Head’s Message

April 2, 2015

An essay is never finished; it’s just turned in.

I had this conversation with my nine year-old daughter on the way home from school the other day. She was upset because she had an essay returned to her by her teacher with a number of red marks. Her feelings were hurt because she had worked so hard on it. “But honey,” I said, “your teacher is helping you improve your writing so you are able to express your ideas more clearly. A writing assignment is never really finished, it’s just turned in.” There is always room for improvement.

Whether it is an essay, science project, or math test, we seem to be focused more on success than we are mastery. Success is a one-time thing, but mastery is ongoing and is about endurance. Mastery is a life-long pursuit, not something you simply check off your to-do list. It involves a deep inner desire or drive to get better at a skill or content area. Success is often associated with external reward while mastery is the result of intrinsic motivation.

Mastery in academic terms is grounded in a joy of learning. Students need to be interested and engaged and enjoy learning in order for mastery to take root. They also have to see that what they are learning or doing matters, that it is part of a larger context. That is why traditional approaches of rote memorization or “drill and kill” techniques are ineffective in the long run.

Mastery is related to grit and resiliency. Success abhors failure but mastery depends on it. Hockey great Wayne Gretsky once said, “You will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Children will not take risks if they fear failure. If we send the message to our children that we value only success, then when they inevitably fail, they slip into despair and anxiety.

When we as parents and educators emphasize grades and test scores, we are sending the wrong message. Instead, parents and educators need to foster attitudes such as a work ethic, willingness to think strategically, tolerance for ambiguity, capacity to delay gratification and clarity of what quality looks like (Tomlinson, 2015). At school and at home, parents and educators must find ways to encourage self-comparisons and avoid comparing themselves with other students. We must refrain from putting pressure on our children by talking too much about grades and assignments. Finally, we must encourage continual improvement, even after the assignment is turned in.

March 12, 2015

I have to admit I am having a hard time adjusting to Daylight Savings Time. Maybe it’s my age—turning fifty this year has not been easy. More likely, it is the hectic pace we all keep, balancing work and family. Whatever the cause, I’m sure you are looking forward to spring break as much as I am. As we head into a much needed and well-deserved break, I thought you might enjoy a look at some of our successes this year.

New Strategic Plan
I am very pleased to share that the MPA Board of Trustees approved a new five-year strategic plan. The new plan is the result of a yearlong comprehensive planning process that was guided by a constituent-based steering committee and included voices representative of all members of our community. We are spending this spring creating an implementation plan, and I look forward to sharing more information with you as it unfolds. But for now know that the plan is ambitious and forward thinking and will serve our school community extremely well.

Admissions and Re-enrollment
I am pleased to report that new student interest and application submission as well re-enrollment of current students is very strong.
·      Overall projected increase in enrollment, including near capacity in grades 6, 7, and 12.
·      139% increase in the number of students/prospective families attending the January MPA Preview
·      Largest number of applications in four years

Development
·      Successful Alumni Challenge Day, raising over $20,000 in one day
·      Most successful Give MN Day in school history, doubling last year’s amount
·      Three separate gifts totaling over $300,000 to the endowment, our marketing program, and to fund the construction of the north tennis courts

Academic program successes include:
·      Introduction of Singapore math program in grades PreK–5
·      Successful first year of Middle School i-Term
·      Unveiling of the Upper School Certificates of Distinction in the Fine Arts, STEM, and Global Studies
·      A new comprehensive PreK–12 curriculum review and enhancement process
·     High number of student successes in art, athletic, and academic competitions at local, state, and national levels

In addition to the successes above, we’ve worked to increase MPA’s visibility across the Twin Cities through marketing initiatives such as radio advertising on Minnesota Public Radio and community partnerships with the City of Lakes Loppet, Science Museum, and the Phipps Theatre in Hudson, WI. As always, however, you remain the most important partner in sharing the values and benefits of an MPA education. Thank you for continuing to let everyone know about our amazing school!

On a final note, as we “Spring Forward” I hope you have made plans to attend the Spring Auction – Best of MPA which will take place at Aamodt’s Farm on Saturday, May 9th. It will be an evening of connection, fun, and lots of laughter as we celebrate and support our community. Tickets are selling quickly and space is limited.

Whether you have plans for a vacation or stay-cation, I hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing break. Rest well for it won’t be long until we gather for year-end traditions such as concerts, our Spring Show (The Wizard of Oz), the Yearbook Assembly, and Commencement.

March 5, 2015

It was a touching MPA moment, one where I had tears in my eyes. I saw it all unfold from a distance as Ms. LaChapelle pulled two boys aside to resolve an apparent disagreement. “It’s okay. We all make mistakes. What’s important is that we learn from them,” she said as she pulled the two unhappy children into a warm embrace.

I thought I would take a different approach with this week’s Head of School message and share with you what I’m reading these days, The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure and the Search for Mastery by Sarah Lewis. Sarah Lewis was one of the keynote speakers at the recent conference of the National Association of Independent Schools I attended last week in Boston. I was so struck by her address that I stood in a long line afterwards to purchase her book and have it autographed. I quickly devoured it, even while standing in line, and have continued to ponder her thoughtful, almost spiritual, reflections and findings on creativity.

The “propulsion of the near win”, according to Sarah Lewis, is one of several prerequisites of creativity and mastery. She writes, “the gift of failure is a riddle.” Like the number zero, it will always be both a void and the start of infinite possibility.” Mastery requires endurance. It is not perfectionism and is not the same as success. It is rather a constant pursuit. Perfectionism and success both eschew failure and view it as a weakness. Mastery, however, embraces the “near win” and failure as not an end in itself but a means to achieve mastery. Other ideas, such as the importance of play in achieving innovation, the importance of grit, creative practice and the power of surrender, are all crucial to creativity, according to Lewis.

Fear of failure and society’s dogged pursuit of perfectionism are likely causes of the rise of depression and anxiety among our children. Rather than allow our children to fail, adults do all we can to prevent it. However, failure is critical to learning and innovation. Thomas Edison told his assistant that in his attempt of creating the incandescent light bulb, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

We adults, both parents and educators, have to allow our children to fail. In fact, we have to ensure that they do.

November 6, 2014

I may be one of the few people that actually look forward to going to work on Mondays. In large part, that is because I attend the Lower School Monday Morning Meeting. I enjoy the excitement of the children as they begin their week and the enthusiasm with which they talk about upcoming activities. In particular, representatives from each grade level stand before their peers and share what they are working on in the classroom. I am amazed by the poise and confidence demonstrated by our students.

You may have occasionally found yourself wondering why effective communication is included in our mission statement. A recent study of employers completed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that employers highly value the ability to communicate effectively and the connection between speaking and critical thinking. For instance:

–    59% of employers believe that dialogue, debate, and problem solving in school will help students succeed in the workplace.

–    80% of employees say that colleges should focus more on written and oral communication skills.

–    93% say that a candidate’s capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems is more important than his or her college major.

Furthermore, the highest rated skill identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook Survey 2013 was “the ability to verbally communicate with persons inside and outside the organization.”

While many schools have little time to spend on helping students develop communication, presentation and higher level thinking skills, at MPA, they are among our core values and are emphasized and integrated across our curriculum, from Lower School Morning Meetings to Senior Performances.

The ability to discover others’ perspectives and to come to new understandings are crucial 21st century education skills and are fundamental to success in today’s global society. I am not only proud of our students, I am proud that our school so highly values effective communication.

October 8, 2014

As I drove up to school this past Sunday afternoon, I was surprised to see a number of cars in the parking lot. I was looking forward to some quiet time in my office to get caught up on a few projects and wondered what would bring so many students up to school on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. My question was soon answered as I encountered a group of 15 upper school students leaving the building as I entered. “We were here for peer leadership training, Dr. Hudson” one of the students replied with a smile when I asked why they were at school. Several of them went on to describe their afternoon with great enthusiasm and excitement.

Under the guidance of KaTrina Wentzel and Maggie Harris (leadership instructor at the University of Minnesota), peer leaders have been learning about the principles of servant leadership and how it guides their leadership at MPA. In particular, peer leaders are working across divisions and their service includes teaching grades 7 and 8 advisory group lessons, holding regular weekly conversations with our international students and working with our fourth grade conflict mangers. They are also engaged in project-based learning and design thinking to improve and revise our schoolwide pairing assemblies.

Critical and creative thinking, ethical reasoning and action, inquiry and analysis are among the most important learning outcomes of MPA and are foundational to the peer leadership program. Peer leaders left school last Sunday with more than smiles. They left with skills, knowledge, and aptitudes essential to better understand themselves, build relationships and effect positive change-locally and globally.

October 2, 2014

Last Friday, designers from the 3M Design Team spent the day with Lower School students in the MPA Innovation Lab. Together, they brainstormed and prototyped solutions in preparation for the upcoming Cardboard Challenge, but more than this, young students worked with professional mentors who reinforced the importance of MPA’s everyday focus on innovation, creativity, and problem solving.

In a recent blog entry, Dr. Yong Zhao from the University of Oregon was critical of mainstream American education for its misplaced focus on college readiness or even career readiness. Zhao believes this emphasis prepares students for an economy and world that no longer exists, and rather tongue-in-cheek, suggested that the aim of education should be “out-of-basement readiness.” For Zhao, students deserve an education that prepares them for success in today’s globalized society rather than one that relegates them to living in their parent’s basements because they cannot find jobs after college.

I am fortunate to be reminded daily that what happens in this building moves students toward college readiness, career readiness, and out-of-basement readiness. Design thinking and the MPA Innovation Lab are important components of the MPA curriculum as we strive to meet the needs of 21st century learners. But these are just two pieces that fit into a bigger whole: creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking are essential skills that are taught and nurtured across divisions and disciplines. So last week, not only did amazing things happen in the i-Lab with the 3M Design Team, amazing things were happening everywhere. Students created movements to match scripts, protection devices for a 10-foot egg drop, and solutions to some of the world’s biggest humanitarian issues. Passions were tapped to synthesize new ideas based on insight and inquiry, and for our lower schoolers, that just might have involved some prototyping for the upcoming Cardboard Challenge.

I hope you’ll join us, Oct. 11, from 9 AM-1 PMfor our third annual Cardboard Challenge and see how creativity and joy of learning thrive at MPA.

September 24, 2014

Today’s educational landscape is filled with standardized testing, and with it has come much heated debate. Last year, researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Brown released a study that showed raised student test scores were not associated with an increase in “fluid intelligence”—a term used to refer to our ability to use logical thinking and problem solving in novel situations rather than recalling previously learned facts and skills. Others, such as educational researcher Alfie Kohn, continued to express  concern over an overemphasis on standardized testing in this country,  believing that this trend is robbing children of a well-balanced education. And still others, as highlighted  by the Time Magazine article “Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Standardized Tests,” are worried about bias in standardized testing.

All of these concerns have validity, and following research and educational discussions in all areas—including standardized testing—is something that’s important to administrators and educators at MPA. But like most issues we face in this world, there are many complexities surrounding testing and no clear-cut answer. Benefits of standardized testing can also be found, including a peer-reviewed, 100-year analysis of testing research that  showed  93% of studies on student testing—including the use of large-scale and high-stakes standardized tests—found a “positive effect” on student achievement. And quantifiable data, if used properly, can be very valuable.

While a single test should not be used to determine high-stake decisions or to evaluate a single child in isolation, standardized testing, when done sparingly and with little disruption to class time, can actually present information that can help understand overall patterns and trends in a large group of learners. With this in mind, beginning the week October 6th, MPA will administer the ACT Aspire—a vertically articulated, benchmarked, standards-based test—to students in grades 3–8 and grade 10, and the PSAT in grades 10 and 11. We will use the results in three ways:

• To better inform curriculum design
• To identify discrepancies.
• To better prepare students for the testing component that the college process inevitably entails.

Curriculum and assessment that is designed to teach for understanding and critical thinking coupled with experience with standardized testing provides our students with a solid foundation for their college-bound path.  To learn more, please click on the following link that will take you to the Mounds Park Academy philosophy on standardized testing on our website.  Question specific to the ACT Aspire testing can be directed to the respective division directors.

March 27, 2013

Having come to MPA in 2002 from a school that celebrated it’s 100th anniversary while I was there, and prior to that, a school that celebrated it’s 75th, it was a thrill to be working among many of this school’s living founders. At those previous celebrations, we could only imagine what the founders had in mind through reading archival material. Here, we can actually ask them what it was like and how MPA came to be.

It has been my pleasure over the years to have been able to get to know founding MPA director Bob Kreischer, whose portrait hangs today just inside the main south entrance of the school. I recall digging it out of a closet and insisting that it hang in a place of honor so that all those students passing it every day would be reminded of the essential role he played in making their education here possible.

Recently, I sat down with Bob to ask about those beginnings – for posterity – so that future generations, and many of the readers of this blog who would not have known Bob, could be touched by the story of the school’s beginnings. I leave it to future videographers to complete the project with interviews of those who stood with Bob in those early remarkable days.

Mike Downs