#1: School Purpose

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Innovation in action: Creating a new vision of school that prepares students to live

In this Christensen Institute post, David Miyashiro, superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District, shares how the district has embraced the vision: "Happy Kids, Engaged in Healthy Relationships, on a Path to Gainful Employment". The vision is based on the Science of Learning and Development and Miyashiro says, "Let's all embrace the notion of education as a service, an essential service, to our children—a service that we can improve by returning to the practical application of ideas toward ensuring every student is prepared for a life post-graduation...aka educational innovation."

#2: School Leadership

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After conducting environmental scans, competitive analysis, and demand trends in his strategic planning work with schools, Education Consultant Ian Symmonds shares six strategic trends he is seeing in schools. Some of the trends Symmonds identifies are: consumers favour immersive learning experiences, schools are experimenting with scaling and new price models, and talent acquisition is of deep concern.

#3: Governance

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#4: Education Program Foundation

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Mapping Skills for the Future

Writing for ASCD, Andrew K. Miller, Director of Teaching and Learning at Singapore American School, outlines the steps that the school took as part of a five-year process to ensure that students gain career-readiness skills:

• Start with mission and vision
• Articulate necessary skills
• Develop competencies
• Map competencies to curriculum
• Develop performance assessments
• Monitor progress

#5: Learning & Teaching

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How Can High School Sports Better Serve Students?

In this Mind Shift article, Linda Flanagan, author of the forthcoming book, Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids' Sports—and Why It Matters, highlights eight overarching strategies that high school leaders can take to invigorate their sports programs. The strategies are from the Aspen Institute's Sports & Society Program's recent report, and Flanagan spoke with the report's co-author Tom Farrey, who stressed that "A successful sports program should be defined not by titles and wins but by the number of students who are active at school."

#6: Student Well-Being & Support

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Common Misconceptions About Dyslexia

This Edutopia article looks at common misconceptions about dyslexia, a condition that affects approximately one in five students. For example, many people believe dyslexia to be a vision problem, but it is actually connected to decoding. The article also includes evidence-based teaching practices that can make a powerful difference for students with the condition.

Worth a listen: Ideas with Nahlah Ayed: Myth of Normal, Part One. IDEAS traces the social and cultural response to brain variation and whether there's a way back to seeing them as advantages.

#7: Essential Concepts

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Chapel and EDI: An Elevator Pitch

Keven Fletcher serves as Chaplain, Faculty Mentor, and Indigenous Liaison at St. Michaels University School. The school has been navigating an EDI-aware path for 15 years and in this piece (beginning on page 12 of Connections Quarterly), Fletcher shares some key understandings that have emerged, including five considerations when approaching stories from traditions other than one's own.

#8: Custodial Care

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China: Could lockdown fatigue influence outbound student mobility?

According to ICEF Monitor, there are some signs of strengthening outbound numbers from China. With respect to Canada, "immigration officials report that the number of new study permits issued to Chinese applicants in 2021 (19,640 in total) exceeded the number granted in 2019 (16,176)." In addition, Sunrise International's recent analysis shows that search traffic volumes for study abroad are surging in locked-down areas; Sunrise suggests that international recruiters re-invest in digital marketing in China.

#9: Recruitment & Community Engagement

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Are Giving Days Over? Not if You're Doing Them Right

Colin Hennessy, Senior Vice President of GG+A believes that the benefits of hosting successful "giving days" more than outweigh the challenges. To ensure your Giving Day maintains its value and relevance, Hennessy says advancement professionals should prepare 6-12 months in advance, build out a virtual hub and integrate giving days into your broader fundraising strategy. Hennessy also suggests that schools host more than one giving day each year, e.g., use Giving Tuesday in October as a testing ground for your Spring Giving Day.

#10: Human Resources

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The Key to Retaining Young Workers? Better Onboarding.

The authors of this Harvard Business Review are from the University of Massachusetts. They share new research from workforce development specialists that focuses on young workers and sheds light on the social aspects of onboarding that can help employers hire successfully. A few suggestions are: communicating opportunities for career progression, building positive relationships before hiring, assigning new hires a mentor and creating a culture where young workers can ask questions.

#11: Finance

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Inflation Swells Tuition Prices

According to this Inside Higher Ed article, rampant inflation is pushing tuition costs up at American post-secondary institutions. Last week, Boston University president Robert A. Brown sent an email to employees that described inflation as his biggest worry. Some institutions have already approved steep increases, and Jim Hundrieser, vice president of consulting services for the National Association of College and University Business Officers, said he expects to see near-historic tuition increases this year or next year if inflation doesn't ease soon.

#12: Facilities & Infrastructure

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