February 22, 2022

As an independent school teacher for the past 25 years, I have been around long enough to have seen trends and buzz-words come and go, financial events upend schools, and the talk of “21st-century” education push into its third decade. Through all of this, some predicted events have come to fruition (remote schooling) and others remain unicorns (true diversity). As part of a multi-article series, I am focusing on emerging topics that will significantly alter the nature of independent schools in the next few years while at the same time offering a tremendous opportunity to reframe what they do, why they do it, and how they go about enacting their mission-aligned programs. 

Much has been written about the slow rate of change in education and this holds true even in the private independent school realm whereby great freedom and latitude to innovate exists compared to the public sector. Even so, the state of independent school education has shifted little in the last 40 years beyond updates to technology and subtle shifts in curriculum and classroom management. Schedules, staffing models, course catalogs, grading standards, and cultures are fairly ingrained at schools at a time when other major…