initiative.

As the summer progressed, I established partnerships, defined the role, and laid out the expectations for the first trimester. As I worked on establishing these aspects of the mentoring relationship, I continued to research best practices to support new faculty and staff. I read articles that defined mentoring vs. coaching, and spoke of the importance of the mentoring relationship. In particular, I found the article, “Good to Great: Exemplary Teachers Share Perspectives on Increasing Teacher Effectiveness Across the Career Continuum,� (Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at American Institutes for Research, April 2014), helpful. It surveyed public school teachers who were defined through state standards as exemplary and asked them to speak on what was most important within different stages of their career. It stated that of those surveyed, one of the most important supports (within the top three of different types of supports) was the assigned or informal mentoring relationship, particularly within the novice stage (first five years of teaching).

The article also highlighted the positive impact of mentoring on teacher retention and student performance.

At the start of the new school year we launched the pilot mentoring program. As the trimester progressed I asked for feedback from the new faculty and staff both informally through email and through a formal survey. Overall, they were very happy with the partnership. They also provided helpful feedback as to how to strengthen the program in the future.

Next Steps I’ve come to see that although the size of the school can dictate the type of support systems one puts in place for new faculty and staff, mentoring should be an integral part of that system. Its importance lies in the ways mentoring can support transition into a new school context and provide guidance as new teachers navigate their first year.

This project generated a new question for me: Do successful mentoring programs lead to higher rates of faculty retention? The research for public school contexts speaks to this, but I could not find much research on the connection between mentoring and retention in independent schools. Are there other more significant factors that lead teachers to leave a particular school setting, or the profession in general, such as salary, family leave practices within the school, a general shift in length of time within a profession? I feel led to explore this question as I continue to think about best support systems for new faculty and staff.

Christen Clougherty, Ph.D. is the Founder/Executive Director of Nobis Project, a non-profit that collaborates with and supports educators in preparing young people to become informed, compassionate, active, responsible and exemplary global citizens. Nobis Project develops educators’ capacity to foster reciprocal and meaningful community partnerships, build culturally responsive classrooms, and promote a social justice approach to service learning.

Christen has over eighteen years of experience as an educator and administrator in community organizations, public, charter and independent schools, and universities. Christen attributes her commitment to global civic engagement to her experiences as a student at Carolina Friends School. Christen received her Ph.D. in Quaker Studies from the University of Birmingham in the UK where she completed her research on the synthesis of experiential education, service-learning, creative-process theory, and global citizenship education. Christen has founded two charter schools in Savannah, GA, Tybee Island Maritime Academy and Susie King Taylor Community School.

Christen Higgins Clougherty

Founder/Executive Director of Nobis Project, Savannah GA

In The Manner of Friends: What Might A Quaker Approach to Education Look Like In A Public Charter School I investigated what components of Friends school education might be transferable to a tuition-free public charter school.

In the spring of 2015 I gathered a group of concerned parents and community members to rethink how education can serve youth in our Savannah community. We started with two questions: "What is school for?" and "How can schools help develop healthy, engaged citizens with a sense of purpose and belonging?" We discovered a common desire for an educational offering that provides students with: • • • • • •

The feeling of being valued members of a learning community; The ability to resolve conflict peacefully; The ability to reflect silently and deeply; More choice and voice in what, how and when they learn; The opportunity to collaborate on authentic, meaningful and challenging work; A sense of responsibility to care for their local and global community; and intrinsic motivation for lifelong learning.

From those conversations Susie King Taylor Community School (SKTCS) was formed.

Exploration/Learnings The initial stage of my action research involved looking at the language used by Friends schools to describe their community and their pedagogy. We struggled to find the right words to express these ideals for SKTCS. “How could the Friends school philosophy be communicated using secular language?” This was particularly critical as we finalized our mission and vision statements and begin to communicate about our charter school with the wider community.

We ultimately decided upon the following mission and vision statements: SKTCS seeks to cultivate a vibrant, academically challenging learning community that celebrates each individual and instills in students a sense of stewardship as global citizens. Through experiential learning that emphasizes both quiet reflection and group collaboration, we empower students to critically examine the world and to activate their capacity for creating lasting positive change.

We hope to foster compassionate, curious, and confident global citizens who are stewards of truth-seeking, simplicity, peaceful resolution of conflict, integrity, community, and equal respect for all.

In describing our instructional model we wanted to reflect a commitment to experiential learning and student agency: Learning at SKTCS is grounded in a student-centered and active inquiry approach whereby students are the center of a dynamic and collaborative learning, inquiry and discovery process. Intellectual curiosity will be fostered through project-based learning, which propels learners to explore multiple paths to creative solutions.

This is achieved through small teacher-student ratios. Our inspiring teachers will draw on students’ passions and learning styles to create an education that cultivates the whole child -- academically, socially, and emotionally. We desire to create in our students a deep love of learning and respect for our global community to form bold, critical thinkers. To ensure that students contribute to and benefit from this culture, students will examine how their own culture impacts the way they understand, interact, and respond to others in their classroom and beyond. Through this examination, they will become culturally responsive, globally responsible, and empowered to become active citizens NOW. In describing our school culture we wanted to reflect a commitment to a particular value set: Students from our multicultural community will learn about their community and their world, about the social injustices in it, and formulate ways to be the positive change. We seek to build a partnership between the community, school, staff, parents, and students, where all parties are stakeholders in the educational process.

We will empower students with skills from conflict resolution, to critical thinking, to creative problem solving, to respecting self and others, and recognizing the inherent value of each person.

After crafting the language to describe our school, we needed to examine how to embed a shared governance model and whole school approach to using a version of the Quaker decision-making process. Reading several Friends schools’ and Friends universities’ by-laws, we incorporated language to reflect a consensus decision-making model in our by-laws and eliminated any mention of voting. Following the Friends’ understanding of equality, SKTCS views all staff, administrators, teachers, and support staff, as integral members of the community who each take part in the education of our students. Accordingly, we determined that all staff will be trained in consensus-building and regular clerking trainings will be offered.

One thing that many Friends schools struggle with as independent schools is making Friends education widely available across socio-economic means. We share the Friends belief that a multicultural and socio-economically diverse school community creates an enriched learning environment through the exploration, understanding, and appreciation of differences. It prepares students for living in an increasingly diverse world. Research on achievement gap differences between races as well as gender and racial representation in corporations finds that racially diverse schools decrease the achievement gap, expand thinking, increase effort and focus put into tasks, promote more empathy and demonstrate a reduction in prejudice (Kamenetz, 2015). It is our desire to create a school community that mirrors the socio-economic make-up of Savannah and offers opportunities for students from various ethnicities, economic backgrounds, faith practices, and abilities to learn from and celebrate the valuable differences each brings to the school.

Accordingly, SKTCS will use a new weighted lottery option that allows Georgia charter schools to weigh economically-disadvantaged student applicants, thus giving them a stronger chance of being admitted into the school.

Next Steps SKTCS is set to begin in the fall of 2017! We are currently finalizing our search for School Director. I have been gathering input from heads of Friends schools on what professional development to offer both our School Director and our staff.

They have recommended a combination of clerking training and participation in Parker Palmer’s Courage and Renewal program. We have developed a partnership with Peaceful Schools of North Carolina which is hosted by Carolina Friends School. They will offer initial teacher training before we start the school year. After the dust settles, I am eager to continue to reach out to Friends schools to find other ways that we may be able to partner, collaborate, and visit one another.

Kamenetz, Anya. Evidence that White Children Benefit From Integrated Schools. 2015.

From NPR website: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/19/446085513/the-evidence-that-white-children-benefit-from-integrated-schools.

Media-Providence Friends School (MPFS) was where I began my career as an educator and where I learned to grow my practice. It was, and continues to be, an environment that holds high academic standards and high collaborative expectations among faculty. I have also served as both Vice President and President of the Board of Trustees of the St. Mary’s Nursery School in Philadelphia.Through my board experience my professional lens began to expand. I had become part of the complex conversations about future finances and larger visions for growing a small and thriving child-centered organization. I learned to ask hard questions and take responsibility for the outcomes, learning to foster meaningful connections at board retreats and meetings. Ever since, I have been intrigued by the multifaceted systems at play within educational institutions and finding ways to affect change in my role as a classroom teacher and team coordinator.

Angela Di Maria

4th/5th Lead Teacher, Lower School Team Coordinator, Media Providence Friends School, Media PA

Mixing It Up in the 21st Century Background: In 2013, Wired Magazine ran an article in which it stated, “In 1970 the top three skills required by Fortune 500 companies were the three R’s: reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1999 the top three skills in demand were teamwork, problem solving and interpersonal skills. We need schools that develop these skills.”

This quote resonated with me to such a degree that I began to place it at the start of each of my trimester curriculum descriptions. This was what I was striving to teach my 5th graders every day. A few years later I was offered the “opportunity” to work with a mixed age group (MAG) of 4th and 5th graders. Like many schools, this was not a decision by design. Rather, it was a forced choice due to student numbers. Despite the fact that MPFS has had more mixed age groups than not since 1992, this was not something we promoted about ourselves as a school. I wondered - Why not?

Regardless, there I was teaching this group of 4th and 5th graders and trying my best to meet all of their needs, academically, socially and emotionally. I was both overwhelmed by the prospect of having to change everything I had been doing, and cautiously optimistic. I was also keenly aware of the varied opinions everyone had about mixing grades.

Fast forward....

I love teaching mixed age groups. It authentically gets at those top three skills in demand (teamwork, problem solving, and interpersonal skills). Students are no longer able to reside within the comfort zone of their developmentally similar peer group. It reflects real life. It stretches children academically, socially, and emotionally. It stretches the teacher too!

I was intrigued and began to ask questions: Why, as Sir Ken Robinson says in his TedEd talks, do we feel the need to teach our children in “batches”, as though their age (or “date of manufacture”) is the most important thing about them?

Exploration/Learning I began by reading as many research articles as I could find, brainstorming a list of first thoughts based upon my own experiences, contacting schools, and crafting questions for my interviews.

I wanted a list of schools that ranged in size, as well as history and experience with mixed ages. I spoke with classroom teachers, administrators, heads and assistant heads of schools, and curriculum coordinators. The range of schools included those who have: 1) intentionally used and developed mixed age groupings (MAG); 2) have moved away from MAG; 3) have never used MAG; and, 4) only use MAG when numbers drive grade re-organization.

My questions for teachers and administrators included: 1) Has your school recently transitioned to or away from vertical classrooms and why? 2) What are positive and/or negative outcomes of MAG in your school (for students, teachers, school community)? 3) Which grades do you combine in your school and why? 4) Why has your school never chosen to use mixed age grouping? 5) Do you provide any additional teacher training for MAG? When pulling all aspects of my research together, a few important themes rose to the surface: 1) Academic achievement in MAG has been found to be “the same or better” than single grade classrooms (and one can find research to support a slightly “higher” or “lower” achievement rating depending on whom you ask).

2) Social/emotional learning tends to be slightly "higher" in MAG. 3) Most curricula are not designed for MAG structure (especially math).

4) MAG can be politically risky for schools, given the many misperceptions about how mixed age classrooms work.

None of these themes really spoke to how people learn. Once teaching a MAG, I began to realize how ”mixed” every class I had ever taught truly was, if not by age, then by skill levels. Most teachers have a range of students, whose skill sets vary depending on subject, exposure, development, and pace. I have never had a class where everyone was on the “same page.” And, why should they be? The way I was teaching and differentiating in my MAG was exactly how I should have been teaching my single grade groups all along.

Then, as all meaningful research creates, more questions and ideas have risen to the surface. The learning that is the product of this experience is bigger than my initial questions. Curriculum design needs to be turned on its head, and we should take notes from the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers’ College, as well as Words Their Way and David Berg’s Making Math Real. How can we tap the resources of creative curriculum development within our Friends Schools community, to develop our own intentional and incremental curricula that can work for both single grade as well as MAG? And while we’re at it, let’s think differently about how we train teachers, specifically Friends School teachers. We have an incredibly creative, intellectual, and motivated group of educators in our Friends Schools community from whom so much can be learned. We enter a time in history when it is imperative we “mix it up,” imperative that we allow students time to practice and grow their perspectives, work with those who are different from themselves, and choose to work with the tensions that arise over difference. MAG is one way in which to achieve these outcomes. What works for MAG can work for every classroom.

Next Steps…I will seek out opportunities for conversations and dialogue around my ideas and concerns. I will start by sharing my research and findings within my own school community. In the near future, I will seek out leadership positions that will allow me to work more closely with curricula, scope and sequence, and supporting teachers in their practice.

I have always been fascinated by the way children develop their moral sense through their experience in schools. This was the topic of my dissertation, and it is the reason that I feel so strongly about teaching and leading in a Friends school. This action research project has allowed me to explore this topic in greater depth through the lens of overparenting. I am fortunate to have been afforded the time to examine this issue in all its depth and complexity.

Page Fahrig-Pendse

Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Early Childhood Program - Fifth Grade & Incoming Acting Associate Head of School, Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia PA

Overparenting: Reexamining its Origins and Evolution Background: “Overparenting” is a term used to describe an array of parenting behaviors associated with gaining advantage, or preventing harm, to one’s own children. As a phenomenon, it has been on the minds of parents and educators for the past several years. Authors have persuasively constructed positions that caution against current modes of parenting in middle class and upper middle class families (Mogel, 2008, 2011; Bruni, Lahey, 2015; Lythcott-Haims, 2015). The proliferation of theories related to overparenting in the past several years has caused me to think more critically about this style of child rearing and how it may influence the way parents, children and teachers experience schooling.

To this end, I chose to investigate the following question: In what ways is the phenomenon of “overparenting” expressed in our community? This question provided a framework for the action research project by emphasizing the way overparenting manifests itself within the community at Germantown Friends School. This inquiry is grounded in anecdotal information regarding the experience of teachers, students, and parents. While extensive reading on the subject informed the questions I asked of participants and the way I framed the study, this project is essentially focused on the thoughts and feelings of people who are involved in raising children today.

Exploration/Learning: As a result of this project, I hoped to have a better sense of the authenticity of the phenomenon of overparenting and an understanding of the factors that have shifted to create this current parenting culture. In order to do this, I investigated the contributing elements that have exacerbated parental anxiety to create the present parenting climate. The four main themes I have found through evaluating the research and through my own exploratory study are: fear amongst families of diminishing resources at a particular socio-economic level, a rise in the grade school athletic industrial complex, increasing demands of parenthood, and the growth of technology as a vehicle for greater information and greater competition.

Overparenting must be understood as it is related to child safety and as it is connected to specific perceived advantages. These two strains of overparenting are not isolated from one another, but they present with different expressions of parental angst. Parents who are concerned with child safety are not necessarily unconcerned about obtaining benefits for their children within the current system, however these parents are looking for reassurances of their child’s ultimate physical and mental health as their primary priority. Parents who are concerned with their child’s competitiveness academically or athletically are also not completely divorced from those who advocate for child safety, yet they may stress opportunities for their children over safety concerns alone. It is important to note that parental anxiety manifests itself in different forms, yet both strains of overparenting spring from the same well of an intensified need for assurance of children’s future health and success. In essence, parents who find themselves enacting overparenting strategies as they raise their children are seeking a guarantee of future achievement and future health that cannot be given.

The pressure to obtain these assurances has been placed squarely on parents who are frequently trying to rise the new personal and societal expectations of parenting. While both women and men feel these pressures, motherhood and female notions of success have long been tied to one another. In this current parenting paradigm, mothers in a focus group created for this study, expressed their concern that the expectations of motherhood have changed. Mothers are still meant to care for their children, but they are also meant to exalt, entertain, challenge, and give their children every possible opportunity. This phenomenon is also related to the growing number of working women, especially amongst women of a specific socioeconomic class and of a certain educational level. Women in this focus group spoke of parenting as another way to compete with one another and be judged as successful by society as a whole.

This leads to another aspect of overparenting which I would term “overinformation.” Parents, and mothers specifically, are exposed to massive amounts of information regarding parenting, both in the realm of safety and in the area of opportunity. The proliferation of these resources has not served to lighten the burden of keeping children safe or deciding which activity to pursue; instead it has increased the demand for parents who are more informed, which translates to being better at their parenting duties. Technological innovation has allowed for this burst of information, which has transformed many fields, including the way we raise our children.

Finally, the youth sports industry has also exploded in order to give parents more choices regarding their children’s activities and athletic pursuits; however, this has also driven early sports specialization and the growth of an industry that feeds the overparenting phenomenon. Parents and faculty alike have responded to surveys and focus groups throughout this study to express frustration with the investment of time in youth sports, while also being unable to break free from the grip of the identity creation and social import that comes with being associated with certain sports leagues and athletic pursuits.

Next Steps As shown through the work of this action research project, overparenting is a complicated issue without one clear explanatory factor. Instead, it is a problem that has several origins and these strains actually build upon one another to exacerbate an already highly charged issue. I want to begin the process of effectively managing this approach to parenting within our current school structure in order to promote the health and well-being of children, faculty, and parents. We are in the opening stages of that work as we examine the life of children, both inside and outside of the school, in an effort to understand the full scale of children’s commitments and parents’ fears. This examination of the whole child will yield answers as to how we assign homework, allow for after-school activities, and most importantly, how we help parents and families to enter our community.

I joined the faculty at the Friends Select School ten years ago as the school’s first full-time psychologist. I was warmly welcomed and immediately felt as though I had arrived home, a feeling supported by a commonality between my values and those widely held, and upheld, at Friends Select. I have been fortunate to be able to grow personally and professionally, and have woven both my role and myself deeply into the fabric of the school. I work closely with the school’s leadership, together guiding and keeping our collective lenses crisply focused on the wellness of each student as a member of the wider school community. I look forward, partially through my participation in the Institute for Engaging Leadership and this Action Research Project, to continuing to grow my role and my leadership at Friends Select.

Natan Gottesman,LCSW, MBA

Psychologist, Friends Select School, Philadelphia PA

Wellness and Support Programming: Bolstering, Enriching, and Strengthening Background: At Friends Select School, the health and wellness of each student, academic and otherwise, are given close attention and consideration. We have a well-functioning “Guidance Team” in each division (Lower School, Middle School and Upper School) comprised of divisional administrators, a learning or reading specialist, and myself. Every week, time is set aside to discuss “students of concern,” how these students are faring within our program expectations, within our community, and in their lives, overall. In our Middle and Upper Schools I work particularly closely with our learning specialist, Molly Patterson, regularly formulating and enacting a team-approach to supporting students who need our support. In the Lower School, the Guidance Team meets at least twice a week with the same goal.

I believe, however, that our approach tends to be reactive, rather than proactive. We have typically waited for a student to “have a problem,” be it academic or social-emotional, before intervening or implementing an action plan. Based on our work with many students and families at Friends Select over the years, I have focused my Action Research on the creation of a more proactive, “think and educate ahead” approach to providing support to our students. I believe that a forward-thinking approach, which actively educates students, families and ourselves about the various potential pitfalls that students may experience, and where we talk “in advance” about possible stressors or roadblocks, will ultimately better serve our students, faculty and families. In addition, through close collaborative work among colleagues, this project also aims to create a structure that recognizes the inter-relationship between learning challenges, learning readiness, and emotional and mental health. Being explicit and proactive about this connection helps us recognize the needs and facilitate the success of, a wider swath of our students.

Exploration/Learning: Focusing on the mental health and overall wellness needs of students has been of central importance to me throughout my career as a school-based psychologist.

Much of my work is in close collaboration with the school’s divisional administrators as well as our Middle and Upper School Learning Specialist. As such, I began this project in discussion with this team. My chosen topic, how best to enrich and strengthen our school’s wellness and support programming was the focus of these discussions. Fortuitously, the timing of the project coincided with an offer from a school family interested in working with and supporting us in the development of this program.

After brainstorming with our Learning Specialist, she and I convened two formal planning meetings in the spring of 2016 with the Associate Director and the Director of our Upper School, Kendall Cameron and Chris Singler. In each of these meetings we sketched our goals and ideas, and proposed changes and additions that would create, what we believed would be, a robust and comprehensive wellness program addressing both mental health and learning needs.

In the “dream stage” of our planning, we looked at program ideas to help students with stress and to de-stigmatize open discussion of mental health and learning issues. We also discussed the development of dedicated space and the expansion of student support staffing. In June, the school working team met again to put together a more refined proposal in preparation for meeting with the family that had expressed interest in supporting this initiative.

We met with the family at a midsummer meeting and presented a multi-faceted program including two main areas of focus: one detailing programmatic ideas requiring little to no additional funding that we would implement in the coming school year, and a second focusing more on long-term planning including on-going services, space build-out, and staffing. The meeting was highly productive and all left feeling energized and excited.

A clear area of learning for me and a “reality check” is that it is very complicated to work on a project with a focus on dreaming, planning and change, particularly when it involves “selling” that idea to multiple constituencies, each with its own unique set of interests, needs and priorities. It takes a long time, requires patience and flexibility...and is a moving target. As an example, when we presented to the Upper School faculty a plan for integrating once-daily mindfulness practice into the class schedule, there emerged a strong feeling that, while most understood and truly accepted the value of mindfulness practice, most were also reluctant, and some resistant, to giving up any part of their instructional face-time with students. We had previously implemented mindfulness practice on a more limited basis, and some faculty received extensive training in it. We, however, mistook that for “buy in.” Lesson learned!

We have been successful in implementing an enhanced support program. In the fall of 2016, we held a series of small-group support/acclimation sessions with students new to our upper school. Starting in the spring of 2017, we will be holding a series of stress-management groups with juniors and seniors. We have begun the formal inclusion of discussion about stress-management in the college-application process, and we have definitely made space and time for serious discussion of the importance of student-wellness and creating support programs.

Through more internal planning meetings, and working with the sponsoring family, we are moving forward with a funded program! The success of this, both to this point and going forward is directly attributable to our collaborative team, and particularly the on-going work and direct implementation between Molly Patterson and me. It is this team that will implement next-steps, and keep this program moving forward.

Next Steps 1. Next year we will again run group sessions for juniors and seniors and students new to the Friends Select Upper School.

2. We will further the inclusion of a focus on stress management in the college application process.

3. We will host our first-annual Wellness Speaker who will speak to parents in an evening session, and work with students during the day.

4. We will hold several parent discussions throughout the year on wellness-related topics.

5. We will explore wellness-related professional development priorities with faculty and work to hold at least one such program next year.

6. We will continue to explore ways to develop and enhance the wellness and support programming at Friends Select School.

I have spent the last 27 years as a member of the Sidwell Friends academic community. In 2008, as Academic Dean of the Upper School, I was asked to oversee the development of course offerings in our then newly developed Computer Science program. Programming and Probability I and II, and Engineering courses were added and qualified as a “sixth course” selection pool. Throughout my career as both teacher and administrator, I continue to be amazed at the underlying complexities surrounding course offerings and approvals. I am, however, committed to providing course offerings with the greatest depth to our student body as we seek to offer a well-rounded, inclusive curriculum. In a specific sense, via sixth course offerings, I view the leadership challenge as a quest to bridge the gap between student interest and course viability while nurturing a more progressive mindset among faculty in the context of student interest.

Mamadou Guèye

Upper School Principal, Sidwell Friends School, Washington DC

The Challenge of Course Viability in the Context of Course Offerings Background I have spent my entire professional life in or around the classroom with the development and enjoyment of the student as my first priority. Armed with a BA in English/Wolof from Université de Dakar-Fann in Sénégal, I set out upon a “teaching” journey, which to this very day remains my most satisfying work-day activity. My academic journey led me to Michigan State University where I received my Masters of Arts in French Language and Literature.

As a Foreign Language and Literature instructor, I recognized very early in my career that students will make very important choices about the courses and resources which will shape the foundation upon which their professional choices will rest. I have stood at the head of primary school classes and directed the interest and energy of young students toward languages and literature; and, I have stood at the helm of high school senior and college literature classes and marveled at the learning tree which can grow from a solid seed of knowledge provided at the outset.

The Friends schools’ education environment has given me living laboratory to implement new and creative strategies to teaching the student as a total entity, while at the same time promoting Quaker values and visions that have stood the test of time and modernity!

Exploration/Learning Integral to my inquiry on “sixth course offerings” is the concept of “course viability” more from the perspective of the teacher than that of the student. As I stated earlier, if course viability is identified as the engine behind teacher reaction to student enrollment, then student choice is indeed impacted by teacher “perception” of course viability. To better understand the accuracy of my premise, I conducted a survey of Academic Deans from several independent and Quaker schools in the Washington, DC area. I also took the opportunity to use an administrative retreat to conduct small focus groups designed to discuss course offerings and student choice.

What constitutes a “sixth course” and in what ways do the current sixth course policies help our students? To find general agreement on the definition of sixth courses was difficult, albeit conceptually it became almost any course which was not viewed—by both student and teacher—as academic. A cursory review of each institution’s policy revealed that there was no real standard or uniformity; rather, every school implemented vastly different policies. The issues and areas where improvements were suggested, while applicable to different scenarios, were remarkably interchangeable. When the discussion around what to do to improve the policies around sixth course offerings concluded, I was amazed at the creative and very sound suggestions (which appeared to genuinely target student access and choice) presented by the group.

A growing concern about the tensions between student course choice (STEM vs. Arts) and faculty perceived job insecurity, led to the choice of my Action Research Topic and is the driving force behind how I will use the findings my study revealed. I learned a lot about myself, my school, and how my style of leadership can address institutional issues by exploring more closely the origins of these tensions. While two years of Arts are required for graduation, there is no requirement for computer science and engineering classes--they are true electives. The irony I found in my action research is that teachers of these popular electives appeared less threatened with regard to enrollment and job security than some teachers in the Arts department experiencing dwindling numbers on their course rosters. Our school policy limiting students to maximum of six courses per semester: “Students may take a maximum of six courses, provided that the sixth course is in the arts or computer science” is also questioned by some Art teachers losing students to our STEM-like program.

In contrast, I found that other institutions, each with a different set of policies governing course offerings, identified similar tensions, which seemed to find its origin in course viability and not student choice or accessibility. The problems with current policies were indeed pretty much the same. There were many which included: • Enrollment in new courses challenging established sixth courses • Students taking sixth courses non-sequentially resulting in loss of skill/knowledge • Faculty perception of departmental rivalry • Student belief that five academic courses are required By deduction, I concluded that the problems identified were more focused on course viability variables than student choice variables. This was a most interesting find, since the plethora of creative and progressive suggestions to address the “sixth course” dilemma seemed to focus on student choice and accessibility. The suggestions ranged all the way from deducting minutes from every class period, to creating an independent slot for sixth course offerings, to a mass education effort toward enlightening educators, college counselors, and most important college admission offices to sixth course issues. With the exception of requiring students to take sequential Arts courses in back-to-back years and creating a sixth course slot during the school day, none of the suggestions addressed course viability directly. What this says to me is that where the teacher is relieved of fighting for the “life of a course,” he or she will indeed promote student choice and viability. The suggestions also demonstrate that teachers are willing to champion the student cause for sixth courses by making academic decision-makers more aware of both the need and the desire of students to take these courses without compromising the so-called hard academic courses.

Next Steps As a result of the findings during my retreat focus groups, I continue to research and explore via individual interviews with teachers and administrators with respect to sixth course offerings. My action research was conducted in the middle of a two year (2015-17) Association of Independent Maryland & DC Schools (AIMS) Self-Study project. AIMS’ findings and recommendations suggested that we explore ways to enable students interested in computer science and engineering to enroll in these courses early in the high school career. We, in the interest of student choice, can then rethink some policy decisions around course offerings without the threat or fear (be it real or perceived) of course viability.

I grew up in a traditional, blue-collar household in the Midwest, and we were taught to appreciate our public school education. I was fortunate to have influences that encouraged me to pursue post-secondary education, where I received a degree in elementary education.

After graduation I taught kindergarten in an independent school in Pennsylvania where I was introduced to Quakerism. Prior to this, I had never been introduced to Quaker ideals, but I was charmed by the sense of community prevalent in Friends schools. Fortunately, Buckingham Friends School invited me to join the faculty of a well-established Friends school. I am grateful for the opportunity to work in a place and with people that encourage others to grow both professionally and personally. My teaching experience spans over 20 years, and in that time I have discovered a passion for honoring the past and preparing for a vibrant future by creating a community that fosters respect and acceptance, promotes academic growth, and assists students with developing skills of responsibility and independence.

Dennis Haupert

Third Grade Teacher, Buckingham Friends School, Lahaska PA

Building a Stronger Quaker Community in a Challenging Economy Background All members of a school community have the same fundamental psychological needs: • For emotional and physical safety; • For close, supportive relationships—a sense of community; • For autonomy, or the ability to influence decision-making; • For a sense of competence—the belief that we are capable people and have the ability to learn and to guide the community.

Addressing these needs helps to build a well-rounded school community, however failure to address fundamental needs will have implications for student learning and establishing a well-supported school community. Over the past several years we have seen the deepest, longest-lasting economic recession of our generation. I am interested in exploring how schools build community during tough economic times. How does one build community in an institution that needs restructuring, while addressing fundamental psychological needs of its members, and respecting the tenets of integrity, simplicity, equality, peace, community and stewardship?

Exploration/Learning In reality, my action research project began the day I arrived at Pendle Hill for my first retreat at the Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools. On that day, I was informed that many of my school colleagues at Buckingham Friends were to be dismissed from their positions and my job would be changing. My initial reaction was of sadness and betrayal from a school that I loved and trusted for many years. However, as I began navigating through this complicated time, I repeatedly asked the same two questions: What is going to happen to my school community, and will we be able to move forward from this? I feared that we would be unable to overcome the loss of trust from those in leadership roles in our institution.

By searching for information about maintaining community in difficult times, I developed a deeper understanding about the role and responsibility of leadership in managing change in an independent school. I read a variety of articles about managing change and about the causes of failures in the Quaker process. I anticipated that there would be clear and distinct guidelines, that when followed, would guide the school community through a long-lasting recession and guide a Quaker institution with change. Instead, I discovered that small, independent schools have been delayed in reacting to the financial crisis, and have recently begun to embrace strategic planning as the answer. This shift in thinking has caused schools to examine their operations from a new perspective, causing them to look critically at their programs and

assess their ability to support them over the long term. This philosophical shift to a traditional business model seems to address the financial issues facing schools, but does nothing to help maintain a healthy Quaker community. For me, strategic planning, while important, should not stand on it’s own.

Building communication and trust within the community should go hand in hand with the development of a strategic, financially prudent plan. In our case, and with agreement from my faculty peers, we set out to rebuild communication and trust within our community. Our recommendation was to encourage faculty, administration and school board member partnerships to help strengthen communication and trust.

We proposed that we create committees to encourage faculty, school board members and administration to work together to foster partnerships, collaboration and communication within the school. Our hope was that by spending time working collaboratively and being involved in school activities, committee participants would form trusting relationships, improving communication within the school community.

With help from faculty, the Head of School, and the school board, we worked together and implemented committees that allowed three faculty representatives to join the School Board Committee and two faculty representatives to join the Finance Committee. We also created four additional sub-committees to the board to help satisfy the need for faculty to influence decision-making and foster a sense of competence among the faculty.

The newly created committees and representatives are as follows: • School Board Committee Representatives: This committee has three faculty representatives who are guests of the board and are not considered full members. The role of the representatives is to listen, provide information when appropriate, and report on the school board’s decisions to the faculty. Faculty peers nominated the representatives with final approval given by the Head of School.

• Finance Committee Representatives: This committee has two faculty representatives who are guests of the Finance Committee and are not considered full members. Representatives help oversee the area that comprises the schools operating and capital budgets, investments, physical assets and property.

• Physical Plant Committee*: The purpose of this committee is to look at the short and long-range oversight of the health and use of school properties and buildings.

• Advancement Committee*: The purpose of this committee is to oversee the advancement strategy with regards to fundraising, annual fund and capital campaigns.

• Enrollment Committee*: The purpose of this committee is to help support the role of the Director of Admissions to create a plan to strengthen new students enrollment and focus on student and family retention.

• Strategic Planning Committee*: The purpose of this committee is to oversee and implement the strategic plan as well as the annual goals as identified by the committee. * Faculty members on subcommittees of the board are full members of the subcommittees. There are no provisions for subcommittees to conduct executive sessions, as subcommittees do not have final decision-making power.

Next Steps Faculty representation and creating committees will not be the sole influence in building trust among the community. It will take time for the members of the committees to grow and learn to work together in a meaningful way. While we continue working to create a school community with improved understanding of how to work together and how to build a stronger vision for the future, I anticipate that I will continue to encourage our faculty members to continue their participation and partnership with the Board. Improved communication will help to accelerate this process and advance us toward our shared goals for the near future.

I am a product of Quaker schools, having spent 11 years as a student at Westtown School and later graduated from Swarthmore College. As a direct result of my own educational experiences of feeling known and supported as a student, I have committed myself to Friends education. I began my career teaching at Monteverde Friends School, and through a process of continuing revelation, I found myself called to administration. Having completed a Master’s in Counseling Psychology, as well as one in Leadership, a highlight of my work is delving into student support and deepening understanding of the intersection between identity development, positive self image, and performance in schools. As a proponent of educational institutions that hold equality and respect for all at the heart of all we do, I am grateful to have had opportunities to support transgender youth and look forward to continuing the work.

Rachel Kane

Middle School Principal, Sidwell Friends School, Washington DC

The Argument for Policy in Addition to Practice: Quaker Schools’ Responsibility to Transgender and Gender Expansive Community Members Background A few years ago, a group of LGBTQ+ faculty from Abington Friends School (AFS) accepted an invitation to present at the Safe Schools Conference at Arcadia University. The focus was professional development for educators about gender identity. As we developed our presentation, I was struck by the idea that while we were doing a lot of good work in individual classrooms, our school as an institution had room to grow. In the summer of 2014, I got permission to order and place “All Gender Bathroom” signs on multiple single bathrooms throughout the school, most of which had formerly been gendered and also marked as “faculty only.”

That fall, a middle school student asked if those bathrooms were available to students. It became evident that this student was questioning their gender identity, and in taking the simple step of putting up bathroom signs that invited everyone to feel comfortable using them, we had simplified one part of that transition. I was grateful to work closely with that student and their family in my last years at AFS, and I was able to apply that learning immediately when I arrived at Sidwell Friends School, as our first transgender Middle School student came out before school began this fall.

When considering an Action Research Project, I wanted to learn more about what individual Quaker schools were doing to support transgender students, including policies, education for students, and professional development for faculty.

I also wanted to get a sense of how those policies and practices translate to the experiences of our trans* students.

Exploration/Learning In order to find out what we are already doing and also to know how our schools feel about transgender and gender non-conforming students, I collected data both from Quaker educators and also students / alums of Friends schools who identify as trans*.

Though I sent the survey to many more Quaker educators, six responded to the survey. The questions and responses follow: Does your school have an articulated policy around supporting transgender students?

Yes Not yet [developing] No

16.7%

50%

33.3%

Has your school done any explicit training of faculty around support of transgender students?

Yes No

50%

50%

Does your school include education around gender identity as part of its curriculum for students?

50%

50%

Yes No

How do you feel the mission of your school relates to the support of transgender students, including articulated policies, if at all? Please explain.

Some answers to that question suggested that our open-minded communities imply safety for all: “...we are generally sympathetic to those who have faced discrimination in schools for any reason.” “There is a general culture of acceptance within the community with regards to groups that traditionally might not feel accepted elsewhere.”

Other answers referred to gender identity but did not directly name transgender students: “...We embrace diversity economic, religious, cultural, racial, socio-economic, sexual orientation, gender identification, academic…” “It is our hope that through their own experiences the children will discover and affirm themselves and others as they come to knoww and value differences in ability, language, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, family structure, or family income.”

I also spoke verbally to representatives from four other schools, three of which do have published policies that directly name supports of transgender students, one of which has a policy in process. They reported various levels of professional development and student education.

Overall it is important to note that while all Quaker educators whose responses say that their school supports transgender students, how that looks in terms of policy and practice varies.

It felt very important to hear the student perspective on how effectually we are supporting them. I received four responses from students at / alums of Friends schools who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming. Their responses are below: As a student at a Friends school, how comfortable did you feel/have you felt expressing your gender identity?

Very comfortable Somewhat comfortable Neutral

25% 50% 25%

Did your school have an articulated policy regarding support for students who do not identify as cisgender while you attended the school?

For part of my time attending the school Yes It is stated in the community guidelines but doesn’t go into deptth

25% 50% 25%

When asked if Quaker schools should have articulated policies supporting transgender students, the responses were unanimously, YES: “… all students [should] feel supported in expressing their gender identities and having a statement/policy is a big part of that.” “… it would be beneficial to have some sort of inclusion statement that directly references trans students..” “If they don't, students face discrimination and are responsible for educating those around them/advocating for themselves instead of focusing on getting an education.” “Even [though] some parents will object or something it really means everything to the student.”

When asked for advice to educators in Quaker schools, our students and alums said that we need to actively support them: “…in general: educating the staff, parents, and students about gender diversity/identity and making sure the student feels safe and cared for.” “Schools can help by providing a safe space and equal opportunities, as well as supporting the gender non-conforming students.” “… the trans kids are the ones who know who they are and what they need, and the school's job is to listen and support instead of dictate terms, rules and access.” “Letting the student know that…faculty members…are by their side, giving options for the bathroom and locker room, making sure other kids aren't giving them a hard time, and really listening to what the student is saying and what pace they want everything to happen.”

In the same week that I completed writing a summary of my action research, our President stripped back federal protections for transgender students in the public schools. As I juxtapose the responses of our students and alums with policy changes that may make it more difficult for transgender students to authentically live as themselves in their schools, it feels important that we clearly and proudly articulate our commitment to their safety. I appreciate that the Friends Council on Education has issued this statement: “Our schools strive to create inclusive, supportive, and respectful communities for all students, including our schools’ transgender and gender expansive/non-binary students.”

I would take it further to say that in our individual schools, now is the time to be clear and to actively state where we stand on policies that support our transgender students. Rather than let them assume that they are safe, as we know they should be, I would argue that our students’ unanimous responses in their desire to see articulated policies and our commitment to their safety should lead us all to write and publish policies that name active support of our transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Lydia is the Director of Student Affairs and Wellness Department Chair at Waynflete School where each school year begins with a week in the natural world. She began her career as a Field Instructor and Diversity Trainer for Outward Bound where she designed courses for teens, all girls, cancer survivors, resettled refugees, urban youth, adjudicated young adults, and adults seeking life/career renewal. A trained Gestalt therapist and practicing Friend in Portland, ME, she facilitates wellness programs in contemplative education, positive risk-taking and social emotional awareness for students and educators. She is passionate about cultivating collegial support and self-care practices as pathways to a sustainable commitment to teaching and leading, and is the Director of a 4-day residential institute for educators each August called TIME (Teachings in Mindfulness Education) at the Chewonki Foundation on the Maine coast.

Lydia Maier,LCSW, MBA

Director of Student Affairs and Wellness Department Chair, Waynflete School, Portland ME

The New England Youth Identity Summit: The Building Blocks of Dialogue Background For many years, I had envisioned a major community building event around diversity that rested on shared student ownership by the five student activity groups at my school, each focused on a particular aspect of identity (Ethical Leadership, PRIDE (Promoting Respect, Integrity, Diversity, and Equality), Racial Awareness at Waynflete (RAaW), Girls Leadership Training and the Mental Health Advisors). I observed that diversity work in schools suffers from a lack of shared ownership, though it is everyone’s work. When one student group sponsors a film night, other student groups don’t always see the overlapping mission of awareness and inclusion and focus instead on their own events. As a diversity consultant, I have emphasized curiosity and the power of stories as the basic building blocks for the authentic dialogue key to uncovering the “Light within.”

I’d also been captivated by emerging positive psychology research on the social neuroscience of education. Humans have an innate capacity for empathy and building relationships that is both biological and spiritual; it’s our job as educators to cultivate a sense of belonging and connection for every student and to demonstrate what positive community feels like on a heart level. Identity politics can exclude and fragment as tragically evidenced through recent national election rhetoric. The “Love will win” banners in the secular political arena capture the only message that transcends negative identity politics. For my action research project, I wanted to host a multicultural summit and engage all 5 five student identity groups in a shared endeavor to create a two-day inspired learning community as a beacon of hope for youth.

Exploration/Learning I focused my research on two questions: What are the building blocks of authentic dialogue? How can they be taught in an experiential way? I reached out to Maine Seeds of Peace, with whom I had worked closely by supporting my students to attend their summer camp. Their mission is to promote dialogue amongst our constantly expanding resettled refugee communities and native Maine students of all backgrounds. I gathered leaders of my school’s identity groups and invited them to join with Seeds campers from the 14 Seeds partner schools to offer a day of compelling sharing sessions about race, gender, mental health, religion, culture and identity. Out of their enthusiasm, the idea for a Friday night free performance at the Public Library as a kick-off to the Summit was born.

Calling it the New England Youth Identity Summit energized my internal student groups to embrace co-hosting with Seeds to share their good work with the outside world. As I’d hoped, student groups came together to design and to be part of something larger than themselves. Student-led workshops seemed the best avenue to get students willing to intentionally learn about each other’s unique life stories. I’d heard of a NYC group called the Dialogue Arts Project (DAP), performers turned educators who went into classrooms and helped students engage with each other through

writing their stories and sharing them in powerful experiential ways. This approach seemed to offer another “way open” to diversity awareness instead of identity groups simply trying to explain themselves to one another. To my surprise, the DAP performers were thrilled by the idea behind the Summit and agreed to come.

The parents association generously gave us $5,000 to run the event.

I had no idea if we would have 25 participants or 200, but I wanted to test my faith that students would want to tackle the most challenging issues of our times through dialogue. I convened a group of five faculty members who met weekly to think through the logistics. We suffered through skepticism, a schoolwide tragedy and an urgent venue change days before the Friday event, but the RSVPs were rolling in. The parents asked if they could be involved and soon we had 25 volunteers in exchange for a parent workshop on talking to children about race.

Our first-of-its-kind gathering welcomed 275 youth and teachers representing 25 schools (public and private) from all over New England. Nearly all the workshops were student facilitated. Sessions such as “Smashing the Stigma Around Mental Illness” and “How to Start a Racial Awareness Group at Your School” drew large numbers and allowed passionate students to share ideas for promoting active positive cultural change at their own schools. The authenticity was breathtaking.

I designed a closing “Speak Out” so students could share their take-aways. Over 30 students expressed their hope, gratitude, excitement and wishes to keep building more inclusive communities. The DAP performers got the crowd singing a call and response to the words “Praise!” Dr. Karambu, a Kenyan peace activist from our global partner school, (whose air ticket was made possible by a generous donor), offered a community “prayer” to a silent rapt audience after which a giant standing ovation erupted. I will never forget her words: “If I had had one day like this when I was your age, I would be president of Kenya by now.” I experienced an immense collectively felt surge of love for humanity in that moment.

Next Steps After the Summit’s success, I worked on a document entitled “The Building Blocks of Dialogue (Curiosity, Courage, Care)” seeking input from faculty before hosting a summer dialogue training for faculty. The idea for The Dialogue Project to become an all-school initiative was tentatively embraced. We hosted a grant-maker who met 10 of the student leaders to debrief the experience, and we received a $50,000 grant over three years.

Year two is now underway, and the poet Richard Blanco has agreed to keynote. The current political landscape underscores the need for student leaders to dialogue about their stories and viewpoints in order to fully realize the enormous potential of our diverse nation. We’ve taken feedback from the post-summit survey and made this year even more focused on experiential dialogue. I’ve derived such joy from the energy generated by this community-wide experiment, and it helps me to believe that “Love will win.”

Katie is the Lower School Dean at Cambridge Friends School. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to work at CFS for the last 18 years, and to have been nurtured and mentored there as an educator and as a leader. She was initially attracted to the social justice and anti-bias aspects of the school’s mission, and she quickly embraced the Quaker foundation of the school.

Katie started her time as a third-grade teacher. She then taught fourth grade as well as a grade 3-4, mixed-age classroom. During her time at CFS, Katie served as a Cluster Coordinator and as a member of the Board of Trustees. While a trustee, she had the opportunity to Co-Clerk the Steering Committee for the school’s most recent strategic planning process. She recently Co-Clerked the steering committee for the school’s re-accreditation with AISNE, Association of Independent Schools of New England. These different experiences have allowed her to explore the many facets of a small Quaker school.

Katie Marion

Lower School Dean, Cambridge Friends School, Cambridge MA

Sustaining and Nurturing Faculty Background When I began considering topics for my Action Research, I explored a number of topics. I realized that they all, in different ways, centered around one theme: faculty morale. As a school, we have been challenged to work with faculty and staff morale for several years. When I began this project, I was teaching third and fourth grades, so it was important for me to consider what was within my purview and within my sphere of influence. In addition to teaching, I was serving as a Cluster Coordinator. Cluster Coordinators are a small group of primarily senior faculty who support the Assistant Head of School role. They help plan and implement faculty meetings, provide the administrative team with feedback, and in general, hold the mission of the school, and work to ensure teaching and learning and the school culture remain predominant.

I considered the frustrations that faculty expressed about how we use our faculty meeting time. Namely, that we spend a lot of time doing nuts and bolts stuff, and even work related to our anti-bias mission, but that we had not, at least in recent history, spent time thinking about teaching and learning. I began to wonder if one way to shift morale might be to ‘feed’ faculty through engaging more directly with professional development, or at least professional dialogue, around practice. It was my hypothesis that if we could engage in meaningful work in a manner that genuinely feeds educators’ souls, we could improve the climate among faculty and staff.

Exploration / Learning During the spring of 2016, I read research and articles about creating and sustaining strong professional communities. I also reflected upon my experience with Critical Friends Groups. I worked with our Head of School, Assistant Head of School, and the Cluster Coordinators to begin to make a plan and implement a series of faculty meetings during the 2016-2017 school year.

At the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, I surveyed the faculty about the focus for the professional work I was designing. The area of greatest interest was project-based learning. It was followed by inquiry-based learning. Both topics worked well from my perspective, and while I planned to primarily focus on project-based learning, I was looking for avenues to incorporate the inquiry-based component as well.

I continued gathering articles that could be helpful, as well deciding which protocols from the School Reform Initiative Resources and Protocols book would be helpful. This book is a compilation of tools that are designed to facilitate transformation and to grow professional learning communities. Based on my experience with the CFS community during the 2015-2016 school year, I felt we would benefit from structured engagement in the form of protocols. While I hoped

that we could ultimately move away from this type of structure, it felt like an important starting point to build trust and to practice engaging in pedagogical discussions. I chose this focus with the underlying thought that I wanted to explore how such work can affect faculty and staff morale.

In the fall of 2016, the landscape of the school changed significantly. Unexpectedly, the Head of School resigned, and we no longer had an Assistant Head of School. This was the beginning of significant turbulence for the school community. As part of restructuring for this year, I left the classroom and assumed the role of Lower School Dean at the beginning of December. While this definitely put the focus of my Action Research within my purview, it quickly became clear that delving into pedagogy and project-based learning would not be our focus for the year.

Supporting faculty morale remains a high priority for me. It is what I think about when I wake up in the middle of the night! My thinking about this topic is multi-faceted. I am thinking about how to support faculty to get through this turbulent year, and about how to create a climate of trust, support, and learning for next fall. Right now, my work includes deeply listening to faculty and acting to support them where possible. This may involve brainstorming about curriculum, problem-solving about students, or simply rearranging a lunch coverage. It also involves holding regular Lower School meetings, which is new for Lower School faculty. At these meetings, we have engaged in team-building activities. I was initially worried that people would not feel it was a good use of time. What I found, however, is that everyone was really appreciative of the opportunity to engage with one another.

Next Steps While we are not tackling project-based learning, we are beginning the process of vertically aligning our curriculum.

Along with the Middle School Dean and the Cluster Coordinators, I am guiding that process. I see this work as similar to the pedagogy work that was meant to take place this year. It is an opportunity to ground ourselves in the work of the School. It will be an opportunity to affirm that which we do well, and to grow where necessary to become even better.

We have attempted to scaffold the work to make it safe and productive for all. Though we are beginning this work at a challenging time, I am hopeful that it can positively effect morale and help faculty stay focused on teaching and learning, and therefore the children, through the remainder of the year.

Through this whole experience, I am gaining great perspective on how small Friends schools function. Budget, staffing, and retention issues are very present and give me an opportunity to continue to learn how interdependent they are.

The greatest perspective I am gaining, though, is how drawn I am to leading in a Quaker school. Despite the challenges of the year, I am excited to begin each day thinking about how I might contribute to positive change, and contribute to the thinking about the sustainability of our school.

In the spring of 2014, a friend and fellow cohort member shared the observation, “I think you are a Quaker educator, but you just don’t know it yet.� As a product of public, boarding, K-8, K-12, and now Quaker educational environments, I enjoy working with others to define and find authentic relational success. After 12 years of teaching, I continue to connect my past educational experiences with my current beliefs; the core tenets of Quakerism resonate deeply in my academic and personal lifelong learning. As an incoming School Administrator at The Hill School in Middleburg, VA, I look to lead from the daily energy and joy found in collective growth.

Will Nisbet

4th Grade Teacher and Director of Special Projects, Maret School, Washington DC

The Call to Support All Students: Meeting the Academic Support Needs of Students in a Financially Sustainable Manner Background As a classroom teacher, I have always been interested in the fiscal side of a school's student support role, where the decisions made in the classroom regarding academic support meet the financial realities for families and the institution.

During a recent faculty presentation giving by our financial aid office, it was evident that as our school has diversified our pool of learners, the financial resources needed to support all our students has outpaced tuition increases. Currently, this is the fastest growing segment of financial aid and includes hiring of learning specialists, academic/behavioral testing fees, tutoring fees, and more.

If the desire and mission as an independent school is to be accessible, committed, and equitable to all students in our community, how do we create a financially sustainable model for support services not covered in the standard curriculum? As I spoke with faculty leaders in my own school, as well as numerous others, I found that this query is common within the current educational landscape. However, my action research would find that approaches varied in the management of this issue. At the core of my inquiry were a few guiding questions: - What basic support services exist for all families and families on financial aid?

- How is funding approved to support students beyond the classroom?

- What are the in-school support structures (study halls, tutors, specialists), and how are they funded?

- How does the school handle testing (recommendations, acceptance, metrics) and ensure uniform data collection?

- Are the college preparatory process and accommodations supported financially by the school?

At times, my topic veered into many other realms of school function, yet I felt a common desire among administration and faculty to take an ethical stance on academic and financial support issues to ensure the highest degree of equity within their institutions.

Exploration/Learning At first, the breadth of my topic began to stray into many tangential conversations on school theory, politics, finance, and institutional mission. I wanted to keep focused, however, on how support is offered and funded. For an appropriate sample, I decided to compare schools with similar demographics and perceived cultures to look for commonalities in how each was addressing the topic. I approached six schools that loosely fell into a Northeastern, urban, competitive, mid-sized category, with half being Quaker institutions.The other half had marketing messages that aligned with many Quaker values, including equity and access. Each was committed to a cost structure to attract and retain socioeconomic diversity. I began with an in-depth interview of the financial aid, learning specialist, and college counseling departments within the school. After data collection, I generally categorized the results across two approaches: 1) standardization of

services and 2) communication within the community to faculty, students, and parents. Collectively, I found a passion and desire to support every student, yet complexities quickly became evident.

With regard to standardization of services, there appeared to be a wide range of financial responsibility in terms of school control over the support process and its availability to students. Schools varied from having no written policies to having full institutional control over every program, as well as the funding commitments to support large programs. I found consistencies amongst school approaches to addressing students’ needs. Many schools recognized the cultural and academic hurdles faced by incoming adolescents and offered an introductory “course� to introduce students to the rigors of school life, as well as baseline academic assessment. Combined with internal study halls, faculty availability, tutoring centers, and the hiring of additional learning specialists, each school emphasized a goal of in-house support, intervention, and responsibility within the institution. I was glad to see the commitment schools were making to students; counseling-out of students for academic reasons seemed to be rare.

The largest piece of financial pressure came over the availability, expectations, and ownership of educational testing and college prep resources. Many schools were admirably piecing together financial resources from public funding, packaged discounts from trusted professionals, and the generosity of donors to establish special designated funds. Additional costs were often pro-rated to meet the financial capacities of families. I found a commitment to creating an equitable approach in identifying all learning differences, regardless of family resources.

Communication with families about student qualification for support was often a point of tension. Some factors were due to financial constraints, commitments, and the perceived pressures to gain an advantage in exams or college admissions testing. In each school, the external cultural pressures of families with certain expectations became evident.

I was interested to find the extent to which schools were energetically trying to maintain equity for students with needs, while simultaneously defining expectations for families asking for services without meeting baseline criteria. I observed the courage it took for schools to communicate a steadfast adherence for what they believed was a just approach.

Unfortunately, the issue of access-to-support exposed inequities along socioeconomic and racial divisions, present in society at large. The question of access also exposed an issue of anxiety management among the student body. These concerns became the basis of the next steps in my research.

Next Steps During my research I found a genuine concern about how to best support each student and family within their community. However, based on my findings, one question begged to be explored: Has a conversation started around pressure and student expectations regarding academic success? Some schools felt as though there was true equity in access and recommendation for services, yet others felt as though it placed pressures on each student beyond the classroom.

Couched within this question were numerous anecdotes hinting at ways parents/students use support services to gain an advantage, and how the school identifies or addresses this behavior. I look forward to begin looking at school culture and thinking about who feels comfortable receiving support services, and how messages from the school are communicated.

Rebecca has served as an Admission and Financial Aid administrator in universities and independent schools for 20 years. Having worked previously with graduate and professional students, her most recent role is as an administrator at Newtown Friends School.

She helps lead the school in enrollment strategy, focusing on marketing, admission and retention.

Rebecca Niszczak

Director of Admissions and Marketing, Newtown Friends School, Newtown PA

Enrollment Feasibility Dashboard: A Tool for Monitoring Growth Background Since the economic downturn of 2009, independent schools have faced slowing enrollments and loss of revenue. For all schools this has been challenging, but for small schools, with less than 250 students, there has been real concern for their long-term sustainability. We know that, across the United States in recent years, small independent schools have closed, and Friends schools have not been immune.

Recent conversations amongst admission directors at small Friends schools have centered around data and its use in determining future enrollment projections. These directors cited a lack of resources to pursue such data, indicating that they neither had the staff nor funds to fully gain the information they needed. They were aware that such data existed, but how to quickly access and assess those data was beyond their reach.

After participating in conversations with fellow admission directors about these concerns, I determined that I would pursue action research that might develop a tool to support our efforts in obtaining future enrollment data. Thus began my efforts at building an Enrollment Feasibility Dashboard.

Exploration / Learning I knew as I entered this work that I would not need to start from scratch. For the past several years, those working in independent school admission offices had been talking about “data driven decision-making.� I was certain that there were articles written by my peers and our professional organizations that could guide my work. Accessing this information was my first step.

I started with information published by large, national organizations. These included National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), The Enrollment Management Association (formerly SSATB), Independent School Management (ISM) and National Business Officers Association (NBOA). I found numerous articles, papers and books on the topic of regional and national data points.

The NAIS Trendbook of recent years had clearly outlined an approach to economic, demographic, market, enrollment, financial, philanthropic and human resources considerations. It is nicely complimented by the online NAIS Demographic Center, where one can find regional economic and demographic data.

ISM research suggested some of the same considerations and added a few others, but offered a slightly different view of them. ISM encourages schools to be mindful of the quality of their program, the rising cost of tuition, financial aid and endowment spending.

Layered on top of these considerations was similar information coming from NBOA and The Enrollment Management Association. The challenge was identifying which pieces would be most helpful in predicting future enrollment for small schools.

I sat with this information for some time and reflected on what would be most important in my work. I also turned to my memory of the conversations I had with other small school admission directors. What continued to come back to me was a concern about national and regional demographic and economic data. There was a concern that despite all of our internal and external marketing and communication efforts about the quality of our schools, we could not control or predict the number of full-pay families in our region. With this in mind, I began to narrow the elements to include in the creation of an enrollment feasibility dashboard.

I drafted a data-gathering tool using Google sheets that contained “External Forces” and “Internal Forces.” The External Forces included unemployment rate, population growth, racial/ethnic composition, number of school-aged children, household income, education levels and home values. This data, using a predetermined radius surrounding the school, can be found online through the US Department of Labor Statistics, NAIS Demographic Center, and national realtor sites.

The Internal Forces included the last five years of data for annual tuition increases, value of the school’s endowment, the school’s cash/liquidity, financial aid as a percentage of the budget, and net revenue. This information can generally be obtained through a school’s business office.

Once the tool was developed, I then worked with our school’s marketing and communications assistant to begin mining the data.Together, we compiled all data and entered it into the dashboard. Although I was not surprised by the individual sets of data that were discovered, I was surprised by the snapshot that the dashboard quickly provided. The dashboard had done what I had hoped - provide me a quick, big picture view of the forces impacting future enrollment.

Feeling confident about my discovery, I then shared the dashboard, containing my school’s data, with my head of school.

The dashboard helped inform us as we began to tackle the work of our school’s newly published Strategic Plan. The head of school further shared the data points with our school committee clerk. Having this information was helpful as the school committee clerk and I next attended a workshop hosted by the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS) where Heather Hoerle, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Enrollment Management Organization, and Mark Mitchell, Vice President of School and Student Services by NAIS, spoke about the national and regional market for independent schools and the changes our schools will see in the near and long-term future.

Although the dashboard appeared to be helpful to me and my school, ultimately, I desired a tool that would help other admission directors in their own schools as well. I then sent the dashboard to admission directors at five other small Friends schools and requested their feedback. I received some initial feedback suggesting additional data points to include.

Next Steps Currently, I believe I am only midway through this work. I would like to have further in-person conversations, perhaps at an annual FCE Admission Director gathering, with my peers to discuss ways I could further refine the dashboard. I would like to learn how the dashboard could be altered based on the culture, location, and priorities of an individual school.

What might be important to one school may not be to another. Upon receiving this additional feedback, I will make further revisions and then digitally share the dashboard with those who have interest.

My passion for biology was my gateway into the education field. Fifteen years into my career, I followed a leading to teach at Westtown School. Over the last nine years, I served as Assistant Dean of Students and Technology Specialist, and now I have returned to the classroom, teaching a variety of biology and chemistry courses. Here, I have learned about Friends education, the wider Friends community, and myself. As a mid-career educator, I have thought with increasing frequency about what and how I make a contribution and give back. It’s with that lens that I have sought out opportunities to serve the community as a coach and a mentor to administrators, colleagues, students, and parents.

Celeste Payne

Upper School Science Teacher, Westtown School, West Chester PA

Retention of Faculty of Color in Friends Schools Background As a person of color who has spent her entire career in education, I am aware of and interested in people of color in independent schools. Our presence enriches the school communities. Not only do we support the students of color in independent schools, we also serve as role models for all students.

In the past two decades, I have witnessed slow and small increases in the numbers of faculty of color in independent schools. I have also seen faculty of color leave independent schools and sometimes education altogether. In between, I have known faculty of color with a wide spectrum of experiences (positive, negative, and indifferent) in independent schools. In watching and being a part of this cycle, I have wondered why it occurs and what might circumvent attrition of faculty of color.

Two years ago, I initiated a new affinity group for faculty of color at my school. The Faculty of Color Network has two primary functions: 1. To support the school’s faculty of color professionally and personally; 2. To serve as a resource to the school community.

Participation in this affinity group is voluntary. The group has affirmed for me a suspicion that I have long held, which is that faculty of color have common experiences and unique needs within independent school communities that are well understood by other faculty of color. In forming and growing these relationships as allies, faculty of color form a network of support that can be critical and essential to their thriving in a school community.

With the commitment of Friends schools to diverse school communities as well as the focus of specific school communities on social justice, I have been interested in exploring the complex question: Why do faculty of color remain in or depart from Friends schools?

Exploration / Learning My knowledge of this topic is both personal and professional. My initial data set was based upon previous anecdotal information. Over the years, I have spoken with school colleagues, associates at area independent schools, and colleagues of color whom I met in professional development settings (e.g., the NAIS People of Color Conference, workshop presentations, and summer institutes). Listening to the narratives of others, I began to wonder if attrition was higher among faculty of color than among the faculty population at large. It appeared to me that faculty of color transitioned and left independent schools more frequently than faculty in general.

I began this action research project with an initial focus on the following question: Why do faculty of color leave Friends

schools? By answering this question, I expected to measure attrition of faculty of color in Friends schools. As I consulted with colleagues, I gradually realized that there was an inherent challenge in answering this question. Not all institutions collect feedback from departing faculty about why they are leaving the school community and the response rate to such interviews is typically less than 100%. Once a faculty member has moved onto another school (or out of education altogether), it can be very challenging contacting them and collecting this data.

With this realization, I thought about how I might approach the project with a different question. I settled on the following: Why do faculty of color remain in Friends schools? By answering this question, I expected to measure retention of faculty of color in Friends schools. This shift in focus allowed me to more reliably collect feedback from faculty of color who continue to remain in Friends school communities.

In order to preserve the privacy of responding individuals and specific school communities, I collected data by soliciting feedback via an anonymous survey. I selected ten Friends schools from eight different states in rural, suburban, and urban settings. These coeducational Friends schools represented various grade configurations, including single division and multidivisional. Originally, I had a goal of collecting data from 50 respondents for this project. However, I realized that it would be a challenge to reach this goal, so I settled on having at least 25 responses given the relatively small collective number of faculty of color in Friends schools. Finally, I used the survey to capture data on various parameters that I thought might help to draw out themes including the following: associated divisional levels; primary roles, e.g., classroom teacher or administrator; years of experience at the current school, as well as in Friends schools in general; prior experience with Friends education, e.g., alum or parent; and the reasons for remaining at a Friends school.

From my research, a theme that emerged from the survey results was that the mission, testimonies, and values of Friends schools were an important part of the experience of faculty of color. The presence of other faculty of color, support for professional development, and the role of Friends school communities in the lives of the children of faculty of color were also important factors. Given that many of these are also reasons why white faculty remain at Friends schools, I realize that there is an opportunity for additional research and to return to the question of retention specifically of faculty of color. My interest in this topic remains, and I continue to collect data from schools with the hope of sharing the anonymous results with heads of school, diversity practitioners, and other administrators or staff in charge of hiring at Friends schools.

Next Steps Going forward, I see two significant opportunities to continue this action research project. First, I would like to explore if and how the reasons to remain in Friends schools may differ between faculty of color and white faculty. This may involve making minor adjustments to the survey instrument. Second, I would like to engage faculty of color in an interview setting. I would envision a video that captures the experience of faculty of color in Friends schools. To keep this current, each year a handful of faculty of color could be interviewed at their own institutions and asked to share why they choose to remain at a Friends school. Such a tool would be of value to Friends school communities as they examine their own hiring and retention practices and culture.

Growing up attending Frankford Friends Meeting and the Quaker School at Horsham, I learned all voices matter. Having been shaped so profoundly by these small but inspiring institutions early on in life, I have dedicated my career to educating students in a similar manner, most recently at Princeton Friends School. At PFS I wear many hats working as the Director of Financial Aid, history teacher, and division coordinator. While my MBA and teaching course work help me in these positions, I find it is the skills rooted in my early Quaker experiences that serve me best. In these roles I have learned to keep students, parents, and teachers open to each other’s perspectives in order to grow together as a community. At the heart of all of this work is the ability to listen deeply knowing that the answers we seek can come from within us and from those around us.

Chris Searle

Director of Financial Aid, History Teacher, & Middle School Division Coordinator, Princeton Friends School, Princeton NJ

The 3 Secret Sauces of Institutional Decision-Making Background Arthur Larrabee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has written extensively about Quaker decision-making and how Quakers aim to reach a “sense of the meeting.” Kay Edstene, former Director of the Friends Council on Education, has discussed how this process can be applied in Friends schools based on what she describes as four levels of decision-making.

Although knowing how to apply the Quaker decision-making process at Friends schools is necessary for producing sound institutional decisions, it is not sufficient. Like your great grandmother’s secret recipes, there are often unnamed ingredients that make duplicating a particular dish near impossible. This action research project attempts to tease out the ingredients in the Quaker school secret sauce that leads to great institutional outcomes in Friends schools.

Exploration/Learning Although I love to work with hard data, I found my search for the secret sauce of Quaker institutional decision-making residing in narrative stories of heads of schools and other educational leaders. In listening to these stories I found recurring themes, key ingredients if you will. I listened to each story to see if a particular theme held true and whether new pieces of the puzzle might emerge. In fact, I soon realized that there was not one secret recipe but three. Like all recipes it must be seasoned to taste. As you read through it I hope you will add your own special touch and share it with friends.

Secret Sauce One: Engagement Béchamel Ingredient List: People, Support, Clarity, Culture ~ Start with fresh ingredients-hire and then develop the right mission-driven people from diverse backgrounds. ~ Combine the right people with support in the form of mentorship and professional development, especially in Quaker values and decision-making. ~ Add a cup of clarity regarding an individual’s role in the institution’s story; this will help people understand their importance to the school. ~ Slowly mix in a cup of culture that embraces the open exchange of ideas. Members of different departments need to have the opportunity to get to know one another and exchange ideas with each other.

Remember: An open exchange means that people should be able not only to put an idea forward -- but also let go of it, if a better one comes along. ~ Stir continuously under low heat, until thick. In the end you will have an engaged béchamel sauce ready to pour on your institutional problems.

Secret Sauce Two: Trust Tomato Ingredient List: Reliable systems, “trust but verify” herbs, and leadership gluten-free blend (one part question, one part “ see the big picture”, and one part integrity) ~ Create a base using reliable systems that have the ability to move work along and minimize frustration.

Add herbs of “trust but verify,” to your reliable system base to ensure issues involving money or liability do not ruin the main dish.

Add: Leadership gluten-free blend ~ Ask the right questions. Often schools get stuck because they are not trying to solve the right problem. ~ Take a bird’s-eye view of the big picture; help different groups within the school community understand how a potential decision might impact different constituencies. This ability to see what is possible by linking together resources, so others could move an idea forward was a common theme among heads of school. ~ Lead with integrity. Sometimes this means admitting when things go wrong. We all make mistakes.

When leaders are able to own their mistakes, members of the community are more likely to have faith in the institution’s ability to right itself when it has moved in the wrong direction. ~ Be sure to taste the sauce as it is cooking. Say no to ideas that are not in-line with the school’s mission or simply not up to the school’s standards. If it doesn’t taste right, send the group back to start again.

Secret Sauce Three: Communication Hollandaise Ingredient List: Data-Driven Research + Emotional Mission-Driven Storytelling ~ Separate data-driven research into easily understandable parts ~ Extract major themes ~ Melt the school’s mission statement in a saucepan ~ Add great storytelling and simmer while whisking together As I conducted my interviews, I noticed that sometimes institutions got the decision right, but ran into trouble when they went to communicate the decision to the wider school population. Although there was plenty of data supporting the decision, this information often got lost or set aside by groups, such as alumni, who were most removed from the decision-making process or heard only emotional elements in what was communicated. This was especially true when people heard about the decision through social media. What I took from these stories was the importance of translating data-driven decisions into emotional stories anchored in the school’s mission. This needs to be done with great purpose and skill. Nuance, reflection, and logical arguments are hard to convey in a Facebook post or Tweet. If a decision will be a controversial one, it must be framed not with the data, but with the thoughtful emotional story that helped people fall in love with the school.

Below is the foundation of these secret sauce recipes: SPICES ~ Select mission-driven people from diverse backgrounds ~ Provide clarity as to their role in the school’s story ~ Include integrity and always lead with it ~ Create a culture that embraces the open exchange of ideas ~ Engage in emotional stories tied to your mission ~ Support people’s growth and they will support the institution Next Steps My hopes are two-fold. First, I would like to test these recipes by developing them into a checklist that I can survey schools with to see if those following these decision-making practices are also performing better on such measures as enrollment and annual giving. Based on this data, I would like to further develop these “recipes” so they could be used as a reliable measure of institutional performance. This work could then be used to help boards and educational leaders during natural reflection points such as an accreditation self-study or the development of a strategic planning process.

Rachel Wellborn, LCSW, is the school counselor at the The Friends School of Atlanta (FSA).

Prior to the Leadership Institute, she engaged in FCE’s SPARC (Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage) program, using Parker Palmer's belief that "we teach who we are" to encourage ongoing reflection by FSA teachers and other school leaders. Participation in SPARC further strengthened her passion and commitment to encourage the growth of every individual to explore the intersection of personal and professional development. Rachel’s social work background firmly anchors her in an empowerment model and facilitates her capacity-building work with individuals, groups, and systems. She quickly found a home in Quaker education where her values align with the Friends’ belief in recognizing the light in every person and helping each to find the right path to their unique goodness. She brings experience in program and policy development, nonviolent communication and mediation, as well as the study and practice of yoga and wellness to her interactions with the children, families, and faculty members at FSA. Rachel is an active member of FSA’s Professional Development Committee and served as the interim Head of Middle School for the 2014-2015 school year.

Rachel Wellborn

School Counselor, The Friends School of Atlanta, Atlanta GA

Building a Sustainable Model for Continuous Learning: A Collaborative Interview About Our Shared Work Rachel Wellborn (RW) interviewed by Friends School of Atlanta colleague and action research partner Alexandra Zinnes (AZ)

AZ: What prompted you to explore goal setting through action research?

RW: Our professional development focus this year is to promote the intersection of growth mindset and Quaker values.

Looking at challenges at FSA through a growth mindset lens and the Quaker value of each person growing into goodness, I wondered how teachers experience setbacks and failure when trying new things in teaching. How well do we “embrace failure” and use it as feedback to build the resilience to progress? I was eager to explore this question.

AZ: So, how DID you figure out how to explore this through action research?

RW: I love “connecting the dots” -- meaning, I enjoy taking different ideas, interests, and concepts and figuring how they relate and how they can be integrated to grow into something new. Building on ideas we piloted within FSA’s PD system, and connecting to our need for evaluation and goal-setting processes, we introduced the idea of implementing a faculty performance feedback and goal-setting system to administration and got strong encouragement. We quickly began to research, borrow, and right-size a model from another Quaker school with established goal-setting and evaluation processes for use at FSA. To take it back to my initial question around failure: how do we model for students a growth mindset? By practicing it.

My hope is that we use our goal-setting process to experience working with setbacks and embracing gifts that are found in failure with the aim of building resilience. This becomes fertile ground to further our growth as individuals -- and as teachers. I was excited to get a front row seat developing and leading the goal-setting pilot!

AZ: So, how did you develop and design your goal setting model?

RW: I’ve worked with organizations to evaluate and improve the quality of programming by developing SMART goals (Specific, Manageable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely), objectives and plans. Therefore, I right-sized the goal-setting process for organizations to create one for individuals. I talked to faculty members, as well as staff at other schools, where goal-setting is part of their system to learn the nuts and bolts of a successful process. Not surprisingly, teachers

want to feel like their goals are relevant, but also are developed around something about which they are passionate. It’s important that goals are challenging, and relevant to growth for BOTH the teacher AND the school. Work-life balance is a great goal, but one we should all constantly be working at -- and not one to focus on in this professional goal-setting process. I found that many schools WANT to have goal-setting processes, but it often gets put to the side because other priorities take precedence. Finally, the need for someone to hold the reigns of the process and provide follow up -- ACCOUNTABILITY-- is key.

AZ: How was it working with teachers for the pilot year? How did you get folks on board?

RW: I framed my request for volunteers on the idea that teachers working on goals and actively engaging in learning new things models what we most want for students. By setting goals, we put HOPE into action and taking those actions grows our goodness. If we believe what Parker Palmer states, “we teach who we are,” then when we actively seek growth, we become better educators. By participating in the pilot, teachers actively shaped the process, giving their feedback throughout.. As for facilitating the process with pilot participants? It was inspiring! I spend most of my time working through problems so it was fun to get to brainstorm, create, and develop goals and learn what teachers are passionate about pursuing. Teachers participated in the pilot for different reasons, came in with different lenses and varied motivations, as well as fears. Working individually with each participant, I learned so much and made strong connections for future work. It was a positive experience for all involved, even those who struggled with parts of their goals or had to rework, make adjustments, or completely revise them! It was all part of the messy process to balance priorities, find time to engage in what you’re passionate about, and getting through tough spots -- as well as experiencing successes.

AZ: What are lessons learned? Anything you would do differently going forward?

RW: Creating meaningful, SMART goals that people WANT to work on is really essential. Choosing goals that work for you and that you’re excited about, really drives the process forward with less chance of derailment. Developing tangible action plans that spell out how/with/what to measure success and deadlines with is tedious, but important in creating a road map.

The two biggest lessons? Accountability and connection are essential. Participants want to connect with each other around goal-work for peer feedback. Several participants expressed interest in connecting with each other online so finding a good online medium is a future task. Finally, it was clear that without someone managing this process, many participants felt their goal-work would fall to the wayside as a result of competing priorities.

AZ: And year two? What are you looking forward to?

RW: We hope there is momentum, infrastructure, and support to fully implement a three-year program for all faculty next year. As we envision it, in the first year, teachers will take part in the observation and feedback process. During the second year, the focus will be on goal-setting , and the third year will be an integration-and-sharing year. Visiting Westtown School in the fall of 2016, I participated in one of their professional development days. I was inspired by faculty developing and leading dynamic discussions with peers around a range of important topics pertinent to life at a Quaker school. I want this collaboration for FSA as well! Our revamped professional development days are primarily led now by FSA faculty, so this 3rd year focus strives to gain greater participation from teachers as our PD model matures. Similar to Westtown, in the third year teachers would lead professional development sessions for colleagues on topics they choose to share and highlight honed skills and passions. I’m excited and hope the energy built this year will allow for the resources and administrative support to grow this professional development focus into a robust system that has the potential to further enhance our dynamic school culture.

I have spent the last eighteen years as an educator in a Quaker school, starting at Carolina Friends School in Durham, NC, as a Middle School teacher. I often tell folks about accepting my job at CFS hardly knowing what a Quaker was, and then realizing that Quaker education was the perfect fit for me! I am committed to forever being a student, so my interests in education are wide. I have spent years examining what it means to be an effective diversity practitioner at an independent school. I decided that for this project I wanted to explore a piece of less familiar territory. When my job expanded to include holding the vision for the institution’s professional development, I knew that I could benefit from learning more about ways to provide for faculty growth using the resources in our own community.

Toni Graves Williamson

Assistant Head of School for Equity and Inclusion, Abington Friends School, Jenkintown PA

Building on Our Strengths Using Professional Learning Communities Background When I spoke with our head of school during my interview process five years ago, I was impressed to hear about the work that Abington Friends School had been doing the two years prior to my arrival. The school had received a grant from the E. E. Ford Foundation and almost thirty teachers were involved in Action Research projects about pedagogy for the multi-racial classroom. Small Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) met monthly. Each person had their own project and worked with an outside consultant, but what most impressed me was that participants were learning from one another and supporting each other for two years in that journey. At that time the school also had four faculty members who had been trained by the National School Reform Faculty to lead Critical Friends Groups® (CFGs). I had just been introduced to CFGs and was excited to join. In my first year, I was part of a CFG that focused on Equity. We met and reviewed teacher feedback on student work, participated in text renderings, and got to know our other group members well. One of the reasons these groups had been so successful was because of the peer-to-peer learning.

The groups also often met during the school day, which made it easier for most teachers to make the time commitment.

My goal for this project was to create more opportunities for peer learning in our community.

Exploration/Learning For this project, I wanted to revive some of the energy around the cohort model. During the course of the next two school years, I created a structure to begin three types of Professional Learning Communities at Abington Friends School.

Critical Friends Groups® On our first in-service day of the 2016-17 school year, I was excited to roll out Critical Friends Groups® again. The idea was that each faculty member would be part of a group that was led by a peer. I asked the faculty members who had CFG training to lead groups that day. In addition, I called on other teachers who had been part of CFG’s before or who had participated in the previous action research groups using the CFG model in their work together. With the help of division directors we examined issues that we thought would be of interest to faculty members. Topics varied and faculty members had the opportunity to sign up for groups prior to the day. I provided resources for teacher facilitators including examples of CFG protocols that might be useful given the topic they chose. I set up individual meetings with each facilitator to answer questions and brainstorm the work that they would be doing with their groups. I also created a packet for each participant that gave more information about the benefits of Professional Learning Communities and more details about how to use Critical Friends Groups® protocols in their practice. Some of the topics our CFGs focused on included: Showcasing Student Work, Healthy Athletic Culture, Self-Care, Playground Supervision, Hiring People of Color, and Experiential Learning.

The goal of the day was to give faculty members the opportunity to review or learn about the power of CFGs in a Professional Learning Community. From there, the idea was to start CFGs that would meet for the next two years.

Faculty members would be able to voluntarily join a group. What I realized in the process, thanks to the faculty members who were trained, is that Critical Friends Groups take more intentional planning. One colleague told me that 75% of the work happened before the group even met. I realized this work was going to take some more time and intentionality. As a result, we are starting a CFG for people who are interested in being trained to lead new groups with the goal of having each of the new leaders trained by the National School Reform Faculty before we create faculty-wide groups.

Courageous Conversations I also have been working to help the Lower School Diversity Coordinator start a PLC using Glenn Singleton’s book Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools. The group is cross-divisional and includes both faculty and staff members. This is more than a book group because Singleton’s work offers practical exercises, tools for supporting discussions about race, as well as checklists and action steps. The group has started meeting and will continue to do so over the next year using the protocols in the book. Participants will take turns leading an exercise each month.

Next Steps Teacher in Review One of my new responsibilities is to assist division directors with formalizing a process for faculty evaluation. After attending the National Association of Independent School’s annual conference and seeing the presentation by Marcus Buckingham, my ideas about this area changed drastically. Buckingham posited that no one really likes evaluations. He suggested that instead of “evaluating” we start to think about “coaching.” I am using this idea to inform the next Professional Learning Community that I plan to introduce at the start of the next school year. Teachers will sign up to spend a year with a small group working on a particular goal that they have for themselves. My role (along with others in the group) will be to assist them in that journey. Buckingham suggests we ask “What are you doing?” and “How Can I Help?” These two statements will be the framework surrounding what we do with each member of the group. The goal is to have a way for teachers to improve their practice. Every teacher’s journey and purpose for signing up will be different. Perhaps it will be to find more professional development in a particular area, perhaps it will be to develop a new unit, or maybe a group member will want regular observations where we focus on a particular aspect of pedagogy.

The idea is that teachers will be using their peers to support each other in their practice and for ongoing learning.

Alexandra Zinnes (Alex) is a graduate of Westtown School, a member of the Atlanta Friends Meeting and since 2007, the 7th and 8th grade World Studies teacher at the Friends School of Atlanta (FSA) a preK-8 school. Following a leading during her participation in FCE’s SPARC (Spirited Practice and Renewed Courage) program, Alex developed FSA’s first Professional Development Committee and as clerk, champions opportunities for growth and learning among FSA’s faculty and staff. Alex also serves as faculty representative to the Board of Trustees.

Alexandra Zinnes

World Studies teacher, Friends School of Atlanta, Atlanta GA

Building a Sustainable Model for Continuous Learning: A Collaborative Interview About Our Shared Work Alexandra Zinnes (Alex) interviewed by Friends School of Atlanta colleague and action research partner, Rachel Wellborn

RW: What are some insights from your role as the Clerk of FSA’s Professional Development Committee that informed your project?

AZ: As the clerk of FSA’s Professional Development Committee, we explored how to build a school culture of lifelong learners that models for our students the importance of self-improvement and continuous growth.

I really believe in Parker Palmer's notion that we "teach who we are" and also that the core of inspired teaching and learning is the relationship between teacher and student. We were curious about the kinds of mechanisms school leadership can put in place to motivate people to become more engaged in their professional development.

Beyond creating meaningful and relevant professional development experiences for FSA, our Committee explored these questions: How exactly do teachers “teach who they are”?

How can we leverage a teacher’s learning to enhance school spirit, school programming, and create memorable learning experiences?

How do we share our growth and learning with others?

RW: What led you to design and implement an observation and feedback protocol?

AZ: Years ago, FSA had a practice of observing teachers in the classroom. A protocol existed, but administrators found it didn’t really serve the needs of the school or the teacher very well because it was hard to articulate clear areas for growth. Without a mechanism for meaningful feedback - both what was working and what needed improvement - no one saw the utility. After some administrative changes, the practice of observing teachers and giving feedback faded.

RW: Did your action research bring new life to a legacy system?

AZ: Yes, and it revived an institutional commitment to the centrality of the teacher-student relationship at the heart of Friends school pedagogy. We also leveraged some institutional energy for our renewed focus because the school’s strategic plan from 2015 called for teacher evaluation. That definitely gave us the mandate to craft and propose our ideas around observation and feedback for faculty and staff.

RW: What are your takeaways for developing and proposing your model for observation and feedback?

AZ: The foundation of our design work was based on the work of Westtown School, itself a distillation of best practices from other schools' models for evaluation and goal setting. That got me thinking about being the resource crunched,

small preK-8, Quaker School that we are: when you cannot lead an effort, be a smart follower. Find someone who has blazed that trail, and ask if you can build upon and personalize their work. It also got me thinking about the role of resources and that preK-12 Quaker Schools can be generous sharers. Quakers speak of right sharing of resources, and it seems to apply here.

RW: What was it like supporting the head of school and elementary and middle school principals with the pilot year?

AZ: Think about the interesting dynamic: here we were proposing a plan that they, our core leadership team, were going to then implement. This was a real endorsement of a ground-up proposal for change and kind of odd. This led me to the recurring question of my project: what are the limits of my power and authority? Sometimes” “managing up” felt satisfying, for instance, when I saw the project move forward. On other days, however, it was frustrating because I was so aware of the positional limitations of my ability to effect change.

I keep thinking about how the work of evaluation and giving feedback is so central to the mission of a school: empowering teachers to offer their best selves in the classroom and beyond. What we are stewarding is nothing less than a major shift in FSA’s professional culture. Culture shifts can be uncomfortable and hard to set and keep in motion. Some days it felt exhilarating: we’re really making progress here! And on other days, I felt like I was shouldering a rock up a hill.

RW: What are your lessons learned about the process?

AZ: One hiccup we had early on was a lack of clarity about the exact mechanics of the year-one pilot program. That led to our administrative team not fully understanding their roles and the flow of actions needed, and as a result, they struggled to communicate about the process and fully support our participants when they felt vulnerable about being observed and given feedback. I take responsibility for that: it was our responsibility to define things more clearly. But that’s what the pilot year is for: working out the bugs before a full roll out.

The process of setting people up for success reminded me about the intersections of teaching and leading. If I haven’t done a great job of articulating expectations for students, guess what? They struggle. It reminded me that the work of leadership teams is to really hone in on providing clear expectations for new programming - especially one that is as personal as being observed - and communicate again and again the vital institutional reasons for the program. And, as in teaching, making it clear, “I’m on your side. I know you can do this.”

RW: What do you hope this work grows into in year two and beyond?

AZ: Most immediately, in the spring of 2017, I’m thinking about the practicalities of the all-school roll out next year. We are calling it a Three-Year Continuous Growth Cycle for Professional Development: in year one, you are working on the goal setting protocol; in the next year you are an observation and feedback participant; and, in the third year, you take the lead in offering a workshop during our professional development days.

I’m wondering how we can best communicate all of this to folks in a way that helps them understand the big picture vision, get excited about the possibilities, and nip negativity in the bud?

My ultimate vision for the program is this: we have a school culture clearly aligned with the value that everyone is continuously improving and sharing what they’ve learned with others. I think the spillover effect for the life of the school is going to be tremendous. I even heard our Board of Trustees talking about using goal-setting for their work as board members!

I can’t wait to see fully engaged teachers in their professional development who are creating exciting lesson plans, building fruitful collaborations with community partners, attending trainings and conferences, obtaining certifications, writing articles, and leading presentations as role models and mentors. It’s a virtual cycle that will uncover and share the unique gifts and light of FSA’s teachers and ultimately lead to a vibrant scholastic culture where continuous growth is part of what it means to be a member of the FSA faculty.

A Tribute to a Leader - Byron Davis

Head of Upper School Germantown Friends School Philadelphia PA

“I am here because of where I came from, the obstacles I have faced, and the plans that didn’t go as planned.

I truly appreciate the cliché that says, ‘Success is a journey, not a destination.’”

Bryon Davis

February 22, 1965 – January 31, 2017

Tributes from Byron’s colleagues in the Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools: • Byron has wisdom and strength of character and an ability to teach from a place of self-knowledge and conviction.

• He has a wonderful way of making you feel important when you are talking to him.

• Byron’s wit and wisdom helped us grow during this experience.

• He has a smart, genuine, straightforward, and realistic approach to leadership and life.

• He is open to learning and growing; he has an ability and willingness to ask good questions.

• Byron is always pleasant, always affirming, collaborative and kind.

• He is willing to share convictions and face challenges and onflicts • Byron is smart, funny, incredibly articulate, and able to cut to the chase.

• Byron does all that he can do to the fullest extent. He is highly self-reflective and collaborative.

• Warm, engaging, self-confident, open.

• Bryon always has a knack for lightening the moment and making us laugh. This is a real gift.

• He really helped us to have a wider perspective of ourselves.

• He is willing to share contradictory and unpopular points of view.

• Byron is very personable, whether it is at Pendle Hill or Iron Hill.

We had the privilege of knowing Byron for one s We are deeply grateful for his friendship, sup

Excerpts from the program for the memorial Meeting for Worship, Written by Byron Davis and adapted by Kai Davis.

Byron Davis was born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 22, 1965. He was a man conceived from the righteous passion and militancy of the Civil Rights Movement. During his childhood water was free, penny candy was actually a penny, and children cursed adults behind their backs instead of to their faces.

By 1983 Byron graduated from high school, which was no small feat considering the turmoil surrounding his neighborhood.

He persevered with unbridled determination. Despite many of the challenges of his youth, his mother, Trulee Davis made sure he never saw himself as a victim. She taught him the importance of education as a vehicle to escape poverty and ignorance. She also made sure that he knew failure is impossible in the presence of persistence and creative thinking.

Byron has always had eclectic interests, from hip-hop and poetry, to education and social justice. He regularly set high goals for himself, which he pursued relentlessly and patiently. And regardless of whether he achieved those goals, he valued every experience, passing on all the lessons he learned to loved ones and strangers alike. It is that wisdom, that strength, and unique personality that allows him to command any and every room.

He met his wife, Erin in New Orleans at Loyola University. When they first met, he was received with some eye-rolls, but Byron being Byron used that persistence and creative thinking to win her heart. They were married 27 years and together 32. Together they have two daughters, Asha and Kai, of whom he is incredibly proud. The love Byron feels for his wife and daughters is so palpable it resonates throughout their home.

He has a way of filling a room with love and laughter that goes unmatched.

For those who know Byron, it isn’t a surprise that he put himself through college doing stand-up comedy. His humor served him well in the classroom, the boardroom, and the barbershop.

Byron also worked as a museum curator at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, creating photographic exhibitions, which focused on the Civil Rights Movement and other aspects of the African-American cultural aesthetic.

After doing political consulting and community work for several years, He ran for State Representative for the 198th District in Pennsylvania in 2008. While he did not win the election, his campaigning and fundraising made a lasting impact on the city of Philadelphia.

After working at Germantown Friends School for over 20 years, Byron was made Head of Upper School in 2015. During his time there, he made special effort to mentor black and brown students and many have grown up seeing him as a beloved father figure. He was always fighting to educate the uneducated, protect the unprotected, and love the unloved.

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April 2017 www.friendscouncil.org