"Using the Enrollment Management Spectrum to Drive Success: Three Brutal Facts," by Heather Hoerle, on Enrollment.org

"I think it is fundamentally shortsighted for leaders in a declining* industry not to put resources towards their biggest revenue line item. (*40% of NAIS independent schools are experiencing declining enrollments. Source: NAIS Trendbook 2017)."

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Heather Hoerle, Executive Director of the Enrollment Management Association, sees widely and deeply into the financial realities of independent schools. Her presentations are data- and and insight-rich. This short piece captures some of her best recent thinking about the ongoing "brutal facts" about the failure among many independent schools to evolve from "admissions" to "enrollment" to "advancement."

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"Purdue is trying to upend the traditional high school model. Here’s what it looks like," by Dylan Peers McCoy / @dylanpmccoy, in Chalkbeat

"Founding a school built around projects and student choice might seem like a notable departure. But Daniels’ newest effort at improving education mirrors a trend that is happening across the country.

"Well-funded groups, including XQ Super School, are pushing the theory that high schools must be reimagined for the modern era. The aim is to create schools that not only give students the academic skills to succeed in college but also help them develop soft-skills. [...]

" 'More broadly, there’s a growing national focus on social and emotional skills,' said Hamilton. 'In some ways, it’s a little bit of a backlash to years of focusing on math and reading scores and a recognition that that’s not the only thing kids need to be successful'."

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, one of the most innovative leaders in higher ed, led the push to create this innovative high school. When one of the best public universities in the country launches a project-based learning high school, you know that things are shifting in the Educational Innovations Hype Cycle ...

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"Why Do the Warriors Dominate the 3rd Quarter? Consider Their Halftime Drill," by Marc Stein and Scott Cacciola, in the New York Times

"The Warriors actually begin preparing for halftime as soon as the game begins. Assistant coaches will identify plays that the team may want to review at halftime by signaling them to Willie Green, an assistant and 11-year N.B.A. veteran who sits one row behind the bench. Green is in charge of keeping track of the time and score for each of the plays in question.

" 'Put that on edit!' the coaches shout. Or simply, 'Clip that!'

"Periodically throughout the first half, various other members of the staff — including Samuel Gelfand, the team’s analytics guru, and Kyle Barber, the strength coach — run portions of the list back to the locker room, where James Laughlin, the video coordinator, assembles the clips on a computer."

"During the first half of Game 7 against the Rockets Monday night, the Warriors played so poorly their assistant coaches kept simultaneously shouting “Clip that!” whenever the team had a decent possession. They knew that Kerr, who loves to emphasize the positive, would want to show the players those plays at halftime. When he did, the sequences reinforced the message that good things happened whenever they moved the ball, and reminded the players at a fragile moment that they were better than the 11-point deficit suggested.

"Yet Kerr does not want to be the only voice in the room — far from it, in fact. He has carved out time for others to speak. Once Kerr finishes making his main points, the associate head coach, Mike Brown, often speaks to the group. Then, the senior assistant coaches, Ron Adams and Jarron Collins, add their thoughts. Kerr likes to close by seeking input from the players, too, especially in the playoffs.

" 'Do you have anything for us?' he asks them. 'Do you see anything?'

"As for strategy, the Warriors run a read-based offense — meaning they look to pick apart the soft spots in opposing defenses. Halftime gives them the chance to recalibrate.

" 'After you play a half, you can see what teams are trying to do,' Fraser said."

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

What if we treated teachers like professional athletes and gave them access to "game film" of their teaching?

What if that access were nearly-real time? What if a school had a "learning rounds" culture and system that enabled small teams of "coaches" (i.e., other teachers) to slip into a class, "clip" scenes of that class, and then do a review with teacher half-way through the class period? For veteran teachers comfortable with feedback, what if students were invovled in that "half-time" review?

The Warriors' approach strikes me as a high-tech version of what Bo Adams and the teacher teams at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School do with observation rounds.

In the future, schools that thrive will treat their teachers like professional athletes... even if the pay isn't quite the same!

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Question of the week:

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