The EDS Advantage

GREAT NEWS! Please read this, because you probably either don’t know it or you take it for granted.  We all do. It’s hiding right in front of us in plain sight, but we get distracted and become focused on other, less important matters.

Here’s the bottom line: as parents we are missing the boat when we hyper-focus on singular, narrow variables in an academic program (e.g., relatively minor variations in grades, test-scores, class sizes, homework, etc.).  We disadvantage our children when we protect them from adversity, conflict, and even failure.  We disservice them when we de-emphasize the value and importance of non-academic learning and experiences.

Don’t get me wrong, I am as big an academic snob as anyone you will find, and I want students on the most rigorous path for which they are capable.  But the research is clearer that this can only be achieved if students are simultaneously developing non-cognitive skills and character traits. Even more importantly, the deliberate development of non-cognitive skills will lead to greater professional success and sense of well-being.

Here’s what’s not news:  This is the fundamental principle upon which EDS was founded. EDS wasn’t created because there was a shortage of places for Augusta’s children to learn math and read great works.  EDS was created to help young people develop their whole selves into well-rounded and well-grounded citizens and children of God.  We are intentional and purposeful about this in ways that exceed any other schools in the area. We understand that attention to this aspect of development supports academic progress and leads to more effective citizens with higher levels of satisfaction. For example:

·      We are the only school in the area that has a required PreK3-8th religion, religious history, and theology course of curriculum, complemented by daily prayer and pledge, weekly chapel, and monthly communion, led by a full time ordained chaplain.

·      Our students have the most extensive available public speaking and presentation training, practice and experience in PreK-8^th grades.

·      We have an intentional leadership curriculum, including authentic leadership roles and experiences, that has been upheld as a national model of excellence by the Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education.

·      We don't just take school trips, we’ve taken the care to develop a scope and sequence of integrated experiential education programming into all grades as community experiences.

·      When anti-bullying programs became the trend, EDS aimed higher and developed CORE, an integrated approach, involving parents, teachers, and students in an ongoing effort to promote the kind of school culture for which we strive.

·      Our teachers have worked to identify a specific set of non-cognitive, affective skills as part of our Core Outcomes, along with rubrics for determining progress.

·      Our teachers all believe that the character traits they are teaching are as central and important as the academic content.

·      We create formative experiences in which students face appropriate challenge, conflict, and adversity as teaching tools.

·      We are one of only 18 top schools in the country who take this information seriously enough to partner with ETS in developing the first-ever, scientifically supported non-cognitive skill assessment for middle school students.

I could go on, but you get the point.  I haven’t even touched upon our commitment to the formative programs in the arts and athletics, the fact that we have a full-time nurse unequalled in her qualifications and experience, the team approach we take to problem-solving and conflict resolution, and our commitment of time and money to professional development.

The links below clearly reveal that these things matter.  They help academic achievement and they lead to success, meaning, and satisfaction.  At EDS we don’t just strive to do schooling better, we strive to do better schooling.

This American Life podcast from 9/14 about non-cognitive skills:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/back-to-school

Which Traits Predict Success from Wired.com science blog:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/what-is-success-true-grit/

Back to School: Why Grit is More Important Than Good Grades from Time Magazine

http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/05/why-grit-is-more-important-than-grades/

Research from the Universities of Michigan and Rhode Island show the positive results of perseverance, love, gratitude, and prudence:

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55841/1/398_ftp.pdf

My Sept. 10 blog entry (in case you missed it) about the Stanford study of the impact of awe:

http://beyondmurraysmusings.blogspot.com/

Inspiring Awe

As part of a weekly reflection from the Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, The Rev. Dan Heischman introduced us to a fascinating article in livescience.com about a recent study: “Stanford University researchers have discovered that awe—as opposed to joy or other positive emotions—gives people the sense that time has slowed down…[they] reported feeling less hurried. What’s more, they turned out to be, as a group, more likely to donate their money to charity, less absorbed with materials goods, and generally reported higher levels of satisfaction with their lives.”

Heischman comments, “As she put it, gazing at a mountain vista, a stunning landscape, or listening to a great symphony may well turn out to help people…There are few things that we hope more for our students than that they feel less rushed in the rat race of life, more patient, and more compassionate toward others. So, too, we wish them to be generous, less materialistic, and feel a certain level of satisfaction with life.”

It appears that helping students experience a sense of awe promotes these outcomes.  And EDS promotes awe.  I will think about this next week while I am in the middle of Pisgah National Forest overlooking God’s awesome creation while on the 8^th grade Outward Bound trip.  This is just one of the many ways we get students into the natural world to discover and marvel at creation.  Our new hands-on science curriculum is all about exploring the awe-inspiring miracle of creation.  But it’s not just in the natural world. I’ve watched our teachers inspire awe in the discovery of the power of a great book, the magic of numbers, the stories of great leaders and history-shapers, the beauty of music and art, and most of all in the exploration of the mystery of faith.  Who is better equipped to promote opportunities to experience awe than an Episcopal school community that prays together, reads and studies the great story of Judeo-Christian history, and worships as a community in a beautiful, awe-inspiring chapel?

I’ve known all along that we promote the experience of awe at EDS.  What Dan Heischman pointed out to me is that there is a new study that confirms the benefits.  Just another value-added of the EDS experience.