Intrepid: The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly Magazine

Intrepid

OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Challenging and reimagining everything we do to improve our students’ learning experiences.

BLM Feature Articles: Survey of 129 Schools Supplement Feature: What’s Missing from School Responses to Black Students & Alums. on Admissions 2021 ... Page 21 What’s Missing from School Responses to Black Students & Alums

By Sanje Ratnavale Page 15

"Wake up" ­— "This is America"

By Dennis Bisgaard Page 19

Inside this Issue ...

Guest Editorials in Admissions Survey Report Faculty Strengths / Remote Success

By John Drew, Head of School, The White Mountain School (NH) Page 5 Page 5 www.oesisgroup.com

The Future of Schools, By Sue Sadler, Head of School, The Bryn Mawr School (MD)...................................... 24 Show Don't Tell, By Nanci Kauffman, Head of School, Castilleja School (CA).......................................25 © OESIS Network, Inc. 1

I N T R E P I D TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S , S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 Editorial: An Ode to Disruptive Change, By Joel Backon, Vice President, OESIS Network... 3 Faculty Strengths / Remote Success, By John Drew, Head of School, The White Mountain School (NH)......................................................................................................... 5 The Loss of Summer, By Bob Shaw Ed.D., JK-12 Science Department Chair, Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MO) and Scott Osborne Ed.D., Fifth Grade Teacher, Meramec Elementary, Clayton School District (MO)..............................................................................................8 Let's Return to Campus, but Not Back to "Normal," By Timothy Quinn, Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty, Miss Porter’s School (CT)........................................................................11

BLM Feature Article: What’s Missing from School Responses to Black Students & Alums, By Sanje Ratnavale, President, OESIS Network, Inc. (CA)....... 15 BLM Feature Article: "Wake Up" — "This is America," By Dennis Bisgaard, Head of School, Whittle School & Studios (DC)................................................................. 19 OESIS Research Supplement on Admissions Process for 2021: Survey of 129 Schools.21 Guest Editorial: The Future of Schools, By Sue Sadler, Head of School, The Bryn Mawr School (MD) .............................................................................................................................................. 24 Guest Editorial: Show Don't Tell — Teachers Make Excellence Visible in the Admissions Process, By Nanci Kauffman, Head of School, Castilleja School (CA).25

The Year of Implementation and Practice, By Lindley Schutz, Dean of Academic Program, The Derryfield School (NH)...................................................................................................................28 Education’s Trojan Horse: The Virus That Broke The Classroom, By Aria Saines, student, Punahou School (HI).................................................................................................................30 Reinventing School Amid COVID-19, By Trevor Shaw, Director of Technology. DwightEnglewood School (NJ), and President, Genesis Learning ..................................................................33 Pedagogical Recalibration or Innovation?, By Tom Daccord, an international education technology consultant and co-founder, EdTechTeacher ..................................................................... 37 2

Intrepid

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Editorial Corner

An Ode to Disruptive Change

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he Summer 2020 issue of Intrepid is the first of the COVID era. It has been an unexpected and unusual year for most, but for our schools, COVID brought a level of disruption that created a potential reckoning. That reckoning was handled in a variety of ways, ranging from a major adjustment for a few months to a longer-term shift to maximizing student and adult safety to the first stage of a larger transformation welcoming the next independent school reformation. Some schools are slowly embracing the notion that there is no turning back. The act of providing an elite traditional education, one that thrives and demands compensation through tuition in return for selectivity, dedication, Joel Backon and community building has been challenged by a virus. The irony of the virus Vice President image is not lost on our readers. It practices a form of equity as no human being: OESIS Network every human target has equal standing, is equally vulnerable, and shares the same risk of serious illness or death. Yea that we could practice equity in the same way by transforming how we deliver education. Our feature stories argue, in the timely context of #blacklivesmatter, that it is time to do so.

More than anything else, the virus has replaced close contact, safety, and connection with distance and uneasiness. Every independent school has to redefine value in a way that does not require close contact but continues to grow the notions of safety and connection without devaluing the student experience. Families that purchased an education that was far more comprehensive than time spent in the classroom are now deciding whether your school can still babysit and develop their younger children and educate their older children as successful, employed members of an advanced society. With virtually every element of social mores adjusted by the virus, it would be foolhardy to think that independent schools could simply return to their former persona and continue to thrive. Only in the imaginations of novelists will our schools right their course without sustainable transformation. COVID is not something that will pass. While this virus may leave us at some point in the future, another will replace it or mutate. Other key elements of our culture and economy are being transformed. Harken back to 9/11, a great tragedy that left us with far fewer casualties. Remember that most of the changes implemented as a result of that fateful day are still in place 19 years later.

As you’ll read in the excellent articles that follow, COVID education is the ultimate tension between preserving what made your school great and providing a new education that will result in student success without some of the practices on which we have come to depend. Those who yearn for a return to “normalcy” are planning complex adjustments for September that are designed to be temporary. Consider the inefficiencies of labor and brainpower expended to implement a shortterm solution. Other schools view their preparations for September as a window of opportunity for sustainable change, a mindset shift in how we think about student learning, the indispensable role of the teacher, and the broader educational goals that define value for the independent school of the future. Never before has Carpe Diem meant more to us.

Finally, the early summer has brought to us another kind of pandemic; not a second wave, but an angry cry for racial equity that demands elimination of the institutional racism that has been the www.oesisgroup.com

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INTREPID Editorial Corner darkest portion of our country’s democratic foundation. Scanning the New York Times bestseller list in late June, one will find that nine of the top ten books are about race. Led by Robin DiAngelo’s classic work, there is a clear message that Whites in this country should finally confront their whiteness as a race like every other, but a privileged race. In doing so, there will be an admission of both guilt and empathy that is essential to changing the attitudes and subsequent behaviors of many in our schools. As our feature stories state unequivocally, written policies and other institutional supports fall way short of the kinds of action and results that will be required to forge any kind of true progress with racial equity. It is incumbent upon each and every independent school to hold themselves to a higher standard and to expect such standards from those organizations that support the independent school space.

Most of the articles for this summer issue of Intrepid were submitted prior to the #blacklivesmatter protests. They are focused on how schools responded to the COVID-19 virus. We also have our first article from a student, letting us know that, deep down, the kids recognize a need for change as well. To answer her call for change, the fall issue will be dedicated to a timely area of innovative action and outcome-based programs: addressing all aspects of student equity, ranging from race to gender identification to student disabilities. We will see in the next few months that our traditional approaches to teaching and learning reinforced, overtly and quietly, the principles of privilege and inequity.

Enjoy the summer issue!

Joel Backon Editor-in-Chief Intrepid

Intrepid is published quarterly by OESIS Network, Inc. Subscriptions are included in OESIS Silver, Gold and Platinum memberships.

Address submissions to: intrepid@oesisgroup.com

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The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Faculty Strengths, Remote Success

By John Drew Head of School The White Mountain School (NH)

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am indebted to the White Mountain School faculty who did a remarkable job of caring for students while advancing their education during the final two months of emergency remote learning. So how did they do it? Were there recognizable keys to their success? Since each school is unique, there is no magic formula to share. I will propose a few characteristics that I believe enhanced our success in offering remote learning effectively this spring and set us up to continue to improve the education we offer students moving forward.

Making good use of a single week of preparation speaks to a willingness to get on board quickly. Several skilled administrators and teachers pulled together an intense immersion into remote learning. A key piece of this training was that we engaged with teachers in the way that they would be engaging their students, and asked for constant feedback so that we co-constructed the experience with our faculty. While at that point we could have been in-person, we chose to conduct all of the sessions in a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning, all

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virtual. We learned from each other; and learned by doing.

I got a first sense of the adaptability and resilience of this group at the beginning of this school year. I am new to the school and wanted to join the long-standing tradition of Orientation trips for all students. The morning after arriving on campus for the new year, everyone packs up and hits the road for a three-day outdoor adventure. The weather that morning was in the low 50’s, windy and raining as we loaded up vans and buses. Adult tone and body language, which I assumed might be at least variable, was almost uniformly upbeat. Students, some of whom had not spent much time outdoors, looked at these eager adults, shrugged, and got in the vehicles. Lesson one—this group’s culture, in keeping with our enduring engagement with the outdoors, embraces the need to adapt.

As has been documented everywhere, adapting to remote learning required a shift to more technology use. It would have been very difficult if a significant cohort of our faculty © OESIS Network, Inc. 5

Fa c u lt y S t r e n t h s , R e m o t e A c c e s s

were unwilling or unable to engage effectively with the streamlined list of tech tools that we identified. I have never been a fan of fads, or the “next shiny thing” approach to educational innovation, particularly with regard to technology. So I appreciate teachers who possess a healthy skepticism about a major change. Yet healthy skepticism is different than wearing tech ignorance as a badge of honor. Happily, our faculty was open (even if not always thrilled), to expand their academic technology toolkit. Lesson two — this group embraces technology not as the point of education but as a very useful tool.

A balance between interest in the craft of teaching and devotion to one’s discipline is another dimension that seems important here.

This idea tracks closely with an interest in putting students at the center of learning and helping them discover their own interests as opposed to delivering to them what adults identify as important. Approaching this work with humility helps. One of the most crucial 21st-century skills required at this moment is a belief in being a lifelong learner not just about one’s subject matter, but about the craft of teaching. Lesson three— open-mindedness and curiosity about other ways of teaching is key.

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I’m reminded of my son’s soccer club’s Irish coaches. One of the highest compliments they gave to players was saying they “get on with it.”

That phrase puzzled me until I realized they meant that they respected players who would show up and work hard, trusting the coaches to guide them. That’s a virtue worth highlighting: ­­you need a group who will “get on with it.”

The circumstances this semester have been remarkably challenging, and I am particularly grateful for the leap of faith our faculty took in trusting school leadership (particularly a new head of school they did not yet know well).

Lesson four—persistence paired with trust is powerful.

An important question, of course, is what the “it” is in “get on with it.” White Mountain’s remote learning goals align with our long-term goals, centering education on student-driven inquiry. Despite COVID, we went ahead with our first Inquiry Summit, which replaced traditional exams this semester. Students created digital portfolios that described their growth as a learner this year or semester. They then presented these portfolios to peers and faculty.

However disrupted their semester had been, a remarkable number of students were able to reflect productively on their learning and to

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Fa c u lt y S t r e n t h s , r e m o t e a c c e s s curate strong portfolios while at home. The roots of the Summit are fairly deep at White Mountain, but this event did represent a very different way of completing the year. In a season of so much change, we leaned into an event that had been planned, but was new to us, to great effect.

So we complete this extraordinarily challenging semester with a sense of exhaustion, but also accomplishment. While the pace of change required of schools at this moment is significant, I have confidence that our faculty will meet future challenges well because of their willingness to engage with the problems at hand, and to model the qualities our School

mission hopes to inspire: curiosity, courage and compassion. We’re focusing on supporting our BIPOC students and employees, adding a SocialEmotional Learning program, and creating layers of support to adults and students alike to prepare for whatever the future holds. We’re refining an approach to education that works for students even under trying circumstances and will serve their needs as life-long learners. Thanks to a strong team of adults. ________________________________

John Drew, Head of School, The White Mountain School (NH)

This article was written by John Drew

John Drew Head of School The White Mountain School (NH)

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A career-long environmental science teacher and track coach, John Drew came to White Mountain in July 2019 after a 21-year career at Concord Academy (MA). At Concord, John served in several capacities, including as assistant head, a science teacher, a coach for cross country and girls’ varsity basketball, and a house faculty member. Prior to working at Concord Academy, John served as a health educator and coach of cross country and track and field at Penn State Behrend. Before that, he taught and coached at the Potomac School (VA), where he directed the summer academic program and served as a founding advisor for the school’s first multicultural affinity group. He began his teaching career in 1985 at the Field School in Washington, D.C., where he worked with the science department to offer one of D.C.’s first high school HIV/AIDS education programs.

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The Loss of Summer By Bob Shaw Ed.D. JK-12 Science Department Chair Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MO) Scott Osborne Ed.D. Fifth Grade Teacher Meramec Elementary, Clayton School District (MO)

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ach school year, many students return to school, knowing less about the content they learned than when dismissed for summer break. Student achievement scores decline an average of one month due to the decline during the summer. Circumstances will change this summer.

Summer learning loss (SLL), also termed summer learning effect, summer setback, summer brain drain, and more commonly termed, summer-slide, all describe the decline or stalling of academic achievement between school years, typically between the spring and fall terms in the American school systems.

To fully understand the problem, one must first understand that breaking up the school year to take summers out of school was not an agrarian model (von Hippel, 2019). In the early 1900’s New York City School administrators agreed upon a common calendar for schooling, reducing the attendance days from 248 to around 200. This plan allowed students to escape the

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non-air conditioned classrooms and travel with their families to the cooler countryside while the teachers prepared lessons and continued professional development. Sarah Pitcock of the National Summer Learning Association identifies “after more than 100 years of research on the academic setbacks related to students [varying lengths of summer break], and newer research on the employment and health implications of this disparity, it is clear that the summer slide is everyone’s problem” (Pitcock, 2015). David Von Drehle, in a 2010 article in Time Magazine, points to the barriers of economic cost and culture of tradition. “Adding days and weeks to the academic calendar are costly, and families want their children to have the carefree summers they had.” Schools are seeking a way to add academic time with minimal cost while allowing student mobility to visit grandparents, travel with families, or even have extended trips and camps. It is a strong preference to costly summer school or extending the current school year.

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Summer 2020

The Loss of Summer Many schools review materials covered in the previous year for the first two months of school (Dunbar, 2018). This reteaching period immediately reduces the learning potential by 20% every school year. As a result, by the time students reach sixth grade, they have spent almost a full year reviewing material taught earlier in their academic life. This review can hold strong students back while others catch up. Dunbar states that some struggling students may take five months to catch up, reducing their learning potential by 50%. Summer interventions have the potential to mitigate not only SLL but also reduce persistent achievement gaps (Kim & Quinn, 2013). Even worse, the SLL gap is cumulative. Donohue and Miller’s study went as far as to say: “as much as two-thirds of the differences among students in rates of participation in academic tracks in high school, dropping out of school, and completion of four years of college could be traced back to summer learning loss that occurred during elementary school.”

(2008, p. 19)

Entwisle’s faucet theory describes the school year as a period where learning is occurring because the “faucet” is running and summer as a period where learning is not occurring because the “faucet” is turned off (Entwisle et al., 2014).

Interventions are needed to keep the “faucet” running for students during that summer period through an interactive web of real-world lessons intentionally targeting knowledge and skills learned the previous year. Also, Lave’s Situated Learning Theory connects the idea that learning is not prescribed but is a natural outcome of challenging experiences and embedded within an activity or context (Lave, 2016). Programs that focus on novel scenarios and exploration through problem-based learning can provide students with summer experiences with an academic purpose without the overprescribed feeling of the school.

The use of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and home computers continues to grow among students in this age group. In 2018, the National Center for Educational Statistics (2019) reported that 89.9% of Missouri households have a computer or smartphone, and 83.9% of households are connected to the internet. This

Figure 5

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The Loss of Summer data shows an increase of 1.5% of homes with a computer or smartphone and a 4% increase in households connected to the internet in one year. Students are already spending more time on electronic devices during summer break, so guiding screen time is essential (Kraft & MontiNussbaum, 2017).

Our study replaced the ‘summer math packet’ with optional weekly online math and science review lessons to rising sixth-graders in two midwestern schools over the 10-week summer break in 2019. Students received both automated feedback from the online environment and teacher feedback in response to student questions or provided information students needed to acquire mastery. Students also had the opportunity to revise and edit their work.

The online learning platform, Formative, allowed multi-media lesson delivery, individualized realtime feedback, tracking tools, which summer reading and packets did provide, and all students needed was access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer throughout the summer.

A test group, summer computer-based intervention group (SCBI), and a control group, completed a spring semester pre-assessment and a fall semester post-assessment to measure

the change in math and science knowledge over the summer. Scores on an identical pre- and post-assessment were compared to measure the retention of skills from the fifth-grade spring semester to the beginning of the sixth-grade fall semester. The successful performance of the SCBI group on the post-assessment was statistically significant when compared to the control group. The data suggests that the more lessons students completed in the summer, the higher their achievement in the fall (Figure 5). With the onset of the remote learning environment, perhaps a systematic approach reviewing academic topics can give our students a way to make lemonade this summer while social distancing. __________________________________ More information regarding this study is available upon request.

Scott Osborne Ed.D. Fifth Grade Teacher Meramec Elementary, Clayton School District (MO) Bob Shaw Ed.D. JK-12 Science Department Chair Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MO)

This article was written by Bob Shaw and Scott Osborne Bob Shaw is a veteran science educator whose passion is to engage youth and adults in science and outdoor education. Shaw serves as Chair of the Pre-K through grade 12 Science Department at Mary Institute Country Day School (MICDS). His mantra of Seek, Discover, Share and Reflect has turned students into agents of science in their daily lives. Bob continues to teach two sections of science at MICDS. Scott Osborne is a veteran fifth grade teacher at Meramec Elementary School in Clayton, MO. Scott is an innovative educator that guides curriculum and summer school programs, and specializes in math education.

Bob and Scott recently completed a joint doctoral research dissertation: Using Online Interventions to Address Summer Learning Loss in Rising Sixth Graders as part of a STEM Education Enhancement program in May 2020. They have set up Summer Computer Based Intervention programs focused on Math and Science at several schools and written several articles based on this research.

Bob Shaw Ed.D.

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Let’s Return to Campus, but Not Back to “Normal”

By Timothy Quinn, Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty, Miss Porter’s School (CT)

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his past October I gave a speech at the OESIS Conference in Boston entitled “Working through the Mess: School Change for Sustainability and Salvation.” Admittedly I worried that my suggestion that independent schools faced existential threats from which they needed to save themselves might sound a bit hyperbolic and overblown. Wasn’t I catastrophizing a bit? After all, people have been predicting disruption for a long time, and, even in the face of continually rising tuitions and technological advancements that have transformed almost every other industry, the disruption has yet to occur. Everything will be fine.

Well, now it has happened. And it happened sooner and more abruptly than anyone anticipated. Concerns about sounding hyperbolic and worries that maybe Miss Porter’s, where I work, was changing too quickly have dissipated.

Instead, I now regret that we didn’t move faster to adapt and prepare for the inevitable: a situation in which 1) independent schools are forced to operate differently causing prospective students and families to further question our value and 2) the problems with our operational models, both programmatic and financial, are exacerbated to the point where schools will have to question whether or not they can reopen.

While I am sure many schools now wish they had been more prepared, it is clear that schools already on the path to innovation have been able to adjust more successfully to the current challenges. Thus, as a strategy for moving forward in an attempt not only to survive this

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disruption, but to thrive beyond it, it is worth looking at practices and collective mindsets that seem to have helped schools in navigating the COVID-19 disruption.

A willingness to think creatively about time and space If your school’s schedule was flexible and allowed for adjustment and repurposing of time, focusing on learning outcomes as opposed to “seat time” in class, then you have been able to think more broadly about how learning might occur with a schedule that has been adjusted for remote learning. If you are used to having students outside of the classroom both to provide them with experiences in the world beyond the walls of the school and to support those who cannot be at school, then in many ways having students out in the world has provided, not limitations, but possibilities for exploration (even while in quarantine).

A willingness to experiment with program and iterate based on feedback If your school has recently launched major programming initiatives that have asked students and faculty to “do school differently,” rather than a disruption of the “one right way to do school,” what is happening now is simply another way to try things — not necessarily better or worse, but different. And if you have solicited feedback on those initiatives and used that feedback to improve them, you’re doing the same now and things are getting better as you move forward. © OESIS Network, Inc. 11

L e t ’ s R e t u r n t o C a m p u s , b u t N o t B a c k t o “ N o r m a l” A focus on interdisciplinary, experiential, and project/problembased education These three forward-thinking pedagogical strategies respectively ask students 1) to see how disciplines of study are interconnected (much as we see with any discussion of the pandemic), 2) to connect their experiences to their learning, or better yet, to learn from their experiences, and 3) to complete an extended project based on an authentic problem through sustained independent work outside of class. Compared to a more traditional model in which one “learns” in class, studies what was “learned” out of class, and then are assessed in class, these alternative methods of learning are much more conducive to a remote learning model.

A student-centered approach to curriculum marked by student-choice, self-pacing, and individualized feedback Ultimately, this is about student agency and individualization of instruction. We want students to develop independence and we know that their skills will progress better with individualized attention and feedback. A remote learning environment allows the potential to even better leverage opportunities for both of these through the design of individualized pathways through asynchronous learning modules and the ability to increase 1:1 support during the asynchronous time.

Emphasis on authentic assessment A foolproof way to avoid issues of academic integrity has always been to create assessments that students can’t cheat on. That’s certainly not the only reason to do it — and, in fact, might be the least important — but those already implementing these practices were far more ready for the move to remote learning than those who relied solely on in-class quizzes and tests for their assessment data.

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A mastery approach to learning, assessment, feedback, and grading Many schools have abandoned the graded evaluation of student work this spring. In some cases, that has been for good reason, but unfortunately, what this means for many is a lack of feedback and no ability to know where they stand and how prepared they are for next year.

Schools already moving to a mastery approach to evaluation — one that gives students multiple opportunities to show what they can do and that honors a student’s best performance rather than averages performances — were able to continue assessing, giving feedback, and ultimately grading. In these cases the grade does not penalize students for circumstances beyond their control; it is simply a report of where a student is relative to a standard, which is important information to be transparent about.

A competency-based framework Expanding on the point above, if students are evaluated mainly on core competencies, and that evaluation continues to change over time, then the end of the year report card is not actually the end, but just an indicator on the student’s journey toward growth. Additionally, if a curriculum is based on the development of competencies, not the completion of classes as measured by “seat time,” then any disruption is all the more easily handled. You don’t need to worry so much about students finishing a class; rather, they just continue on their journey, and any experience — a class assignment or a random activity undertaken during quarantine — can all serve as evidence of learning and growth.

A mindset of innovation, creativity, and flexibility on the part of the faculty This more than anything is likely to have served schools well in adapting to remote learning. Faculty members believing there is only one right way to teach and learn threw up their hands, phoned it in, and students lost out. This

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L e t ’ s R e t u r n t o C a m p u s , b u t N o t B a c k t o “ N o r m a l” likely happened more at the university level (where the instructors don’t necessarily think of themselves as teachers anyway), but I can imagine it happening anywhere. Those who viewed this as one more obstacle that they could overcome through creativity and flexibility and who were used to trying new things, figured out how to make learning happen.

All of the strategies and mindsets outlined above lead to a richer and more meaningful educational experience, and they also allow a school to be more flexible and adapt more easily to disruption. They prepare students better for an uncertain future and they do the same for schools. All of the above will continue to help schools as they navigate the future both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The ideal, of course, is to combine them with all of the benefits of in-person education, many of which are sorely missed right now So, when I hear people talking about returning to normal, I cringe a bit and have to ask what they mean by “normal.” If normal means being back on campus and taking advantage of the benefits of in-person teaching and learning, not to mention shoring up revenue streams, then I am all for it. However, if it means the traditional frameworks and practices of the school-as-factory model, then I have to disagree. Schools already on the path of progressive innovation need to continue, taking what they’ve learned from this experiment and moving forward even more quickly. Schools who struggled to adjust because of out-moded practices and rigid thinking need to get on board or, frankly, risk losing relevance and possibly even their existence. www.oesisgroup.com

Don’t get me wrong, I am eager to get back to face-to-face learning — remote learning will never be a completely adequate substitute, and if I end up being wrong about that, it will mean we have lost an important element of what it at one point meant to be human — but that does not mean we don’t have a lot to learn from it that we can bring back with us when we are finally able to come back.

Let’s continue to think not in terms of class and homework, doing and assigning the same things in perpetual rotation. Let’s realize that we have synchronous and asynchronous time: we can have time when the whole class is together when there are small groups, when there is 1:1 support, and when people are alone. These don’t have to happen at one particular time and, in each case, we should choose activities that best fit the particular format.

Let’s remember that learning can happen — yes it’s possible — when the teacher is not present!

Let’s realize that not every course needs to have the same amount of “class time” and not all courses need to be the exact same length in © OESIS Network, Inc. 13

L e t ’ s R e t u r n t o C a m p u s , b u t N o t B a c k t o “ N o r m a l” terms of duration of class time and term. Let’s give teachers more freedom in how they set up the time, and let's create schedules and calendars that support that.

Let’s truly acknowledge that students learn better at different times and at different paces, and while we need opportunities for students to work together on and discuss the same thing, we also need to set up individualized pathways and provide opportunities for self-pacing.

Let’s continue to be creative with assessment and not rely so heavily on quizzes and tests, especially not as culminating assessments. We worked hard to figure out innovative ways for students to share their learning with others, so let’s keep that up.

Finally, I hope in many ways we realized that great teaching is great teaching, and the true essentials do not change. Great teaching is certainly not about classroom lectures and quizzes; it's about providing inspiration, it’s about forging relationships, and it’s about being a rolemodel. Lots of circumstances can make these things harder or easier to accomplish, but great teachers find a way to get them done regardless!

And because in my role I straddle the divide between an internal focus on teaching and learning and an external focus on institutional strength and sustainability, I need to add that while we have to get this right for the students, we also can’t afford to get it wrong for our institutions. More than ever, prospective families will question our value, and they should. We cannot be just expensive clubs that have been doing the same things for decades; we need to be cutting-edge organizations that adapt to and prepare students to solve the problems of the future. And better yet, our innovation may allow us to come up with ways to increase access to what we offer, strengthening our business model while also helping us to become forces for equity in the world, rather than organizations that perpetuate exclusivity. Through this work we not only serve the needs of the students and strengthen our institutions, but we do more to help make a better world.

Let’s get through this, but let’s not go back to a place where we have the very same problems when the next disruption comes. It will come, but we can be ready.

This article was written by Tim Quinn Tim Quinn is the Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, CT, where he also teaches English and philosophy, coaches lacrosse, and serves as an advisor. Quinn, an independent school graduate attended Westminster School (CT) before going on to earn his B.A. from Amherst College and Ed.M from Harvard University. Quinn has taught at a range of independent schools in the U.S. and abroad, including Avon Old Farms (CT), Seoul International School (Korea), and Westminster School (CT). Before coming to Miss Porter's he served as the Assistant Head of Upper School at the University School of Milwaukee (WI) and Tim Quinn as the Head of Upper School at the Tatnall School (DE). Quinn is Chief Academic Officer the author of the 2013 book On Grades and Grading: Supporting and Dean of Faculty Student Learning through a more Transparent and Purposeful Miss Porter's School (CT) Use of Grades, and has published articles in a number of prominent educational journals, such as Kappan Magazine, Independent School Magazine, and The English Journal. This coming summer, Quinn will begin his Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

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OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

What’s Missing from Independent School Responses to our Black Students and Alums

By Sanje Ratnavale, President, OESIS Network, Inc.

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sk a recent graduate of an independent school what they are good at when they leave, and how they know? They will likely respond that they were good at this subject or content area and received good grades. But what about those personal attributes often touted in a school’s portrait of a graduate, mission statements, and admission brochures?

Compassionate? Culturally Competent? A Critical Thinker? You know the ones that are assumed www.oesisgroup.com

to be part of the culture and community, and the ones that the Ms. XYZ, founder of said school, embraced and celebrated. The recent Black Lives Matter protests have exposed awful experiences of black students at independent schools, and should be a reminder for educators that nothing can be assumed when we are dealing with developing minds. (continued on next page) © OESIS Network, Inc. 15

OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

W h at ' s M i s s i n g ?

I have been reading the responses of schools to the Instagram and Facebook shaming by black alums and current students (for the racist experiences they have had at their independent schools), and there is one key word missing from administrators: lots of mentions of reexamining and improving policies, procedures, admissions, financial aid, curriculum, training, student support, college advising, and hiring.

Not one mention of assessment. Not one mention of competency-based assessment.

Independent schools are known for devising strategies that allow themselves to appear as if they are embracing something, but not holding themselves accountable: examples include joining one of the many consortia or coalitions that represent “excellence by association” or by adding an elective or advisory discussion or assembly speaker or a club, and of course, the easiest avenue of all, attending a Conference for People of Color on Diversity or Racism.

If real change is to come to schools, then not just curriculum and co-curriculum have to be targeted, but students need to understand that competencies are assessed and appear on a transcript and a list of graduation requirements.

Cognitive and non-cognitive competencies can, in our view, be assessed.

Anabel Jensen, Founder of the EQ/SEL non-profit network, Six Seconds, long-time independent school educator, and current Board Chair, puts it this way: “We get what we measure. This was the reason for creating assessment tools for social/ emotional learning competencies. If we are going to grow our emotional intelligence, we need to know the baseline.”

It takes ownership to get there and it does not mean that you proceed immediately to the extremes, such as eliminating all traditional grading, as some approaches advocate. If a school is dedicated to a set of competencies, then teachers can map opportunities across their sequences where students have an opportunity to display their skills and be assessed on their level of mastery or competency using well-designed 16 Intrepid

rubrics. The sum total of these opportunities can build towards a set of competencies that accumulate on a transcript along with more traditional requirements. The example on the next page is exactly one such approach by the Great School Partnership, which leads a league of innovative public schools in New England.

To get there, a school has to go through a oneto three-year process that some OESIS schools have been or are currently doing: mapping their high-level portrait of a graduate aspirations into key competencies. These competencies become assessable through performance indicators; they need to be understandable to adults and kids, they must be faithful to the challenges such as the equity issues we face, they must be transferable and inter-disciplinary, and they must touch every area of student learning and interaction from classes to sports to co-curriculars.

Roxanne Stansbury, Head of School, Alexander Dawson School (NV), an OESIS member school pursuing competency-based learning, put it this way: "Now more than ever, competencies are essential and can serve as the foundation for anti-bias/anti-racist education. It is time for schools to move past reliance on the diversity statement and live the words they profess by equipping students with the tools needed to enter into conversations about change. Consistent modeling and accountability of competencies are the key to modern learning."

The second sine qua non is true assessment of professional development by holding teachers accountable and establishing a measurable level of consistency and buy-in across the faculty base.

Professional development at independent schools has been a loose, do-what-you-think-you-need approach; for years the standards for professional development have gravitated to the lowest possible bar, a checklist, not helped by the everlowered bar of accreditation. As we reported a few months back, this low accreditation standard on PD has led some schools to discover during COVID-19 when they most needed project-based learning, that they were really doing summative

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OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

W h at ' s M i s s i n g ?

These Cross-Curricular Skills will have hyperlinks over time. Colleges or feeder schools will by clicking see further evidence and a breakdown of how the requirements are met. www.oesisgroup.com

Š OESIS Network, Inc. 17

OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

W h at ' s M i s s i n g ? projects (that helped little with asynchronous delivery).Now we realize that whatever we thought we were doing in terms of providing an inclusive and culturally embracing environment, was far from reality. If schools are to take the demands of black students seriously, they should abandon patting themselves on the back for toothless standards of accreditation they do every 6-10 years.

For independent schools to survive and address the challenges ahead, we need to

abandon crutches of excellence. We are not excellent “by association” nor “by accreditation” nor “by consortium membership”. We are excellent by how we hold our faculty and our students accountable, and the outcomes we can demonstrate, rather than the inputs we tout.

What could be a better priority for the August in-service than starting to transform your Portrait of a Graduate into outcomes you measure? We can help.

Go to Great Schools Partnership website for more information.

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OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

"Wake Up" – "This is America!"

By Dennis Bisgaard, Head of School, Whittle School & Studios (DC Campus), Former Head of Kingswood Oxford School (CT) and former NAIS Board Member

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or the past month I have been fascinated by what oddly may be the perfect storm needed for the transformational change advocated by so many of us. I know I will never forget Whittle School & Studios’ 2019-2020 school year, our inaugural year as a newcomer on the Washington DC landscape, trying our very best to become a uniquely modern, global, and different kind of school, not tied to any tradition, history, existing norms, or systems. We were in the envious space many educators dream of: to imagine, build, and co-create from scratch our notion of a perfect learning environment for the unique needs of every student. Today, it feels like we are all now newcomers to a world of education forced to evolve or perish.

Last August, The New York Times’ 1619 Project emerged, with great acclaim, to reframe our country’s history commemorating and re-examining 400 years of slavery in the US. Cyclones, typhoons, tornadoes, and wildfires followed, and then…the Global COVID-19 Pandemic; shelter in place, no college, no March Madness or professional sports, no concerts or large gatherings, a nation deeply, politically divided, and no school – just stay at home and deal! And you will have a lot of time to think and reflect.

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And then George Floyd! Enter the latest death of an unarmed black man at the hands and knees of police officers. Pent-up and trapped anger, restlessness, frustration, fear, and “enough is enough” erupted. Shelter in place, masks or none, people spilled into the streets everywhere, in the US and across the globe in massive Black Lives Matter protests. The movement that came to life in 2013 after Trayvon Martin’s death and subsequent acquittal of his murderer was reborn with new energy.

That energy feels so very different – the diversity and youth of the crowds, the global outcry in initially surprising places, the consistency and seeming permanence and energy around fighting injustice, discrimination, senseless brutality, and political turmoil. And alumni of color of our many institutions have “suddenly” taken to offer truths, hurts, slights, stories, and insensitivity to their very alma maters via Instagram, Twitter and other social media.

In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing from 1989, the black character Radio Raheem at the end of the movie is killed by police officers. In Lee’s movie School Daze from the year before, the final scene is the loud screaming of “Wake Up!” © OESIS Network, Inc. 19

OESIS Black Lives Matter Feature Article

" Wa k e U p " ­­— " T h i s i s A m e r i c a ! ­" Protesters in the streets and our alumni of color in #BlackatSchoolX are telling us to Wake Up. If our country is to thrive again, we must commit to start anew. Our schools must become the fertile grounds that allow our students, students from any background, their full potential, the skills and tools they need to succeed, and on equal footing.

It is time for our schools to listen closely, to embrace the feedback, to learn, to commit to the work and provide a more robust experience for all of our students, an experience where they feel part of the very fabric of the school, where they matter and belong. Institutional racism, white privilege, and anti-racist training need to be examined closely, and students need to see themselves reflected in what and how we teach and assess, and by whom.

In 2005 I wrote an article in NAIS’ Independent School Magazine, “Diversity 20 Years From Now: Do We Have 2020 Vision?” and in 2015 I wrote a piece for The Head’s Letter, “A Call to Action for Heads of School.” The irony is I

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could have written both pieces yesterday because relatively little has changed and some of the same arguments can easily be made today. I am an eternal optimist, and I sense something critically important is brewing right now. The question is whether we will receive the “gift” of the moment; lean into discomfort, engage in authentic, hard, and difficult conversations, re-examine the past through a different lens, and commit to a more equitable and meaningful future.

I am not certain why exactly, but the disturbing and haunting video of Childish Gambino, “This is America,” displaying gun violence, mass shootings, long standing racism, and discrimination, as well as American Soul and Jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron’s best-known composition, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” both came to mind recently. The two artists, decades apart, paint the same picture. Gil Scott-Heron’s very last repeated line states, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. This Time the Revolution Will be Live!” The ultimate call to action.

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OESIS Research Supplement

Admissions 2021 Research Report Supplement

Admissions Process for 2021 Survey of 129 Schools

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e took the temperature on admissions processes for next year at the end of April, with 129 schools participating and 58% of respondents being admissions officers, and the rest Heads of School or Principals.  We also asked a couple of member school leaders, Nanci Kauffman, Head of

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School, Castilleja School (CA) and Sue Sadler, Head of School, Bryn Mawr School (MD) to comment; they framed their comments around Tables 2 and 3 that detail responses on priorities of school attributes that need to be highlighted and outcomes that parents want.

Š OESIS Network, Inc. 21

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In Table 1, we see that there appears to be changing emphases towards the value of standardized admissions tests and teacher recommendations: with the former, only 52% see the admissions tests as having the value they had in the past and this is probably largely attributable to the dramatic swing nationwide 22 Intrepid

and at the college level against the SAT and ACT for inequity.  OESIS has advocated that schools go test-optional for the SSAT or ISEE.  Teacher recommendations are rising in emphasis and this may be a function of the disruption to the end of the school year that might imply incompletion of traditional sequences.

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The Future of Schools

By Sue Sadler Head of School The Bryn Mawr School (MD)

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y students are quite fond of a game called “Never did I ever.” Well, never did I ever think that being a head of school would mean navigating through a pandemic and making an on-a-dime shift to distance learning. I certainly don’t need to enumerate the challenges we have encountered in the last few months. I am sure you are living them every day.

I want to take a slightly different approach, though, and talk about the opportunity this pandemic is presenting. For my entire career (seriously, 40 years) I have been hearing that we want to shift from teacher-centered classrooms to student-centered classrooms.

We’ve made only moderate progress. I would argue that our classrooms have more choice, more encouragement, and better support for different learning styles. But does that mean that students have taken more responsibility for their own learning? Not yet, and the sudden shift to distance learning has exposed some serious flaws in our practices. Students are still primarily extrinsically motivated by grades and resumes that pave a path to selective colleges, and our schools are currently designed to perpetuate this system.

Our first-generation distance

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learning efforts have provided continuity of learning primarily by moving face-to-face classroom practices online. While this has allowed for a quick pivot and has saved the year for most students, I think it’s clear from the burden we are all feeling that our current practice isn’t sustainable. While students may initially have been intrigued by Zoom classes and more self-paced learning, glazed eyes, missing work and less frequent attendance tell us that their engagement is waning. Not all faceto-face lessons transfer successfully to online delivery and student engagement is suffering.

In order to thrive in the next normal, a world in which we alternate between online and inperson classes, we’ll need to redesign our pedagogy. This is going to require some backward engineering by thinking about what learning dispositions we want students to have upon the completion of their time with us. This question can be scaled down to individual unit objectives or scaled up to describe the graduates of our schools. At the grandest scale, we want students who have acquired a love of learning and who are fully equipped to continue learning throughout their lifetimes. We want to produce citizens who can think for themselves, communicate and collaborate with others, and create both artistically and as a solution to problems. And importantly, we want independent self-starters who are persistent in their quest for knowledge. In other words, we want students with social-emotional expertise. This digital world most likely reflects the future of work for them.

If we hope to capture the attention of our students, especially online where it’s so easy to slip

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away, we’ll need to put relationships and inspiration at the center of our teaching. Designing each course to reinforce the major competencies we want to develop and creating rubrics that measure growth need to be key components of our next generation of teaching. Personally meaningful, student-driven projects have a much higher likelihood of keeping students energized and can move fluidly from face to face to online and back. The student as driver of these projects is key; teachers can coach students toward higher order thinking skills which are transferrable between disciplines and content genres. Assessments that encourage and track growth are essential.

Change of this magnitude will take a culture of commitment amongst educators and will actually redefine what it means to be an excellent teacher. We often hear that change takes time. We proved otherwise in the past three months. Dramatic changes were accomplished. Now, we need to capture the energy and successes of this moment and use those to catapult us into the next generation of learning, with student-centered, student-driven practices firmly anchored in the framework. We need to rethink some of our most basic assumptions­—schedules, assessments, silos, and tech tools— to empower and engage students as the driving force in their own learning. After all, their lifelong learning has just begun.

This pandemic can result in meaningful change if we let it. Let’s not wait another 40 years to get this done.

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A d m i s s i o n s 2 0 2 1 GRuee s te aerd ci tho rRi ae lp o r t S u p p l e m e n t

Show, Don’t Tell: Teachers Make Excellence Visible in the Admissions Process

By Nanci Kauffman Head of School Castilleja School (CA)

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hen parents choose to pursue an independent school education for their children, there are typically several factors driving their decision. By considering these factors, we can enhance the admissions process for parents, students, and the school, yielding improved admissions results.

Consider these drivers: Perhaps one or both parents attended an independent school, setting a clear expectation for family members to follow tradition. Perhaps the family seeks a more personalized, differentiated, student-directed, project-based, or values-driven learning experience for their children than is offered in their local public school. Or, perhaps they have a child with special needs, unique talents or unusual interests that will require accommodations at school. Whatever the reason, parents seeking to pay for something already available to them for free will bring a high level of precision and discernment to their admission application and decision process. This explains why often, even before they visit your school, parents who have determined that

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an independent school education is best for their children, will already have a set of priorities guiding their search. Armed with an understanding that parents are seeking a varied and wide range of independent school features and outcomes, how does your school ensure throughout the admissions cycle that you stay true to your mission, showcase your strengths, and provide both your applicant families and your admissions team opportunities to make right-fit matches?

A quick look at the data shown here highlights that as a group of professionals, we believe we are well-served in the admission process when we prioritize ways to feature our excellent teachers. At the same time, the data also identifies the kinds of learning experiences we believe parents are seeking for their children, along with what we imagine are their preferred set of outcomes. Aligning these data points, it would seem we have determined that by showcasing excellence in teaching during the admission process, we acknowledge and leverage what we know about the ways our teachers personify who we are, how we teach, and what students learn at our school. Therefore, if we can communicate through our admissions materials, and demonstrate through our admissions experiences, that teachers ARE the embodiment of our pedagogy and our program, we will have made concrete for many families the ways in which our schools match their conceptual ideals.

So, whether redesigning your website, rewriting your viewbook, or reimagining your admissions events, consider how spotlighting your excellent teachers can highlight

in concrete ways the variety of school features and educational outcomes that matter most to parents: •

Relationships are at the core of an independent school education. How are teachers at your school prepared to incorporate social and emotional learning into their daily practice, so that students have a strong sense of wellbeing and are gaining in confidence?

•

Innovation is at the heart of preparing students for the future. How are teachers at your school modeling innovative teaching practices and inspiring students to become creative, collaborative problem-solvers in the classroom?

•

Critical-thinking is the new academic rigor. How are teachers at your school engaging students in complicated intellectual and ethical questions that require interdisciplinary exploration?

Whether we believe our applicant families care most about Social and Emotional Learning, Academic Rigor, or 21st Century Skills, it is by recognizing their desire for Excellent Teachers in classes small enough to build personal connections that we will succeed. Spotlight your teachers’ caring demeanors, inspirational teaching, and deep knowledge across disciplines, and you will position yourself well to tell your story to people who are listening.

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AAd dmm i sissi so ni osnPsr o2c0e2s1s Rf eo sr e2a0r2 c1 :hA Rseuprov re yt oSfu p1 2p9l se cmheono tl s The responses in Table 4 are the most worrisome for us as they seem to under-estimate the privacy issues with using home versions of the ISEE and SSAT. Should offering a proctor that is unknown to your child and requiring all kinds of impositions be one of the first touches we offer as schools for prospective families. Recently the SAT abandoned its home version. Are there alternative ways of doing it? Table 5 offers an alternative way of getting the information used

by Stanford Online High School and this seems to have quite positive receptivity.

We asked the last question on privacy because we see legal standards as the lowest bar and accreditation standards and internal equity standards as higher bars. The responses are confusing and suggest that privacy is an area that admissions and all other areas need to focus on with urgency.

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The Year of Implementation and Practice

By Lindley Schutz, Dean of Academic Program, The Derryfield School (NH)

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hile the rapidity and extremity of COVID has been a shock to our system, when I look back on this time, I also will be grateful. First, I am grateful that our school is blessed with teachers already versed in change — we were in the midst of an academic year of remarkable innovation — and so they have responded nimbly with grace and ingenuity and deep empathy and care for our students. Second, COVID has provided a sense of authentic urgency that has given our innovations additional, immediate purpose.

Why were our teachers so familiar with change?

A decade ago, the Derryfield School, a grades 6-12 college preparatory school in Manchester, NH, emerged from our NEASC experience with a glowing report; we were confident about our strengths and identity and clear about areas for growth. Building on that momentum, our 50th anniversary, celebrated in 2015, reconnected us with our founders' vision and the experiences of our alumni. At that point, our Head of School charged us with the question: How can we retain the best of who we are, and make the changes needed to best prepare our students for the rapidly changing, 21st century?

With this charge, we created a three-year framework for change. The first year was the Year of Inquiry. A young school, we were open to growth. Curiosity shaped that year as we shared a school-wide read on 21st century skills.

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Teacher cohorts participated in and presented at OESIS, Learning and the Brain, gcLi and other professional development resources selected by faculty. We visited colleagues at other schools, and visited alumni in their workplaces. Our Dean of Innovation launched a micro-grant program in which a cohort of teachers developed design-thinking projects for their classrooms and committed to sharing the outcome publically at conferences. Our Upper School built upon the Middle School Learner's Portrait to develop the Derryfield Portrait of a 21st Century Learner which identified the cross disciplinary skills critical to grades 6-12.

During the second year, the Year of Program, we worked with our faculty, parents, and students to develop our Academic Vision. The vision integrated the priorities that emerged from our Year of Inquiry, the skills and pedagogies that have served us well in this transition to remote learning. We reinterpreted our core value of character to guide us: How can we cultivate ethical, community-oriented leaders versed in innovative, real-world problem solving?

We moved away from AP courses in favor of Advanced Topic courses, such as Investment Math; Biotechnology, Immunology, and Microbiology; and the Literature and History of Consumer Culture, anchored in studentdriven inquiry and project-based learning. Our departments began to map a sequence of Problem Solving and 21st Century Communications strands. We committed to social emotional

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T h e Y e a r o f I m p l e m e n tat i o n a n d p r a c t i c e learning, designing a program called LEAD, (Leadership, Ethics and Development) for 6-12, and we continued to cultivate teachers excited to offer courses for the Malone School Online Network.

During the third year, the Year of Schedule, our faculty, students and parents community, designed the schedule that would allow us "to live what we valued." That was a year of compromise, as we expanded time—for student centered learning; collaboration; our new LEAD, Computer Science and visual communication courses — and relinquished time for classes and other valuable experiences. It also was a time of tension: we decided that rather than pace the changes, we would implement all at once.

Our families did not want to wait. We would launch all of our new programs and our new schedule in the same year that we were building the new facilities in which to teach them: a new Athletic and Wellness Center and a Science and Innovation Center. We ended the year with three days of school-wide professional development in project-based learning. Over the summer, each teacher drew upon Understanding by Design to reframe their courses for the new schedule. Our teachers began this 2019-20 academic year with exhilaration, trepidation and, what I can only call, courage.

This year, aptly named the Year of Implementation and Practice, already has been a year of hyper change. Our faculty created over 70 new courses; in addition to the new Advanced Topic courses and our new LEAD program, they also created Exploration courses, where students and faculty share passion pursuits of beekeeping, gaming, digital marketing, and more.

In preparation for the new schedule, they culled to essentials and pivoted toward student-driven learning.

So, now in May, with COVID upon us and the aftershocks of the transition to remote learning fully at play, why am I grateful? Fortunately, anticipating the need to prepare our students for a century of rapid change, innovation and adaptability, problem solving and resilience, we prepared ourselves. With curiosity, humility, and courage, our nimble faculty and resilient community can go the next step, expanding the possibilities of meaningful teaching and learning, even as we live it.

_____________________________ Lindley Schutz, Dean of Academic Program, The Derryfield School (NH)

This article was written by Lindley Schutz Lindley Shutz is the Dean of Academic Program at the Derryfield School, where she has taught English classes in grades 9-12, chaired the English Department, and as Curriculum Director, partnered with Middle School teachers to enhance the academic program. Her current joys are teaching online with the Malone School Online Network, working with Derryfield students to host an annual statewide Equity Conference, and partnering with the Derryfield College Counselors to teach college essay writing in Derryfield's new Leaders, Ethics and Development (LEAD) program.

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Education’s Trojan Horse: The Virus That Broke The Classroom

By Aria Saines, student, Punahou School (HI)

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indergarteners stand giddy in front of their new school, ready for the enjoyment of interactive games and play that will instill wonder and cultivate creativity. This fundamental component of learning ignites necessary skills that will allow them to be a part of our growing innovative society. What they are not ready for, are the tedious hours of work

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that will ensue in the coming years, limiting their ability to apply their developing cognitive skills to real-life situations. From an early age, students are taught to mold themselves to a prescribed form, constantly conforming to the system’s needs—limiting their imaginative potential, and forcing them to undermine their own individuality.

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Education’s Trojan Horse: The Virus That Broke The Classroom By the time we reach high school, grades become the only thing that students value, which creates an unhealthy culture for families and teachers. It is a perfect representation of the “carrot and stick” method, luring society to define student achievement based on their ability to successfully grab a carrot that was designed to remain out of reach. Slower learning is often perceived as a weakness, while research has shown no correlation between speed, accuracy, and intelligence. Learners who cannot process the material fast enough lose motivation, feel ashamed, and school turns into a dehumanizing experience for those who are deep thinkers. As kids, we are fascinated by the world around us, and accustomed to ask questions that drive us to make sense of things. “Why?” is a powerful tool that allows us to broaden our understanding, and is the cornerstone for discovering new ideas that drive innovation.

The 200-year-old education system has miraculously found a way to erase the very foundation of a child’s curiosity.

Teachers must follow the policy of grading a student frequently, which categorizes the student in batches that determines their path forward.

The continuous regimen of testing and scoring reflects an Industrial Age mentality, which sets learning standards unattainable by many students. Grades are based on just a few factors that qualifies a student’s learning, and does not include the student’s growth and ability to apply the material, or a durable level of understanding beyond the last chapter test. Research shows that skills valuable for future success are not usually measured on tests. The World Economic Forum states that “cognitive flexibility,” which is a function of adaptability and problem solving will be among the top skills needed to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Competency grading is an emerging solution that schools around the country are embracing.

This allows students to demonstrate a skill multiple times, whereas traditional testing measures our capabilities based on a single test. Competencies are assessed on projects and www.oesisgroup.com

assignments constructed to allow students to apply their understanding of a particular subject.

One of the primary components lacking to the old-school system, crucial to contemporary education is authenticity: students study to pass, not to learn. Students are tested on their ability to quickly memorize and regurgitate facts, while most of the information is lost after the exam. As a result, students get discouraged and lose interest.

Along with the competency-grading system, project-based learning (or PBL) has become a valuable pedagogical approach that many schools are implementing. As of today, 303 public and private schools are participating in the Mastery Transcript Consortium, and are redesigning their curricula to reflect the skills essential to emerging businesses and technologies. Most of the skills taught in school today will be replaced by computers and machines due to their reliability and lack of human error. Future jobs will require people who are adaptable, innovative, can ask meaningful questions, and collaborate with others for a purposeful outcome. A report from Oxford University found 50% of the jobs today could disappear within the next 10 to 20 years—a prediction backed up in a McKinsey report released last year which suggested that today's technology could feasibly replace 45% of jobs right now.

The Coronavirus pandemic is changing the culture of education, and could be a watershed moment in reevaluating the current state of education. Educators were tasked to distill their curricula down to its core elements to compensate for the constraints created by distance learning. Many teachers reported omitting material, which makes me wonder if it was even necessary at all. Perhaps the big take-away for both teachers and students is the realization that there are other ways to effectively teach and learn. Along with online lectures and slideshows, teachers are converting busywork into projects where students can customize their learning to suit their abilities and interests. This may prove to be the crucial on-ramp for © OESIS Network, Inc. 31

Education’s Trojan Horse: The Virus That Broke The Classroom implementing new standards of learning around the country, and providing meaningful education today that will be a sine qua non for our future success.

I am a 15-year-old freshman who spends most of my time running on the big hamster wheel of education. I’ve witnessed paradigm shifts in the way we communicate, access information, shop and travel, while education has remained cloistered and immutable to the changes occurring beyond its walls.

Could it be that the Coronavirus has entered the protected gates of academia as a Trojan Horse for the next creative disruptor? It is interesting to think about, but it is time for me to get running again.

I have a test to study for.

This article was written by Aria Saines Aria Saines is a rising sophomore at Punahou

School, and her interests are music, politics, and foreign affairs. She is a fluent Japanese speaker and hopes to study government and international affairs in college.

______________________________________________________________________ Works Cited: “Where Machines Could Replace Humans—and Where They Can't (Yet),” McKinsey & Company, www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/where-machines-couldreplace-humans-and-where-they-cant-yet. About the author(s) Michael Chui is a partner in McKinsey’s San Francisco office.

“Automation and the Future of Work–Understanding the Numbers,” Oxford Martin School, www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/blog/automation-and-the-future-of-work-understanding-the-numbers/.

Gray, Alex. “The 10 Skills You Need to Thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-10-skills-you-need-to-thrive-in-the-fourthindustrial-revolution/.

“Mastery Transcript Consortium® (MTC).” Mastery Transcript Consortium® (MTC), mastery.org/.

“What Will Education Look Like in 20 Years?” USC Rossier, 4 Dec. 2014, rossieronline.usc.edu/blog/ education-20-years/.

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Reinventing School Amid COVID-19

By Trevor Shaw Director of Technology Dwight-Englewood School ((NJ), and President, Genesis Learning

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Reinventing school amid covid-19

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he physical classroom doesn’t directly translate into the online world. Schools must address the physical and emotional needs of students and must completely rethink the delivery of instruction in order for learning to continue.

I hope that when you read this, we are on the downward slide of this pandemic and planning for a return to our campuses in the fall. As I write this in late April, however, the end still seems far off. While many of our leaders talk about testing and tracing, there doesn’t seem to be a clear path back to the classroom in our near future, and our teachers continue to work in environments that look nothing like their physical classrooms.

If there is a bright spot to any of this, it has to be the incredible talent, skill, and resiliency demonstrated by independent schools across the country as we pivoted to online learning in a matter of days. It was daunting but also a little exciting to be a part of the “all hands on deck” moments at my school where we all worked through long meetings and late night phone calls to make urgent decisions about logistics, technology and policy.

Physical and Emotional Needs Come before Learning Abraham Maslow taught us that before students can learn, their physiological, safety, and belonging needs must be met. The current pandemic has disrupted the routines that give our students a sense of physical and psychological security. Social distancing has cut them off from their friend groups and school communities, intensifying feelings of isolation.

Before a school can begin to think about learning in this new landscape, it needs to acknowledge the trauma caused by this crisis and find ways to patch the holes that have emerged in students’ sense of safety and belonging.

It is reasonable to expect that some of our families might be facing threats to basic physiological needs such as food and shelter. The 34 Intrepid

sudden economic shutdown may have caused disruptions in the finances of even our more affluent families. We must also be aware that crises tend to amplify issues of inequity, and these issues can become worse still in the context of distance learning. Some families might be able to quarantine in relative comfort, while others may find themselves in a cramped apartment, sharing a single family computer and unreliable Internet access.

Schools can help students who are disproportionately affected by this crisis by increasing sensitivity and awareness of equity issues in this new context. To help address some of these concerns, schools might consider increasing tuition assistance programs and modifying payment schedules for families in need. Teachers should keep an eye on attendance and be sure that deans, counsellors and principals are aware of students of concern.

Beyond the basic physiological needs, schools must recognize the isolating impact that social distancing has had on students and the important role of frequent communication in combating that isolation. The type and frequency of such communications will vary depending on the needs of a community. For example, as we were ramping our distance learning plans up before the start of our spring break, our Head was pushing out an email to families each day to ensure that everyone knew the logistical plans being put into place. Now that we have settled into more of a routine, his emails are still important avenues of connection, but they go out weekly and are more reflective in their content.

Perhaps even more important than toplevel, institutional communications are the many inter-community activities and connections that must continue to find ways to thrive in an online environment. Advisory groups must find ways to continue meeting. Clubs and activities must communicate and maintain their relevance in the current crisis. At our school, we have hosted poetry readings over Zoom and extended guided meditation to our alumni over YouTube.

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Reinventing school amid covid-19 Several of our student organizations have created letter writing campaigns for the elderly and first responders. One of our staff members is coordinating the home use of our entire fleet of 3D printers so that students can create masks and face shields for local hospitals. All of these tasks not only strengthen our community connections but also give students a sense of agency and relevance in a time of isolation and uncertainty.

Old Teaching Methods Don’t Work in This New Environment In addition to addressing issues of physical and psychological security, schools must also ensure that learning continues to move forward. This will be incredibly challenging for teachers who feel very strongly about covering a certain amount of content each year. Our school’s academic leaders remind teachers that scrambling to cover what they had originally planned will be futile. Instead, teachers are encouraged to focus on fewer topics but to do them really well.

In support of this, many schools have designed vastly modified schedules that reduce the number of “live” class meetings per week and encourage teachers to think intentionally about what types of things should happen over video conferences as opposed to being posted for independent work. Schools are also becoming keenly aware of the additional fatigue associated with video conferencing tools and encouraging teachers to modify the amount of time they spend in these environments.

In designing online versions of their courses, many teachers are struggling with the fact that they often don’t translate well into the online world and require some innovative thinking. Art teachers, for example, might need to create kits of materials to be picked up or shipped home.

Science labs may have to be delivered using online simulations. One of our Physics teachers recently had her students creating lenses out of Jell-O to use in an optics lab. Phys-Ed teachers are designing individualized workouts and www.oesisgroup.com

personal training logs for students. Students in musical ensembles are recording themselves and sending in videos to be edited and mixed with other performers to generate a “group” performance.

For all of the challenges related to moving courses online, the dissolution of time and space boundaries also brings some advantages. Guest speakers have become much easier to invite into classes. One of our art teachers had a virtual field trip to a friend’s neon sign workshop.

Because there was no bus involved and no space constraints in the shop, he was able to arrange the trip quickly and to invite anyone in the school who wanted to join.

As good as some of these experiences are, schools need to acknowledge that this is a massive learning curve for teachers. The classroom management strategies that work in the live classroom don’t translate online. The methods teachers use in a live class to check for understanding don’t work on Zoom. The donow’s, mini-lessons, and group activities that were the staples of the physical class and that our teachers have transitioned between effortlessly must now be re-thought and reinvented.

This can definitely be done. Independent school teachers are incredibly talented and dedicated. But they were thrust into this new landscape with only days notice and have been asked to build the airplane as they learned to fly it. Schools should consider professional development opportunities from established experts in distance learning such as the online course providers to independent schools. There are numerous concepts such as “wayfinding” and “community building” that you don’t need to think much about in an in-person classroom, but these become essential elements to a class in an online environment.

© OESIS Network, Inc. 35

Reinventing school amid covid-19 Think of something. Try It Out. Revise. (Repeat) We are currently in the realm of fast decisions and “good enough” solutions. Necessity has forced us to move forward quickly with solutions that are viable if perhaps not always excellent. Compromises are necessary in such an environment, but too many compromises aren’t sustainable in the long run. School leaders need to be prepared to constantly analyze their situation and to make adjustments. Schools should be constantly gathering information from students, teachers, and parents through informal check-ins and formal surveys. Leaders should communicate to parents that their child’s distance learning experience will continue to be a work in progress and that adjustments to schedules and tools should be expected.

The Coronavirus Pandemic is the most disruptive thing to happen to education in my lifetime. It has affected our communities’ physical and psychological safety in unpredictable ways, and this disruption has trickled into our learning environments. These environments now exist in a completely foreign landscape for which our teachers had little to no preparation for success. Nevertheless, they seem to be succeeding in large numbers. With a mindset of humility, empathy, and perseverance; students, teachers, and parents at independent schools are making this experiment work all over the country. This is encouraging but not surprising, since these qualities have been at the core of independent schools long before this crisis struck.

_____________________________

By Trevor Shaw, shawt@d-e.org.

Director of Technology, DwightEnglewood School (NJ), and President, Genesis Learning

This article was written by Trevor Shaw Trevor has been helping schools to leverage the power of technology as a learning tool since 1992. He has served as the Director of Technology for two high-performing independent schools where he designed the technology infrastructure and championed the plans for integrating technology into the curriculum. He has also worked as a classroom English and technology teacher. He has consulted for dozens of other institutions and served on the Board of Education of an outstanding New Jersey School district.

Trevor Shaw

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He has presented nationally and internationally on the topics of innovation and STEM. His writing has appeared in eSchool News and Multimedia and Internet @ Schools magazines.

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Pedagogical Recalibration or Innovation?

By Tom Daccord, an international education technology consultant and co-founder, EdTechTeacher

W

hile the threat of coronavirus looms, students are stuck at home and educators are left rethinking the role of technology in teaching and learning. Suddenly, even the most recalcitrant technology adopter is learning how to videoconference and manage a course online—ready or not.

Many progressive educators hope the proliferation of remote teaching will lead to a www.oesisgroup.com

surge of innovation in classroom practice. More specifically, they hope that teachers will leverage technology as a tool to nurture active-learning environments where students think through problems, communicate their ideas, collaborate with others, create multi-media content, and share knowledge with an authentic audience.

In short, they hope that students will gain more control over learning. © OESIS Network, Inc. 37

P e d a g o g i c a l R e c a l i b r at i o n o r I n n o vat i o n ?

A silver lining of this global pandemic is the huge opportunity it provides to rethink the student learning process. That said, if pedagogical innovation occurs at all, it likely won’t happen right away. Innovation in instructional practice can only take place if educators are willing to accept a fundamental change in the student-teacher dynamic. That remains to be seen.

Many teachers are at what I’d term “Level 1” of remote-teaching adaptation: focusing on a video-conferencing platform in the hopes of reconstructing their lost classroom—the place where they are accustomed to “teaching” students. As the certainty and familiarity of the physical classroom are torn down, many teachers are fervently trying to construct a similar environment online. They are adjusting to a new coronavirus reality by clinging to a fundamental remnant of the past.

If teachers believe they can successfully “recreate” their classrooms online, they are not likely to rethink student learning. They might be immersed in a novel environment, but they will evaluate success in terms of the efficiency technology brings to how they have always taught.

Organizational psychologist Robert Evans points out that teacher discomfort with change often comes from fear of redefining what it means to be proficient. Teachers are now under enormous pressure to be proficient in an environment that challenges their preconceived notions. For some, this will be enough to help modify their own basic assumptions and reconsider what it means to teach and learn.

Others will be reluctant to do so.

A middle school teacher said to me recently: “Coronavirus is not going to last 10 years. This is just an interruption.” In other words, why expend energy investigating how technology might empower student learning when it’s “just a matter of time until we get back to normal?”

For true innovation to occur, teachers have 38 Intrepid

to want to implement a change. They also must feel it’s appropriate, promising, and manageable.

But pressure can prompt change. Testing is one example of a pressure that can direct or redirect teacher energy.

Because of coronavirus, most high stakes assessments have been canceled. Administrators should view this as an opportunity to work with teachers on reconsidering their balance of formative and summative assessments. Together, they can examine how to leverage the wealth of information that virtual classrooms provide about the student thought process. After all, student activities can be recorded. Google Docs offers a “version history” to see all student edits to a document. This may also lead us to consider a shift toward competency-based grading. In any event, now is the time to evaluate the worthiness of summative assessments and interim tests.

Under normal circumstances, many schools already fail to develop a galvanizing vision of how learning can be different when technology is introduced. Classroom teachers are too often expected to “figure it out” everytime a new device or platform arrives. Moreover, training sessions too often center on nuts-and-bolts tech and not instructional vision. Those school leaders who can nurture a shared vision of desired learning co-constructed by both administration and staff will find more success guiding their community on a coordinated path towards a desirable goal.

Without a vision, teachers will likely not adopt a new mindset.

There’s much speculation that schools will not return to normal anytime soon. Recent articles in CNN and USA Today relate that many school leaders envision alternating schedules where schooling at least partly remains online. If this proves true, the present context for schooling may continue for a long while. So, where is the sense of urgency to develop student-centric and interactive instructional environments?

There are signs of hope. Somewhat ironically, pedagogical change is starting to occur while teachers attempt to ensure continuity.

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

P e d a g o g i c a l R e c a l i b r at i o n o r I n n o vat i o n ?

Teachers are quickly recognizing that students can’t be expected to sit hour-after-hour in a video conference room. As a result, they are beginning to construct experiences where students are more in control of the learning process. These teachers are at what I’d term “Level 2” of remote-teaching adaptation: focusing on interactive, multimedia student-centric activities.

At “Level 2,” teachers are moving beyond fillable PDFs to help students learn to make videos, record podcasts, design multimedia books, and otherwise demonstrate learning.

Often, these experiences consist of combining multiple pieces of technology into one unified experience. An increasing number of educators are participating in “how-to-with-multimedia” webinars. EdTechTeacher has seen thousands of teachers sign up for these types of virtual training in the last three weeks. This is a huge jump from the norm.

It doesn’t stop there. Teachers at “Level 3” are rethinking models of instruction and exploring unifying frameworks that are student centered, foster inquiry, independence, problem solving and creativity in a remote setting. For instance, problem-based projects

that are designed to span multiple days and weeks can be completed by students remotely and independently thanks to collaborative technologies. Level 3 teachers will prompt innovations to foster learning environments that promote the application of student knowledge in authentic and challenging ways.

No one is saying this will be easy. Planning for remote learning is challenging as it requires educators to rethink many face- to-face processes that work effectively in a live classroom environment. Teachers are being forced to do this on the fly. From lesson and project redesign, to collaboration, feedback and assessment, teaching and learning will often look and feel different in an online or remote environment.

Plenty of “disruptive” technologies have been introduced in society over the last two decades while teaching remained static. No matter how powerful, creative, or versatile a device or tool, teachers can’t be expected to change without a motivating reason and an idea of what beneficial change actually looks like. Right now, energizing teachers to formulate a new vision for remote learning is the priority.

This article was written by Tom Daccord

Tom Daccord International Education Technology Consultant and Co-founder EdTechTeacher

www.oesisgroup.com

Tom Daccord is an international education technology consultant and co-founder of EdTechTeacher. Over the past 18 years, he has worked with over 10,000 educators in schools and educational organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Tom is the co-author of Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology and The iPad Classroom and his articles have appeared in various educational publications. He has presented on school innovation and educational technology at national and international conferences and helps guide systemic reform in schools using technology via his “Innovation Readiness & Pathways” program for 21st-century school leadership. A former independent school teacher, Tom taught in Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United States and speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian. Tom currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. © OESIS Network, Inc. 39

Flex-Blended Learning Cohort Pathway ThinkTanks

OESIS Network members may participate in July ThinkTank eForums arranged for the FlexBlended Learning Cohort Pathway participants. Experts will help our members navigate remote learning opportunities sparked by the coronavirus pandemic together!

Thursday, July 2, 2020 Flex and Enriched Virtual Models in COVID Realities 1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET with Heather Staker Heather is the co-author of the Amazon bestseller Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, as well as The Blended Workbook and the popular report How to Create Higher Performing, Happier Classrooms in Seven Moves: A Playbook for Teachers.

As an author and researcher in the United States, Heather spent 15 years studying innovation in education and the rise of blended learning as the enabler of student-centered learning.

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET

Flex-Blended Learning Pathway Discussion with Thomas Arnett Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow in education for the Clayton Christensen Institute. His work focuses on studying innovations that amplify educator capacity, documenting barriers to K-12 innovation, and identifying disruptive innovations in education.

Thursday, July 9, 2020 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET

Flex Models with Jill Abbott Jill Abbott, CEO, Abbott Advisor Group, understands online and blended learning at independent schools having led the 8 Schools Association Online program as Executive Director; The Eight Schools Association is a group of private college-preparatory schools in the Northeast United States. Jill specializes in strategic planning and visioning, policy development and research. Her expertise consists of education, technology and virtual learning.

Wednesday, July 15, 2020 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET

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Blended Learning Models with Allison Powell Allison Powell, Director of the Digital Learning Collaborative, Evergreen Education, is the former Vice President for State and District Services/New Learning Models of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), which provides expertise and leadership in K-12 Blended, Online, and Competency-based Learning. Working at iNACOL, Allison helped write the National Standards for Quality and several other reports to expand and improve the field of K-12 online, blended and competencybased learning.

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly Summer 2020

Getting the Most out of OESIS-XP

A

s you probably know, OESIS has been conducting thought-provoking conferences fostering innovation at prestigious independent schools since 2013. Founder and President Sanje Ratnavale decided to bring this content online within OESIS-XP in 2017. Organized on Canvas LMS, OESIS-XP enables academic faculty to easily access innovative practices on demand.

In addition to organizing conference presentations under Files in the Canvas menu, OESIS-XP indexes videos by subject areas, age levels, and innovation attributes addressed in each presentation. Most videos are recorded during live webinars, featuring all aspects of pedagogy and cultural change focused on student-centered learning driven by student agency with strategic oversight.

Navigating OESIS-XP The OESIS-XP home page gives OESIS members easy access to: • Foundational & Innovation Faculty PD Pathways that can be completed individually, with oversight from a masterlevel practitioner at your school, or within a cohort with an OESIS Network Leader.

• OESIS-XP Video Library has links to our thumbnail indexes organized by topics, age level and division. Each video has its own media page with comment links.

• Live Webinars and Released Playlists outline our program schedule and show our new five-minute trailers for busy faculty. After watching a trailer, members may access the full videos and additional resources on the video’s media page.

• Publications, including regular research reports.

OESIS members may click on the above image to log into their schools customized OESIS-XP portal using their school email address.

If you need help accessing OESIS-XP, email oesisxadmin@oesisgroup.com.

Examples for using OESIS-XP resources to enhance faculty development Each Division selects a Groups or cohorts at your school complete an PD leaders share invideo of the month to OESIS Faculty PD pathway together. service topics with watch and discuss (similar Participate in live webinars or submit ideas for a OESIS staff and we to a book club). topic you’d like to discuss. recommend/create Please share your ideas with clips to complement Schedule an OESIS Lynn.Schramek@oesisgroup.com or existing PD initiatives.

Video Conference.

Joel.Backon@oesisgroup.com.

CENTOGENE Announces Partnership with OESIS Network for COVID-19 PCR Testing for U.S. School Populations CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SANTA MONICA, California, July 06, 2020 (Globe Newswire) – Centogene N.V. (Nasdaq: CNTG), a commercialstage diagnostics and genetic research company, and the OESIS Network Inc, an innovation network of more than 600 schools across the U.S., today announced a partnership for COVID-19 screening of schools. The partnership will offer RT-PCR testing that can aid schools in their return to campus in the fall and continued screening to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 over the course of the academic school year.

The partnership addresses the unique challenges facing schools in the following ways: Given the precious resources of schools public and private, the test will be offered at an affordable price and less than the COVID-19 clinical diagnostic reimbursement price announced in April for Medicare Part B for high throughput, technician intensive, and time intensive tests. The partnership is also investigating the possibility of offering pooled pricing for schools that perform regular testing, once an initial baseline has been established. This approach could incorporate pooled testing, where test samples are batched - potentially reducing analytical costs.

Given the need to test both students and employees, the sample collection will use CentoSwab™, CENTOGENE’s validated, CElabeled, ethylene oxide-treated swabs and collection tubes that can ship directly to school sampling locations. This FDA listed, class 1 medical device is an oropharyngeal swab and does not require a medical expert, a stabilization buffer, or specialized kits.

Given the need for accuracy, the testing will use RT-PCR and will be conducted at a CENTOGENE lab, certified by the College 42 Intrepid

of American Pathologists and as a CLIA lab, authorized to do moderate to complex diagnostics required for PCR testing.

Given the time-pressure around the beginning of the school year in August and September, up to 50,000 tests per week are available for this partnership at this time and can be increased upon demand. All logistics for sample collection will be handled by CENTOGENE and its logistics partners to ensure sample collection, delivery, and analysis in a timely manner.

Given the importance of ensuring the highest levels of privacy and data protection, the schools will not be providing identifying information to CENTOGENE or OESIS on who the samples came from, rather a simple numerical identifier on the swab container that will be accessed by the school using a digital web portal. It will be the responsibility of the schools to inform those who would have tested positive, as well as other required disclosures to local health authorities.

The OESIS Network Innovation Quarterly

Summer 2020

Sanje Ratnavale, President of OESIS Network, stated, “CENTOGENE has all the operational attributes we were looking for including reputation, quality, capacity, logistics and price. We were drawn to its experience and credentials testing high school students and teachers already for COVID-19, who provided us with the necessary references. Although many of the schools in our network are independent, this program will be equally available to public and Title 1 schools, particularly if they are able to access Cares Act funding potentially for such uses.”

Dr. Jennifer Zaccara, Head of School at the Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, Vermont, commented on the announcement, “OESIS simply ‘went to bat’ for schools when they needed support. As a result, we now have access to COVID-19 testing at affordable rates.”

Robert de Deugd, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at CENTOGENE, said, “To overcome this global pandemic, it is vital that we work together to create worldwide solutions – preventing a further outbreak and enabling students to continue to focus with their educational journey. Working alongside the OESIS Network Inc, we will be able to provide highly validated, precise testing to schools throughout the U.S. We are very enthusiastic that this initiative will enable students and staff to return to the classroom, while continuously keeping their health, safety, and peace of mind at the forefront.”

www.oesisgroup.com

About CENTOGENE CENTOGENE engages in diagnosis and research around rare diseases transforming real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies. Our goal is to bring rationality to treatment decisions and to accelerate the development of new orphan drugs by using our extensive rare disease knowledge, including epidemiological and clinical data, as well as innovative biomarkers. CENTOGENE has developed a global proprietary rare disease platform based on our real-world data repository with approximately 3.0 billion weighted data points from over 530,000 patients representing over 120 different countries as of March 31, 2020.

The Company’s platform includes epidemiologic, phenotypic, and genetic data that reflects a global population, and also a biobank of these patients’ blood samples. CENTOGENE believes this represents the only platform that comprehensively analyzes multi-level data to improve the understanding of rare hereditary diseases, which can aid in the identification of patients and improve our pharmaceutical partners’ ability to bring orphan drugs to the market. As of March 31, 2020, the Company collaborated with 39 pharmaceutical partners covering over 45 different rare diseases.

About OESIS NETWORK OESIS is an innovation network of 600 mostly independent K-12 schools across the United States. Its mission is to catalyze change in the learning models of schools with an emphasis on the innovative practices in pedagogy, curriculum development, 21st-century assessment and school culture change. Through its research, its professional development platforms, its student e-portfolios, its national publications, and its conferences, it covers all areas of student-centered learning including Project-Based Learning, Mastery, 21st Century Assessment, STEAM, Experiential Learning, Global Collaboration, Blended Learning, Inquiry Driven Models and more. © OESIS Network, Inc. 43

O E S I S M e m b e r s m ay e n r o l l i n c o h o r t p a t h w ay s

Summer 2020 Pathways Independent School Faculty Professional Development

All pathways begin with an Introductory Level to provide scaffolding, terminology, examples, and an opportunity to reflect on applying the content to developing a unit. Level 1 participants take a deeper dive into developing a unit. Level 2 is implementation, feedback, and revision. Level 3 is additional revision and feedback leading to Mastery. OESIS Network member schools can complete pathways independently in their OESIS-XP school portal, or register for a cohort Pathway with guidance and feedback from OESIS Network Leaders. Cohort Pathways are $100 per person at the Introductory Level and $150 per person at subsequent levels.

Click video icons below to listen to a brief overview from the pathway developer.

Flex-Blended Learning The Flex-Blended Pathway will help you sort through the options for online and blended delivery, and make a choice that best meets your needs.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) PBL works extremely well in any delivery environment and increases student engagement, making it extremely suitable for the uncertain environment of this fall.

Competency-Based Education (CBE) A comprehensive tutorial on the fundamental components of mastery- or competency-based systems, including the arguments for migrating to this more outcomes-oriented approach.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) While the social-emotional well-being of students is always a critical consideration, the redefinition of real connection in the online world demands some rethinking of the learning experience.

Cultural Competency How do we thoughtfully understand and navigate the complexities of multiple cultures in our curricula and school communities? Given current events, the Cultural Competency pathway is very relevant.

Grading for Transparency and Opportunity If you are not yet ready to eliminate grades, one can still improve grading by making it more transparent and equitable, which includes tying grades to measurable learning standards.

Critical Thinking and Argumentation Using the skill of convincing argumentation, our partner ThinkerAnalytix helps you learn to teach students the art of argumentation as a means of improving Critical Thinking.

Implementing STEAM Programs Curricular equity integrates the traditional Science and Math projects with Engineering, Robotics/ Technology, and the Arts. Develop your own project using resources provided by a STEAM director and future astronaut.

44 Intrepid OESISmembers Network may Innovation Summer 2020 OESISThe Network register Quarterly for cohort pathways online.