Constituent Ed

List of 9 items.

• #WinAtSocial

  by Gracie Wessinger
  Director of Guidance Services
  September 4, 2020
  
  

  And we’re off! We started another academic year at CCS this week, our 100^th! While this isn’t the 100^th year we had in mind even 8 months ago, the faculty and staff at our school are excited to begin working with students in an authentic and intentional way again through a mixture of Canvas, Zoom, and in-person instruction.

   

  As we begin this unusual year, it’s a really good time to remember our school identity statement. It says,

   

  At Christchurch School, we combine 100 years of tradition, community, and relationships with a dynamic and innovative approach to learning that meets each child where they are and prepares them to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

   

  The times we are all experiencing right now make this feel very relevant, and we are excited to introduce a new program in our advisories that is a real example of this approach that prepares our students for a rapidly changing world while at the same time reinforces the importance and power of supportive relationships, conversation, and connection.

   

  We are beginning a partnership with The Social Institute to support families and help students navigate challenges related to social-emotional health, social media, and technology. In these stressful times, where students will be spending a good deal of time in front of a monitor and/or their phones, we hope that you will spend a few minutes reading the contents of this email.

   

  The #WinAtSocial Program at Christchurch School is provided by The Social Institute, a leader in engaging, student-led lessons related to social-emotional health, social media use, and technology. Their positive, high-character, gamified approach is created with student leaders and researchers across the country and provides a way for us to engage our advisees in important and relevant conversations in which students have a real voice.

   

  How Your Family Can Participate:

   

  1. Throughout the upcoming school year, we will engage students through relevant, student-led discussions in advisory that encourage them to open up about social-emotional health, social media, and technology. After each virtual lesson, we’ll email you the Family Huddle tohelp you continue the conversation with your student and align with the topics that we’re discussing as a school community. 

   

  2. Register for the Resource Portal for the 2020-2021 school year by using these step-by-step instructions.

   

  3. Review the Parent Playbook for an overview of the partnership. 

   

   

  More About The Social Institute's #WinAtSocial Program:

   

  The Social Institute’s enhanced #WinAtSocial Program provides in-person and remote, real-time advisory sessions that support students’ social-emotional health and well-being. The program was created in collaboration with student leaders across the country and The Social Institute’s Research Advisory Committee, a group of psychologists and social-emotional learning experts. 

   

  Topics Discussed in #WinAtSocial Include:

   

  • Reflecting our values, character, and interests in our actions online. 
  • Balancing our time and attention on tech with the people around us. 
  • Surrounding ourselves with positive and credible influences.
  • Using social media as a microphone to create meaningful change. 
  • Finding your own path no matter the pressure from others.

   

  While #WinAtSocial focuses mainly on social media use and presence, many other topics outside are also included. For example, this Friday we will be exploring “How To Set Up Our Entire Community For Success This Fall,” something we are all anxious but optimistic about!

   

   

• Fall 2020

  A Letter to Parents
  by Neal Keesee Ph.D.
  Associate Head of School
  August 13, 2020
  
  Dear Parents and Students,

   

  I know that everyone is anxiously awaiting more information about the school year. We are working hard on getting everything ready, and I want to provide the information that we have about specifics:

   

  Class Schedules

   

  We will have class schedules available on Monday, August 17. These will be accessible on our website, the school portal.  At the same time, we will have information available about class materials such as books and subscriptions.

   

  In order to maximum safety on campus we will begin the school year with an alternating schedule which will make classes smaller and limit the numbers of people in classrooms and moving around campus. Each class will have an “A” and “B” section that will meet separately. Those classes will have a common learning plan in Canvas (see below) and students on campus will have a schedule each day for studies and activities.

   

  A New Tool for Learning: Canvas

   

  In order to support the hybrid approach to teaching and learning that we announced in May (hyperlink to May letter posted on blog page), we are introducing a new tool for learning management called Canvas. This is a web-based system that will allow our teachers to build class units that all students can access, whether they are on or off campus. This is a very rich tool that will give students access to all course content and objectives, built around weekly units.  Parents will also have access, something we will get set up during student orientation. We will continue to use our school website for term grades, transcripts and some other functions, but Canvas will be the central clearinghouse for our teaching and learning.

   

  Advisories

   

  Advisor assignments for students will be available on our website on Monday, August 17. 

   

  Co-Curriculars

   

  Students will sign up for their fall co-curriculars when they register on campus.  So depending on which arrival group students are in, they will sign up on different dates. In this unusual year, one of our primary goals with our co-curricular programming is activity and engagement. We will be offering both one and two-hour activities, as well as daily and alternating day options.

   

  Student Orientation

   

  Student orientation will take place virtually for all students the week of August 24, beginning Monday.  More details on this will be coming soon, but this will include an orientation to the academic plan for the year, Canvas, and on-campus procedures for health and safety. Seniors will also have a college admission workshop during the first two days of classes (beginning August 31) that will get them really going with applications and essays.

   

  As we have more specifics, we will get more information out to you, but I hope that this update is helpful.  Please note that the school calendar on the website is up to date, though of course changes are always possible!

   

  In closing, I want to note that in this challenging year our overriding goal has to be the safety of each member of our community.  We want to offer the richest experience that we can for our students while maintaining safe practices.  That will mean that we cannot be as flexible as we might wish. Whether it is arrival groups, class groupings, co-curricular offerings, or lunch shifts, we ask that families honor our scheduling; it is what we need to do together in this challenging time to ensure the best and safest experience for all.

   

  Sincerely,

    

  Neal K. Keesee Ph.D.

  Associate Head of School

   

   

• What Kids Need

  by Dr. Neal Keesee, Associate Head of School
  May 2020
  
  For several years now, we have been talking at Christchurch about the education we provide having two core components. First, it uses dynamic, authentic methods to equip students with the competencies they need to prosper in a rapidly changing world. Second, it surrounds them with a web of community-based relationships that help them to develop their identities and find the confidence to be resilient in the midst of change.  

   

  Now more than ever these two components of a Christchurch education––dynamic curriculum and supportive relationships––are vital for young people. As we all wrestle with the uncertainty of the world right now, we know kids need to be able to DO, to THINK, to CREATE, and to ENGAGE so that they can accomplish what they set out to do (DO), think critically about the world around them (THINK), express themselves and solve problems (CREATE), and work with others in their communities and the world (ENGAGE).  We are building our core Christchurch competencies for students around these categories.
  
  

  NEXT YEAR

   

  Next year, we want as many students together on campus as is safely possible. We will make a final decision about exactly how we will open school in July. But we know we want our students on campus. We have all––students, parent, teachers–– learned how much we value the relationships of a residential community and we intend to keep building those into the heart of what we do. We also know that not all of our students will be physically present on our campus next year.  And we also know that many families are wrestling with what to do about school in the fall. With all this uncertainty in mind, I want to provide a view into how we as a faculty are preparing for the fall.

   

  Because members of our community will be in different places, and because even on campus we will most likely be observing social distancing precautions, we know that how we deliver our educational model has to be different from this spring. We strongly believe the fundamentals expressed above are not only sound but vital. But we have to provide them in a way that all of our students can access them.  Equity is very important.  What we did this spring worked well enough, but for the fall we plan to deliver a much more intentional, designed program to give our students the dynamic curriculum and supportive relationships they need.

   

  A HYBRID LEARNING MODEL

   

  To accomplish this, we will be using a hybrid learning model, based on both best practices in our industry and our own reflection on our community’s needs. This model will:

   

  • Allow all of our students, whether on campus or not, to engage with our program and community
  • Be thoughtfully and intentionally designed rather than being an off the shelf online curriculum or a hastily implemented online version of classes.
  • Include the core tenets of our CCS approach: students finding meaningful learning through making connections, having authentic, real-world experiences, building long term competences that will prepare them for college and life, and using place—whether ours or theirs—to build relevance.
  • Include continuous college counseling support, advisory, as well community connections, events, and opportunities for the student/student and student/adult relationships that are at the heart of our community
  • Provide structure, predictability, and reliability along with flexibility and personal interaction

   

  To do this, we are implementing a hybrid asynchronous/synchronous program that will serve students at a distance and students social distancing on our campus. Each course will have a new digital common landing space where all resources for the course will be housed, broken into manageable modules with short and long term objectives. Opportunities for teacher video, chat, and message board conversation will be here along with all materials and feedback on student work. This interactive landing space will be asynchronous, meaning that every student, whether they are in their dorm room, at home in Richmond, or at home in Beijing, will have equal access.

   

  At the same time, teachers will have regular opportunities for synchronous collaborative work and interaction for students on and off campus. This will provide live support, feedback, problem-solving, and discussion.  

   

  If we are under social distancing restrictions, class sizes will have to be much smaller on campus. All students will be able to access the course landing page which will connect every student in the class, and then meet with their teacher in smaller groups for personal interaction. Students not on campus will have similarly scheduled opportunities for digital live interaction.  It is important to note that our Learning Skills Program will emphasize synchronous class sessions and support.

   

  So in a Humanities class, students will be able to access a weekly module that clearly shows the topic for the week, objectives for learning, and choices of assignments to read, watch, or prepare. Then during synchronous meeting times, students will be able to go deeper with their teacher and with other students to ensure understanding.

   

  We are excited about this not only because we believe it is the best possible response to the challenge facing us all, but also because it represents an opportunity to envision the future of Christchurch, one in which students might be on campus with everything it has to offer, but also travel, without missing out on the academic experience. 

   

  THE KEY IS PEOPLE

   

  A recent article in Inside Higher Ed noted a college professor’s survey of students’ experience with online education this spring, and concluded that predictable structure along with personal flexibility is the key to a successful experience.  While we plan to have students on campus with our hybrid approach, we agree that structure combined with personal flexibility is key.  In the end, education is relational, it is about the people, the students, the teachers, the parents.  That has always been our strength and Christchurch, and we are working to ensure that this remains the case.

   

  PREPARING OUR FACULTY

   

  Many schools did the best they could this spring with making classes available online. The results across the country have been mixed. We have been working hard envisioning a better model, and we believe the hybrid approach is it. But to do this in the fall, our faculty have to be ready. As a school we have invested in a new learning management system called Canvas that will provide the common landing space for each class. Our teachers are training in how to use this tool. But even more importantly, they are each taking a class this summer on teaching using a hybrid model, so that they are prepared for this new way of thinking, planning, and implementing their courses. We want to maintain the continuity of our students’ learning in these uncertain times, and making sure our teachers are specifically trained is a very important part of doing this.

   

  MORE TO COME

   

  As families wrestle with school options for the fall, I hope this information is helpful. While it is certainly true that all students will need basic internet access, the hybrid approach and tools that we are designing mean that enough options will exist that students without high speed video capable access will be able to engage in our program.   More detailed information about the opening of school will be available in July, including details about our plan for campus health and safety, course schedules, co-curricular offerings, and a revised school calendar. 

• Initiatives for 2020-21

  by Dr. Neal Keesee, Associate Head of School
  April 2020
  
  In this time when we are all grappling with the new uncertainties of our world, I am writing about next school year.  While right now we are working on various options for what school at Christchurch will be like for all of our students in the fall, I hope that we will be back in business, here, together on the Rappahannock, as usual. Whatever school will look like exactly, we are committed to Christchurch remaining Christchurch, so that the heart of why you chose CCS remains: the support, the connections with one another and our place, and the focus on real world, relevant skills and experiences.   

   

  It is now the time of year when we start working on course registration. Below is a link to lots of information about classes for next year: what to think about and how to sign up. But first I want to introduce some new initiatives for next year.
  
  

  Change to Graduation Requirements

   

  We are making one change to our graduation requirements, by introducing a Creativity graduation credit that will replace the current Visual and Performing Arts credit.  Right now students are required to take a one year course in either visual or performing art.  While we certainly do not intend to deemphasize the important role that these courses play in our curriculum, we do want to expand the choices students have for fulfilling the requirement to engage creatively. Accordingly, beginning with class of 2021, students will have the option of having computer science design courses such as Design and Technology fulfill this graduation requirement.  We are not making a change to either of these departments; we are simply providing more ways for students to meet the requirement for creative engagement. We encourage students to take courses in both the visual and performing arts and in computer science, but we hope that this change will provide students with options that are the best fit for them to meet the graduation requirement.

   

  Partnership with One Schoolhouse

   

  We are also pleased to announce an institutional partnership with the One Schoolhouse organization. One Schoolhouse offers high quality online courses to students in independent schools across the country and across the globe. Teachers of these courses teach in independent schools and are held to high standards, especially in developing a relationship-based approach to teaching and learning.  As a way to expand the offerings available to Christchurch students, we are making part of the One Schoolhouse catalog available to our students.  

   

  Students can take advantage of this in two ways.  First, in certain departments, One Schoolhouse courses may complete a regular course sequence.  An example of this is in World Languages, where entering students might continue a language that we do not offer.  In these cases, Christchurch will pay the tuition for these courses.  Second, students might decide to take an elective course through One Schoolhouse, such as a science elective or an Advanced Placement course.  In these cases, students may not substitute a One Schoolhouse course for a required Christchurch course or for a regular sequence course taught at Christchurch, and the school will not pay the tuition for these elective courses.  

   

  While we are excited about the opportunities this will create, and while we have confidence in the One Schoolhouse program, it is important to know that (as we have all experienced this spring!) online courses are not the same as in person courses. Taking a course online, especially from a provider other than Christchurch, requires significant independent motivation and follow through.  We will assign a Christchurch teacher to oversee students who wish to take advantage of this program, but it will still require the discipline to sustain individual work over time.  It is also important to note that while we are making Advanced Placement courses available to students who may wish to take one, we continue to believe that our Honors courses represent the most pedagogically sound approach to advanced study. Accordingly, in most cases a student may not take an AP course except as an elective.

   

  Grades for Elective Courses

   

  For next year we are introducing a change to the way that we grade elective courses. One of our biggest frustrations as educators is seeing students take classes for reasons that have nothing to do with interest or fit. All too often, outside of what is required, students elect to take courses based on the impact they believe that it will have on their grade point average. Sometimes students are interested in an elective class but decide against it because they worry it will bring down their GPA, and sometimes students take courses simply to raise their GPA. What this approach misses is that any one class has a minimal impact on overall GPA, and that many colleges actually recalculate GPAs and leave out what they consider to be non-core courses such as LSP, the arts, or theology. 

   

  We are very interested in finding ways to help students focus on internal motivation and authentic interest as reasons to take classes. We have found, and research bears this out, that the best indicator of long-term success in college is deep engagement rather than grades or particular content.  When students really begin to engage with an interest, it unlocks the motivation needed for overall success. To help with this, beginning with next year (and not retroactively!) elective courses will be graded on a Pass with Distinction/Pass/Unsatisfactory scale rather than with letter grades. These courses will thus not impact the GPA, but students (and colleges) will receive clear feedback on the student’s engagement level and achievement. Grading for courses in departmental sequences in Humanities, Science, Math, and Foreign Language will continue to receive letter grades. Courses in Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Science, LSP, elective courses in Humanities, and pure electives like yearbook will receive the pass/fail grade..  Similarly, courses taken through One Schoolhouse (including Advanced Placement courses), unless they are part of a departmental sequence like Foreign Language or Math, will also be Pass with Distinction/Pass/Unsatisfactory. We have discussed this change with colleges with which we work, and we believe that this will take some of the pressure off of students to pursue their interests without negatively impacting their college admission prospects.

   

  A Note on the Math Curriculum

   

  Math is, unfortunately, a source of anxiety for many students. Christchurch is in a multi-year process of redesigning our math curriculum to better prepare students for whatever their next level of math may be, whether that is second year of high school or first year of college. We want to ensure that our courses are aligned to provide the best preparation possible, which will in turn make students feel better prepared and so less anxious.  We are creating new courses that will engage students in hands-on learning that will prepare them for the standardized tests they have to take and for college math, by helping them really learn math with an appropriate level of challenge and support.

   

  As part of this process, we are renaming our courses this year to reflect the great mathematicians that are associated with the topics of each course. Relationships and understanding the relevance of learning are key parts of the Christchurch approach, and these courses prioritize these things.

   

  Trimesters

   

  I wrote earlier this year about our new calendar. Moving to a trimester system will help us to make the cycle of the school year fit more naturally with students mastering competencies and with teachers providing constructive feedback on student growth. The shift to trimesters will mean some changes in some department’s courses, most notably in World Languages, where all courses will now be year-long.

• The Future: Mastery Learning

  by Dr. Neal Keesee, Associate Head of School
  March 2020
  
  One of the fundamental truths of contemporary life is constant change. If we think about what has changed in just the last decade or so––whether it is smartphones, Uber, cloud computing, or any number of other ways large and small that life has changed––it’s pretty astounding. We have written before that Christchurch is dedicated to preparing students for a world and a life of change in two important ways. First, by a dynamic curriculum that prepares them for college and life in this changing world. And second, through emphasizing the human relationships of a strong community to sustain them though the disconcerting aspects of change.
  
  

  One of the ways that the world of education is changing to better prepare students for the future is a national movement called mastery learning. It’s really a pretty simple idea, but it is one that is gradually building in schools and colleges. Partly this movement is driven by the need to better align what students do in school with what they will need in the workplace: important and relevant competencies or skills that are developed in ways that mirror real tasks. And partly this movement is about giving students a better, more authentic education.  

   

  The basic idea of mastery is a response to the traditional system in which students complete assignments (often based simply on memorization), receive a grade, and then move on to the next assignment regardless of whether they have truly learned anything. In contrast, a mastery approach uses assignments, assessments, and feedback that are instead designed to allow students to develop and demonstrate true mastery of skills or competencies and material.  

   

  There are three key parts to what a mastery approach means:  

   

  First, it means meeting students where they are and working with them to give them multiple opportunities to show that they have an understanding of the concept or content being taught. Teachers ultimately want students to learn, and to be able to show what they have learned, what they know, and what they can do. Sometimes that requires different, and multiple, approaches. 

   

  Second,it means developing a set of competencies or skills that are the focus of learning. This doesn’t mean that content isn’t important, but it does mean that content becomes a vehicle for developing fluency in various competencies that students need for the future, whether those are writing, critical thinking, collaboration, or ethical reflection.   

   

  Finally, a mastery approach means designing teaching and assessment to be as authentic as possible so that student work involves products and audiences that are, wherever possible, real.   

   

  This general method has long been a part of the Christchurch educational approach. You can see it in our exit competencies—skills that we believe every Christchurch graduate should have—which are organized around Doing, Thinking, Creating, and Engaging. These exit competencies capture not only central academic skills but also broader skills learned outside the classroom. You can see it in our dedication to place-based education, global education, and our integrated work programs, all of which seek to have students make real-world connections in their learning. You also can see it in many of our classes, which increasingly strive to provide real audiences for student work, as well as project-based learning that mimics real world challenges. This is also one of the reasons that we have begun offering trend grading as an option, so that as students’ mastery of material advances, their grades reflect that that trend rather than a single point in time.

   

  Unfortunately, a significant part of high school education is less about what students have learned, and more about sorting and ranking students so that that colleges and universities can more easily judge them and decide on admission. This current system, based on a ranking system of letter grades and grade point averages, was first established in the early 20^thcentury, when the efficiency of the assembly line and mass production was a dominant force in society.   It absolutely made sorting and ranking students more efficient—letter grades quickly sort students––but these grades actually say very little about what a student can or cannot do. And this efficiency came at a cost of anxiety and stress which today is higher than ever.  It has also meant that education for students is often about the grade rather than about actually learning.

   

  It is important to understand that while no radical change is on the immediate horizon, high schools and colleges across the country are involved in a serious conversation about how we should represent student achievement. Is there a model that could reduce student and family  stress, promote real learning, and provide more meaningful feedback to students and more meaningful information to colleges?  

   

  The emerging consensus is that a mastery approach would do this. Sometime in the future, we will probably see the high school transcript look very different. Instead of letter grades in courses, a student’s transcript will reflect the competencies that they have mastered, as well as actual examples of how they have done so. This would provide colleges with a much better look at what students can actually do, and what their passions are. This could also draw on more than just purely academic skills, showing colleges a student’s ability to think critically, but also their ability to work with others, or to be creative in problem-solving.

   

  That future is not here yet, but we know that it is coming.  Christchurch belongs to a national organization called the Mastery Transcript Consortium, which is engaged in an enormous project of developing a multifaceted digital transcript based on competencies rather than letter grades.  This school year, a group of member schools is actually piloting the use of a prototype of this transcript with their graduates applying to colleges and universities.  Some of these students  have already received acceptances.  Christchurch is a part of this conversation, though we are not one of these pilot schools. We are watching this carefully, though, and we are in dialogue with the colleges and universities that we work with. 

   

  One of the things that we are most proud of is that as we have developed our new curriculum over the last decade, the list of colleges and universities that our students are gaining admission to has grown both in number and in variety.  That is not something we intend to endanger by being reckless.  Every change we make to better prepare our students we consider very carefully and in dialogue with our collegiate colleagues.  

   

  We are dedicated to giving our students the best education that we can, and also to be ready as change happens across our industry.  While a widespread change to a mastery system is not here yet, we are carefully nurturing that approach.  Our faculty is learning to work with a competency model, and we are thoughtfully embracing institutional practices that will support this approach.  For example, we are stressing narrative feedback—rather than simply grades--on the skills or competencies students develop in a class.  And with our calendar for the coming school year (available soon on our website), we are moving to a trimester model, with narrative comments in the middle and demonstration days at the end of each term.  While in some classes, these days might have a traditional exam, they also will provide the opportunity for students to use a demonstration model to show what they have mastered at the end of the term.  

   

  Rest assured that we seek to strike a balance between future-proofing our programs as these educational changes develop and ensuring that our students continue to gain admission to college right now. The most encouraging sign of all is that forward-thinking colleges and universities are beginning to implement the kinds of curriculum changes that we are engaged in here at Christchurch (see for instance, the new undergraduate curriculumat the University of Virginia).  We hope that as change unfolds, what is best for student learning and how we provide feedback to students and to colleges will more closely coincide than it does today. Our students will only benefit!

   

  For further reading, please see these websites:

   

  The Mastery Transcript Consortium: www.mastery.org

  Challenge Success: www.challengesuccess.org

   

   

• College Testing and Christchurch

  COLLEGE TESTING AND CHRISTCHURCH  by Dido Heath, Director of College Counseling and Test Coordinator November 30, 2019   Most colleges view performance in a rigorous high school curriculum as the best predictor of academic success in college, and this is the most heavily weighted factor during the admission process at almost all selective colleges. Christchurch’s curriculum is designed to provide work that facilitates a student’s personal development and prepares them for successful matriculation to college. Learning occurs as an extension of authentic intellectual opportunities and through relationships with teachers. For this reason, we choose to ‘go deep’ in subjects that truly help students to find their passion. You may have heard your student talking about a research project that they are working on in Humanities, or Science. These long-term projects are preparing them for success at the next level of their learning journey. You will not find worksheets or busy work here. Nor do we choose to teach students with multiple choice questions and scantrons. As colleges practice a ‘holistic review’ of student applications, test scores are one piece of the puzzle, alongside grades/course choice, essays and letters of recommendation. It is important to understand that inside admission offices attitudes are shifting in their reliance on test scores. In fact, the University of California system is currently debating whether to continue to require test scores as part of admissions - this decision could have a major impact on the rest of the country. Across the US, more than 1,000 institutions are now test optional, and fewer colleges require SAT Subject Tests (SAT 2s) or the essay. While the trend at selective colleges is toward more flexible testing requirements, for now test scores remain a stubbornly important factor for admission at many institutions. A generation ago, students were likely to take either the SAT or the ACT with little knowledge of the other test. In fact colleges have long been accepting both tests interchangeably. We encourage students to try both tests and stick with the one they prefer for test prep. There is no perfect timeline for testing, though students tend to do better with several (2-3) attempts and with some test prep. Most schools ‘superscore’ the sub-sections of the tests (taking the best score over several test dates), giving students the chance to improve their score with additional attempts, though taking the test more than 3 times is not recommended. Making an individual plan for testing early is advisable, since the tests are held on Saturday mornings and may conflict with athletic or family events (the dates for the tests held on campus are on the school calendar). As Christchurch prepares students for success in college through meaningful and engaging classroom experiences, we also recognize that in order to do well in the SAT or ACT, students need to learn how to navigate the type of questions that are found in these tests. In previous years we have brought an outside test prep company to campus to help prepare students for SATs. This year we are excited to offer a new test prep program to juniors that leverages the relationships that students already have with our faculty. This opportunity will provide a structured space for guided online test prep in small groups and will run for a 10 week period leading up to the April/May test dates. Students will also be introduced to tips and strategies for taking the tests. The sessions will be on Monday evenings, from 7:30-8:30 pm. All juniors are encouraged to sign up for this opportunity, unless they have an alternate plan for test prep.

• Nightly Reading Time

  by Peter Kempe, Librarian 
  Fall 2019
  
  

  Our new choice time in the evenings at Christchurch provides an important way for students to develop the skills of managing their workload, time, and—yes—their social choices. Part of this shift in culture involves the addition of reading time on all halls shortly after dinner, for forty minutes from 7:50 to 8:30 each evening. As school librarian, I’d like to explain the philosophy behind reading time, as well as some of the practicalities of implementing and supporting it. 
  
  

  WHY NIGHTLY READING?

  As the parent of two elementary school age boys, I certainly know how busy the evenings can be: there’s a lot to fit into the time between dinner and bed. However, research consistently shows that reading—and in particular, reading from paper and not from a backlit screen—helps the brain wind down and prepare for sleep. So first, beyond the educational benefits our young people will get from reading in the evenings, at the very least they are setting themselves up for a better night’s sleep.

   

  But of course reading provides many more benefits that set it aside from a hot cup of herbal tea and a cozy set of pajamas. Reading fiction builds empathy with those who live different lives from us. Reading allows us to travel the world, both through space and through time, where we can meet many more kinds of people than we could ever meet in real life. Through fiction, readers can essentially ride along with others and see how various life choices play out, experiencing the repercussions of these choices and building wisdom without having to live through all the hard knocks themselves. In this way, reading is especially important for adolescents as they make their way through a stage of life in which identity formation—figuring out what kind of person you want to be—figures prominently. 

   

  Reading nonfiction is also important for young minds. In a media-saturated world dominated by soundbites and tweets, a good book of nonfiction allows a reader to take a sustained dive and experience the joy of deeply knowing a subject.

   

  AT THE HEART OF IT ALL

  Our overall goal with nightly reading time is to build the habits of lifelong readers in our students. We believe that by finding the right books through their own choices, students will find it enjoyable to read, and thus build reading stamina when their interest is high. In Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers(2013), teacher and literacy advocate Penny Kittle notes that when she asked college professors around the country how much they expect first year college students to read—and whether there were any particular books they wished all high school students read—the resounding response was that they only wished for students to enter college having read “a lot,” so that they would have “a variety of experiences to draw on and the ability to handle the volume of reading expected in college” (20). How much are college students expected to read? Responses varied of course, but the most common answer was between 200 to 600 pages a week. Kittle’s point is that if we haven’t prepared our high school students to read at this level, we are sending them to college with a profound disadvantage. Instead, when a young person discovers that it’s simply a matter of finding the right book, or the right magazine, or the right author or genre, they will find themselves entering a limitless world of stories, experiences, and ideas as they begin building the habits of a lifelong reader that will serve them well beyond their college years.

   

  WHAT DOES NIGHTLY READING TIME LOOK LIKE AT CCS?

  On hall at Christchurch in the evenings, we’ve made it clear that students can read from any print texts they want. They can certainly choose to read from assigned work for classes, and many nights this might make sense, but they should also spend time reading something they have chosen on their own—something they truly enjoy.

   

  On some halls, students read together in the common rooms, while on other halls students read in their rooms. We have placed an “electronics collection station” on each hall so that students can read during this time without distraction. We’re supporting student reading by building mini-libraries in the common room of each hall, and purchasing several magazine subscriptions for each hall based on student suggestions. On-duty hall parents also read along with the students each night, as it is important for young people to have adults in their lives who model healthy reading habits. Perhaps the best way for a young person to learn that reading is not “just for English (or Humanities) class” is to see their coach or advisor reading alongside them.

   

  It might seem incredible, but as someone who has made independent reading time part of my weekly classroom experience for many years now, I can assure you there is something magical about a roomful of teenagers all quietly reading together. Once that critical mass is hit, there’s a sustained period of quiet in which only the occasional page turn is heard. Yes, once in a while someone falls asleep, but there are worse fates to befall us than to fall asleep reading a book amidst a roomful of our peers.

   

  WHAT SORT OF STUDENT DOES THIS HELP? 

  Free-choice reading time offers benefits to many different types of students:

  • Those who love reading, yet never have time to read for pleasure due to the demands of their schoolwork
  • Those who loved to read in elementary school but who became increasingly less interested as book reports and comprehension quizzes entered the scene
  • Those who dislike reading because it is “boring” (which essentially means they have never found books they enjoy)
  • Those for whom the very act of reading is difficult

   

  Regarding this last group, there are certainly many young people who struggle with the mechanics of reading, whether due to dyslexia or information processing difficulties. We have always provided a great deal of support for these students, and we certainly continue to do so, for example by allowing students with such documented issues to use audiobooks during reading time. However, there are also many students who have simply never come to see themselves as readers because it never became a habit, so every short story, textbook chapter, or assigned novel they read was always read for someone else. For these students, the opportunity to read the books they choose to read offers a chance at a new beginning.

   

  READING TIME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FAMILIES OF DAY STUDENTS

  We strongly encourage the families of day students to set up a similar structure at home. While this time might look different from what it looks like on campus, it is important for young people to have time to develop and stretch their reading muscles. Besides, their boarding peers will be clocking 200 minutes reading during this time each week! (Always feel free to apply some positive peer pressure.)

   

  Below are some recommendations we offer that might help you set up similar evening reading times in your own home:

  • Set aside the same time each evening—forty minutes if possible—for your student to read something he or she has chosen.
  • Have your student “unplug” by turning off devices or putting them in a separate room.
  • Make it enjoyable by making it cozy; ideally your student will look forward to this time. Consider making tea together and putting on a “focus” or “chill” playlist if that helps (featuring music without words).
  • If you can, take time for yourself to read during that time too. Family culture is important, and evening reading time can be a good way to de-stress and connect in a different way as a family.
  • Talk about what you're reading. Seeing curiosity and lifelong learning in action and talking about ideas with adults can be powerful for teenage hearts and brains.
  • Share recommendations for books with each other, or read a book together. (I’d be happy to offer a few recommendations if you have no idea where to start with this.)
  • Take your child to a bookstore or the library, or allow them to create an Amazon wish list for books.

   

  FOR FURTHER READING…

  If want to know more, you might check out these resources:

  • A 2018Smithsonianarticlediscusses research across 31 countries finding that growing up in a book-filled home offers lasting positive effects that persist into adulthood
  • A recent column in the New York Times by the editor of the Book Review on the importance of making reading fun, not work: “No, Your Kid Shouldn’t Get a Gold Star for Reading”
  • A 2010 studyby University of Tennessee education professors finds that simply providing low-income students with a number of self-selected books before the summer was just as effective at raising reading achievement as attending summer school

   

• A Philosophy of Discipline; the Judicial Council

  by Dr. Michael Heath, Dean of Students
  September 2019
  
  A friend of mine, who is also a teacher, likes to say that education is necessarily untidy. This has nothing to do with his own failure to plan in his work—he’s actually quite fastidious. Rather, he is speaking of the way that authentic education recognizes students as individuals with strong voices who need to be involved in ‘constructing’ their own learning experiences. Sometimes this means relinquishing control as the adult in charge, and this can get ‘messy’ because sometimes, believe it or not, teenagers fail to plan and even when they do, sometimes things don’t go according to the plan. If what Robert Burns says about the best laid plans applies to mice and men, it applies tenfold to the life of your average teenager!
  
  

  At Christchurch, we see education holistically. We understand that every moment is one of potential learning. The richness of learning is not limited to the classroom; it happens everywhere. It even happens, (we hope) in our philosophy of discipline. Whenever possible, we want students to learn from a consequence that is somehow related to a decision they made. At one level this is just simple behavioral science—like the causal link between a bell and a salivating dog. But at a deeper level, our philosophy is one which insists that students have a strong sense of agency, and as such, we want them to be actively involved in the meaning of their consequences when they make a mistake. This is especially true if they make a big mistake. 

   

  We have recently chosen the students who will be on the Judicial Council (JC) this year, and this past week I met with them for an orientation process. The Judicial Council is made up of faculty and students, and the students are chosen by the entire student body and the faculty and staff. It is a recommending body, which means it never has the final say in what will happen to a student—that remains with the Head of School. 

   

  The Judicial Council is pivotal for norming our community in two distinct ways. When someone has broken a major rule, they will typically appear before the Counsel to explain what happened and have the opportunity to fill in the context of their decision. The other reason someone might meet with the Council is if they are just bumping along, doing a lot of little things contrary to our community values. No great infraction has been committed. It’s just that they aren’t getting what we’re about and need to hear from their peers. And they need the opportunity to explain themselves to their peers and adults in the school. 

   

  These meetings are opportunities to learn on both sides of the table. The student who did something wrong learns the lessons of consequences and expectations within the context of a supportive, empathetic body of students and faculty. There is also a great deal to learn as a student Judicial Council member in the process. They need compassion and empathy. They also learn to work with courage to make difficult decisions that might be unpopular. 

   

  It sometimes feels as if the recommendations from the Judicial Council are inconsistent or too subjective. But only from the outside. It’s because with the necessary confidentiality of any given meeting, anyone not in that meeting is going to have quite a few pieces of the puzzle missing. When we are deliberating with a student in mind, we take their specific situation to heart, weighing up and attempting to balance what a student needs with what the community as a whole needs. As we do this, we work with the premise that education is necessarily untidy, but it works. 

• Keeping Up with Exponential Change

  by Dr. Neal Keesee, Associate Head of School
  August 2019
  
  We are embarking this year on a series of communications with the Christchurch family about the program here at school.  We pride ourselves not only on following industry best practices for educating young people, but also for being leaders in a time when education is going through great change, because the world is going through a time of great change.  We are excited about what we do at Christchurch, and we want to share that excitement and to inform parents, students, and alums about what we do and why.

   

  New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in his most recent book Thank You for Being Late, makes the case that we are living in a time of such exponential change that the pace of technological change has outpaced our personal and social institutions’ ability to keep pace.  
  
  

  Friedman argues that in order for communities, states, cities, and countries to thrive in this new world, they have to be innovative while at the same time be rooted in strong communities that can promote families, education and social cohesion. They have to be both dynamic and stable.

   

  This combination of the dynamic and innovative with stable community is precisely what we do at Christchurch.  Students need innovative approaches to education to prepare them for a world in which the amount of information is overwhelming and in which both college and jobs are rapidly changing.  To grow and be ready to thrive in that uncertain world, young people need to be exposed to age-appropriate choice; they need authentic, “real world” challenges that have value beyond the classroom; they need skills or competencies like critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and perseverance that can be applied in new situations; they need relevant and meaningful learning that happens through making connections; and they need rigorous, disciplined inquiry.  They need Liberal Arts for the 21^stcentury.

   

  But they need more than this; they need to do these things in a strong community based on relationships, values, trust, and high expectations.

   

  In the words of Stanford University Education professor Denise Pope, 

   

  ". . . students need to feel safe and cared for in school; they need to be healthy, both physically and mentally . . . they need supportive teachers, mentors, parents, and peers who will cheer them on and encourage them to take risks and help them learn from their mistakes; they need to see the value and relevance of what they are learning so that they are motivated and excited to work hard; and they need to learn the skills of communication, collaboration, adaptability, and critical thinking to be able to participate fully as active and ethical members of a global society."

  Source: Pope, Brown, and Miles, Overloaded and Underprepared 2015.

   

  This combination of innovative curriculum and strong, relationship-based community is at the heart of our programs. Each time we consider how to design or improve a program, we go back to our mission and identity statements:

   

  Christchurch inspires and guides each student’s unique journey to self-confidence, purpose, and identity. Within a caring, structured community, students discover their infinite value and develop the skills to become compassionate, successful, and engaged global citizens.

   

  At Christchurch School, we combine 100 years of tradition, community, and relationships with a dynamic and innovative approach to learning that meets each child where they are and prepares them to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

   

  This is who we are and what we do. Fundamentally, we hope to create a culture of learning and growth in our students that will last them a lifetime. Learning and growing into your potential can't be accomplished just by rules or due dates or grades. They have to develop within a positive culture that meets students where they are and then helps them to grow beyond themselves to be people ready for the world.

   

  We plan to make this a monthly feature from the Studies Office, each issue highlighting a program or practice that we are excited to share with you. In this inaugural piece, we want to talk about three, so please bear with us!

   

  
  AN ENGAGED DAY = CHOICE AT NIGHT

   

  One change we are thrilled to introduce this year is a recasting of our day and evening routine to help build student responsibility and reward constructive choices. For many years, students at Christchurch have led very full and active days with classes, co-curriculars, advisory, assembly, clubs, etc. Then in the evening, boarding and day students had the pile of homework to tackle, at the precise time of day when their energy and focus was at its lowest.  While this is the normal formula for school, we began to consider how we could make this better, while helping to prepare our students for the choices that lay ahead of them in college.  

   

  With the launch of our integrated Humanities program this year (more about that in another edition!), we had the opportunity to rethink our requirements and how students spend their days. The result is that this year most students have a study period during the day, along with an hour-long skills period. Students who are productively engaged--in an advisor or teacher's room, in the library or other designated areas, working--during skills period and study periods (when they are less tired and more focused) and who use the evening reading period productively (40 minutes of unplugged reading time, with allowances for learning disabilities), and who are caught up on their work, earn some choice during the evening. They may study in their room or a classroom with a teacher, they may use the weight room, art room, or music room, or they may choose to rest). Students who do not use skills, study and reading time productively will be assigned to study halls.  We believe this will be a winning combination of high expectations, structure, and choice to create a culture of growth and responsibility that will prepare them for college.

   

   
  GRADES AS MARKERS, OR SOMETHING MORE?

   

  Grades and grading are aspects of education that cause more stress for students, parents, and teachers than any other. Is it any wonder? From the lowest grades, we label students with grades, and we tell them that their future success--admission to college, success in life--depends upon those marks.  

   

  Yet we know in our hearts as teachers, as parents, and yes, as students, that grades, while necessary for college admission, never tell the whole story about a person.

   

  Particularly difficult is the mathematical calculation of grades. Let's say a student begins the semester struggling in a class and earns low grades on initial assignments.  Maybe a collection of Ds in the first quarter. Then that student works with their advisor and teacher, getting help (teachers are available every day during skills period!) and working hard on improving. Second quarter that student earns Bs and even the occasional A. By the end of the semester the student has made real progress in meeting the learning goals of the course and has really demonstrated that they have mastered the concepts the teacher wants them to master. What grade should that student receive for the semester? (The grade that goes on the transcript for college admission, rather than the quarter grade, which does not).  A B, right? Unfortunately, in the traditional system, the answer is 'NO'. In the average calculation system, the student's first quarter is 40% of the semester grade, the second is 40% and the exam is 20%.  Under this system, the best this student, who has made real progress in mastering the course, will receive is probably a C+, because their early work weighs 40%. This does not tell the whole story of the student nor does it help students use assignments and feedback as opportunities to learn and grow, since the immediate concern becomes the number.  Grades should be a tool for honest feedback and growth. What they have become is an end in themselves.

   

  There is a better way, a system called trend grading. In this approach, the student has the same assignments and is given the same feedback and grades from the teacher as they go along. The difference is that if a student improves, the teacher is not locked into following a strictly mathematical formula for assigning a grade, but rather will use a schoolwide rubric to reflect the progress a student has actually made. The idea is that the final grade a student receives at the end of the semester reflects the student’s whole story, of how they have progressed and of what they have mastered. Grades given before that are feedback to help students grow, rather than "marks" that define the limits of their potential progress. This will allow teachers to give genuine feedback, in the knowledge that students can use that feedback to grow and improve without fear of one grade determining their future.

   

  This year we are very excited to introduce trend grading as an optionfor students at Christchurch. We know this will feel unfamiliar at first, and so teachers will be offering trend grading to students in each class as a choice. Students may stick with the traditional system entirely, and they may choose average calculation for one class, and trend grading in another. We believe this will be a huge improvement in making the student experience more about learning and growing and less about being marked.  It's a big step forward!  Students will have the opportunity to discuss the options with their teachers and advisors before deciding what is best for them after the third week of school.  Parents, if you would like to weigh in on that choice, please feel free let your child’s the advisor know.  If you have questions about this option, please contact Donny Pyles or Neal Keesee.

   

   

  TRANSFER GRADES AND TRANSCRIPTS

   

  The last change we want to introduce in this edition concerns transcripts. To bring us more in line with industry standards, this year we are making a change to how we handle transfer courses on our transcripts. As of the 2019-2020 school year, we will no longer be listing courses taken at other institutions on our transcripts, nor will we be trying to translate grading scales and course weighting from other schools into our system. Instead, we will include a digital copy of transcripts from other institutions as part of the senior year college application. This will allow courses and grading systems employed by other schools to stand on their own. The grade point average for students will be calculated using courses taken at Christchurch only.  Colleges and universities we have consulted welcome this change, as it provides them a clearer view of what a student has taken, and most colleges perform their own GPA calculations drawing on all available transcripts.  

   

  For students already enrolled at Christchurch there will be no change in their transcripts, unless you would like transfer courses removed from their Christchurch transcript, which we are happy to do.  To request this please contact the Studies Office. Please note that this change means that families must provide us with official transcripts from all former schools so that we may be sure to include them in the digital application.

   

   

  CLOSING THOUGHTS       

   

  Because the end point for our students is usually college, the stakes in their educational experience always feel very high and we know that change may feel disconcerting.  Because our practice is based both in research and in what we know as educators to be good for young people, we are very confident that these changes are positive ones.  We are in regular contact with colleges both directly and via conferences. We know that none of these changes will have anything but a favorable impact on college admission.  In fact, colleges are also swept up in the tide of our changing world and are looking for students who have exactly the characteristics we are cultivating are Christchurch.

   

  We look forward to continuing this conversation in our next edition. If you have questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to contact Donny Pyles or Neal Keesee in the Studies Office. We also encourage you to explore these and many other ideas in the evolving world of education through such organizations as Challenge Success (challengesuccess.org) and the Mastery Transcript Consortium (mastery.org). One great place to start is the book our faculty read this summer: Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Heathy, Successful Kids by Pope, Brown, and Miles.