Community Members Speak Out: LES Value Proposition, Part II - Opportunities

Community member Wendy McLean has created "A Value Proposition for Keeping LES Open," which she submitted to the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education.  The second section of her document is presented below.  Click here to read the first section.

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I propose a different approach to facilitating the necessary changes in our district.  Carlos Castaneda 1 conveys a universal truth, "We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong.  The amount of work is the same."  So, let’s put our effort into making ourselves strong by asking a different question.2    Instead of, ‘How do we reduce stress and fix dis-ease in our district?’ I want to ask, ‘How do we increase well-being in our students and staff while also increasing financial health?’  The answer could then be applied to any change.  We have an opportunity to make our district a model for best practices in tough situations by creating a vision of increased performance and well-being.  Our district has been a model before in areas such as outdoor education and healthy cafeteria food.  We can do it again.  Let’s be a model for change by creating schools with the conditions for students to thrive!  Here’s a vision to consider:

“We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.” ~ Sir Ken Robinson 3

For students to flourish in our schools, first we must shift our understanding of success.  Most of us believe if our children are successful, they will be happy and will flourish.  Actually, success does not lead to lasting happiness.  Research shows that indeed people feel happier upon achieving desired grades, test scores, acceptances, and milestones, but it is short-lived; their level of well-being quickly returns to its previous state.4  However, creating lasting happiness and conditions for thriving are possible.  The last decade of research in neuroscience is compelling: The skills that contribute to well-being can be practiced and learned!5  Once a person learns emotional intelligence, they create a habit for positive emotions.  They are forever imbued with the skills and abilities to overcome adversity and obstacles that help to lead to their happiness and ultimate success.6  Tal Ben-Shahar, eminent psychologist, author and lecturer who taught the most popular class at Harvard explains: “Happiness is the overall experience of pleasure and meaning.  A happy person enjoys positive emotions while perceiving her life as purposeful.”7  Happiness is not some arbitrary ideal, but rather a very realistic vision for a full and fulfilling life.  He concludes, “Happiness is the ultimate currency.”8  The research encourages us to value achievement AND happiness in our school environment as for ultimate success of our students and staff.  

The value of relationships cannot be overstated.  From the research, Tal clarifies "The number one predictor of happiness is the quality time we spend with people we care about and who care about us."9  For our children, who spend about 50% of their time in school, the relationships they build there are then a cornerstone to their ultimate success.  Brené Brown’s research led her to write, “Vulnerability thrives in relationships. … [It] is based on mutuality and requires boundaries and trust… The result of this mutually respectful vulnerability is increased connection, trust, and engagement.”  Relationships provide the safe environment that encourages children to fully engage with the material.  And, not surprisingly, research on students who have strong relationships with teachers and parents show it also increases emotional and behavioral mastery.10   Strong relationships allow students to feel safe enough to ask for help, make mistakes, explore new ideas, search for truth and risk failure.  Parker Palmer 11 said “to teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced.”  And Samuel Smiles 12 offers, "We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery."  Every day, our children’s learning is best when it can lean on strong relationships at school.

Relationships play and even more important role, now that Common Core demands more independent thinking.  For children to express their individuality, their voice, they must feel safe enough to explore who they are, to disagree with their teacher, to misunderstand, to challenge the facts.  Paul E. Gray 13 points out, "The most important outcome of education is to help students to become independent of formal education."  In this, I see the great wisdom within Common Core.  But it can only flourish in students that have safe relationships and supportive community.  We’ve all experienced that sharing ideas is easier when we know the people, know how they might react, and feel assured our comments will be received without judgment.  Strong relationships create the foundation for children to share and build confidence in their independent thinking.  However, I argue that this is not the state of our district right now, as it feels forced, sometimes resented, as another mandated item on the list of to-dos.  For Common Core to be successful, it needs to lean on the relationships and strength of community, which will be greatly hindered by a school closing.

Extra time could hand us the ultimate solution that strengthens the district’s community AND financial health.  Some creative ideas are floating around:  Inviting pre-school programs in elementary schools would allow financial gain as well as better use of space; returning 6th grade to elementary schools would increase use of elementary schools; and offering college classes at the high school could raise money and value, paid for by parents as an alternative to university.  I suggest looking to Positive Psychology which offers tools that enhance education with impressive results.  For example, recent research conducted by the Maytiv Center in Israel showed that their intervention program in schools based on Positive Psychology to promote happiness, morality and success had a significant impact.  It decreased depression, anxiety and incidence of violence while increasing cognitive and emotional engagement, self-esteem, self-efficacy and GPA.14  This shows we have an opportunity to create a bigger vision, beyond school closures.  These ideas are the ones that draw students to the district, and keep the students that are here, because it builds community at the same time.  It’s not too late to create a task force that looks into how to build district community, educational value AND financial strength.   

If we do take a closer look, Character Strengths is worth our attention.  “Remedying weaknesses gets children to OK. It is important but not enough. It is finding children’s strengths and then, crucially, giving them ample opportunities to use those strengths that will help them flourish, and flourishing is at the core of what education is about,” says Jenny Fox Eades., educational researcher, writer and teacher.15  Focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses is proven to be very successful in the classroom:  It increases engagement in learning, achievement, well-being, self-efficacy (sense of own ability), empathy and connection with others, and resilience.16  In short, it enables flourishing.   It also creates more positive classroom and school culture; children begin to celebrate differences in themselves and others and the focus shifts from ‘What is wrong?’ to ‘What is right.’17,18,19   

“Teaching wellbeing must have as much importance as teaching reading, spelling, grammar, rocket science, and thermodynamics  – the whole gamut of what makes up our educational lives: from kindergarten to university.” ~Fiona Trembath, From Strengths to Strengths Program 

Character Strengths programs are already infused into the curriculum at NY Charter schools 20 and the elite NY Riverdale private school.21  Specifically the KIPP network of schools, including those in NYC, have been teaching character in curriculum since 1994, and Character Strengths since 2005.  The KIPP students consistently outperform their peers in NYC and across NY State on state tests and Regents exams.22

Best of all, infusing the elementary school classroom with character strengths can help with teaching Common Core.  One teacher determined to not freak out about Common Core found wonderful synergies that made him love the curriculum and brought more enjoyment to the students’ learning.23   It’s based on the research showing that success has more to do with strengths than intelligence, as highlighted in the critically-acclaimed book How Children Succeed: Grit, Character, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough.  Used in conjunction with Carol Dweck’s research on how teacher comments can create a growth mindset in the classroom, and kid’s success is further enhanced.24  Dweck points out, “When you praise kids' intelligence and then they fail, they think they're not smart anymore, and they lose interest in their work.  In contrast, kids praised for effort show no impairment and often are energized in the face of difficulty.”  Praising kids using their strengths provides just that type of motivation and resilience.  Character Strengths can provide more students with happier learning environment and greater achievement.  And, this is an antidote to struggles with Common Core.  AND, this is the very proposition the community is asking for to increase educational value.  This has real benefits, with potentially profound impact for our district.  Imagine this as a real possibility: easier implementation of core curriculum, happier children and teachers, stronger relationships in schools, less bullying and misbehavior, and more successful students.  

Let’s turn around the tide of dis-ease in our district by decreasing stress, slowing change, keeping our community intact, and refocusing on our strengths and the strengths of our students.  Let’s not add one more meaningless task to our teachers’ lists and childrens’ backpacks, but instead infuse the schools with hope, excitement, resilience, curiosity, grit, social intelligence and optimism.  Let’s capitalize on the caring, mindful, intelligence of our teachers, staff and parents to make the district healthy in all ways.  Thoreau reminds us, “Life is too short to be in a hurry.” No matter what the decision on a closure, let’s take the time we need to do this right, keep the strong relationships that ensure students will continue to engage in their learning, and add value and vision along the way.

Sincerely, Wendy McLean

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Source Material (Part II)

1. Peruvian-born American anthropologist and author (1925-1998)
2. Cooperrider, David, and Diana D. Whitney. Appreciative inquiry: A positive revolution in change. Berrett-Koehler Store, 2005.
3. English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts (b.1950)
4. Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003). Affective forecasting. Advances in experimental social psychology, 35, 345-411.
5. Doidge, Norman. The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. Penguin. com, 2007.
6. Goleman, Daniel, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie MacKee. Primal leadership: Learning to lead with emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press, 2004. 
7. Certificate in Positive Psychology lectures.  Tal Ben-Shahar.
8. Ben-Shahar, Tal. The question of happiness. iUniverse, 2002.
9. Certificate in Positive Psychology lectures.  Tal Ben-Shahar.
10. Wang, M.-T., Brinkworth, M., Eccles, J. (2012). Moderating effects of teacher–student relationship in adolescent trajectories of emotional and behavioral adjustment. Developmental Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0027916
11. American author, educator and activist (b.1939)
12. Scottish author and reformer (1812-1904)
13. American professor; president of MIT (b.1932)
14. Positive Psychology in the Israeli School System: Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Maytiv Center’s Intervention Programs in Schools – Research Report.  Dr. Anat Shoshani, Dr. Sarit Steinmetz, School of Psychology, IDC Herzliya. http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/main/research/maytiv/pages/research-data.aspx
15. Celebrating Strengths: Building Strengths-based Schools. Jennifer M Fox Eades and Anthony Seldon CAPP Press (2008)
16. http://www.viacharacter.org/www/en-us/research/summaries.aspx#VIA Character Strengths in Positive Education
17. Character Strengths and Virtues, Peterson, C., &Seligman, M.E.P., Oxford University Press. New York, (2004)
18. The Strengths Book, by Linley, A., Willars, J., & Biswas-Diener, R, CAPP Press, UK (2010)
19. Pursuing the Good Life, by Christopher Peterson, Oxford University Press, USA, 2013
20. http://icsnyc.org/
21. http://www.riverdale.edu/default.aspx
22. http://www.kippnyc.org/results/
23. http://www.teachingthecore.com/non-freaked-out-focused-approach-common-core-character-strengths/  
24. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.  Carol Dweck.  Ballentine Books, 2007.

Wendy McLean teaches Conscious Parenting Seminars with Ellie Kirk in the NY/CT area.  She is at her best when sharing wisdom born from the intersection of science and spirituality. Wendy infuses her workshops and classes with a decade of self-study in Positive Psychology, yoga, relationships, and health. She believes in the positive ripple effect created when each person lives into their fullest potential.  Wendy lives in NY with her husband, two girls and two cats.