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We live in an age of acceleration. In the past, we largely defined our models for society as linear. But the rate of progress and change has far outpaced these linear models. The rate of change has become exponential. This means our students (the so called "Net Generation") inhabit a very different world than the one I grew up in. It is in this continual state of flux that we must prepare and educate our students for their future.

For us to be successful we, as educators at Friends School, must achieve continuous improvement in how we prepare our students for their future world. Our curriculum must be ever-changing and agile, utilizing cutting-edge education methodologies to be responsive to our students' needs. We strive to impart to our students the 21st century skills necessary to compete in an increasingly global economy: critical thinking, creativity, and effective communication.

To ensure that our curriculum develops these 21st century skills, we have formed three Curriculum Committees to review our program and implement changes as necessary. The three committees are Technology, Language Arts, and Creativity/Arts. Technology and Language Arts concentrate on developing a scope and sequence of skills and methodologies within these topics, while Creativity/Arts focuses on the integration of creativity skills throughout all subjects. Both committees look for crosscurricular opportunities to enhance and reinforce our students' core skills.

The following initiatives are being implemented throughout the 2009-2010 school year:

Language Arts: Grades K-6 have begun a new spelling program entitled Kathy Ganske's Word Journeys, which is an assessment-guided phonics, spelling and vocabulary instruction program. The program assesses a student's spelling development stage and plans instruction accordingly. Students engage in word study activities and strategies to learn word features (phonics), and in later years derivational constancy (concentrating on the meaning of words with Greek or Latin roots.)

Technology: Our recent addition of SmartBoards and Projectors enables dynamic lessons between students and teachers. SmartBoards combine the simplicity of a white board with the power of a computer. The SmartBoards are currently in the science lab, middle school math class, and a 3rd grade classroom. Integrating these technologies in our classrooms immediately brings a wealth of information from the internet to our students, further enriching their learning experience.

Professional Development: As part of our professional growth plan, our faculty members must each meet an objective to either improve a technology skill or develop an enhancement to the curriculum. Examples of these include requiring student work be submitted via email (paperless), create a "typing camp" for his/her class, and creating a class Wiki page.

All of us at Friends school: administrators, staff, faculty, and trustees, focus on the future of education. We are constantly researching various philosophies of many prominent educational authorities, such as Dan Pink, Sir Ken Robinson, and Ian Jukes. Personally, I have worked with Will Richardson (an author of a highly ranked blog and book) on ADVIS's PLP (Professional Learning Programs) technology initiative, and we have even watched a faculty meeting video entitled Learning to Change, Changing to Learn on YouTube.

All of this leaves me excited about the future. Our curriculum stands ready to adapt to the needs of our students, now and in the future, just as we at Friends School will continue to meet your needs today and for many tomorrows.

From the Head of School, Drew Smith (May 2009)

Last week our school community was treated to a first: a kindergarten play!  Not just any play, but one performed on our stage in the Big Exciting Space, with sets and costumes, and music playing through the sound system.  And the next day, students and teachers even had their own cast party.

Written by Teacher Leslie Grill, the play was officially titled, “we love our world, we love our friends, but we need we to be.”  Students as clouds, the sun and stars, trees and flowers, birds and bees, and the moon and a howling dog.  Those of us in the audience marveled at our young actors’ ability to memorize their line, both spoken and sung.  Although the level of nerves varied, the play came off without a hitch.

Traditionally, kindergarten is the year when children begin make monumental leaps in their ability to care for others, to empathize, and to complete formal work projects with one or more of their classmates. 

Taking turns, sharing, and waiting to begin what might be a favorite activity.  As kids grow, their community expands beyond their friends and classmates to ultimately include people of whom students only know through reading about them.  Empathy and sharing can eventually, in other words, include the world.

For these kindergarten students, “we need we” allowed them to act out one of the most important testimonies of Friends: Stewardship.  As a pretend ecosystem each kindergarten actor made clear to the audience that the system – the community – needed all of its components to provide something necessary to the others, in ways direct and indirect.  It was particularly touching to see the “clouds” bend closer to the “flowers” on stage in order that the rain would have a better chance at soaking the soil.  The “flowers” in turn, moved closer to the “bees” to facilitate make believe pollination. 

I discovered afterwards that these moments were instinctive amongst the kids, not blocked by the teacher directors.  Our students seem to be learning their lessons well!

I like to think of our kindergarten as planting the seeds of Quaker testimonies, hoping that as they move through the grades that testimonies like Stewardship can become integral to the lives that they will lead.  “we need we” will be memorable for our community; especially when we can marvel at how those “trees” and “bees” become the leaders we will count upon to take care of our world.

In my high school years, I was a pretty good tennis player. During my senior year, my doubles partner and I were ranked second in our conference. With my team’s MVP trophy in hand, I confidently joined my college’s tennis team. The first day of practice had me hitting against women who hit harder and with more accuracy than I had ever encountered. I quickly altered my assessment about my ability as a tennis player. Their level of play demanded so much more of me that I needed to improve or to not play at all.

My attendance at a recent seminar presented by Pat Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), confirmed for me that peers do significantly influence each other. Mr. Bassett stated that the value of persistence and the importance of peer norms were the leading factors for post-secondary achievement. The results of the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) show that students who attended NAIS schools have experienced remarkable success relative to their peers. This study began tracking a nationally representative sample of eighth grade students in 1988. Two-thirds of these eighth graders anticipated attending and graduating from college. By 2000, only 38.1% of these students who attended public schools had completed a four year college degree while 76.3% of these students who attended NAIS schools received a bachelor degree or higher. Quite an astounding comparison!

Just as my college teammates were more focused and disciplined than my high school tennis team, more students in private schools are achievement oriented than their public school peers. I was a better tennis player having played with better teammates. Your child will have better chances for success in life because he/she has attended an independent school.