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Dear Keystonians,  

This week our faculty and staff participated in a series of activities related to their professional growth. In addition to important committee work towards some major strategic goals (faculty growth and evaluation, the primary school schedule and other curricular initiatives), leaders created a multi-day focus on the concept of differentiation.  

The shared work began with an all-school faculty meeting on Wednesday describing--through anonymized case studies --our school’s vision for differentiation. Differentiation is an educational construct that describes the ways in which teachers create points of access to learning for each student depending on their skills, preferences, developmental stages, wellness and other factors. In our New World School,?we are committed to making sure that education fits each of our students, not the other way around.  

With our commitment to differentiation teachers bear a different kind of responsibility for individual student success than they might in a different type of school system. As one of our leaders from the Center for Student Development described, if a student is struggling, our teachers engage in an inquiry cycle about their challenges. We lean in and get curious about how to move them forward.? 

• What is causing the challenge? 

• Where is the child currently succeeding or thriving? What can we take from that to apply to this context?  

• What is going on in their life right now? What insights might their family have?? 
  

• What adjustments or accommodations to the classroom environment, or teaching materials we make to ensure they can learn effectively?  

   

Another type of school might just label them as a weak student, or in some extreme examples, only allow students to advance through grade levels if they succeed on a very narrow range of academic tasks. Some children can achieve in a school like that, but it is limiting for all because it teaches them that they are “good” at school but limits their opportunity to learn around other complex vectors of human capacity.  

At Keystone, first, we look at where they are succeeding for clues about what environments or contexts work well for the child, then we think about how to relate those areas of strength and success to the areas that might currently be a challenge. We seek to grow strength, not just “fix” weakness. The foundation of this philosophy and pedagogy is that every child must be seen and known.  

This brings us back to our theme for the year: “We Belong”. To belong to something, you are known, allowing for your strengths to buttress your learning and growth?in the areas where you are not yet strong.  

In the afternoon on Friday, teachers worked in small groups to really dig into differentiation practices and learn from each other. I am impressed with Keystone’s faculty every single day, and on weeks like this when I have the chance to see them working together the feeling is intensified. Our students are so fortunate to be the beneficiaries of the high concentration of world-class teaching at Keystone. The result of our teachers’ high levels of expertise and deep levels of care for each individual student is extraordinary, and rare.  

At Keystone our faculty and staff collaborate to provide personalized experiences for our students. We are committed to maximizing their strengths, as opposed to ranking and sorting them into groups of “can” and “can’t”. We know?every child and see their challenges as?opportunities for our own learning. This is a great gift to children and their futures and is part of our unique promise and responsibility.  

Have a great weekend! Starting to feel like spring out there!  

Warmly,  

Emily