I am off campus for the entire week of October 23rd, and I spent the first part of that time, from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, serving on a visiting committee at a school undergoing a NEAS&C reaccreditation. While it would be inappropriate to say much about the school itself, I would encourage colleagues interested in intense professional development to accept any invitation to serve on one of these committees. Full disclosure: it is a lot of work. My committee met until 10 on Sunday night, 10:30 Monday night, and nearly midnight on Tuesday night, and we were at the school before 7:30 on Monday and only slightly later on Tuesday and Wednesday. When you are on campus, you are either frantically seeking out people you want to interview or working on the written report; off campus, you meet with your committee to discuss the school and the standards and to write some more.

It is intense, but it is very fulfilling. It is fascinating to take such a thorough look at another school, and, inevitably, it is an occasion for reflection about your own school and work. It is also a chance to get to know ten or eleven colleagues from other schools and to spend a few days in serious conversations about about teaching and learning, residential life, coaching, and everything else that we do.

If you get a chance, do it. It will be challenging and exhausting, and you will really enjoy it.

The Mindfulness program got under way formally last week in sixteen different classes involving four different disciplines. The course will involve eight roughly ten-minute sessions and will introduce students to the concept of Mindfulness, its many benefits, and several Mindful practices. The early feedback has been encouraging; several students have expressed an interest, and participation in Club Med is up (with the new participants coming from the classes introduced to Mindfulness).

I will solicit student (and faculty) feedback more formally toward the end of the course, but I am encouraged that a high percentage of the students seem to be receptive to learning about Mindfulness.

More about Mindfulness at Avon here.

With exams looming and faced with writing a new one myself, I am thinking now is a good time for a conversation about exams. We could confront “big picture,” philosophical questions such as what is the real purpose of exams, and is the traditional format the best way to achieve that purpose? Or we could deal with nitty-gritty questions such as whether the content on the exam should be cumulative or more recent stuff, how to write an exam for the designated time frame, and the proper ratio between questions that test content knowledge and questions that test skills.

If this seems like a conversation you would like to have, complete this survey, which was also emailed to you, and I will schedule one or more conversations during “free” periods in the Clark Room. Perhaps I will even be able to offer refreshments.

I was touched over the break to read that the new Poet Laureate of the state of Vermont, Chard deNiord, writes “I credit my (school) English teacher and poet … with sparking my first love of poetry, which has endured.” I was touched because the teacher/poet in question was my father, Edwin Custer (AOF ’43), but it is a fitting reminder of just how powerful and enduring the impact of teaching can be. Dad died in 1978, and in 2015 a celebrated poet saw fit to mention his influence.

There is nothing new in this, of course. All of us can name teachers whose influence we remember and appreciate; perhaps we can even name the ones who inspired us to become teachers (or poets). It serves as a reminder, though, that even as education reformers push us toward more and more specific ways of measuring teaching success, some important aspects of our work may always resist measurement.

The first formal session of the conference was kind of a pep rally for the North American Boarding Initiative (N.A.B.I.), which is a TABS initiative designed to get the word out about boarding schools and the great work that we do. There were a number of inspiring speeches about why various schools have opted to sign on to the Initiative, and TABS executive director Pete Upham was particularly articulate the importance of the boarding school experience (and, therefore, of N.A.B.I.). To be honest, though, my favorite quotation came from this video, which TABS uses to tout the importance of boarding schools. In it, a faculty member says: “if you’re cynical about young people, you don’t know any.”

My next session was another one on Mindfulness in Boarding Schools; this was given by folks from Mercersburg Academy. The session was not so much an introduction to their program as it was an introduction to Mindfulness itself and an exploration of how it can serve students and a broader school community well. Having looked at Mindfulness from the curriculum perspective, I was interested that this presentation came from the director of counseling and head of residential life

At lunch, TABS announced the winner of the Ruzicka Compass Leadership Award, which is named for Steve Ruzicka the first executive director of TABS and “recognizes extraordinary contributions to the excellence, advancement, and success of boarding schools.” This year’s honoree was Avon Old Farms’ own Dr. Henry “Skip” Flanagan, who, while headmaster at Western Reserve Academy, worked with Steve Ruzicka to make TABS a reality. Skip was introduced in glowing terms by a California headmaster and then delivered a gracious and entertaining acceptance speech, which was met with a standing ovation. It was a fitting tribute to the powerful impact that Skip has had in his decades of service in boarding schools.

After lunch, I attended a session on creating a Culture of Professional Growth among the faculty. Folks from Vermont Academy made some interesting specific recommendations, which I will pass along to Jim and Rob, but I was intrigued by two aspects of their program in particular. One was that they ask their faculty to state their goals in the form of a question, as in “How could I…?” I tell my students the title of their research paper must be a question on the theory that their thesis will be the answer to that question. I suppose this idea works the same way; when I focus my attention on how I might achieve my goal, I am one step ahead of where I was when I set the goal. The second notion was the importance of developing a growth mindset among the faculty. This is important both because faculty who have a growth mindset are much less likely to become complacent and because students are more likely to adopt a growth mindset if their teacher clearly embrace one.

The last session of the day was on Positive Psychology, and the presenter was Chris Thurber, a counselor at Exeter. This was an interesting, fast-paced session, and two things struck me. First, perhaps because of my own proclivities and/or the sessions I had already attended, I noticed a huge overlap with the ideas embodied in Mindfulness. At one point, Chris had us doing an exercise in mindful eating without ever using the word “mindfulness.” Second, he put a heavy emphasis on students having time for reflection, which, of course, they do not have in most schools such as ours. He acknowledged the injecting time for reflection into a daily schedule is easier said than done but insisted that it needs to be a priority.

Day Three began with the annual meeting of the members. The Chair of the Board gave a brief update on their work (again, including a new strategic plan to be approved and fully unveiled in January). When David Coleman spoke, his remarks included his thanks to the members who challenge the Board and ask tough questions (a theme he had touched on earlier). Another theme he revisited is that the College Board, if it truly wants to be part of the solution in education, needs to be paying attention to student outcomes long before they reach the school-to-college transition (witness the new 8-9 PSAT).

My next session was called #RealTalk with Students, and featured members of the CB’s sitting student panel (whenever a College Board committee convenes, they have representatives of the panel there to provide the student perspective, and the panel meets on its own twice a year). The topic was the college process, and the format was that the moderator would name an aspect of the process, the audience – teachers, guidance counselors, college administrators – would guess whether that aspect served the students well or poorly, and then the students would express their opinion. In general, the adults were pretty good at anticipating student responses. I was interested that a couple of students saw through the college rankings, specifically identifying “fit” as more important than prestige. When one counselor asked about when the college process should begin, the students were of one mind: let them know as freshman what they will need to have accomplished by senior year, and then leave them alone until the middle of junior year. Good advice.

Next was a session on strategies for the AP U.S. History redesigned course, which turned out to be an explanation of some pretty creative things a couple of innovative teachers do. Particularly noteworthy: a “speed dating” exercise in which each student adopts an historical persona and then they rotate through a series of short interviews.

Lunch brought a presentation by Elizabeth Slavitt, Khan Academy’s Director of Content, on the partnership with the CB for SAT Prep. Sounding like David Coleman, she spoke about the idea that completing the Khan Academy materials would be a learning experience rather than “just test prep.” One thing is certain: the partnership is definitely bringing test prep to a new cohort of students. Though the Khan Academy program has only been “live” a short time, more students have already completed it than normally take a test prep course in a calendar year!

After Ms. Slavitt spoke, we were treated to another session with a student panel (including one or two who had been in the morning session). They were an impressive lot. One young man caused a commotion when he was asked what college was his top choice. He responded with “Vanderbilt. Call me!” Did he know that Board of Trustee Chair Doug Christiansen, who was sitting only a few feet away, serves as Dean of Admissions at Vanderbilt? He does now.

The conference ended, but the learning never stops. For example, on the way home, I learned that the small jets that fly routes such as DC-to-Newark and Newark-to-Hartford are frequently and predictably delayed. I also learned that if one is stranded in Newark after having checked his bag through to Hartford, there is no mechanism for him to get the bag back overnight, so things such as daily medications, toothpaste, deodorant, and a change of clothes are unavailable. Next year, this event is being held in Chicago; I think I’ll walk!

After a forty minute walk to the conference hotel and a very pleasant breakfast with some financial aid officers from Cleveland and Kansas, I fulfilled my duty as Academic Assembly delegate by attending the Assembly’s annual meeting.

Academic Assembly Council Chair Pam Paulson opened the meeting by noting winners of some CB Art awards, including one in which participants had involved study of medicine (including pig heart dissection) and physics in creating pieces of art based on sonogram images! She then introduced CB President David Coleman, who opened his remarks by praising Luis Martinez-Fernandez, who lives the work of the Academic Council and whose term on the Council, including years as it’s chair, expired with the close of the meeting. Having worked with Luis on a couple of committees (including the Council), I know he richly deserves Coleman’s praise, and the Council will be hard-pressed to replace his relentless advocacy for students and their teachers. Coleman again spent a few minutes on the SAT/PSAT redesign, saying it was an effort to make them “worthy of instructional attention.” He then spent considerable time discussing the AP program, noting at first that a woman or minority student who takes an AP course in a STEM field is four times as likely to major in a related field than one who does not. Asked about the perception that AP courses are no longer the equivalent of a college course, he was quick to reject the premise. He pointed out that students who do well in an AP course/exam are as or more likely to succeed in the next level course than non-AP students who took the introductory course at college. (This point was underscored with data at a later session; students who earn a 3 on AP do as well in the sequent course as students who take the first level course on campus, and students who earned a 4 or 5 do better in the sequent course than “native” students.) Indeed, one college professor (who is on the Academic Assembly Council) challenged college faculty to give AP exams to their students if they doubt its efficacy. There was also some discussion of the strategic plan the Board of Trustees hopes to approve in January, and the delegates were put to work generating lists of opportunities and impediments in the current education climate.

During lunch, the CB presented its Medal for Distinguished Service to Education to America’s Promise Alliance, whose Founding Chairman is General Colin Powell and whose current chair is Alma Powell. Mrs. Powell spoke powerfully about their work in support of students and schools. In describing the importance of widespread support for students, teaching, and learning, she mentioned that the awesome power of the Mississippi River – you can find fresh water far out into the Gulf – begins with rivulets far to the north, east, and west of the Mississippi delta.

Next came a college fair, which  I attended for old times sake and to fly the banner. There were exactly two college reps there who represent the same institution they did when I was in college counseling. Not surprisingly, both are icons.

The last session of the day was about college faculty involvement in the AP program. People seemed concerned that College Board employees who may or may not know a discipline were somehow dictating the course outlines and exams for AP and wanted to be sure we all understood it is college professors. It was a valuable session in a number of ways, but I was glad to be there when Jonathan Chu, Chief Reader in U.S. History, made an interesting point about reviewing the bases of traditional curricula. (Historians: he said ours was based on the Peace of Westphalia; brownie points if you can tell me the thinking!)

Then I walked back to my nephew’s place and enjoyed a very pleasant dinner al fresco on November 5th!

Having had good success getting work done on trains, I took Amtrak from Hartford to DC for this year’s College Board National Forum. I did, in fact, get quite a bit accomplished, but the in-car wifi was less reliable than I would have liked, so a number of essays remain unread.

Despite the lengthy trip, I arrived in time for the Town Meeting with College Board President David Coleman. He was asked a number of questions that covered the entire specific-to-broad spectrum; for example, he was asked about specific proctor-training procedures and about whether some elements of the new SAT constitute curricular overreach. I will pass along a few take-aways I thought interesting. First, he said repeatedly and in different contexts that it is time to make excellence easier; this appears to be a theme. He also laid out four “rules” that guide the CB’s approach to assessment, including the new SAT. First, assess only that which is taught and which will be useful to students in the future. (He pointed out the old notion of “SAT words” violated that principle.) Second, ensure students access what they have earned. If an assessment reveals a student of low income has great ability, but then she does not apply to college, what good was the assessment? Coleman outlined efforts the CB is making to do more in this area. Third, assessments must earn students and their parents something of value. He pointed to the AP program, which can yield college credit, as an example. The last “rule” for assessment-makers is to be humble and remember that it is great courses and hard work that change student performance – not assessments. The other interesting tidbit was his response to a question about the Khan Academy partnership and test-prep, which the CB has long held does not work. He said essentially that the Khan Academy program is designed to give students practice at important work and to disrupt the notion that only costly test prep can get you ready for the SAT.

After the Town Meeting, I ran into Trevor Packer, who runs the AP Program, in the hallway. When he asked how I felt about the new AP history rubrics, I was forced to admit I had not seen them, so Trevor emailed them to me on the spot – technology does bring some advantages – and now I have them. (They look much improved at first blush; they seemed to have addressed many/most of the issues raised at last June’s AP US reading.)

The day ended with a reception for delegates from New England and a Metro trip/walk to the home of nephew Nathaniel Custer (once of the AOF English department) and Daniela Bailey (once of the MPS history department), who are graciously putting me up (putting up with me?) during the conference.