Here are a few ideas that have stayed with me since leaving the conference:

• KS could leverage to a far greater extent our distance learning capacity via ISC – this includes everything from greater integration between the three K-12 campuses, to development of a virtual campus (online degree program), offering an online speakers bureau, etc.

• This segues nicely into the idea of having a Speakers Bureau, possibly connected to Kaiwakiloumoku but also in collaboration with ISC (the online version).  KS should be a thought leader, not just in Hawaiian culture and history, but also in areas like indigenous education, faith and culture integration, or anything really.  We have incredible talent and knowledge among our staff, why wouldn’t we want to develop and package that in a way that can be used beyond Kamehameha?

• We need to start putting more emphasis in the hiring process in finding people who have a heart for our mission and can buy into the expectations of being part of KS, rather than in simply finding people who have the right skill sets.  Obviously, having the right skill set is important, but it’s not enough.  We need to make our values (Christian and Hawaiian) and expectations for support, participation and “Small L” leadership known to people before they sign on.

• What promises are we making to parents in our values vision and mission statements?  I keep thinking about the simplicity of Ranney School’s mission that every child will be “known and valued.”  What is KS promising to parents?  And how do we communicate that?

• KS should consider establishing “State of the School” webcasts, by Headmasters (for each campus) and by the CEO for the institution (alumni, general public).

• That same week of the conference I saw a Facebook post about a new kind of college called EARTH University.  I have not been able to stop thinking about it because it seems like a perfect “fit” for KS, given our focus on sustainability and aloha/malama `aina, as well as our considerable agricultural acreage.  It has the potential to combine everything we care about at KS – education, culture, economic sustainability – with faith, servant leadership and good stewardship naturally and easily incorporated into the mix – and a template already exists for the program.  Here is the url:  http://www.earth-usa.org/

The specific ideas that have rooted themselves in my brain over the past week focus on fearlessness, high expectations and creativity.

I was most impressed with the presentation by John Hunter, whose World Peace Game is pure genius.  And yet the man himself exudes a genuine humility that is incredibly moving.  He is just a teacher that created a game.  I cannot help but imagine how different I would be, perhaps how different we all might be, if we had a teacher like John Hunter.  His game forces children to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, to make strategic plans, to negotiate and to compromise in a way that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.  And yet the game is absolutely relevant, addressing issues like economics, politics, war, resource management and sustainability, natural disasters, etc.  The fact that this is designed for fourth graders is even more remarkable.  Something he said about the game stuck with me.  He said that he wants his students to “love it (the game) so much they can’t do without it, but make it so difficult they almost can’t do it.”  I am attaching a link to Hunter’s TED Talk in 2011.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html

The other speaker who I have continued to think about is Sarah Kay.  She is all of 22 years old and yet she has founded an organization called Project V.O.I.C.E. that teaches poetry and self-expression to people across the United States.   She talked about how, as a teenager winning a slam poetry competition, the idea of being listened to was “transformational.”  Kay has a vision and nothing stops her from moving that vision forward.  Her optimism is as inspiring and infectious as her poetry is joyful and moving.  She urged the audience to be open to “accidental breakthroughs” as are children, but to do that we need to remain flexible.  What if more of us put effort into helping others find their voices?  And then took the time to listen to what they have to say?  Attached is a link of TED Talk that Sarah Kay presented in 2011.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/sarah_kay_how_many_lives_can_you_live.html

In this day and age of technology, something that Stephen Carter said in his general session presentation struck a chord with me.  He said that, regarding books, some ideas are so important that it is worthwhile to put them someplace where they are not easily destroyed.  He also said that books themselves suggest complexity and that by taking the time to read and think can cause you to change your mind.  He went on to say that when we remove complexity, that everything is reduced to slogans and that reducing great ideas into streams of information is a terrible mistake.  Carter said that educators should not “give up on the book as a tactile object” and that it “teaches values by its’ very existence.”

Finally, in her presentation, Amy Chua’s observations on self-esteem in children were noteworthy.  She said that true self-esteem must be earned by overcoming something difficult or by meeting a challenge, and that doing something “extremely well” is “happiness-producing.”  She also suggested that we should assume strength rather than weakness in our children and instill in them a strong work ethic.

Breakout workshops were also featured at the 2012 NAIS Conference, and I chose to attend the following:

Institutionalized Citizenship:  A New Look at Diversified Leadership presented by Angelina Arrington and Adriene Rothstein of Saint James’ Episcopal School in California

This presentation focused on the notion of diversified leadership within schools based on a culture of “institutional citizenship”.   The idea here is that everyone in the organization participates (at all levels) and that everyone has a “green light” to spearhead projects.  This organizational model encourages thinking in terms of groups, relationships and networks within the school and focuses on the idea of being “interconnected.”  This expectation that is part of their organizational culture is made transparent in the hiring process because everyone in the school is expected to participate.  They introduced the term “Succession of Transmission” which is the idea that while one person may initiate the idea, it may be carried to the next “level” by another (like passing of a baton) as the project evolves.  This relies on strong networks and on having organizational “catalysts” in place to keep things moving forward.

Transformative Communications:  Advocacy, Admissions and Advancement presented by Lawrence Sykoff, Patricia Marshall and Valerie Francois of the Ranney School in New Jersey

This presentation focused on the experiences of Ranney School and how they managed to increase enrollment, decrease attrition, triple donations to their annual fund and benefit from “explosive” volunteerism at their school over the past three years despite the weak economy.  They credit this with having a Board of Trustees and staff who clearly understand that they are all message carriers for the school, and that every one of them is responsible for their communication about the school, and by extension, the public image of the school.  In particular, their Board of Trustees (which in this case includes primarily Ranney School alumni and parents) has taken a more active role in “telling the story” of the school.  Another strategy they used in their recent strategic planning was to develop a mission statement that sent a deliverable and personal message to parents – something they could rely on in an uncertain world – and their school’s mission statement simply is that “every child is known and valued.”  Once they arrived at this new mission statement, it was incorporated into all aspects of their strategic plan and the rest of their plan “just flowed.”  They note that feedback from parents on this mission statement and portion of the plan has been extremely positive.  They commented that in strategic planning, energizing ideas and better quality insights really helped to drive the plan.  They also shared, at length, the various PR strategies they use, one of which was a “State of the School” webcast that goes out annually to all alumni and parents.

How “Transparent” Do We Need and Want to Be? presented by John Littleford, Littleford & Associates consulting in Louisiana, and Joseph Cox from Haverford School in Pennsylvania

My decision to attend this workshop was an error.  I thought it would focus on transparency between the school and the community.  However, the focus was solely on transparency between the Headmaster and the Board of Trustees, which had no value to me since I am neither a Headmaster nor a Trustee, and since KS does not have a similar governance structure.  I politely sat through this workshop and wished I had selected the featured workshop with John Medina instead.

Finding Socioeconomically Diverse Students Who Are Ready for Success presented by Nathaniel Conard of the Pingry School in New Jersey; Elizabeth Duffy of the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey; Booth Kyle of the Lakeside School in Washington; and David Allyn from the New Jersey SEEDS organization as well as Gordon McHenry of the Rainier Scholars organization in Washington State

This workshop was not what I expected either – which was to say I was hoping for usable ideas for our Admissions Office with regard to recruiting and working with indigent applicants.  However, I did learn two key things:  1) That “socioeconomically diverse” at mainland schools has far more to do with race than it does with socioeconomics and; 2) That there exist in the United States school readiness organizations that function as “headhunters” for private schools.  This is like Sylvan on steroids.  I was amazed to learn that these organizations “identify/recruit/prepare” promising non-white students in specific communities and, using a combination of tutoring and week-long retreats, provide these children with the skills they need for admission to private schools.  The Rainier program, for example, is a 14-month program.  They focus on core subjects like algebra, science (chemistry, physics & biology), literature, oratory, as well as on social/emotional preparation and counseling.  What is not clear to me is how this is funded, whether there is a guarantee of admission into a private school, what the expectations are for the parents and students who participate in these programs, and finally who funds these students when they do gain admission to private schools.

Giving out to Gain More:  Leveraging Experts in Your School presented by Rosetta Lee and Rafael Del Castillo of the Seattle Girls’ School in Washington, and Kapono Ciotti and Betsey Gunderson of Maryknoll School in Honolulu

Because professional development can be so costly for schools, and in an effort to retain and challenge high performing staff, these schools have allowed specific staff to evolve into speakers/trainers that not only work with staff at their own schools, but with other schools as well – in the case of Seattle Girls’ School they are actually generating income from the school and the staff member’s salary is based, 20%, on the income she earns for the school when they send her out as a speaker.  Qualitative benefits that have been realized by both schools include:  Becoming locally, regionally and/or nationally known; their schools are becoming viewed as “resource schools”; more talented educators are expressing interests in working for these schools and; increased interest and enrollment as their reputations soar.  Opportunities include:  Low overhead costs; exciting opportunities for staff who are natural leaders; establishment of your schools as and “expert” or “thought leader” in specific areas; and collaboration, collegiality and connection.  This has lots of possibility for KS.

The What and How of Creativity and Innovation presented by Peter Nilsson of Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts

I originally planned to dutifully attend the workshop during this block on “Admission and Financial Aid Trends that Every School Leader Needs to Know”, however when I saw that the presenters were SSS and SSAT, I chose instead to attend this workshop on creativity and innovation.  It was really designed for classroom teachers, yet I found the presentation very interesting and applicable to encouraging creativity in everyone.  Nilsson talked about the three “regions” of creativity (mental, modal & material) and described how creativity evolves from imitation to variation to combination to transformation and, finally, to “genesis original creation”.   In terms of creating “successfully” he made four points:  1) Content is King; 2) Restriction promotes innovation; 3) Simplicity marks the best creative work and; 4) Chance favors the connected mind.  He challenged the hypothesis that educators need to adjust their teaching to the learning style of students, and instead asserts that there is empirical evidence that there may, in fact, be one best way to teach a particular thing/subject/idea that will be most effective for all learners.

Conference Summary

“Innovation” was the theme of the 2012 NAIS Annual Conference in Seattle last week and I was not disappointed.  From top-notch general sessions speakers like Microsoft philanthropist Bill Gates to “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua and slam poet Sarah Kay, to presentations by inspirational educators like World Peace Game inventor and teacher John Hunter (who received a standing ovation), conference participants were the grateful recipients of ideas and insights that, hopefully, will help us to introduce new ways of thinking and innovations that will ultimately improve our own schools.

Distilling the abundance of information that I downloaded into my brain in two intense days has taken awhile.  I am glad that I took lots of notes because it has helped me to reflect on what I learned and to determine which take-aways I can best use in my capacity in the Admissions Division, but also as part of the Strategic Planning Council.  I am encouraged and inspired by this experience to champion and pursue ideas that could be paradigm-shifting or even visionary for KS, and not to be satisfied with the status quo when we can be so much more, even if the dream seems impossible or is not shared by leadership at a particularly point in time.

Along with the general session presentations by the four speakers already mentioned, we also heard presentations by Stephen Carter, a Yale Law Professor and Cheryl Crazy Bull – on the Board of Directors for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.  Also sharing remarks in the general session was Patrick Barrett, NAIS President.  In addition, dozens of break-out workshops were offered.  I will share my thoughts on those in a separate post.

I am incredibly grateful for having had this experience.