On Hope

Education is an act of hope. The work is fundamental to a democracy, and it cannot be done in a silo. Planning a lesson, delivering a lesson in a way that reaches and engages all students, assessing a lesson, and reviewing said lesson is a tremendous undertaking. It takes days, hours, and minutes that are rarely seen by anyone other than the educators themselves. All of those parts of teaching (planning, delivery, assessment, and review) are themselves acts of hope. 

The hope that the lesson takes root. The hope that the delivery connects with all learners in the room. The hope that the assessment reflects the effort of both the educator and the student. The hope that the review will offer blind spots for further growth. 

In a recent blog post, Meghan Lawson pointed out the distinction between wishing and hoping, which she points out are often conflated. A wish is something that one does with candles on a cake for a birthday. As I've detailed above, hope is much more intentional and takes substantially more work. And as it turns out, hope is much more transformational. 

Ms. Lawson detailed her growth around the science of hope that started with Jamie Meade,  the former vice president and chief of staff for Battelle for Kids. Ms. Meade then led her to the psychologist C.R. Snyder, who developed the hope theory. There are three components: 

• Goals: establishing personally meaningful goals.
  
  
• Pathways: uncovering multiple ways to achieve each goal.
  
  
• Agency: believing we can overcome obstacles to achieve our goals. 

Ms. Lawson also shares two more facts about hope, distinguishing it further from a wish. 

• The first is from the book Hope Rising, by Casey Gwinn, J.D., and Chan Hellman, Ph.D. "The predictive power of hope is greater than any other character strength." 
  
  
• The second returns to Ms. Meade, who points out, "Several academic studies indicate that hope is a more robust predictor of future success than a student's ACT score, their SAT score, and their GPA. In fact, hope is a greater predictor than GPA as to whether or not a college freshman will return to campus in the second semester." 

Let that sit with you for a moment. Reread those two quotes. Then, read them out loud and count to thirty before continuing. 

Recently, there have been many discussions in East Greenwich about the scores our students are earning, and comparing us to our neighbors in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I wrote about that in October, urging us to remember the Roosevelt quote that "comparison is the thief of joy," but more important than that is a distinction Sarah Courtemanche-O'Brien made when she updated our School Committee this past week. During this presentation, Ms. Courtemanche-O'Brien noted: 

• College Board PSAT and SAT assessments have been restructured over the last year, with this cohort data reflecting student use on the new digital platform Bluebook. The platform has reconfigured the assessment design, making the PSAT and SAT adaptive assessments based on student responses. 
  
  
• The scoring mechanism for these adaptive assessments is no longer the same. In previous years, these assessments used classical test theory: an equal number of items were incorrect for you and me, and we received the same score. Now, the assessments are using item response theory, a model that accounts for the fact that students may guess and might get different scores with the same number of right/wrong based on the rigor of what is right/wrong. 
  
  
• As such, the Math and English Language Arts (ELA) data are not comparable to previous trend data. 

So, where does this leave us? 

With the science of hope. With goals, pathways, and agency. With a predictive power greater than any other character strength. With a robust predictor of future success. We're right back where we started this conversation. 

Education is an act of hope. 

 

Fear of Greatness

I started my teaching career in 1996 on the Near Westside of Chicago, in a neighborhood where most folks would not be unless there was a Bulls or Blackhawks game. Our school was approximately a half mile from the home of two professional sports franchises and nestled in the shadow of the Henry Horner Public Housing Projects. Our free and reduced lunch rate was 99%. 

To clarify exactly what that means in 2024, I consulted the Income Eligibility Guidelines for the Child Nutrition Programs, posted by the Federal Register, a division of the National Archives. From July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, for a family of four, the annual poverty guideline is $31,200. So, a family of four with a household income of not more than $57,720 would be eligible for reduced-price lunch. A family of four with a household income of not more than $40,560 would qualify for free lunch. Reduced-price lunch is calculated at 185% of the poverty rate, and free lunch is calculated at 130% of the poverty rate. 

In 1996, that same government website indicated that the poverty guideline was $15,600. That family of four would be eligible for reduced-price lunch if they made no more than $28,860. To receive a free lunch in 1996, a family of four must make less than $20,280. Those numbers are as staggering today as they were in 1996. Still, these were my kiddos for the four years I taught there. 

I'm proud of the time I spent there. The dear friends I made. The fact that I met My Wife, who arrived three years after me and started teaching next door to me in that very building. 

Thanks to social media's healthy and fulfilling aspect, I'm still in touch with many of my former students from almost thirty years ago. It's incredible to see what they're doing with their lives. Without this contact, they would be frozen in the same classroom seats where I last saw them in June 2000. 

Recently, one of them reached out to me and asked if I remembered a poem they presented to the entire school community. In my second or third year there, we started a program called Special Speakers. The idea was to allow our students to speak publicly. The expectation was that each student would memorize a poem, essay, or piece of writing meaningful to them and recite it at our daily morning assembly in front of the entire school. 

While I didn't remember their poem specifically, I did remember the one I presented. Our students requested that the teachers meet the same expectations in the second year of this program. I chose what is associated most with Nelson Mandela's Inaugural address, but what actually came from Marianne Williamson's book, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles." 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure. We are all meant to shine, as children do... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

There is wisdom in this quote. It's not about personal greatness, it's about ensuring that we can all shine together. To be child-like, not childish. To let our greatness inspire others to be as great, whatever level that is. 

I saw greatness for the five years I served at that school in Chicago. At a place that was all but forgotten by everyone except those of us who taught there and went there. For those families, there was greatness in that building despite their surroundings. Despite the crippling poverty. Despite the unspeakable violence that surrounded the public housing project nearby. 

The East Greenwich Public Schools Vision of a Graduate speaks to the expectation of greatness, not inadequacy. The Strategic Plan in EGPS speaks to greatness, not inadequacy. The Master Plan points us toward greatness in the future of educational spaces, not inadequacy. 

Per Ms. Williamson, the presence of greatness "automatically liberates others." Ensuring that our classrooms are safe, welcoming, and inclusive demonstrates that we expect greatness but not perfection. Greatness means mistakes will be made along the way so that we can all learn to our potential. 

Let us run towards our own greatness, and embrace it so others will do the same. 

We Can't Always Get What We Want

On October 10, the School Construction Committee heard the news we hoped would not come: the Master Plan work was estimated to be more than the $150 million approved a year ago. This is the work that will breathe new life into public education in East Greenwich Public Schools. It is long overdue as professionals work in closets, on stages, and in places that are simply not conducive to education. 

Unfortunately, the financial situation is not unlike what happens when work is being planned for our own homes. The first price rarely ends up being the final price. We are in a similar situation as we consider the next steps in the Master Plan. 

The good news is that everyone is preparing to compromise and work toward a solution. As EG News reported, the town is considering several options to bridge the gap. All the work outlined in the Stage II submitted to RIDE needs to be done. No one is saying that any building is more important than any other building. We need professional spaces in the elementary schools. We need a high school we can be proud of, and that has a functioning heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC).  

It's not either/or. It's all. All of the work needs to be done. 

So, we will all need to compromise. We will all need to manage expectations. We will all need to keep our eyes on the prize: $150 million to improve our aging school buildings, which this community will only have to repay $82.5 million. The State of Rhode Island put aside $2.2 billion in state aid for school construction. Contrast that with the state of Vermont, which also has critical needs when it comes to infrastructure in public education. There is currently no state aid in Vermont. If a school system wishes to upgrade its public schools, the individual towns are on the hook for the entire amount. 

Do I wish there was more money? I do. So does everyone. Our Town Manager, Andrew Nota, led off our Spring Forums in 2023 at Cole Middle School, stating the same thing. We all wish there could be improvements to all our buildings, encompassing everything we need. That's not the case. 

Community members voted in favor of the bond because of the work outlined in Stage II for the high school. Community members voted in favor of the bond because of the work outlined in Stage II for the elementary schools. Community members voted in favor of the bond. 

To modify a quote from one of my favorite baseball movies, Field of Dreams: If we build it, they will come, and more will stay. 

Hate Has No Place Here

This was not the post I was planning to write. I was planning to write about our Master Plan and how we will all compromise to ensure we can move forward with our $150 million bond approval in EG. Then I got a text message from Dr. Patricia Page letting me know that hate speech was written on the tennis courts at the high school. 

When I heard that word, I was transported back to elementary school. Growing up just north of New York City, I attended one of the first "integrated" schools, where students were bussed in. Of course, I didn't know any of that at that time. I just knew I went to school. It didn't matter that others didn't all look like me. Pennington-Grimes was the school I attended from Kindergarten through 6th grade. We had neighborhood students and others from different parts of Mt. Vernon. It didn't matter - they were my classmates, I didn't care how they looked. I didn't know any better. 

I heard it at school and repeated it at home, much to my mother's despair. I was told in no uncertain terms that this was a word that represented hate. It was clear I could never use that word. 

I don't use that word. Not in jest. Not in song. Not ever. 

If we are to truly embrace the notion that All Means All in East Greenwich Public Schools, we cannot ever use that word. Period. Full Stop.  

Short. Sweet. To the point: Hate has no place here. 

Barking at The Diamond Dogs

This summer, our family started rewatching Ted Lasso. There is something about the humanity of this show. The entire series thus far (I hope there will be a fourth season) is about a team and what it takes to be a part of a team. They're not perfect, and there's plenty of division, but there is innate goodness in all the characters. Take four minutes and forty-two seconds and watch one of my favorite scenes, courtesy of YouTube. Then, try to remember to be curious, not judgmental. 

One of the elements I find so endearing is the group "The Diamond Dogs." The Diamond Dogs were formed when Ted Lasso, a fish out of water in London, coaching a soccer team with absolutely no soccer experience, realized he needed help. While he brought an assistant coach with him, so many things are getting lost in translation (literally), and he's navigating a long-distance relationship with his wife and son. The collective values exhibited by the Diamond Dogs (a group of men) are collaboration, support, and growth, shown by empathy, compassion, and honesty with each other. 

I was struck by this group rewatching it because, honestly, it's rare to see men being this candid and vulnerable with each other. Part of the research in my dissertation was around the ethic of care that gets scrutinized when men are involved. I was a first-grade teacher, and a stigma went with it. It's the same stigma male nurses receive (as made fun of in the movie Meet the Parents). When there is an ethic of care, while it's seemingly OK for men to demonstrate that in their own homes, there is, at the very least, an ambivalence about it when in professional realms. 

That's why The Diamond Dogs resonated with me, but it's also what makes the concept so wonderful. The men offer their own expertise and advice to each other. They can face challenges together, creating a sense of camaraderie and togetherness. They discuss various strategies for winning and allow each other into their personal lives with vulnerability and candor. 

We know that mental health is just as important as physical health. If someone shared during a meeting that they had a headache, we would all offer whatever over-the-counter medication we had to help that individual feel better. We struggle to talk about the more complicated parts of mental health: feeling alone, overwhelmed, depressed. That's not so easy to talk about at parties. 

We know how important it is in EGPS that we dedicated our professional development time to mental health for our adults this year. We dedicated resources for all the adults in our district, including those in Central Office, to have the opportunity to learn and grow themselves to be able to better serve our students. We do this because we know our students are still struggling with the ripple effects of the pandemic. We have to be our best selves professionally to serve our students. There's a reason why, when flying, we're told to put on our oxygen masks first before helping others...

A life lesson from Ted Lasso. 

The EGPS Vision of a Graduate

Lately, I've been involved in a lot of discussions about test scores, the colleges our EGPS graduates have attended, and points earned on Advanced Placement exams. It hasn't sat well with me, primarily because of the quote attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt: "Comparison is the thief of joy." All week, I've been trying to ground myself in something deeper for our students and this community, and I realized it was right in front of me: The Vision of a Graduate. 

It was developed before I began serving as Superintendent of Schools, and it is the roadmap for what we expect of our graduates. There are four components: 

• Knowledgeable: Students learn factual, conceptual, and content-based understandings across a variety of academic disciplines. Through "knowledge" our graduates have the ability to transfer content knowledge to a variety of familiar and unfamiliar environments, situations, challenges, and an evolving sense of self and others, within a local and global context. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Connected: Students understand and value connecting with a diversity of people, environments, and perspectives. Through "connections" our graduates embrace the capacity of their individual and collective purpose and action to fully leverage their impact on the interconnected workings of life and the world. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Reflective: Students routinely think about their knowledge, skills, emotions, connections to others, and personal histories and apply their insights to future situations, endeavors, and learning. Through "reflection" our graduates use an evolving understanding of who they are, what they are capable of, how they can positively impact and fit into the lives of others - ultimately taking control of and responsibility for satisfying intrinsic motivations to make a difference with their lives. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Skilled: Students demonstrate diverse skill sets enabling them to communicate effectively, solve problems creatively, think critically, and collaborate meaningfully with others. Through "competency" our graduates have the skills and dispositions necessary to harness and use knowledge of a variety of disciplines, of others and of themselves, to pursue current and future goals in order to find their place in the world. 
  
  
  

There is no mention of test scores, although the EGPS vision includes being able to take knowledge from one conceptual base to another. The expectation is that our graduates will use their skills across a variety of disciplines to "find their place in the world." 

There is no mention of the specific colleges our graduates will go to or that they go to a college at all. This vision does speak to building connections, not specifically where, so that their impact on this world is shaped by their "individual purpose." 

There is no mention of Advanced Placement exams, though some of the analysis and problem-solving necessary for demonstrating success on an AP exam are named. The purpose of those are specifically to ensure that our graduates find their place in this world. 

The reflection I did to return to the Vision of the Graduate is an effort to help our graduates find "intrinsic motivations to make a difference with their lives." 

I live in the real world, and I understand that we must continue to assess our students meaningfully and authentically, so that they have the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities for whatever their next step after EGHS will be. Perhaps it is a four-year college. Perhaps it is a two-year college. Perhaps it is military service. Perhaps it is a job. 

I am turning fifty this week, and one of the realities that I work hard to articulate for my own children, one of whom is a junior and serious about going to college, is that we can't always put a number on what is important. It took me three tries to break 1000 on the SAT in the late 80s and early 90s. I was told I would not get into the college of my choice because of those scores. My mother still has all of my report cards in a shoe box in the attic of the home I grew up in. 

I have lived for a half-century. I am in love with My Wife, of more than twenty years. I have two children I am proud of. I have friends that I could call and they would come at the drop of a hat. I have a job that doesn't feel like work, surrounded by people who share the same educational values that I do. 

I want EGPS students to be knowledgeable, connected, reflective, and skilled. And I want them to be happy, to find love, have good friends, and do meaningful work in the world. 

You can't put a number on that. 

Because of Unified Sports

I had the privilege and honor of watching a Unified Volleyball game at East Greenwich High School last week. What a gift that time was. Unified Sports brings out the best that humanity has to offer. 

Students eligible for special education play with typically developing peers (partners) on the same court. There are officials, scores are tallied, and in the case of volleyball, they rotate with the same regularity as you saw in the Summer Olympics in Paris. The differences are subtle but meaningful. 

• Unified athletes can serve from anywhere on the court. Partners have to serve behind the service line. 
  
  
• Unified athletes are given the benefit of a do-over. Partners are not afforded that same grace. 
  
  
• Unified athletes (perhaps) get a little more coaching than their partners. What I noticed, though, was that our coaches ensured that when our partners were serving, they were "aiming" for the partners on the other side of the net!

The stands at EGHS were packed that evening, and those in attendance cheered for both the EGHS athletes and the Exeter-West Greenwich athletes. The loudest and most raucous sounds came from the volleys that went back and forth several times. It didn't matter who got the point, as everyone recognized the significance of the focus and concentration this took for all the athletes. 

Our EGHS partner students called out the names of their unified peers when setting them for a winning shot. The celebrations when a unified athlete scored were loud and included the student's name. For both EGHS and E-WG, truly, that day, everyone was a winner. 

When I was interviewing for this position two and a half years ago, there was a student panel at the high school. For the first time in my career, one of the students in the room had a visible disability. Perhaps others had an invisible one, but in all my years of interviews with students, I had never encountered an interview panel like the one here in EG. It was my first concrete example that here, "All Means All." 

I was reminded recently that the word "educate" comes from the Latin root word "educere," which means to lead out. A real element of education is to ensure that our students feel safe, welcomed, and included when they come to school so they can learn to their fullest potential. Learning to one's fullest potential means making mistakes along the way. If our buildings are not safe places for mistakes, we will never draw out the unique strengths and potentials of our district's more than 2400 students. 

Our Unified Sports are not about perfection. They're not about keeping score. They're certainly not about winning. They're about the greatness in each one of us. Honoring that greatness and getting better a little bit at a time. 

A life lesson I was reminded of last Tuesday in the gym at 300 Avenger Drive. With thanks to Patty Carrosoto, the EGHS Unified Volleyball Team, and their counterparts from Exeter-West Greenwich. It was a special evening.  

Unified Athletics is a glimpse of the best we can be.