Excellence as a Means, not an End

Two months ago a distinguished group of eleven educators from independent schools around New England spent three days on the Rivers campus sitting in on classes and interviewing students, teachers, and parents.  Their visit was part of the accreditation process for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  The group included the Head of Greenwich Academy, the Head of Milton Academy, and educators from Concord Academy, Hotchkiss, Thayer, and Brunswick Academy. Their final report confirmed what we already know  ̶  Rivers lives its mission.

I wanted to share three excerpts from the visiting committee report because I think they capture the essence of Rivers.

 “Rivers students exemplify the motto “Excellence with Humanity.” Witnessing the dynamics, the casual moments captured as one moves through the campus buildings, the committee saw the warmth of relationships and care and pride of the student body.  From doors held for those who walk behind, the smile and the pat on the back after a brave sixth grader shares herself with the school community, and the willingness to speak up and take a stab at a hard question in class, Rivers students show their embodiment of the values of the school.”

And from another section of the visiting committee report:

“Constituents articulate the mission of the school in deeply personal ways, indicating a strong buy-in to the core values of the school. Students readily articulate their investment in their experience, including ways they have grown in character.  Faculty members are committed to their mission as educators and role models and routinely go above and beyond the parameters of their job descriptions when it serves the interests of their students… the Rivers faculty have distinguished itself not only for professionalism, knowledge, and teaching skill, but also for a collaborative and humane spirit that pervades this school.

“Students and teachers alike spoke with a sense of belonging to a stimulating academic culture, one in which learning is championed even while students are pulled toward extracurricular specialization.  Rivers has not forgotten that the primary academic business of a school is the conversation between teacher and student… In addition to respect, there’s great affection on both sides, too.  Students lavished praise on their teachers.  And teachers did likewise.” 

And finally from another section of the report:

“Faculty feel supported, motivated, and encouraged to teach their passions and to pursue various teaching strategies.  Faculty at Rivers are happy and engaged; they exude a loyalty and admiration for their school, their colleagues, and their students.  Their love of Rives is palpable.”

These excerpts point so clearly to the reason Rivers exists… the why of the school and that is to help students live meaningful lives, lives filled with purpose.

The why of most independent schools is excellence. These schools teach students how to compete, how to win, how to work harder and smarter in this competitive world. For these schools, demonstrated excellence is an end. A graduate of a highly regarded school in the area once told me that he always felt that the question being asked of him while he was a student there was “What are you doing to enhance the reputation of the school?” 

Make no mistake, Rivers teaches students how to be successful, how to work hard, how to compete; we can point to lots of markers of success to demonstrate that excellence is a critical value. Seniors accepted to highly selective colleges, 5’s and 4’s on the AP exams, art and music prizes, athletic championships, awards in Robotics, Model UN, and Debate. We are proud of these achievements.

But these accomplishments are not why Rivers exists.  They are not what fundamentally inspire us to go the extra mile for our students.

Rivers exists for one simple reason  ̶  to help students live meaningful lives, now and in the future. At Rivers excellence is a means, not an end.  We don’t challenge our students for the sole purpose of demonstrating that we have excellence.  We challenge them so that they can learn about themselves, so that they can discover what they are good at, what they love, what they need to work on.  We challenge them so that they can discover who they are and who they want to be.  We challenge them so that they can live lives that matter.

And here’s the kicker. The best way to help students live meaningful lives is to make sure that teachers are living meaningful lives, to make sure that the reason our teachers got into this business in the first place  ̶  to make a positive difference in kids’ lives  ̶  never dies out, that their life purpose is not only valued but constantly nurtured. “Faculty at Rivers are happy and engaged.” That statement from the Visiting Accreditation Committee reflects the school’s belief that people should live meaningful lives. That is why Rivers exists.

 

Letter from Chair of Visiting Accreditation Committee

Last month a team of eleven outside educators from some of the top schools in New England (including three from ISL schools) spent three days on the Rivers’ campus - sitting in on classes, talking to students, teachers, administrators, trustees, alumni, and parents, examining programs, reading critical documents - all for the purpose of validating the self-study Rivers had completed the year before.  The committee left as “huge fans” of the school.  Below is the letter Molly King, the chair of the committee, wrote to the Rivers community, followed by the list of visiting committee members:

November 6, 2013      

Dear Rivers Community,

The past few days have been a remarkable example of who you are as a community. From the moment the Visiting Committee stepped on campus last Sunday, we were warmly welcomed by all---students, faculty, staff, trustees, administrators and parents. 

- Students: Your spirit is infectious. From tours, class discussions, practices and games, announcements, speeches and musical performances, all of us left Rivers not only in awe of your talents, but also of your connection to your school, to your teachers and to each other. You seek to make a positive difference and you do. Keep up the great work. 

- Faculty: We are mightily impressed. Your expertise in your subject areas is matched only by your total commitment to the wellbeing of your students. They notice. Every Visiting Committee member heard stories from students about what a difference you are making to their lives. Excellence with Humanity. Your motto. There it is. 

- Administration and Staff: Talk about a can-do attitude! You collaborate at every turn, whether it's making an event happen (like hosting us), covering for each other in a time of need without regard for self, supporting families in need or finding innovative solutions to challenges big and small, you are all in for Rivers. 

- Trustees, alumni and parents: From dinner together on Sunday night to meetings in Willis House, your thoughtful reflections upon and affection for Rivers were the signature aspects of our conversations. All of you go above and beyond to share your talents and your generosity with Rivers and particularly looking at the exponential increase in your engagement over the last fifteen years, there is much for which you should be proud.

And to Tom Olverson, who is probably tempted to delete any words of praise from us, please know how much the entire Visiting Committee respects your leadership and profound affection for Rivers---both of which have had a transformative effect on this wonderful school during your tenure. 

On behalf of all of us who have had the privilege of serving on the Rivers Visiting Committee, thank you to all and know that you have eleven huge fans sprinkled across the landscape of New England schools.

Warmly,

Molly King
Chair, NEASC Visiting Committee
Head of School, Greenwich Academy

NEASC Visiting Committee Members

Molly King, Chair
Head of School
Greenwich Academy
Greenwich, CT

Theodorick B. Bland, Assistant Chair

Head of School
Milton Academy
Milton, MA

William Clapp

Mathematics Department Chair
Berwick Academy
South Berwick, ME

J. Bradley Faus

Instructor in Art
The Hotchkiss School
Lakeville, CT

Heather Flewelling

Director of Multiculturalism & Community Development
Milton Academy
Milton, MA

Tucker Hastings

Junior Class Dean, French Teacher
Brunswick School
Greenwich, CT

Maureen Keleher

Latin Teacher
Thayer Academy
Braintree, MA

Jennifer Kenerson

Mathematics Teacher
Taft School
Watertown, CT

Mark McLaughlin

Associate Head of School
Providence Country Day School
East Providence, RI

David Rost

Dean of Students
Concord Academy
Concord, MA
 

Thomas Sullivan

Head of Upper School
Greenwich Academy
Greenwich, CT

Traffic Duty in the Morning

So why do I direct traffic in the morning?  There is a serious answer to this question, and the answer reflects the school’s educational philosophy. 

First, let me say that it is important to have an adult out there each morning to make sure that the students are safe as they cross the driveway.  And I like waving to the parents who drop their children off. 

But the most important thing I am accomplishing by directing traffic is welcoming students. Sometimes, I congratulate them on a performance or a game or a speech. But most of the time I just greet them, and in doing so, I am signaling to them that at Rivers it is okay for them to be themselves.  Teenagers crave validation (we all do, actually), and once they feel that validation from the community, the building blocks are in place for them to soar. This simple gesture coming from the authority of the school tells students that they can take risks, they can pursue passions, they can go about the business of becoming the person they want to become without worrying about how others perceive them or if they will be judged.

There are schools that motivate students out of fear.  Some motivate through a rigid code of conformity.  Others pit student against student.  Rivers is different.  By signaling to students that it is okay to be themselves, the school creates the fertile ground that then allows our great teachers to work their magic - challenging them, inspiring them, encouraging them. 

So why do I do traffic duty in the morning.  It’s a critical part of the equation that is designed to help students become their best selves, not through fear, conformity, or uber competition, but rather through extending an invitation and making that invitation as enticing as possible.  I think it is the best way to educate children.

Excellence and quality of experience go hand in hand at Rivers

There are a lot of issues I have with Mark Edmundson’s article “Where Should I Go to College?” – the cynical tone, the thinly disguised objectivity, the simplistic stereotypes, the predisposition to create good guys and bad guys, purity v. impurity – the list goes on.  For Edmundson students are just abstractions to be categorized.  Whatever truth I might think his argument contains, as an educator I refuse to put my students in a box, conveniently label them, and then climb on my high horse of educational purity in the midst of “corporate” slime.”

But as is the case with most arguments that touch a nerve, there is an element of truth in Edmundson’s thesis, and to deny it is equivalent to putting my head in the sand. Education and learning have for many become simply a means to the “good” life, a way to stem the tide of inter-generational downward mobility. Resume-building trumps intellectual curiosity as students feel the pressure to attend the college that will most help them advance their careers.

But the two values – learning for learning’s sake and learning as a means – can be reconciled.  The “good” high school as Edmundson sarcastically refers to it can serve excellence and true learning.  The key component is the value the school places on student quality of experience, students using educational experiences to discover what they love, what they don’t love, what they’re good at, and who they are.  The experience becomes a mechanism for gaining self-knowledge.  I see this happen all the time at Rivers because quality of experience is one of the critical values that defines “Excellence with Humanity.” 

I am the first to agree with Edmundson that too many schools produce “achievement machines.”  But I refuse to dismiss those students who, through experience, have come to realize that they are practical learners, that they want to see how the ideas in the classroom become relevant in the real world. Again, the critical factor is schools focusing on quality of experience as well as excellence, the journey as well as the result.  Please don’t tell me that the two are irreconcilable; they are both on full display at Rivers every day – the really smart kid who loves to bake and is encouraged to start a bakery stand at the local farmer’s market, the kid whose imagination is sparked by an assembly on robots and within a year the school has a robotics club and a computer science program, the kid who finds a talent for acting and is encouraged by her drama teacher to “go for it” and apply to acting schools. Yes, “excellence” can be perverted without the emphasis on quality of experience, but excellence plays a critical role in helping young people discover who they are and what they are good at – a sometimes painful but often ultimately rewarding journey. The key is that the school has to value quality of experience and its necessary sidekick, relationships, so that students know that they are valued beyond what they achieve.

Taking Stock

I recently read an article in The New York Times by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield who proposed that a company's ultimate success often rests with its leader's willingness to step back, examine, and reset, if necessary, the company's basic assumptions and goals. For them, self-examination is seen not as a sign of weakness, but one of confidence and creativity.

At Rivers we are spending this academic year conducting a self-study as the first step in the school's re-accreditation. Committees of faculty and staff have closely examined everything from the curriculum to the administrative structure. A summary document of our findings will be reviewed by an outside committee of educators, including the heads of Greenwich Academy and Milton Academy, and they will make their own recommendations to Rivers next fall.

I have been most interested in the results of the recent surveys that our students, parents, and alumni have taken the time to thoughtfully answer, because, as our “customers,” they are the true measure of whether or not we are fulfilling our mission to educate knowledgeable and compassionate leaders of tomorrow.

Across the board, each of these groups placed the relationships between student and teacher in the highest regard. It has been, and always will be, our first and foremost goal – what sets us apart as a community – to teach, coach, and mentor our students as unique individuals.

Students also praised our strong sense of community that provides a safe, comfortable, and accepting environment. Alumni felt that Rivers had prepared them well for college, with dynamic faculty and strong academic support as key to their success.

As we move forward, we’ll use the surveys and self-study reports to chart Rivers’ future course. Already we’ve begun to address areas where we can do more. Our recent Day of Consideration grew out of the study’s finding that we as a community need more opportunities to discuss and celebrate not only what brings us together, but what makes us different. Throughout the day, students and faculty met in workshops to discuss everything from stereotypes in music to experiencing a major loss. Our hope is that, having initiated these conversations, we’ll be more inclined to talk about these topics in our daily lives.

I am excited to see where our self-study takes us. It is a great opportunity to enhance what we already do well and improve those areas that will make us an even stronger community of learners.

Service Above and Beyond

One of my most deeply held beliefs is that if we graduate students from Rivers who are great academicians, great athletes, or great artists, but who are not great human beings, then we have failed as an institution. Key to achieving that goal is instilling in our students a genuine sense of caring for their fellow man, whether it is helping a fellow student with a math concept or running a campus road race for financial aid.

Sure, we have a minimum requirement for community service for graduation, but so many of our students go far, far beyond those 30 hours. Beginning in Middle School, leadership and community service are linked together as a natural extension of our definition of leadership – to be your best self and positively influence others. Middle School leadership days are often structured around service activities. That intertwining continues in the Upper School, where a key component of the Grade 10 RISE program is for each student to reflect on what he or she feels passionate about and then initiate a service project to address that issue.

Fifteen juniors just spent the first week of winter break in New Orleans participating in a rebuilding project in that still-devastated city. One of our juniors has actually founded her own non-profit organization to help bring education to young African girls – I don’t know many adults with that kind of drive. There are the Middle School programs in conjunction with the Natick Service Council, the Special Olympics run by our tenth graders, the Rivers Givers fundraising efforts to support local youth and teen outreach programs – the list goes on and on.

What I’m most pleased by – and what makes me believe we are doing something right – is the genuine enthusiasm I sense in our students. They are becoming the caring human beings we need for the future.

Click here to read more about the recent service trip to New Orleans. 

How Children Succeed: The Importance of Grit and Character

I just finished reading How Children Succeed by Paul Trough. I was looking forward to the book because its thesis that "grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character" are far more important than natural intelligence in determining achievement reinforces my own deeply-held perspective. I wanted data and hard science to substantiate this perspective. I must say, the first part of the book did not disappoint in this regard. In the first chapter, "How to Fail," Trough provides ample evidence to support the development of grit and curiosity as critical ingredients for success. I’ve always felt that failure is one of the underutilized yet most effective teaching techniques we educators have at our disposal. I especially like the section on "attachment" and close relationships between adults and students as vital elements in students learning how to persist.

In the rest of the book, Trough departs from scientific research and instead provides the reader with narratives about individual teachers, students, and schools. He becomes more of a storyteller as opposed to an expert, possibly because it is easier to chronicle examples than to connect those examples to real research. I felt that the salient points of his book would have made a compelling article. Moreover, he never consolidates his findings (what few there are), and as a result, the reader/educator/parent is left empty-handed. I was looking for the proverbial takeaways, but they never appeared. How disappointing! 

I'm not giving up on grit and determination and character. I still think these qualities are much more important than natural intelligence in shaping a fulfilling life. I agree with Trough that our failing students and schools are in dire need of more of this kind of "performance character." I just wish Trough had provided the proof to make my opinions rock-solid and indisputable. 

How do you feel about these traits? Did they play a role in your education and subsequent path in life?

Faculty-Student Connections: Rivers' Advisor System

One of the values that defines Rivers is relationships. In fact, relationships are at the heart of the Rivers experience. We believe when students know teachers want them to be successful, and when students know they are valued not as achievement-machines but as multi-dimensional human beings, they are more likely to stretch for excellence and more likely to pick themselves up when they inevitably fall. Relationships provide the grounding for students to explore, try new things, and test themselves. These students know that adults are in their corner, ready to listen, provide feedback, mentor, and support.

Relationships are part of Rivers’ DNA.

Several years ago in an effort to do a better job of promoting relationships, the school undertook a self-examination of the advisor program. We liked our program, but we thought it could be better. We made several changes including adding more advisor-advisee time and one-on-one meetings, introducing parent-advisor conferences, creating advisor-team meetings, and using professional development money to discover best advising practices. These efforts stemmed from our desire to do a better job of living our values. The results have been dramatic. The link below will take you to a video about the Rivers advisor system. Enjoy!

VIDEO: Advisory Groups Nurture Student-Faculty Bonds

Why Rivers Implemented a New Schedule

This year Rivers introduced a new schedule, one that is significantly different from schedules of years past. With this new schedule, each course meets three times a week. On Monday each class meets for 45 minutes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays half of the classes meet for 80-minute blocks, and on Wednesdays and Fridays the other half of the classes meet for 80-minute blocks. 

So, why did we change the schedule?  What difference does a new schedule really make? 

For Rivers, the answers to these questions are in the values that define the school – specifically, our commitment to excellence, quality of experience, and innovation. 

The new schedule promotes excellence by forcing students to go deeper, gain greater insight, and revise their theories and assumptions. Longer periods mean deeper, more sophisticated thinking. Science teachers appreciate the extra time for labs and demonstrations. Teachers have had no problem varying activities within the 80-minute block to ensure students are engaged. 

Moreover, the new schedule reflects Rivers' commitment to quality of experience. We are no longer herding students from one class to another without suitable breaks and time to decompress. Students report that homework is much more manageable, and the pace of the day is not so frenetic. 

And finally, the new schedule illustrates the spirit of innovation that is a hallmark at Rivers. This is a school that is constantly looking for more and better ways to live its mission and values. The drive to find a better schedule that fosters both excellence and quality of experience emanates from this spirit.

Both students and teachers praise this schedule change! Click here to read more about the new schedule and to see some feedback from faculty members and a student.

Expressing Our "Life Force"

This summer, I had the opportunity to read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. The story prompted me to think about Jobs and Apple, and the question "What makes an organization great?"

I've spent a lot of time throughout my career thinking about this question and reading books and articles about the essential ingredients that make up great organizations – leadership, technical expertise, collaboration, management techniques, marketing, strategic planning, and execution.

But the biography of Jobs gave me a new slant. I came to the conclusion that perhaps the most significant reason for an organization's greatness is the passion to bring an idea to life and the ability to find a means of expressing that idea.

Apple's greatness stemmed from Jobs' obsession with bringing the marriage of technology and humanity to life – the functionality and practical work of computers married to a belief in creativity, elegance, art, design, and experience – the human dimension so antithetical to technology before Jobs. He was committed to finding ways to express this idea.

In this regard, he had so much integrity that he demanded even the inside of the Mac be elegantly designed. This demand was the truest reflection of his passion for making incarnate his idea of the need to combine functionality and elegance in technology.

Yes, Jobs wanted to beat Microsoft and other competitors, but the genius of Apple did not arise from that desire. Rather, it came from this passion to birth an idea. It was Jobs the artist, not Jobs the businessman or computer expert, who was the essential element in Apple's greatness.

The great dancer and choreographer Martha Graham wrote a poem that captures this concept so perfectly, and I quote in part:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy
A quickening
That is translated through you into action
And because there is only one of you
In all of time
This expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist
Through any other medium,
And be lost.
The world will not have it.

During the past year at Rivers, we have spent a great deal of time reflecting on what Excellence with Humanity means to us. What are we most passionate about at Rivers? We’ve distilled our thoughts down to five attributes that we use to define Excellence with Humanity - five areas that illustrate the "life force" of this idea:

• Excellence: We’re committed to maintaining high standards in and out of the classroom. 
• Quality of Experience: It matters to us that our students are happy - that they gain a sense of self-efficacy and autonomy by facing the challenges we give them.
• Relationships: When we know and care about our students as multi-dimensional human beings, they will stretch for excellence and be willing to take risks. 
• Innovation: We’re continually looking for better ways to live our mission. 
• Character: We want to graduate great academicians, artists and athletes, but we also want to graduate great human beings.

At Rivers, Excellence with Humanity is OUR collective art - it is our creation and it demands that we seek its expression in the work we do.

This is the mission and the promise we are committed to at Rivers.

Competition vs. Uber-competition

I can’t leave this topic of the pitfalls of an uber-competitive environment. Earlier this week, I pulled out my Duke Magazine (the November/December 2011 issue) and read the article “Dreams, Fears, Pressures: Beneath the Surface.” It details the intense pursuit of perfection and the deep-seated fears the highly successful Duke undergraduates are feeling. In the library at Duke, students are able to write down their greatest hopes and fears. Here is a sample of those thoughts: 

• “loneliness” 
• “to not fulfill my own goals” 
• “accidentally hurting people, especially ones I care about” 
• “that I am damaged goods” 
• “having people realize that I am not as perfect as I try to be…” 
• “being alone” 
• “to give it all back to my parents” 
• “making my parents proud” 
• “to stop caring about the fact that I won’t be in med school” 

These are Duke students. Has the drive to compete, to be perfect, to meet parental expectations drained the humanity out of them? 

Do the quotes help you understand why Rivers subscribes to “Excellence with Humanity?” On one level, “Excellence with Humanity” signifies a balance between developing a competitive spirit, and discovering and developing talents and passions (being true to oneself). I know for some people, this balance is hard to comprehend. For some, getting ahead is the only thing that matters and they believe teaching kids how to do that is the job of independent schools. Indeed, competition is important and teaching students how to compete to improve their performance can be growth-inducing. But competition should be balanced with the legitimate pursuit of self-knowledge, the awakening of passions, the stuff that makes us human and ultimately will make us happy. This is the balance that Rivers strives for.

When schools create a super-competitive culture in which students are only striving for the gold ring of an Ivy League admit, they run the risk of graduating young people whose humanity has been stifled. Competition is a good thing; uber-competition is not.