Kate Wade, Sophomore Class Dean, Leadership Committee Chair, The Rivers School
In this season of back-to-school check lists, parents often place at the top “schedule physical,” as a reminder for the essential, annual process of formally evaluating their child’s health.
As I walked out of our pediatrician’s office this summer, my seven-year-old asked why her school needed “proof” she was healthy. I shared with her that taking care of our bodies and practicing healthy habits means that we can to be ready to learn and grow. But, if there is something our body is telling us — our eyes needing extra support like glasses for example — we need to pay attention and address the issue with a professional.
Reflecting upon this conversation with my daughter, I realized that it would be helpful to adopt this model for understanding the health of our leadership culture in schools. What are some healthy habits of leadership in schools? How can we tell if our leadership practice needs a check up?
We at The Rivers School in Weston, MA have been intentionally engaged in developing our leadership culture for over a decade. Yet, ten years down the road, there’s no “mission accomplished,” no perfect leadership year in the books. Our work isn’t nearly complete, as leadership in schools grows in cycles. In some years we established new programming, developed partnerships beyond our campus walls, and graduated student leaders committed to a continued exploration of their own leadership pedagogy. Other years were transition years. We moved from building to maintenance and supported from the sidelines other school initiatives that needed the light to grow.
However, instead of thinking in these binaries of building and maintenance, a leadership health check-up provides a context for thoughtful reflection at the beginning of the school year. Consider:
Are your “prescriptions” up to date? Does your leadership programming still align with your school’s mission?
If your mission has been revised recently, have you returned to it and considered how these revisions impact your school’s leadership goals? Have you recently sat down with your administration to discuss the mission’s relevance to your leadership goals? Is your mission presented annually at opening faculty meetings and tied into leadership work throughout the year? This year, our head of school, Ned Parsons, included the mission in his opening remarks, highlighting the final line: “Rivers is dedicated to preparing its students for leadership in a world that needs their talents, imagination, intellect, and compassion.” He reminded all of us that our charge isn’t just about teaching content but that we are called upon to prepare our students to lead–and to lead in a world that, now more than ever in their lifetime, needs our graduates to contribute meaningfully to the common good.
Any leadership allergies developing?
As we’ve continued to do great work at Rivers, we’re also wary of overusing the “L-word” at certain points in the year. Is a specific grade or class feeling like there’s too much coming at them? Are they developing a leadership “allergy”? Take note to adjust so your community doesn’t face leadership burn-out. At Rivers, we’re attempting to address this by picking a different leadership “theme” each year. (This year, our theme is accountability.) We’re constantly working to embed and enfuse our theme and our leadership vocabulary through partnerships with other school programs, specifically our Diversity & Inclusion and Service Learning programming as well as our Interdisciplinary Studies curriculum. In this way, students are exposed to the concepts but hear multiple perspectives from all over campus.
Is the faculty “exercising” for the benefit of their long-term health? Is everyone still on board? Is there still faculty buy-in?
Welcoming new faculty with an introduction to our shared vocabulary and best practices isn’t enough. Each year, in addition to that, we must include regular check-ins with faculty advisors of student organizations and ample support for (as well as opportunities to debrief) our classroom teachers who are integrating leadership skills into their daily classes. We have open lines of communication with our Dean of Academics who oversees our professional development opportunities and budget. Additionally, we keep the pipeline active by announcing conference details as well as on-campus PD’s like our “Leadership Lunch” offering, a series of drop-in workshops for busy faculty who want to brush up on the leadership toolbox every so often. Topics include “Tools for Effective Feedback” and “Teachable Moments On-The-Go”.
Are your students’ “leadership vaccinations” up-to-date?
How do you guard against apathy and ignorance–leadership “diseases” that are incredibly harmful to a healthy community? This year, our leadership committee designed an opening retreat for our student leaders, and we engaged in role plays that prepared students for difficult conversations about race, identity, politics, and religion. Our alumni speaker re-introduced our “Guidelines for Effective Discussions” and orchestrated a silent exercise that challenged assumptions we may have made about each other. We gather the student leaders again in the winter for a mid-year “Leadership Boost” (or booster shot) that helps them reflect on their developing leadership style, how things are going in their role, and opportunities for improvement in the coming months. Seniors meet with juniors in the spring to hand-off their vision for their organization’s future, thus contributing to a virtuous cycle, and modeling the active reflection required for our community’s leadership culture and health.
Growing a healthy culture of leadership at your school requires, minimally, that essential annual check-up. As we prepare this fall for truly transformational work on accountability, intent, identity, citizenship, and finding one’s voice, we at Rivers will certainly proceed with, we hope, a clean bill of health.
Kate Wade is the Sophomore Class Dean and Leadership Committee Chair at The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. At Rivers, Kate also oversees the celebrated RISE Program, a service learning initiative that empowers students to be community leaders. She was previously a gcLi Scholar in 2013, and attended the summer leadership lab in 2011. In 2014, Kate earned a masters in school leadership from The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.