Reflections on WIS

2007–2018

Reflections on WIS

Reflections on WIS 2007 to 2018

About This Publication Clayton W. Lewis is both an avid photographer and an accomplished writer. The essays in Reflections on WIS are presented chronologically; while they do not represent the entire collection of Clayton’s columns and letters, they highlight themes and ideas that tell the WIS story.

Without knowing how they would be used, Clayton selected the photographs within as some of his favorites from among the hundreds— likely thousands—of photographs he took during his WIS tenure. The photographs are not presented chronologically, nor have they been placed within the pages of the school year when they were taken. The reader should enjoy these photographs as reflections of life at WIS. WIS’s 50th Anniversary was the celebratory pinnacle of Clayton’s tenure at WIS; for this reason, Reflections also includes a few highlights of the Golden Weekend. Enjoy the memories!

Photos and Essays by Clayton W. Lewis Washington International School Head of School 2007 to 2018 50th Anniversary Photos by Alfredo Flores, WIS Class of 1997

2007–2008 SCHOOL YEAR

Learning About WIS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPRING 2008 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

Every new head hopes for the opportunity to become acquainted with his or her school community before having to make major decisions about the school and its direction. I arrived at a time when construction at Tregaron was in its final months, when our self-study for reaccreditation was nearing its completion, and when WIS’s finances were secure. In my first months, I was able to concentrate upon interviewing colleagues, parents, students, and alumni, and hearing of their hopes for the future.

In a December letter to the community, I described what I felt distinguished us from other schools: First, it was clear that the school’s origins were rooted in a philosophical commitment to internationalism that underpinned a pragmatic effort to educate expatriate children. WIS placed its beacon on the hill, long before it was standard practice for organizations to craft a mission statement, and was among the first schools in the world to adopt the IB Diploma. Second, the founders recognized that children growing up in an interconnected, interdependent world should be immersed in a second functional language at an early age. With such a base, these children would not only have the skill and disposition to acquire other languages, but would also have a crucial tool for understanding and interacting with other cultures.

Imbedded in these two distinctions was a third and hugely important component: that of global citizenship. WIS has sought from its beginning to connect to the world beyond its borders by exposing students to the wealth of human and physical resources found in this city, and by building links with societies and organizations around the world.

These commitments remain at our core, and while they are distinctive, they are not unique. There is growing awareness among progressive independent and public schools of the importance of preparing young people for a global future. What was once considered WIS’s particular domain has now become the goal of other schools. Our challenge is to remain a leader who will constantly redefine where schools should be heading. We can do so only by a process of constant self-examination and by capitalizing upon our many advantages.

Our direction, of course, must be linked to what we anticipate for our children’s future. Based upon the current trajectory, we can predict many of the circumstances that will be evident in the decades ahead. The global population will continue to rise, leading to greater demand for scarce physical resources, in particular water. Climate change will alter our patterns of living, perhaps drastically. Wealthy nations with declining populations will find their social security systems under stress. Globalization will continue to “flatten” the world economy, and innovation will be increasingly at a premium. Young people will make multiple changes in their careers, and an increasing percentage of them will pursue “green collar” professions. The technology of “collective intelligence” will allow the sum of human knowledge to be available to most people, subject to the economic and political limitations we impose. Social networking and other collaborative tools will increasingly redefine the way we think about organizations and culture.

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With these variables in mind, we must carefully consider the skills and disposition young people should acquire during their school years and benchmark this deliberation against a global frame of reference. For example, we should consider the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which shares expertise and exchanges of view with more than 100 countries. Since 2000, the OECD has compared the results of educational systems worldwide in reading, mathematics, and science, and has cited the key competencies that young people need to master in order to be successful in a global community.

These include the interactive use of language, symbols, texts, information, and technology, as well as such interpersonal skills as relating effectively with others, cooperation, and resolving conflict. Not surprisingly, universities and employers are calling increasingly for collaborative, divergent thinkers who look for creative, integrated, big picture solutions.

What does this mean for WIS? Our challenge is obvious: we must continue to embrace the school’s existing core values while adapting our program to new realities. We must be willing to ask the right questions about our future and to reach conclusions based on evidence. For example, are we offering the best programs for our students, taking into account our mission and core values, and our vision for the 21st Century?

How can we ensure an effective structure and process for drawing the best from our human resources? How can we ensure that technology is used efficiently and effectively throughout the school? How do we define and realize our commitment to internationalism and sustainability?

Addressing such questions requires self-examination that is not easy, and changes that are not always easy to accept. Yet the ultimate goal—continuing to provide a world-class education to future generations and instilling them with a strong sense of global responsibility—is worth the effort. I am confident the answers we find will assure our school’s ongoing leadership in the field of international education. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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2008–2009 SCHOOL YEAR

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In Praise of Athletics ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FALL 2008 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

With the completion of our new soccer field and outdoor basketball court at Tregaron, WIS has made a defining statement about the importance of athletics. We now have what our students believe to be “the best field in DC,” and who can doubt that this assertion may be true from an aesthetic perspective. Let there be no doubt that these new facilities, combined with our gymnasium, have given us a welcome “home game” advantage, as everyone who attended our Dedication/Homecoming Day will appreciate.

As a school dedicated to international understanding, WIS has taken an appropriate step with its commitment to athletics. What could be more universal?

Sports seem to be a function of human evolution, like compassion, love, or conscience. I recall the adage that if you bring together two children from any part of the world and give them an object that resembles a ball, a game will ensue.

I am not especially knowledgeable about sports, though I have played quite a few over my lifetime. I don’t pay much attention to professional teams and tend to wait until the end of a season to focus in on the excitement of the final four.

I do, however, frequent school games because I hold to the passionate belief that sports are an important part of a young person’s life, and that schools should provide wherever possible an environment and philosophy that nurtures young athletes. I feel this to be true for multiple reasons of equal importance.

Let’s start with exercise. Children on a playground need to run, as though they instinctively wish to fill their lungs with air and stretch their limbs to tag their peers.

Among the reasons cited for Finland’s consistent top academic rank among OECD schools is the fact that children are sent outside every hour or so, even on very cold days, to run around on the playground stimulating their breathing and circulation. Older students often express nostalgia for “recess” when they wish they could exercise to break the academic cycle of their day. The ancient notion of a sound mind and body is today a biological certainty as evidenced by the correlation between exercise and good health in older age.

Then there is learning. Virtually all studies of the skills that young people will need in the future cite the importance of cooperation and collaboration, what I would describe in the current context as teamwork. Coaches will usually express a preference for teaching athletes who Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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As members of the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference, WIS athletes achieved considerable success from 2007 to 2018.

play together as a team as opposed to instructing a group of individual stars. It is often noted that athletic practices can epitomize good teaching, where coaches instruct every athlete according to his or her strengths or weaknesses, and where the athlete (learner) practices an action over and over again in order to achieve success. Furthermore, I have observed throughout my career that the discipline that young people experience as athletes carries over to their work habits in school.

Athletes seem to thrive on healthy competition, the type where winning is joyful and losing is acceptable. This year I watched our two varsity soccer teams lose their league championship

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matches during extended time, having played magnificently throughout the regular periods. How wonderful our athletes would have felt had they scored the winning goals, yet, how poised and gracious they were in defeat. Similarly, I saw our cross-country teams participating in what is certainly the most grueling sport offered at WIS, a race over a long, uneven course where you are driven not so much to be first across the finish line, but to beat the clock so that your time will count favorably with that of your team. I have so often heard the lonely cross country runner who finishes in the middle or end of the pack exclaim with satisfaction that “I beat my best time!”

What comes from such a moment or from any participation on a team is the benefit of enhanced self-esteem, that feeling that one has played his or her hardest or achieved a personal goal. It is to this end that parents and teachers owe to young athletes an appreciation for their achievement. Athletes will tell you how important it is to be recognized for their efforts, that comment when they arrived home or at school the next day: “I enjoyed watching you play. I’m proud of you.” We cannot overestimate the importance of such moments, nor can we make excuses for missing these opportunities.

Let’s praise athletes and athletics. n

Over the course of these eleven years, WIS teams collectively earned 92 PVAC season and tournament banners, plus the 2016 DCSAA Boys Soccer title.

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2009–2010 SCHOOL YEAR

PHOTO PSMathMapRug

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Learning from Our Past ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPRING/SUMMER 2010 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

I had lunch recently with Dorothy Goodman, WIS’s founding head of school who lives nearby on Macomb Street. She and I get together once or twice a year to share our thoughts about education and to catch up on school news. In the midst of our conversation, Dorothy made a passing reference to WIS as “a pilot school for the planet.” I stopped her and asked, “Where did you get that phrase?” “Oh, I’ve used it from the beginning, when the school was started,” she replied. “In fact, I was using in back in the 50s when WIS first became an idea.”

I have had lots of similar conversations with former or long-term staff and families who, without referring specifically to a “pilot school,” have noted that WIS in its early evolution did not simply want to replicate other schools; rather, there was a constant effort to experiment with new ideas that set WIS— and its graduates—apart from others.

Let’s fast-forward to today. Almost all educational organizations have taken up the mantra of “21st Century skills” and of creating “schools for the future.” Their professional journals are uniformly filled with calls for second language acquisition, critical thinking, inquiry-based learning, global understanding, collaboration, and effective use of technology.

WIS has good reason to feel smug. In most respects, this school has been out in front as a “pilot school” with its commitment to languages, the

International Baccalaureate (IB), global citizenship, and cultural diversity. If our graduates have left WIS with any grand advantage, it is their disposition to see the world as a whole; to respond to its challenges, and to seek a better future for humanity. I asked our 5th graders at their recent “graduation” ceremony to raise their hand if they want to learn more languages. All hands shot up. They offered the same response when asked if they wished to live in different countries and to make the world a better place.

Have no doubt: our students still “get it.”

If WIS has indeed been a pilot school for the planet, it will not remain such without constant adaptation. We must build upon existing attributes while embracing new tools that challenge and empower young people in ways that were unimaginable in the past. Our students will not grow up simply to become designers, artists, musicians, scientists, writers, and Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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negotiators. Consider them as nanosurgeons, cloning ethicists, climate change reversalists, classroom avatar managers, network relations counselors, synthetic life designers, and privacy protection consultants. They are likely to adapt to 8 to 10 different jobs in their careers.

In order to prepare their students, educators today hover between traditional learning and the world according to Google. I served this spring as a mentor to a group of 5th graders as they prepared their project for the annual Exhibition. My role was to ask guiding questions, not to provide answers. As these students were well accustomed to this approach through the IB Primary Years Program, they assumed immediate responsibility for finding relevant information on the Internet in consultation with each other. However, their ability to think critically about what they found required the skillful coaching of their classroom teacher, Mrs. Wagle.

Such a balanced approach between independence, collaboration, and mentoring is consistent with what young people will experience when they enter the adult professional world. However, education still abounds with approaches that are not so progressive. Consider for example that 18-year-olds around the world still take their final exams isolated from one another, with no information at hand other than what they can recall

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from memory. Such an approach fails to measure many of the attributes and talents that are truly relevant to future success.

I believe WIS can help to lead the way in developing better approaches to learning and assessment, while maintaining its commitment to essential skills and dispositions. For example, we have built upon our school’s outstanding tradition of journalism, as represented by the printed version of International Dateline, by creating the web-based Student News Action Network. There, WIS students continue to produce sophisticated, wellresearch articles (and now videos) on matters of global importance, extending their audience worldwide. We have taken this initiative a step further by inviting students from schools around the world to submit their own news items to the site. We are now partnering with other organizations to turn NewsAction into a 24/7 network that is run by students for students. This is a perfect example of 21st Century skills, where students demonstrate what they know and are able to do using the latest technology. Imagine that participants will soon be able to present online portfolios of their published work to universities and employers.

When you work at—or attend classes at—an institution day after day, year after year, the exceptional becomes the commonplace, and it’s easy to forget

why WIS stands apart. For this reason I appreciate the opportunity to meet with peers from other schools and to travel to other parts of the country and the world.

As I write this, I am preparing to go to China to visit our Confucius Classroom partner school. I fully expect that my traveling companions, other educators from all over the United States, will be interested to learn about programs and projects that are part of the everyday fabric of learning at our school. I also suspect that I will return from China impressed with what I see in classrooms there, and perhaps inspired to introduce new ideas or initiatives to my colleagues

here. I am constantly aware that the greatest challenge to our leadership and role as a pilot school for the planet is complacency.

When people like Dorothy Goodman return to campus, they always remark on how much the school has changed since its founding more than four decades ago. While, as a former history teacher, I recognize and treasure lessons from the past, I hope that our alums and returning faculty continue to see a constant evolution, one that is limited only by the bounds of our imagination. n

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2010–2011 SCHOOL YEAR

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It’s Never Been Harder to Be a Parent ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPRING 2011 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

If there is anything that has changed dramatically over the course of my educational career, other than technology, it is parenting. Being a parent has never been an easy role, but the demands seem to be ever increasing. Similarly, parental expectations of the school have never been higher, hence teachers and principals also feel the stress. Authors have rushed in with all sorts of books and articles on the subject, each with lists of what to do and what not to do. The titles alone indicate the variety of approaches that an expert might take, for example Bruno Bettelheim’s A Good Enough Parent that speaks to a parent’s anxiety about making the right decisions, and Anthony Wolfe’s Get Out of My Life, but First Would You Drop Cheryl and Me Off at the Mall?, capturing the sense of desperation felt by some parents during their children’s adolescence. A recent best seller on the subject is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and the title certainly says it all.

I have had lots of conversations with parents that suggest their high level of uncertainty about their role, or conversely, suggest a certainty that in itself can be problematic. I’ve never been inclined to send them off with a reading list, believing instead that good parenting cannot be reduced to a “how to” guide. Instead, it is really “on the job training” where a parent needs to adapt his or her approach according to the needs of different children, and to make conscious adjustments along the way. This conclusion is drawn from my observation of countless parents in my professional and personal lives, and from my own direct experiences as a parent.

I began administering schools before I had children of my own. I administered schools that my own three children attended. I now have grown children all in their 20s. After all this, I still hardly regard myself as an expert; rather, I remain a continuous learner who has picked up some pointers along the way.

I’ve often said to parents that they should think of themselves as having a job description. They might go so far as to write it down and to revise it as they become more experienced in the role. What might be some fundamental responsibilities in the parent’s role, other than the obvious ones of provider and caregiver?

First, a parent must manage a child’s successes and failures. Intellectually, a parent will know that children must take incremental steps from being totally dependent as a young child to being generally independent as a young adult.

The parent also knows from his or her own experience that learning from failure is a part of life. There is ample evidence that parents are finding it more difficult to apply these truths to their own children.

I refer to three interesting pieces, the first a recent cover article in The Atlantic where Lori Gottlieb admonishes parents with the title, “How to Land your Kid in Therapy.” She describes the phenomenon

of children who are not allowed to experience failure, or “what discomfort feels like,” and who grow up unprepared for what adult life throws at them. Wendy Mogel addresses the same point in her book, The Blessings of a Skinned Knee, as does David Brooks in a New York Times article, “It’s Not About You.” He raises concern over young people with tightly regulated childhoods who “will enter a world that is unprecedentedly wide open and unstructured.”

Is there really an epidemic here?

Educators will attest to the trend where parents are more likely to rush in too quickly to solve a problem or to intervene before failure occurs. A term commonly used is “helicopter parenting.” I have seen the fallout from this approach far too often, where the child (or college student) is not able to handle reality when it inevitably appears. Fortunately, this style of parenting remains the approach of a small minority.

I told a story at the end of the school year that speaks to the question of success and failure. I recently received an email from a colleague at a former school, who mentioned that a certain student had just complete his masters degree from Oxford and had an excellent job at a respected foundation. I was amazed.

Could this really be the same student who had failed to obtain the necessary points for his IB Diploma, and who only wanted to play basketball at school and in his spare time? I recalled his parents and their patient assurance that he would turn out fine, and how right they were.

Next, maintaining good communications with children is an important part of the parent’s job description. Parents are required to find those meaningful opportunities to engage with their children about real topics. They should be good enquirers together. Regrettably, I’ve too often watched parents sit in a restaurant while their children are engrossed with a digital game on their Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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hand device and then reach for their own devices whenever messages arrive. What a lost opportunity! Parents should look for chances to find a quiet space to listen to their children, leaving their Blackberries behind. They should talk about life, share wisdom, but not preach…for sermons are unlikely to be heard.

Parents should remember that their job description is as supervisors and will remain so until their children are out on their own. I am a little uneasy when a parent says to me, “My child and I are best friends.” It’s great if that means that the parent and child are able to talk

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meaningfully with each other and enjoy the same experiences. However, it’s not a peer relationship. Consider the adult workspace. A supervisor may have a great personal relationship with someone in the office under his or her authority, but there are times when supervision must be exercised. Becoming too close can be a problem.

boundaries. Boundaries can be moved, but in alignment with the parent’s best judgment and not because he or she has yielded to complaints. For example, most parents today are under some pressure about Internet access. “Everyone has Facebook!” “I need a computer in my room.” “Can’t I have an iPhone?” Parents need to draw the line, but where?

As a supervisor, a parent’s job is to provide age-appropriate parameters for his or her children, and to help them find success within those boundaries.

Children have a job description as well, and that is to push against the

That leads to another item on parents’ job description: collaborator. They should seek the counsel and support of other parents; otherwise, the job will be a lonely one. As children grow older, their role is to divide and conquer. “You’re the only parent who won’t let me stay out later.”

“Everyone else gets more allowance.”

“Don’t worry, his parents will be home.”

“Don’t you trust me?” Kids today are wired to each other around the clock, and parents are no match if they try to handle their responsibilities alone. Through focused conversations, parents can help each other to establish social norms that they will try to enforce together. Parents need to take a position about those families whose norms are different. Take for example the generations-old question of alcohol. Some parents believe that alcohol is fundamental to adolescence and will allow their children to drink at home or accept that their children drink on weekends. “I want my child to learn to drink responsibly.” Other parents take strong issue when this attitude is in violation of the law.

It’s tempting to gloss over these challenges, but avoidance is not a solution. In recent years, there have been several incidents in the WIS community involving private weekend or summer parties that led to undesirable consequences, even when parent supervision was present and the rules had been clearly stated. It is at such moments that parents need to meet with each other to consider what they’ve learned about setting and maintaining boundaries. If I have any specific piece of advice, it is that all parents should make it clear that they would like to have a conversation when their teenager comes home, no matter how late. “Just knock on my door.” That serves as a clear message that with trust there must be accountability.

A parent’s job description requires long and irregular hours, sometimes late at night and on weekends. It’s those long trips to soccer practices, making it home in time for family dinners, showing up at school for presentations, and helping with the homework. Let’s project to the time when the child is about 16 and able to get around completely on his or her own and is quite independent with schoolwork. The moments that a parent finds at this juncture with his teenager are precious indeed, and conversations can be rich.

Okay, that sounds like a sermon. I guess I’ve earned that privilege based on longevity. n

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2011–2012 SCHOOL YEAR

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The Optimism of Youth ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, NOVEMBER 3, 2011

A remarkable social movement is underway. Thousands of people have demonstrated in cities across the United States and throughout the world in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Corporate greed” is the mantra of these protestors, and it is tempting for their critics to categorize them as unemployed malcontents. I’ve heard them referred to as a “rag tag mob” or as “anarchists.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, leading Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain expressed his disdain, “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.”

Interesting. A closer look at the protestors offers a different impression.

Demographic analyses suggest they are largely educated, employed, and diverse in almost every sense. I don’t think getting rich is their objective.

Rather, taking the words of their own website, “We are a movement of people empowerment, a collective realization that we ourselves have the power to create change from the bottom up.”

I draw attention to this movement not to evaluate it, but to suggest that

it represents a fundamental message that will increasingly resonate with young people: that the institutions that should provide leadership and stability in an unsettled world may be woefully inadequate for the task at hand. In both the United States and Europe we are mired in fiscal uncertainty that has no end in sight. There are no real political solutions on the table to address imperatives such as global warming, water shortages, and the loss of biodiversity. The wealth gap continues to widen in many developed countries and social security systems are projected to be short of the funds necessary to support aging populations.

One might expect our kids to be weighed down by such problems. They’re not.

This is the only state of being they’ve known—like a mega reality TV show— and they don’t have a longing for the way things used to be. Kids experience the now. They naturally assume solutions will be found, for after all, what’s their

alternative? They believe in their infinite capacity to do what needs to be done.

Didn’t Mark Zuckerburg, shortly after finishing high school, figure out a way to link 500 million people with Facebook?

Didn’t he do this because he was a kid and understood what grown-ups didn’t?

Didn’t the same truth apply to those old guys like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs when they were kids?

I’ve been an educator all my adult life, and if there’s any overriding conclusion I’ve reached through my experiences, it’s that we underestimate kids, confine them

to a box, and assume too much authority for their futures. We need to engage our children meaningfully as co-participants in problem solving. We need to think about where and how we can establish a private and public discourse with our children about the type of problems noted above, giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility. Movements such as Occupy Wall Street provide an avenue for communication...it’s up to all of us to move one step further toward collaboration to create the society and world in which our children’s children will want to live. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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Preparing Our Students for the Working World ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, NOVEMBER 17, 2011

“The mismatch between the skills demanded by employers and those available in the market is a reflection both of bad choices by students, who have not thought hard enough about what will help them find a job, and of education systems that are too indifferent to the needs of the labor market and too slow to change even if they try.”

So spoke The Economist in September.

It seems that every sector today clamors for adaptable competencies. There is near consensus about the importance of intercultural awareness, teamwork, problem-solving, collaborative networking, and other “soft” skills that are important in the real world, but that are undervalued (or certainly under assessed) in academia.

Beyond these competencies is the importance of a well-rounded education that will allow students to adapt to new challenges as they enter the labor market. In his newly published biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson quotes the late technology icon as he reflected upon his childhood: “I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics. Then I read something that one of my heroes,

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Edwin Land of Polaroid, said about the importance of people who could stand at the intersection of humanities and sciences, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.” Jobs, of course, dropped out of college after his freshman year, only to take a calligraphy course that led to the multiple fonts that we find today on all word processors.

His comment captures one of the truly pertinent questions in education today.

Employers are calling for graduates who have had a versatile education, and who can connect the dots between seemingly disparate areas of knowledge. However, many of us will recall some point in our lives when we chose to pursue either the humanities or the sciences. Educational systems worldwide still tend to funnel students toward specialization at an early age. Often, around age 16, students stand at a pathway that diverges in two directions, one toward science and math, and the other toward the humanities.

Universities can share responsibility for this premature selection process. Take for example the British educational system, where students aspiring to attend university will generally narrow their studies to three A Level courses by the end of their secondary education. Those wanting to pursue engineering, science, or medicine will usually choose two A Level sciences along with mathematics for their three courses at the expense of the humanities. The same may apply to students in the U.S., who tend to specialize during the final years of high school, shedding the academic courses they find unnecessary for matriculation in the colleges of their choice.

One of the great advantages of the IB Diploma Program is that it requires candidates to pursue a full range of courses, specifically two languages, a social science/humanities course, an experimental science, mathematics, and

a sixth elective. Each of these courses is studied in depth for two years. Students also learn how to connect the dots through Theory of Knowledge, which asks them to “critically examine different ways of knowing and different kinds of knowledge” (a Steve Jobs kind of course).

Finally, the Extended Essay strengthens students’ research and writing skills.

We know the IB Diploma Program provides the broad base of knowledge and learning strategies to set our students up for success at college— four WIS alumni affirmed this once again when they spoke to our seniors two weeks ago. And with those “soft” fundamental skills in place, our students will also be prepared to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the employment market…and perhaps even to find (or create) that sweet spot where the humanities and science intersect. n

Youth and Our Environmental Future ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MARCH 22, 2012

Consider 2012. Can there be a disconnection of similar proportions?

Perhaps. We are constantly presented data by experts (quite a few are in the WIS community) concerning global issues of epic proportion. They include rising temperatures and sea levels, receding glaciers, rivers, and reservoirs, aquifer depletion, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, insufficient food production, collapsing fisheries and ecosystems, and waste management. Yikes!

Consider 1912. It was a time of wealthy empires and of immense industrial, scientific, and technological achievement.

Cubist painters shook the art world.

The Titanic sank that year on its maiden voyage. The Swedes won the most medals in the summer Olympics (they were the hosts). The Causeway Mansion was constructed in Cleveland Park, now known as Tregaron. My father’s parents married in October. Woodrow Wilson was elected U.S. president a few weeks later. My grandmother, as a woman, was not allowed to vote.

It was an age of extreme social and political inequality. Women demanded suffrage. Laborers fought for better working conditions. Activists in subjugated nations called for independence. The great powers of Europe rattled their sabers, and the threat of conflict was real. Remarkably, no one seemed to anticipate how the world would soon be turned on its head by war, revolution, ideologies, and economic depression. Adults in 1912 failed to recognize the signals of their time, and their children in their schools were oblivious.

With such a plateful of issues, one would think that we are preoccupied with finding solutions. Perhaps that’s the worst news. A WIS parent recently shared with me a report published by the United Nations Environmental Programme, 21 Issues for the 21st Century, where the highest ranked problem is “aligning governance to the challenges of global sustainability.” Disconnection.

Many parents in the WIS community deal daily with such realities. As an educator, I’m more concerned about student attitudes. Last week, The Washington Post reported that young Americans are less interested in the environment than previous generations, in spite of the fact that most of them have heard repeatedly about the issues we face. How can this be? The article quotes an environmental science professor who “has noticed an increase in skepticism—or confusion— about climate change among his

students as the national debate has heightened…that leads to fatigue.” To understand why a young person might be confused or fatigued, one has only to watch television advertisements that hammer the message, “Clean Coal.”

I’ll add another theory. If young people see a constant disconnection between what they learn about environmental issues and the behavior of the adults in their lives, why should they believe that the issues are real and demand their attention? For example, we have several historic buildings at Tregaron that are energy sieves. The Board of Trustees and I are committed to addressing this shortcoming with our strategic planning, but students attending daily classes may say, “Show me.” On the home front, students watch behavior about energy use, waste management, temperature settings, and the efficiency level of a new car. “Show me.” At both school and home, young people need to hear adults talking about solutions, not just the problems.

A colleague directed me to a new book, Abundance, where Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler offer a compelling argument that there are solutions to our global issues, as long as there is the will. This should be the bread of our conversations with children. Unlike our ancestors in 1912, we must convince the next generation that today’s dispositions and decisions will determine tomorrow’s solutions and outcomes. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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History Without Bias ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, APRIL 9, 2012

In contrast, international schools should grapple with the “whose history” question. The goal is NOT to inculcate national values, rather, to ensure students experience a range of perspectives.

A discerning history teacher will know history is subjective, or as often referenced, written by the victors. That teacher will look for a broad selection of sources and will then coach the student to look for bias or subjectivity.

“Whose history do you teach?”

This is not a question typically asked of a school head. Most schools have strong national roots and see themselves as agents of cultural assimilation. Their history books are usually written by homegrown historians and published for a national audience.

Consider how one might approach World War II and the Cold War that followed.

Books written for an American audience may well underemphasize or ignore that an estimated ratio of military and civilian deaths in the Soviet Union compared to American fatalities is 56:1. How might our students reading from a modern Russian textbook gain a different window of understanding about the post-war period?

Rising seniors at WIS write a 4,000-word Extended Essay as a requirement for their IB Diploma. They can choose a research topic from almost any field of knowledge, and are reminded of the criteria for good scholarship within that domain. Nineteen of our rising seniors have chosen history.

The IB guidelines for history encourage them to “show awareness of the value and limitations of the main sources used in their investigation through analyzing their origin and purpose.” Furthermore, students “gain credit for explaining why a historian reached the interpretation, not just for stating it.”

Last year, I supervised a senior whose IB essay examined the effects of the 1979 Iranian Revolution upon women.

Her first research efforts yielded a rather one-sided view that women’s rights were curtailed by the new regime. My role was to encourage her to look for evidence that might run counter to her assumptions. She did so successfully and was able to evaluate different perspectives, to reach her own conclusions, and to complete an excellent paper.

It is their understanding of scholarship that makes the transition to college so easy for most WIS graduates. n

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A Reflection on Community Service ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPRING 2012 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

However you describe it—community service, service learning, or social entrepreneurship—the disposition to give of oneself for the good of others is a deeply engrained WIS value. Our mission states explicitly that we will “challenge students to become responsible and effective world citizens.” Let’s focus for a moment on the “becoming.” While the 24-hour news cycle and the immediate availability of information via the Internet has surely contributed to raising Generation C’s (the Connected Generation) awareness of issues of concern around the world, schools such as ours play a profound role in helping children understand they can do something to address such problems.

Take, for example the Global Issues Network (GIN) Conference that Washington International School and School Without Walls students recently organized. During the one-day gathering, students from eleven schools led over 30 sessions about clubs, activities and initiatives focused on changing the world, in small and large ways. Some of these efforts highlighted participation in global campaigns (Habitat for Humanity, Girls Learn International) while other focused on programs the students launched themselves. Tenth grader Alejandro Ernst spoke about starting a foundation to raise additional funds for an orphanage in Bamako, Mali. In a keynote address, Class of 2010 member Nick Gaines discussed

the recent launch of mygovhub.org, his online initiative to increase political engagement among young people.

At a recent WIS Parents Association meeting, our Director of the Center for International Education and Service Learning Kate Meenan-Waugh explained our service program to attendees. Over the course of the 14 years they spend at school, our hope is that our students “develop the attitude that service is an opportunity, not an obligation,” Kate emphasized. Consider efforts such as feeding the homeless of Washington, DC or building new homes in El Salvador, which are all part of their responsibility to care about others near and far, and it’s

clear our students see that opportunity to create a better world.

Our teachers play a key role in fostering that disposition, and often lead by example. From the teacher-led group that annually works in DC public schools as part of the Hands On DC program to individuals such as David Merkel, who reads for the blind, they demonstrate what it means to volunteer. Parents, too, serve as mentors and models, even just by helping out with school programs.

And let’s not forget our youngest students, whose enthusiasm would no doubt enable them to right many of the world’s wrongs, were there enough hours in the

day. Whether it’s our third graders feeding the hungry as an outgrowth of learning what it means to live healthily or our middle school children raising money for the Humane Society as part of a multiyear campaign, there’s clearly an ethos at work in our classrooms and beyond.

Our alumni also demonstrate their commitment to society, whether it’s through peace-building initiatives or scientific study. When you look at the accomplishments just among the relatively small Washington International School community, it’s easy to see just what it means to be a global citizen. n

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Appreciating Our Teachers ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MAY 17, 2012

Last week, as I passed by one of our IB Diploma teachers in the Mansion, I asked how his students were faring in their examinations. “They’ve just finished one of their papers,” he responded. “I’ve been watching for them to hear how things went.” Knowing of this teacher’s commitment to his students and of his reputation for excellence, I responded confidently, “I’m sure they did well. They’re probably off somewhere now unwinding.”

Minutes later, I was at the other end of the campus, looking for a senior concerning her upcoming Graduation ceremony. I saw her at a distance and caught her before she headed away from school. “How are your exams going?” I asked. “I just finished one,” she replied. “It went very well. My teacher had me really prepared.” After hearing a few details, I realized we were talking about the teacher with whom I had just spoken.

The senior then asked a question that surprised me. “Mr. Lewis, do you think it would be okay for me to write to my teacher at the end of the year, to let him know how much he has meant to me?

He’s really been amazing.”

“Of course,” I responded. “I don’t think there’s anything quite as wonderful for a teacher as hearing such a message from a student.” She smiled and headed down the steps to Macomb Street.

These juxtaposed conversations kept playing in my thoughts. First was a teacher whose work with his IB students was finished, but who cared deeply how they had done on their exams. So many hours of intellectual discourse, of nudging and encouraging were coming to fruition as the school year was winding down. Graduates move on, and new students take their seats, but memories of past students remain.

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Then there was the student, molded by her teacher, provoked to think for herself, stretched to find her voice, tired but inspired. Would it be all right, she asked, to let her teacher know of his influence on her?

You have teachers in your past for whom you have such feelings; perhaps you told them how you felt. Yesterday, our Primary School students demonstrated their appreciation: they brought flowers

to the school for their teachers and handed the blooms over to WISPA volunteers who sorted and arranged them for distribution during the day.

The year there will end with hugs and smiles, and children will move on to other teachers, but they will not forget.

One day, they will be able to turn their thoughts into the right words.

There is never a wrong time to thank a teacher for what he or she has done. n

Your Contributions Make Us Who We Are ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MAY 31, 2012

One of the four goals in the 2012–2017 Strategic Plan was to develop a “transformative commitment to philanthropy”— look how far we’ve come!

ANNUAL GIVING* 2007 Parent Participation = 52% 2017 Parent Participation = 80%

We are WIS. This week, I was reminded why we are WIS. Last Sunday, we celebrated our 59 graduates representing 39 nations who will soon move on to outstanding colleges and universities in six countries. The graduates heard our commencement speaker, filmmaker Ellie Walton, Class of 2000, reflect upon her lifetime education at WIS and how it helped shaped her view of the world.

2007 Total = $500,000+ 2017 Total = $1.2 Million+ 2007 Alumni Participation < 1% 2017 Alumni Participation = 10%

FUND-A-STUDENT 2007 = $29,150 2018 = $310,000+

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS On Tuesday, we thanked the many parents who volunteer their time and talent so generously to make a difference in our community: the Welcome Back picnic, Bazaar, auctions, grill teams, field trips, International Dinner, Middle School global theme days, Flower Day, the prom, theater productions, the pizza team and countless other WIS activities.

Yesterday, the WIS community, present and past, converged to celebrate David Merkel’s achievement as he retires after 29 years of distinguished service. The audience included five of WIS’s seven school heads, four board chairs, dozens of former staff, and of course alumni who simply wanted to pay their respects. The message was palpable: We are WIS.

There is greatness in this school. Our mission and core values distinguish us and give meaning to what we do every day. We are recognized locally, nationally, and internationally as a global leader in PK–12 international education. With every passing year, we add value to the WIS Diploma. Our alumni are and will continue to be a force in the world. They are WIS. Yes, WIS is about people. But our achievement over our brief history would simply not have been possible without the generosity of those who came before us. Our predecessors found the means to acquire Tregaron and a full city block in Georgetown by asking our fledgling community to give beyond tuition.

Capital gifts enabled us to enhance our facilities on both campuses, and annual gifts supported our programs and our commitment to socio-economic diversity.

Today, we cannot exist within the ranks of the best schools, sending our graduates to the best colleges, without a robust model of philanthropy. When I approach foundations or donors, I am asked, “What is the commitment of your current community?” Our percentage of participation is even more important than the amount that we raise. Last year we achieved 75% parental participation, a record for our school. We are approaching that percentage now, but wish to push beyond to 80%. We are asking remaining families to take this important step by making a donation, no matter the amount, so we can reach our goal by the end of June.

Eighty percent will be another milestone in this school’s extraordinary history.

In a few years, we will be 50 years old, poised to be, in the words of our founding head, “the pilot school for the planet.” Please help us to get there. n

2009 WIS awarded $50,000 matching grant from the E.E. Ford Foundation for Project Zero Consultantin-Residence program. Match achieved!

2012 First year parent participation in Annual Giving exceeded 80%.

2013 WIS awarded $250,000 E.E. Ford Leadership Grant to establish WISSIT. Match achieved!

2014 First year Annual Giving total exceeded $1 million.

2017 WIS received $100,000 matching grant from E.E. Ford Foundation for Making Across the Curriculum. *Numbers above reflect most up-to-date figures available at time of publication.

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2012â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2013 SCHOOL YEAR

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Connecting with WIS Alumni ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a gathering of WIS alumni in the San Francisco area. We met at the home of Anne-Marie Pierce, the WIS head of school from 1991 to 2001. I heard loud and clear several messages from the guests about their experiences at WIS, entirely consistent with what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard from other alumni.

They noted that they feel more connected to WIS than to any other school, including their colleges or graduate schools.

They feel the diverse mix of classmates representing so many cultures and points of view was an education in itself, and that these relationships have endured to this day. One alumnus who attended WIS only during his middle school years noted that he was different, and so was everyone else.

They felt extremely well prepared for higher learning and for life. The International Baccalaureate Diploma curriculum was extremely demanding, but this translated to an easy transition to college.

Having true fluency in a second language provided exceptional opportunities in their careers, giving them an advantage over other well-educated competitors.

One lawyer explained that he was able to win the confidence of his clients through his effortless Spanish.

An alumna spoke of her transfer to WIS from Europe, and how she was required to think about what she was learning rather than simply repeat what was taught.

The alumni spoke of their fond memories of teachers, and their experiences of taking classes on the grounds of an historic estate: Tregaron. One alumnus from the class of 1982 had attended WIS from pre-school and recalled stories from the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earliest years.

In total, it was clear that these alumni felt WIS had changed them for the better, and that they were grateful for their experiences. Their collective account was a powerful confirmation of what WIS is all about. n

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What Does WISSIT Mean to WIS? ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SPRING 2013 ISSUE OF COMMUNIQUÉ

Schools, like young people, have thresholds that suggest they have “come of age.” Such an occasion for our relatively young school is recognition of our success by the Edward E. Ford Foundation through its $250,000 matching Educational Leadership Grant. This is arguably the most prestigious grant for independent schools in the United States, and WIS is the first recipient in the Washington area.

Such recognition can only come to a mature school that has established itself as a leader in education, one embracing a big vision.

Our vision is indeed big. The Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers (WISSIT) will promote an unprecedented partnership among teachers at public, charter, parochial, and independent schools throughout Washington, DC, grounded upon WIS’s exceptional relationship with Project Zero, a research institute at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Our summer institute will be the perfect embodiment of the School’s mission and values, promoting professional development to support students’ global competence, and demonstrating the model of private/ public partnership that has characterized WIS from its founding.

What does WIS have to offer? If we look at models of successful schools in the United States and around the world, the common denominator has to do with elevating the professional culture of teachers, bringing them together in

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collaboration, and cultivating an ongoing dialogue about what good teaching and good learning look like in all schools, no matter the circumstances. Such a grassroots approach, with teachers training teachers, is preferable to a topdown model. Project Zero provides a structure for just such an approach.

WIS has had a relationship with Project Zero for over a decade, with teachers returning from summer institutes at Harvard saying that the experience was transformational. Thanks in part to a previous E.E. Ford grant, all of our teachers have worked directly with Project Zero researchers on refining their practice. Many of our teachers have demonstrated their use of Project Zero ideas at local events for parents and educators, and at national and international conferences. The most recent such event was a Project Zero evening at Imagination Stage in Bethesda.

Some of the educators in attendance had

never before been exposed to the types of classroom activities demonstrated during the evening; their responses highlighted a real need to increase such opportunities.

Two projects that have had a significant effect on us at WIS are Cultures of Thinking and Educating for Global Competence. Cultures of Thinking explores ways to build learning environments that nurture creative and critical thinking leading to deeper understanding of the topics we teach.

Educating for Global Competence examines what it means to be globalminded and how we might teach more effectively in a rapidly changing and interconnected world. Project Zero has been working in a wide variety of schools around the world on these initiatives and has found that the ideas, frameworks and tools that they have developed are transferable or adaptable to all settings.

Instruction in the Institute will be based on Project Zero ideas, tools, and frameworks. Featured speakers at the Institute will be prominent Project Zero researchers; faculty will come from local schools—many, of course, from WIS— that have been using Project Zero ideas in practice. We envision a deep and rich conversation among teachers gathered in the summer from schools across The District, building collegial relationships that will carry over immediately.

Participants will gather for continued professional development experiences throughout the year and will share classroom experiences via online tools.

Jim Reese, WIS’s Director of Studies and a summer institute leader at Project Zero, has already organized a cohort of over 100 DC area teachers with PZ Harvard training from public, charter, parochial, and independent schools. They have met four times this year: at WIS, Sidwell Friends School, the NGA, and the

Imagination Stage. Dubbed as DC-PZ, they have formed a strong professional camaraderie that will be the bedrock of our summer institute.

There is still much to be done in preparation for the WISSIT launch next summer. We must fulfill the terms of the E.E. Ford grant by securing $250,000 in matching funds, a task which we have already begun. Likewise, we are in the process of developing marketing materials for WISSIT, so we can recruit both faculty and attendees. And of course there are many logistical details to consider, from the actual Institute dates to detailed daily schedules.

I look forward to sharing more information with you in the year to come.

I also invite your questions and ideas; as collaboration is one of the hallmarks of the Institute, it should be present even in the planning stages. n

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2013â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2014 SCHOOL YEAR

Full-page PHOTO RoboticsHallway

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Women and Science ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, OCTOBER 10, 2013

A Primary School parent directed me to a recent article in the New York Times Magazine about women in science. The author, Eileen Pollack, presents the problem of a male-dominated world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), where universities, research institutions, and media perpetuate stereotypes about women.

“Subconscious institutional bias” plays against the “internal bias” that women feel in STEM environments. Pollack notes that such bias is “almost entirely dependent on culture—a culture that teaches girls math isn’t cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics.”

These issues may be evident in higher education and in the professional world, and many of you may have firsthand experiences to share. However, I’d like to offer reassurance that WIS provides a very different culture for our female students. The evidence is in the data.

I mentioned in an earlier @WIS article that IB Diploma results for our students can offer important insights; the gender question is a good example. Let’s focus on the last five graduating classes, 2009–2013, where we had 150 female IB candidates. What percentage of these females enrolled in science and mathematics? 100%. All IB Diploma candidates must take six courses, to include courses in both mathematics and

experimental science, two languages, a social science, and an elective. All Diploma candidates must take three of their six courses at Higher Level, typically in their strongest subjects.

Of the 150 female Diploma candidates, 67% selected biology, chemistry, or physics as one of their Higher Level courses. Twenty-eight percent took a second IB science course as their elective instead of a course in the arts, a second social science, or a third language. What about mathematics? There are three levels of IB mathematics. Of the 150 females, 78% enrolled in the two more demanding courses, IB Higher and IB Standard, where calculus is included in the syllabus.

Perhaps our female graduates who pursue their STEM interests will face bias when they leave WIS, but they should certainly have the knowledge and confidence to counter the stereotypes. n

Ninety-seven percent of these 150 female candidates received their IB Diplomas. Their pass rate, their total IB points, and their overall average science and mathematics results were higher than the 146 male candidates during the same five-year period.

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The Intersection of Education and Technology ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, NOVEMBER 21, 2013

His own website describes him as “the world’s foremost authority” on this subject. He is widely cited in the educational world for heralding online learning as a disruption to traditional teaching.

His recent article in The New York Times targeting higher education was entitled, “Innovative Imperative: Change Everything.” He draws an analogy: a steamship is to a sailing ship as online learning is to a university. Actually, the comparison is more nuanced: hybrid ships combining wind and steam are analogous to hybrid universities that offer online courses while also adhering to traditional classroom learning. His message is that you don’t see hybrid ships anymore.

Clayton Christensen at Harvard’s Business School has earned quite a reputation by applying his catchphrase—disruptive innovation—to almost all aspects of management.

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Similarly, the president of Stanford, John L. Hennessy, describes the effect of technology on higher education: “There’s a tsunami coming.” In this new paradigm, online students can take any courses whenever they want. Dr. Hennessy is, by the way, a director of Google and Cisco Systems.

I am strongly of the view that universities must adapt to the new realities of technology, and that they will not serve their students well if traditional didactic teaching and assessment are dominant.

However, I had the opportunity last summer to attend a week-long program at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and appreciated the chance to step out of my daily onslaught of online activity to lean into our two texts: Plato’s Republic and Jon Meacham’s Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Is there any way that I could have experienced the same quality of our discussion online? I doubt it.

We’re in a revolution that began with the Internet just twenty years ago, one that has many more years to run its course.

I do, however, challenge the notion “change everything.” Reversals happen.

For decades, Americans moved from the cities to the suburbs, and pundits declared the trends irreversible. Now, young people are moving back to urban centers, happy to forego larger homes for smaller apartments. Living is, as they’ve found, a very social experience, and physical proximity matters. So it will be with schools. n

Fighting Senioritis ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, FEBRUARY 6, 2014

“You want to be the best that you can be.”

That was my recent advice to the Class of 2014, and my context was the temptation of “senioritis.” This past August through December, our seniors experienced one of the most challenging periods in their academic lives, having managed multiple assessments in their six IB subjects, the completion of their IB extended essays, their university applications, and numerous commitments to athletics, theater, community service, etc. Since December, many seniors have been offered university placements, while others will need to wait until spring. For those applying to colleges and universities in the United States, there can be a tendency to regard their remaining academic performance as less relevant. I wanted the seniors to see their futures in a broader context.

I was able to quantify the issue. Over the last five years, we have had 296 IB Diploma candidates, of whom 96% were successful. Their median IB point total was 33 (compared to 29.9 worldwide). I emphasized that the median point total for our Diploma earners who attended university in the United Kingdom was 37 points, a significantly higher result. I am convinced that this discrepancy does not indicate a higher caliber of students heading to the UK. Instead, it is more likely due to the conditional offers from their UK universities, where they must achieve a specific IB score to receive final admission. The mistake, I stressed to the seniors, was to believe that “being the best that they could be” only applied to those applying to the UK. Perhaps twenty years ago there was a case to be made that seniors heading to U.S. universities could afford to settle for less in their final months of high school.

Their path in those days was more linear.

Getting into the right college would lead to the right graduate school and to the right long-term career. In contrast, ask young adults today and they will often describe a very different experience.

From the moment they joined their freshman college classes, it became clear that they were competing on a global playing field with international classmates hungry for success. Upon finishing higher education, they found a competitive career marketplace where what they had learned and how they could adapt to new learning was a crucial determiner of future achievement.

motivation. I also stressed that many colleges and universities in the U.S. will offer university credit for students with higher IB scores or admissions to honors programs where they can enroll immediately in higher-level courses.

To change a culture of senioritis requires ongoing conversations at school and at home. The more we can underscore that learning is a continuous process, not a series of thresholds, the better we can prepare our children for the realities ahead. n

In that sense, my message to seniors is simple: it’s about the learning, not about clearing hurdles. Seniors should ask themselves, “Can I write a better essay?

Can I master more math or science concepts? Can I push my art or designs to a higher level? Can I become more fluent in my languages?” The answer, of course, is yes. It’s really about the Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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To Rank or Not to Rank ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MARCH 20, 2014

“How many WIS graduates went to The Ivies last year?” I get that question fairly often, from parents within the WIS community and from enquirers beyond. The reference of course is to the eight colleges in the United States collectively referred to as The Ivy League. These are wonderful schools, and worthy of their reputations.

The problem is with the assumption that our graduates’ admission to these schools is somehow a de facto reflection on WIS. As good as these schools might be, there are lots of other outstanding universities. Understanding and evaluating their relative qualities is an enormous challenge, and formulas should be viewed with skepticism.

However, the desire to rank universities runs deep, exacerbated by market demand for metrics. The best-known example in the United States is the annual ranking, Best Colleges, compiled

by U.S. News & World Report. Educators often balk at this publication, but many institutions end up playing the game.

If you visit college websites, you may find some publicize their rankings in an attempt to distinguish their programs and, of course, to attract applicants.

If WIS is to be measured by a dubious method, at least it should be an appropriate dubious method. As an international school, we encourage our students to consider universities worldwide. Typically, about a third of our graduates matriculate outside the United States. Let’s remember that there is a vast global audience of soon-to-be graduates of secondary schools looking for universities with strong reputations; they are considering their options in multiple countries. One very popular source of information for them is The World University Rankings, compiled each year

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by Times Higher Education in the U.K., listing the top research-led universities.

In addition to many fine U.S. institutions, this list includes local favorites such as Oxford and Cambridge, Canada’s McGill and the University of Toronto, and universities not so well known in the West such as the National University in Singapore or Tsinghua University in China. The list excludes colleges that are purely undergraduate.

So, let’s rephrase the question: “Using as an example The World University Rankings, how many WIS graduates attend the top research-led universities?” WIS had 240 graduates in the past four years, 2010– 2013. Ten percent of these graduates attended the top ten universities in the world. Twenty-five percent attended the top twenty universities in the world.

In addition, numerous WIS graduates attended excellent undergraduate-only colleges such as Carlton, Haverford, Swarthmore, and Vassar.

But who’s counting? n

Global Warming and Geothermal Power ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MAY 22, 2014

If I were a kid today, I’d be really confused.

On the one hand, I’d be hearing dire news from the media and from my teachers about worsening water shortages, torrential rains, heat waves and wildfires, and about the collapse of large parts of the ice sheet in West Antarctica. If I were an older student, I’d be concerned by the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the recent National Climate Assessment, both of which appeal for immediate action.

On the other hand, I would wonder how the adults in my life are responding to these concerns. I’d ask, “If this is such a big problem, surely my parents and teachers would be really worried about my future and doing something about it.”

I’d also be asking, “Isn’t this the kind of problem that governments are supposed to fix?”

As an adult, as a citizen, as an educator, and as a parent, I wish I were doing more.

I don’t walk or bike as much as I should.

I don’t adjust the air conditioning when I’m away from my house. I don’t direct my pension funds toward sustainabilityminded companies. I don’t remind students often enough to recycle, or teachers to cut back on printing. I don’t protest in front of government buildings or write to members of Congress. Yes, I kick the can down the road.

The worst part is that I’m 100% convinced by the argument that global warming is created by human behavior, and that we are setting up problems of monumental proportion for the next generations. There are of course those who are less certain about the causes of our problems, and who object to making difficult decisions now that might not be necessary. If I were a kid, I’d say to such a person, “But what if you’re wrong?”

Some of you are devoted professionally to finding solutions. Most of us work for institutions that have a chance to do something about climate change. I was impressed when I saw that Stanford University announced that it would leverage its endowment to support sustainable energy. As I write this very moment, I can hear the thumping of a drill behind the Tregaron Mansion where

43 geothermal wells are being installed to support the heating and cooling of our buildings. This appears to be an expensive option, compared to using low cost fossil fuel, but members of the Board of Trustees—on behalf of our children, and our children’s children— don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. That makes me proud to be working in this school.

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2014â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2015 SCHOOL YEAR

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IB Diploma Exams Offer a Contrast to Grade Inflation ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Grades aren’t what they used to be, or so it seems.

After the Harvard Crimson reported in 2013 that the most commonly awarded grade at Harvard University was an A, and that the median grade was an A-, there have been lots of commentaries in the media about grade inflation at American universities, most recently in the The Economist. The long-term trends across a wide range of universities are well documented by a study at Columbia University’s Teachers College, determining that “A’s represent 43% of all letter grades, an increase of 28 percentage points since 1960 and 12 percentage points since 1988.”

Are college students really so much more capable or better prepared than in decades past? The top universities have been highly selective in their intake of new students for many years. It is more likely that the criteria for awarding a grade have changed. Some critics suggest that professors will give an A- as the easiest way to subdue their students’ protests.

Valerie Strauss, writing in The Washington Post, suggested that grade inflation at universities is a big problem, warning that students leave university “…with an inflated sense of accomplishment and expect to continue to receive awards or at least praise for everything they do.”

Moreover, she writes, “grade inflation is harmful because it cheats students of the opportunity to understand what they do and don’t do well. It denies them the chance to know how they stack up against what the world demands. It deprives them of experiencing failure and learning how to recover.”

Recent research indicates that secondary schools have succumbed over the decades to the same inflation. A report in 2005 by the ACT suggests, “some teachers may use grades not solely as a method of rating student achievement but also as a method of rewarding student effort.” If high school grades are inflated, how can colleges and universities know if students’ transcripts accurately represent their potential?

The ACT report contends that accuracy “requires both examination of grades across time and a stable measure against which to compare them.”

It is within this context that I’d like to refer to the International Baccalaureate Diploma as just such a stable measure.

Year upon year, the mean worldwide Diploma score has remained a shade above or below 30.0 points (out of a possible 45). For many years, the mean at WIS held steady around 32 points.

However, in recent years we have seen a definite upward trend in our students’

average score. The Class of 2014 mean score was a 34.8, a real accomplishment when we consider that we had ten snow days last winter. One WIS graduate scored a perfect 45, placing her in the top quarter of 1% worldwide, and two classmates scored a near-perfect 44.

Sixty-eight percent of our successful candidates earned the Bilingual Diploma, compared with the typical worldwide average of around 30%.

I believe these results are a product of the ever-increasing quality of teaching at WIS, not a change in the caliber of our students. Universities that need a consistent measure can evaluate the strength of WIS graduates against the “stable measure” of the International Baccalaureate Diploma. n

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Cognitive Discourse in a Multicultural Community ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, OCTOBER 8, 2014

“So, why did you pick WIS for your child?” That’s my most common opening question when I meet parents new to WIS. The answers vary of course, but parents of young children will generally first cite our language program. Perhaps their families are already bilingual or multilingual, or these parents understand that bilingualism will prove advantageous to their children over the long run.

Over time, however, languages seem to become a less significant motivation for a WIS education. In last spring’s Simpson Scarborough survey, we asked this open-ended question of current parents, alumni, and parents of alumni: “Which one word or short phrase best describes the most appealing attribute of WIS?” The most common response for each group was the word “internationalism.”

Alumni in particular were least likely to isolate languages. Aside from internationalism, they identified WIS’s diversity, community, multiculturalism, and intellectual environment as most appealing.

Alumni made almost no reference to bilingualism. How can this be?

If you think about it, this should not be a surprise. As they get older, our students may take their bilingualism for granted.

Thinking in two languages has become central to their education, a tool for understanding their world from a broader perspective. Alumni instead identified holistic attributes that made WIS a special place.

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If you have been a WIS parent for more than a few years, you probably understand that your children are influenced by a wealth of diverse thinking that permeates their academic, family, and social lives, and that your own worldview as a parent has been influenced by the different cultures you have experienced in the WIS parent community. It is very hard to replicate this phenomenon in other schools.

For example, I heard recently from a former WIS parent who moved from Washington, and whose children are now enrolled in top independent schools in their new community. She noted, “WIS is very far ahead of other schools in its approach to teaching and learning. The biggest challenge so far is missing the cognitive discourse in class that was expected at WIS.” Cognitive discourse? My guess is that most WIS parents are experiencing a high level of such discourse with their children around the dinner table, on family trips, and even during the sleepy drive to school each day. The psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed “children grow into the intellectual life of those around them.” To that end, your children are fortunate to be part of an exceptional community. n

WIS in the Early Years ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, DECEMBER 2, 2014

What do you know about Washington in 1966? Imagine the political climate under President Lyndon Johnson with civil rights, the Vietnam War, and the 1960s counterculture. What about schools? There were many good public and independent school options. Who were the pioneers who elected to send their children to WIS when the school was just getting off the ground?

I’ve had lots of conversations with Dorothy Goodman and Cathya Stephenson about the School’s early years. Dorothy lives nearby on Macomb Street, where she has a wintertime view of the Tregaron property. I had dinner with Dorothy and one of her contemporaries last week; they reminisced about their involvement in spreading the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in the United States.

Dorothy recalls even the smallest details.

Cathya is also a fount of memories and has been on our Board of Trustees for 49 consecutive years, now as trustee emeritus. Both Cathya and Dorothy have provided the School with a vast array of documents covering the School’s history.

Recently, Cathya shared a real gem with me: a demographic report that she completed on November 1, 1967. The “International Bilingual Primary School” was in its second year and had surged to 93 children after a humble start in January 1966 when there were three

enrollees. These 93 children, ages 2 to 8, came from 73 families representing 30 countries. Sixty-four percent of the families spoke English at home, twentytwo percent spoke French, and six percent spoke Spanish. Eight percent spoke none of the taught languages of the School. Of the 73 families, 16 parents worked at the World Bank or IMF, 10 were diplomats assigned to embassies of 10 countries, 14 were with the U.S. Foreign Service and other U.S. agencies, and 11 were professors or teachers. Eight were journalists or freelance writers, and four served in the US Army or Navy. Other professions included four lawyers, four travel agents, three landscape architects, a singer and a musician. Twentyfive percent of parent couples were American and thirty percent were “mixed nationalities.”

The School continued to grow rapidly, reaching 479 students by 1977, and 900 students by 2010. To this day, the WIS community is aligned with the School’s

1966 founding articles of association: “…to provide an international and bilingual curriculum for the international community in and around Washington, D.C., or elsewhere, as well as for other persons desirous of obtaining for their children an internationally oriented education.” While other schools may search for qualities that differentiate them, WIS has always stood apart with a clear sense of its identity. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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Monolingual Myopia ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT BLOG, MARCH 12, 2015

Of all the competencies that have the potential to set young Americans apart as they compete for jobs, languages are most often overlooked. Recent statistics at both the high school and university levels reveal a startling inconsistency between a career environment requiring proficiency in more than one language and students’ curricular choices.

One measure of interest in language is the Advanced Placement (AP) Program, where in 2014, students took a total of 197,208 examinations in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. While that number may seem large, it is less than 5% of the almost 4.2 million AP examinations taken that year. Remarkably, far more students—259,789—took the AP psychology exam.

America’s colleges and universities also report a slowdown. Since 1958, the Modern Language Association (MLA) has conducted comprehensive surveys of enrollment in languages other than English at U.S. institutions of higher education. The MLA’s 2015 report reveals a 6.7% decline in enrollment in such courses (comparing 2013 data to 2009 data). This reverses a trend of steady increases.

The most common AP language is Spanish, as one would expect.

However, the increase in the number of examinations in Spanish Language from 2013 to 2014 was flat. Enrollment in Chinese Language grew dramatically when it was first introduced as an AP course in 2007. Annual increases as high as 32% have fallen to only 6% in 2014, when a total of 10,728 students took the AP Chinese exam.

In reference to the MLA report, a February 19 article in The Washington Post (“Americans are beginning to lose their love for foreign languages”) speculates that business, technology and new course offerings may be pulling students’ focus away from languages.

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I’ll counter with two other hypotheses.

First, Americans may be reverting to a belief in “English language exceptionalism.” With English the accepted lingua franca of international business, U.S. students may feel that

another language is unnecessary.

Perhaps, if their only competitors in the global job market were other monolingual Americans, there would be no cause for concern. But the global job market will include a very crowded field of well-educated graduates from Europe, China, and many other countries who have mastered English on top of their mother tongue. How often will Americans find themselves competing for a job where, with other competencies being equal, they will be compared to a multilingual candidate?

A second explanation for anemic language enrollment may be that students are taking the easy way out.

There are no quick rewards in the study of another language. Language skills must be built over time; real fluency comes easily for very few and must be constantly cultivated if it is to be maintained. For many, enrolling in Mandarin or Italian may represent an academic challenge with the potential of pulling down a student’s GPA, an unacceptable outcome in this hypercompetitive world.

I don’t wish to make the argument that the only reason to study another language is because of the benefits it might yield in a job search. There are rich rewards in being able to travel to another place and converse with people in their own language. And there’s a whole separate discussion about the benefits

to humankind when we understand each other’s cultures better—a result that can in some measure be achieved through language study. Finally, consider the cognitive benefits of bilingualism (such as improved ability to concentrate, increased brain efficiency or delay in dementia) that have been highlighted in many recent studies.

The MLA report does conclude that areas of stability or growth can be found in more advanced language study: “There may be fewer students taking courses in languages other than English, but the ones who are enrolled are often going further than ever before and presumably are being put in a position to gain greater proficiency than ever before.” The reason for this is beyond the scope of the MLA report, but this is a trend that bears watching.

Ultimately, I fear U.S. students may not be receiving the counsel that they need when selecting their courses. The schools and colleges themselves are culpable if they let students slip through their education in an English cocoon. n

Learning in the 22nd Century ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MAY 19, 2015

I had tea recently at Dorothy Goodman’s home on Macomb Street. She and I get together periodically just to catch up, but this recent exchange had a specific purpose. Dorothy is assembling a working group to consider what type of education will be needed in the 22nd Century. Yes, you read that correctly…the century that will begin in 85 years.

That’s a stretch for me, but not for Dorothy. Her personal stories cover a similar span, starting with her memories as a young student in the early 1930s when she felt under-challenged by her teachers.

Eventually, her passion for education, for global thinking, and for languages would lead her to the founding of the Washington International School in 1966.

Dorothy speaks about yesterday, today, and tomorrow with equal clarity.

I asked Dorothy what elements of education must endure in the next century, or in any century. “Our human heritage, where we have come from,” she responded immediately. “All people have tried to pass this along to their young; it’s a natural thing.” I asked if she meant the transference of a body of knowledge, thinking that she would say yes. Instead, she suggested that it is a sense of history that is important, that “one teacher may want to emphasize China while another may prefer India,” and that once imbibed with a curiosity about the past, kids will

be motivated to challenge themselves to dig deeper. Dorothy added, “It doesn’t matter what you have to work at; it matters that you have to work hard.”

“What about learning languages in the 22nd Century?” I asked. “Will they still be important?” True to her lifetime conviction, Dorothy responded, “Languages are the only way to get under the skin of another culture.” She added, “Today, I’d introduce Chinese and Arabic.

Children need to be introduced to a different world than the one they know.”

Dorothy and I discussed the growth in online learning, and whether there was a future for brick and mortar schools in the next century. Dorothy offered the caveat, “I’m a digital immigrant.” However, as a Skype user, she is well aware that technology can create remote faceto-face “classrooms.” Still, she believes strongly in the value of gathering in a physical space, because children “will always need supervision.”

“And what will teachers supervise?” I asked. Dorothy referenced her son, who as a child wondered, “Why do we always have to study what’s already known? Why can’t we be exploring the frontiers?”

With those words, I was reminded how much I have yet to learn, and how lucky I am to have Dorothy as a teacher. n

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2015â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2016 SCHOOL YEAR

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WIS at the Half Century Mark ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

I trust that the school year is off to a good start for all. I’d like to share a version of the message that I offered to my colleagues at our first meeting of the year. It concerns the context of the School’s 50th Anniversary. What does this milestone really mean? Why does it matter?

When I was young, fifty years seemed like a very long time. Now, well past a halfcentury myself, I think differently. WIS is in fact a very young school, younger than the international schools where I worked in Europe. Many members of the original WIS community are still very much engaged with the School: our founder Dorothy Goodman, co-founder and trustee emerita Cathya Stephenson, teachers and parents from the early years, and even alumni who were age four when the School began in Dorothy’s basement in 1966. They and all who joined the School afterwards embrace their particular memories of what the School meant to them during their era.

When alumni or past parents or former employees return to visit, they look for what is the same and what is different. The new facilities speak for themselves. More importantly, they want to know that the school still embodies internationalism, that teachers still nurture close relationships with their

students, and that our graduates still want to go off and change the world.

What they long for can best be described as the School’s character.

That’s a fuzzy word, especially when we’re nostalgic about the past. For example David Brooks, in his recent book The Road to Character, describes the mid-twentieth century as a “more racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic culture...

It was also a more boring culture, with bland food and homogeneous living arrangements. It was an emotionally cold culture. Fathers, in particular, frequently were unable to express their love for their own children. Husbands were unable to see the depth in their own wives. In so many ways, life is better now than it was then.”

That’s the world that Dorothy Goodman wanted to fix, and indeed, much has improved. But Brooks reminds us that some things have not changed for the better:

“…we have seen a broad shift from a culture of humility to the culture of what you might call the Big Me…You are special. Trust yourself. Be true to yourself.

Movies from Pixar and Disney are constantly telling children how wonderful they are. Commencement speeches are larded with the same clichés: Follow your passion. Don’t accept limits. Chart your own course. You have a responsibility to do great things because you are so great.”

As a counter to this shift, Brooks makes a case for the importance of humility, with a challenge that should resonate with us as educators as we begin a new school year: We have a chance to take advantage of everyday occasions to build virtue in ourselves and be of service to the world.

…mature person[s] possesses a settled unity of purpose…they get things done.

They perform acts of sacrificial service with the same modest everyday spirit they would display if they were just getting the groceries. They are not thinking about what impressive work they are doing. They are not thinking about themselves at all…They just recognize what needs doing and they do it.

Fifty years into our School’s history, our students need us. This is a scary world: where racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and the destruction of our environment dominate the headlines. It has never been more important to be a great teacher. We are called upon to do better, to engender humility, to help our students with their socio-emotional well-being as much as with their academic success, and to take advantage of everyday occasions to build virtue and be of service to the world. n

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Empowering Young People ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, OCTOBER 6, 2015

I assume that many of you paid close attention to Pope Francis’ visit to Washington. I know that some members of our community were quite directly engaged at his public events. If you heard his speech before the U.S. Congress, you might have taken note of something he was saying to our students: “I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults.”

Our students, your children, do spend lots of time wondering about some of the big problems in the world, and how many adults avoid them. For example, I believe that most of the older students have a good understanding of climate change and how it endangers their future. They have little patience for facile explanations aimed at discrediting climate science. The same is true with other big topics like immigration or gun control, where they hear calls for deporting all immigrants and refugees or arming more people with guns.

If I have learned one simple truth in my career as an educator, it is that adults underestimate children and too often fail to empower them. Young people have for too long been stereotyped as partially formed beings who will cross an age threshold somewhere in their future—18, 21, or 35—when they will be classified as ready to accept the responsibilities

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of adulthood. Do they really need to wait? Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize was co-presented to a 17-year-old activist.

Are there other young people like Malala Yousafzai? Undoubtedly. Even if they cannot quite live up to her courage, they may well rival her political indignation.

As Pope Francis suggests, young people live in a world dominated by the failures of older generations. Look at it from their standpoint. A 17-year-old might note that the most dramatic global events in his or her lifetime were unanticipated by the adults in authority. The best security experts did not anticipate that extremists might use commercial airliners to bring down skyscrapers in 2001. The best economists did not predict the global financial collapse in 2008. The best analysts did not anticipate the social and political upheaval of the Arab Spring that began in 2010.

Adults can get lost in their data, experiencing a “failure of imagination.”

Kids on the other hand might have wondered in 2001 that if an enemy wanted to attack without an army, it might be by crashing commercial airplanes into buildings. Kids might have wondered in 2007 how so many people could purchase things like houses that they could not afford. Remember, it was a child in Andersen’s tale who shouted that the emperor had no clothes.

Too many adults are vested in keeping things the way that they are, choosing to pass the problems along to their children.

Politicians want to be reelected by telling voters what they want to hear. Investors want short-term gains. Employees want to protect their pensions. Young people have less to lose and more to gain by rejecting the lack of leadership they have experienced, and redefining “leadership” in more responsible terms.

I agree with Pope Francis. We should “dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations,” taking advantage of our conversations in the classrooms, in assemblies, and over the dinner table.

We should challenge young people to transfer their ideas into action and not to wait for adults to solve these problems on their behalf. n

Learning from History ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, NOVEMBER 18, 2015

The tragedy in Paris (or those in Lebanon, Syria, and other troubled locations) has provided us as adults with teachable moments for your children. As an international community, we embrace the line from John Donne: “Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.”

I’m grateful to Melody Meade, Natasha Bhalla, and David Markus for taking the lead with their messages to the community about our response at school and about resources that parents and teachers may want to consider. It is presumptuous for me to believe that I have something to add, but I’ll try anyway.

Teachable moment one: Children, when faced with dire news, may believe that this is the new normal. The situation is bad, and nothing can make it better.

Adapt to it, even the threat of terrorism.

We teach history to children to offset such false assumptions. Dire situations do improve. Events in my parents’ lifetime offer evidence. They had spent much of their adolescence and adulthood in the throes of the Great Depression, and no one could rightfully declare recovery in 1940, the year they married. The Axis Powers had overrun almost all of Europe and North Africa, with Britain as their only adversary. British urban areas were

enduring the Blitz. Japan was fighting a brutal war of occupation in China.

President Roosevelt was easing the American public toward the reality of another world war.

Who at that moment would have predicted that Europe, Japan, and China would one day take their place among the world’s leaders as prosperous, collaborative nations? Yet my parents’ optimism in beginning their lives together was well founded. Things did change.

Share with your children your own stories about the past. Help them to understand at an age-appropriate level that humanity has the capacity to self-correct, and that the arc of history can bend favorably.

Teachable moment two: We must not succumb to our fears. I administered an American school in London for a decade during the Irish bombing campaign and heard massive bombs explode on four separate occasions. In 1988, a family from our school perished on the Pan Am

Flight brought down by a terrorist over Lockerbie. Subsequently, we faced major security warnings during the First Gulf War when buildings including our school were feared as targets, and trans-Atlantic air travel was a risk that many would not take. In all cases, our school program went on without major changes to our routines.

Some of you had young families during the fearful months after September 11, 2001 and needed to help your children overcome their misgivings, just as WIS needed to persevere with its programs.

If we as adults appear to be governed by our fears, children will mirror that mindset. Talk to your children about fear.

Teachable moment three: What is evil, and is it all the same? Kids of all ages are trying to figure out good and bad, and they quickly realize that the answer may depend upon the circumstances.

For younger children, this is the reality of their daily playground life. Older children

following the media may be inclined to lump all atrocities together as equally bad, or at the other extreme, to regard one seemingly equal atrocity as worse than another. How does one differentiate a terrorist act in Paris, or Beirut, or Kabul, or Mumbai? How do such bombings compare with the “collateral damage” inflicted on innocent civilians with a drone strike?

There are of course no clear answers here; rather, countless shades of gray.

Our job as adults is to help children navigate such difficult questions instead of choosing simple explanations or stereotypes. I would be hard pressed to explain the almost infinite complexity of Syria to anyone, but I owe it to the young people around me to be prepared to try. This is critical thinking, and global crises provide important opportunities for children to develop incrementally sophisticated understanding. n

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In Recognition of Our Founder ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, JANUARY 14, 2016

Fifty years. We are there.

January 19 is fifty years to the day after founder Dorothy Goodman held the first session of her “Little Language Class” in her Macomb Street basement in 1966. It is therefore fitting that we observe Founder’s Day on the 19th with an in-school celebration for our students, faculty and staff. We will include our extended WIS community virtually.

Over the next months, I will share highlights of WIS history with you. Today I will focus on Dorothy, who still lives in that same house and who celebrates her 90th birthday this Friday, January 15. We attribute WIS’s existence to Dorothy’s dream of creating a school that offered the kind of education she believed was essential, but absent, in Washington, DC. Serving as the School’s head for the next seventeen years, she and other key individuals would be instrumental in securing the school’s well being in the decades to come.

Dorothy had a keen sense of time and place. With vivid memories of World War II and its impact, and with her own tertiary education that spanned the early Cold War era, Dorothy was acutely conscious of the need for children to view the world—and particularly world history— through a lens unencumbered by national prejudice. Thus the school she envisioned would provide as unbiased an education as possible, led by internationalists who

shared Dorothy’s worldview. Dorothy was actively involved in the global conversations that led to the creation of the International Baccalaureate in 1968.

Dorothy firmly believed that children must acquire additional languages as early as possible. This ran contrary to the conventional belief that a bilingual education might be developmentally disadvantageous for very young children, or that learning a language beyond English was unimportant. Dorothy understood that an additional language enhanced a child’s cognitive development and worked handin-hand with cultural fluency.

And thus a school was born. Initially incorporated as the International Bilingual Primary School (in May 1966), our school officially changed its name to Washington International School in 1968. Growing from our opening day class of three fouryear-olds, WIS is proud to enroll over 900 students now, and to be recognized as a leader in global education. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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Golden Anniversary Celebration Washington International School launched its 50th Anniversary celebration by recognizing founder Dorothy Goodman on January 19, 2016. Founder’s Day—exactly 50 years to the day after the first class was held in Dorothy’s basement—acknowledged Dorothy’s vision and perseverance in starting a bilingual, international school.

Throughout the 2016 calendar year, WIS recognized the Golden Anniversary with special events and activities. The highlight was the Golden Anniversary Weekend: Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15. Hundreds of members of the WIS community, past and present, came together to share stories and memories over the course of the three days.

WIS Follies 5 WIS Follies 5, a satirical celebration of life at WIS, was a huge hit! The original Follies was conceived and produced by long-time music teacher Larry Vincent, who staged 64 productions during his 36-year tenure at WIS. Follies was a cheeky revue with skits and songs highlighting the people and practices that gave WIS its unique character. The first four Follies were in 1990, 1992, 1999, and 2006. Follies 5 was staged 10 years to the day after Follies 4—and May 13 also happened to be Larry Vincent’s birthday.

The Black Box Theater was packed full for the show and to celebrate the dedication of the Theater Foyer in Larry’s honor. n

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Golden Gala The Golden Gala sold out months before the big day. Over 500 members of the community gathered in the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium for an elegant affair. In attendance were all seven Heads of School, past to present: Dorothy Goodman, Cathya Stephenson, Gunther Brandt, Dexter Lewis, Anne-Marie Pierce, Richard Hall, and Clayton Lewis. Many other â&#x20AC;&#x153;famousâ&#x20AC;? WIS personalities joined the party along with parents, alumni (and their parents), faculty and staff. n

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Golden Bazaar Brilliant sunshine brought out the crowds in force for the Golden Bazaar on May 15. Children and adults enjoyed music, games, food, and fun on the Tregaron Campus.

By the end of the unforgettable weekend, WIS had raised over $500,000 for financial aid, including a record-breaking $335,000 during the Fund-a-Student Auction at the Gala.

Most important, the year-long 50th Anniversary celebration provided many reasons to remember why WIS is such a special place and how the School still holds true to its founding principles. n

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Coding at WIS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MARCH 2, 2016

In various previous posts, I’ve tried to draw to your attention to evidence of why a WIS education makes sense in light of our changing, globalized world. Perhaps you caught Fareed Zakaria’s recent interview on GPS with Alec Ross, author of The Industries of the Future.

Ross sought to identify the trends that will impact children’s future livelihoods, building a convincing case that 65% of those entering primary school today will have job titles that don’t currently exist. While the last 20 years has been characterized by the story of digitization, the next 20 years will be dominated by hardware (as in robots), material sciences, and artificial intelligence. Ross argues that the next trillion-dollar industry will come from genetic code.

This prediction was not what caught my attention. Rather, I took note of his description of the skills young people will need in order to compete in an increasingly globalized world.

Ross cites two. First is interdisciplinary learning, where science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are combined with the humanities. Second, Ross cited languages: the acquisition of a second spoken/written language as key to intercultural understanding, and computer language to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for coding in the professional world.

Ross elaborates in his book. Whereas “multicultural fluency is increasingly important in a business world that is growing more global…today’s kids must also become fluent in a technical, programming, or scientific language.”

Those who fail to do so will not “keep up with the pace of technological change and globalizing markets.”

Washington International School’s commitment to multicultural fluency, including bilingualism, is core to its mission. But what about the importance of students acquiring a third language: coding? At a recent WISPA meeting, Sean Moran, our Director of Information Services, made clear to parents that the School is grappling with the challenge of incorporating coding in what is already a very full curriculum. We recognize that times are changing.

For most of my career, “computer science” (as it was called) was of interest to a small number of students who anticipated specialized careers in computer programming. Today, knowing how to write code is widely considered essential to many jobs, including those outside the technology sector. Many WIS students are learning code in one place or another, whether by using “Scratch” at the Primary School, or with immediate application in an Upper School robotics

class, or through web-based resources such as codeacademy.com. Still, our approach to teaching coding is not systematic or universal; therefore, we are not yet stepping up to Alec Ross’s challenge.

We will, however, step up. We want our graduates to have the full set of skills that Ross describes: to be interdisciplinary in their thinking, to be bilingual in their communication, and to be fluent in the language of code. WIS will continue to evolve as the demand for new competencies arises, while remaining true to our mission. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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2016â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2017 SCHOOL YEAR

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A Post-Election Reflection ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, NOVEMBER 16, 2016

I think you’d need to go back to 1968 to find a political climate in the United States as divisive as the one we’re experiencing now. I began my high school senior year that summer. A few months before, Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered in Memphis only a few hours drive from my home. Robert Kennedy was killed in June, and liberal America lost its idealism. Boys who had graduated just a couple of years before me were fighting in Viet Nam, in a war that Walter Cronkite had recently declared “senseless” on his evening news show.

Richard Nixon was elected for his first term as president in November, drawing voters from what he described as the “silent majority.”

George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, ran as a third party independent (he picked up over 13 percent of the voters).

America was split in so many ways, none more so than by generations, where many parents simply couldn’t understand their children’s criticism of their country.

I wish I could say that I was a young political activist that year, or even emotionally incensed, but I wasn’t. I was too interested in enjoying high school, and honestly, too ignorant of what was happening around me to know what I really thought. My awakening would happen a year later, but that’s another story.

Today, I am a head of school pondering the nation’s political divide, trying to anticipate where it will head and how it will impact young minds. Unlike me in 1968, older students are hyper aware of the issues at stake, while younger students pick up the anxiety of those around them.

We have heard many stories from our students about fear for themselves, their parents, or their classmates.

It’s not really my place to take a side with one political figure or another, but it is my place to take the side of the Washington International School and what it stands for. Dorothy Goodman has always made it clear that when she founded WIS in 1966, she wanted to inculcate certain dispositions in our students. Today, you will find them embedded in our Mission Statement and Core Values: with reference to global citizenship, diverse cultural perspectives, civility, and a sense of responsibility for local, national, and international communities.

So what are our teachable moments now as a school community? I believe we must ask ourselves what is nonnegotiable or inalienable. I suggest a few core tenets:

The arc of history is behind us. We must study that arc carefully and determine where it has brought us. From here on we make history.

Political oppression, war, and climate change will ensure the continued flow of migrants and refugees. We cannot turn our backs on those in need.

We are one human family, rich in its diversity, and our collective future is inexorably bound. We must embrace diversity.

The issues of the world also reside close by in Greater Washington. We must act locally as well as nationally and internationally.

The dignity and justice that many of us take for granted has been hard won and will forever require our vigilance.

We must stand up to oppression and discrimination.

This is the school that Dorothy built fifty years ago, her “pilot school for the planet.” How shall our community take responsibility for extending that arc of history? n

Education is profoundly important to understanding. Truth is elusive. We look for the best evidence to underpin what we teach. For instance, there is overwhelming data that human activity has contributed significantly to global warming. This has brought 196 nations together with the Paris Agreement.

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What is Global Competence?

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, DECEMBER 8, 2016

Among reasons families pick WIS for their children is probably some notion of a fuzzy term: global competence. It’s been at the core of what we do at WIS from the beginning, but as an ambiguous concept. It is something that we long to instill in children, so they will be more at ease in a complex world, and more committed to bettering humankind. Global competence, vague as it may seem, is more prevalent at WIS than in schools that follow a national curriculum or that have relatively homogeneous communities.

There is, however, a real effort underway to define global competence and to make it fundamental to kid’s education everywhere. Veronica Boix Mansilla is a researcher at Harvard’s Project Zero, and a WIS parent. In recent years, she and Anthony Jackson have partnered with the Asia Society and the U.S. Council of State School Officers to develop a definition: “the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance.” In her lead article in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership, a premier professional journal for school administrators, Veronica describes globally competent students as “increasingly able to investigate the world beyond their immediate surroundings, understand their own and others’ cultural perspectives, communicate across differences, and take action to improve conditions.” The audience for this publication is largely American.

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Let’s look at a broader audience, in fact, a global one. Most of you will be aware of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Its 35 member states are generally the world’s most prosperous nations. Its motto is “better policies for better lives.”

You might not be aware that the OECD conducts an assessment of student competencies among its member states and others in the form of the Programme for International Student Assessment, better known as PISA. The OECD recently published a study, Global Competency for an Inclusive World, to introduce this competency as fundamental to a child’s education: “Global Competence includes the acquisition of in-depth knowledge and understanding of global and intercultural issues; the ability to learn from and live with people from diverse backgrounds; and the attitudes and values necessary to interact respectfully with others.” The next PISA tests in 2018 will assess global competency among 15-year-olds.

I would be very disappointed if WIS families didn’t recognize this competency in their children, at levels commensurate with their age. We’ve always taught it.

Now there are definitions for it. Global competency is what the world will need in 2017, and forever more. n

Learning from Dr. King ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, JANUARY 18, 2017

It was while I was pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University for three summers in the mid 90s (I didn’t finish), that I first realized Martin Luther King, Jr. had himself earned his PhD at B.U. in 1955. There is a memorial statue there entitled Free at Last, with many bronzed birds ascending as a cluster.

It struck me then that Dr. King made perhaps his most fateful decision when, after immersing himself in academia in Boston, he decided to accept an offer to pastor a church in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. King had grown up in Atlanta and had watched his father fight inequality and racism from his own pulpit. Faced with a decision to move to Montgomery, the “Cradle of the Confederacy,” and birthplace of the Confederate flag, or to find sanctuary by accepting one of several offers from churches or universities in the North, Dr. King chose the former. A few years later, he would write in his memoir, “I discussed [this] with my wife, Coretta… to find that she too was hesitant about returning South. We discussed the allimportant question of raising children in the bonds of segregation. We came to the conclusion that we had something of a moral obligation to return—a least for a few years.”

How does one ever define a “moral obligation”? Recently, WIS hosted an evening reception for parents of alumni.

As I moved among our guests, most of whose children had graduated during my tenure, I took note of a common theme, which I shared in my brief remarks. It was remarkable to learn how many of their children had taken up summer jobs or careers fresh out of college that involved service: in medicine, research, human rights, development, journalism, or government. As I spoke, the entire audience nodded as if it were planned.

It is true. Our graduates leave WIS and attend outstanding universities where, in addition to their pursuit of science, social science, engineering, art, design, and other studies, they are drawn toward service...at least for a few years. Many of our students have grown up in homes where acting on behalf of the greater good is prevalent. Like any culture, such a disposition is self-perpetuating. So it is with the teachers at WIS, who in so many cases have pursued humanitarian causes before or during their careers, not knowing where such service might take them. As Dr. King wrote, “When I went to Montgomery…I had not the slightest idea that I would later become involved in a crisis in which nonviolent resistance would be applicable.”

It is a good time for us to consider with our children the meaning of a moral obligation. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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The Class of 2017 and College Destinations ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, MAY 24, 2017

Have you heard of Rhodes College? I attended there. It’s a small, liberal arts school in Memphis. During my four years at Rhodes, I was introduced to Plato, Voltaire, and Bonheoffer. I discovered that I loved the Romantic poets, art history, and classical music. My classes were mostly small, taught by professors who all seemed to love their subjects. I matured academically each year, becoming politically and socially aware. Rhodes was a life-changing experience for me. Yet I know some of you may never have heard of Rhodes until reading this.

The WIS “college list” is typically a topic of great interest. I’m well aware some parents factor this list into their decisionmaking when choosing whether to enroll their children. And while I will not attempt to diminish or challenge the fame or reputation that certain universities have acquired over time, I do want to offer the counterpoint that the choice of university should not be based solely on prestige. Less renowned universities can provide outstanding opportunities for motivated, curious students. Frank Bruni says it succinctly in the title of his book: Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book David and Goliath, tells the interesting story of a student he names Caroline Sacks. She was a top student in her high school and chose Brown University over her state school, the University of Maryland.

Caroline loved science and was excited to enroll in organic chemistry at Brown, but she struggled to keep a B in class.

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She compared herself to students who seem to find it easy. Eventually she dropped chemistry, and science, feeling a sense of failure. Gladwell uses Caroline’s story and others to make the point that some students might be better off as “big fish” in smaller, less competitive, ponds.

Similarly, in his book Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz refers to students attending prestigious universities where “everyone thinks that everybody else is smarter than they are,” and where “many kids find out that they have no idea why they’re there, or what they want to do next.”

Gladwell and Deresiewicz make wellargued points that are of course overly simplified. The best university for any given high school graduate is the sum of many factors: some academic, some social, some geographic, some too intangible to cite. I think our graduates are far more able than most students to make appropriate decisions and to take full advantage of their new environment.

Their WIS experience, culminating with the IB Diploma Program, has given them a huge advantage as learners.

I am confident our seniors have made good choices about next year.

Every school will provide an excellent opportunity for our seniors to thrive academically. Our graduatesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; long-term success will not be determined by how their schools rank, but by their own intellectual disposition as they begin college, and by their perseverance when they inevitably encounter setbacks.

At this Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Graduation, we celebrate the Class of 2017 and their families. May each of our graduates grow and prosper at her or his own Rhodes College. n

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2017â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2018 SCHOOL YEAR

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WIS’s Mission and Values BACK-TO-SCHOOL EMAIL, AUGUST 2017

Today, I want to focus upon a whopping question: What is WIS? The answer to a large extent rests with the Board of Trustees in the form of our mission statement and core values.

In crafting such statements, a board should consider a school’s distinctiveness over the course of its history while capturing a sense of vision for the future. The school’s policies, staffing, admissions, curriculum, culture, and programs must flow from the mission and core values.

Last March, I wrote to the WIS community—staff, parents, and alumni— to report that the Board had begun a review of our mission and core values, approved in 2002. I included a survey to ask if our fifteen-year-old statements felt “vibrant, distinctive, and relevant” and to ask, “What is missing?” We received 315 responses, and while many affirmed support for our existing statements, many suggested a need for change. On the Board’s behalf, I organized a committee that represented trustees, staff, current and past parents, and alumni. We reviewed the survey results and other supporting documents, and we began to draft a new group of statements to set against the old. Over several months we produced many iterations, until we were ready to present a version to the Board.

The trustees offered their suggestions, and our committee undertook another round of editing before presenting a new draft in June. The Board approved that version unanimously.

Before you skip ahead to read the new statements, please let me provide some additional context. I have written to you on many occasions to remind you that the School’s founder, Dorothy Goodman, sought to establish a school that would equip students with the skills and disposition to engage with the world at large. She envisioned a diverse community, one where we would respect our differences while embracing what we have in common. Our educational program has remained true to her goals for over 50 years, but our world keeps changing. We as a community must keep learning. We believe that the new mission and core values affirm both what we have been and what we must aspire to be.

OUR MISSION Our mission is to be an exemplary learning community—enriched by differences, informed through inquiry, global in reach.

OUR VALUES Inquiry-Based Learning WIS students investigate the arts, humanities, sciences, and technology through a rigorous, visionary, researchbased curriculum inspired by academic innovators worldwide.

Global Perspective WIS students learn two or more languages, embrace diverse cultures and viewpoints, and have the ability and confidence to navigate a complex world.

Individual Responsibility WIS students pursue community engagement and demonstrate empathy, honesty, and civility.

During the upcoming school year, our community will be engaged in ongoing reflection as part of our self-study for reaccreditation. Our success in educating students who embody the statements above will be a core part of our evaluation. I look forward to working with you all on this effort. n

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A Reflection on Racism EMAIL TO COMMUNITY, AUGUST 2017

understanding. As an international school situated in a nation that has a troubled legacy with racism, we affirmed that it is incumbent upon us to understand the context in which we live and the ways this legacy affects our students. We developed our action plans.

Our group finished our time together late on a Friday afternoon, unaware that ultra-racists were gathering at that very moment for their torch-bearing march that night in Charlottesville.

I know that you have received many back-to-school letters over the last weeks. I ask that you read one more in reference to racism and prejudice.

Earlier this month, I joined nineteen WIS colleagues in three days of professional training to better understand how “race and culture exert a powerful influence on teaching and learning.” Our group overcame the difficulty of having honest conversations about race. We took into account that WIS represents a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities and

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prides itself on being international.

We acknowledged that we have often combined racism with other issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as if they’re all the same. We noted that many in our community profess to be without prejudice or to be colorblind.

We recognized that such complacency has stood in the way of our deeper

Year by year, you and I have been reminded all too frequently of deepseated hatred and prejudice, synonymous with the names of victims or with cities such as Ferguson, Charleston, and Charlottesville. In our own community, African-Americans, Muslims, Jews, Hispanics, LGBT communities, and immigrants have all felt targeted. Our anxiety has been amplified over the past year by incendiary political rhetoric and by repressive legislation that threatens to wipe away the social and political justice won over the past 50 years. After the Charlottesville events two weekends ago, when we wanted to hear unequivocal condemnation of bigotry and hatred from those in authority, the messages were mixed. As I write, we are still searching for moral leadership.

Let us be clear. Race is a social construct conceived over the past few hundred years. There is no biological evidence

of race. Science tells us that the DNA variation between any two humans chosen at random generally varies by less than 0.1 percent. Race is “the child of racism, not the father,” as described

by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Great injustice and suffering result from ignorance about human history. Our children must understand this.

In my end-of-year letter to you in June, I said that “the world needs WIS.” I believe that more than ever. I refer back to our new mission statement—where we aspire to be “an exemplary learning community—enriched by differences.” I acknowledge that we can only achieve such lofty ideals if we have the courage to make clear what we believe, and to engage in difficult conversations about racism and other prejudices, and to consider our unconscious complicity. We must take an inventory of both what we do well at the School and what we must do better.

My colleagues and I will be finding ways to engage students at age-appropriate levels throughout the year. I will be speaking tomorrow at both the Middle and Upper School assemblies about Charlottesville and the qualities of “empathy, honesty, and civility” referenced in our core values. I encourage you to engage in conversations with your family and friends. n

About the IB Diploma and WIS Class of 2017 Results ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

I often hear from parents of children in the Primary or Middle School that they really know very little about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. That’s a problem when one considers that the IB Diploma is really the culmination of the WIS program of studies. Let me offer a pocket explanation and some WIS results that will be of interest.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma is a two-year course of studies for students aged 16–19, in our case for students in grades 11 and 12. Launched in 1968 by a handful of international schools in Europe, the IB spread quickly to other regions. WIS was among the earliest schools in the world to offer the IB Diploma Program; today, we are the 21st oldest Diploma Program among over 3,000 schools. Students take six subjects over two years—three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level—and are required to complete a course in the Theory of Knowledge, to write a 4,000word research-based Extended Essay, and to participate in social or community work (service), athletics or other physical activities (activity), and creative activities (creativity). IB students are formally assessed throughout their two years, and at the end of their studies with multihour examinations.

For each of their six IB courses, students are assessed on a scale of 1 to 7, lowest

to highest, with a 4 as a passing mark.

Students may also receive up to three “bonus points” by earning high marks on their Extended Essay and in Theory of Knowledge. As a minimum, they must earn 24 points to receive the Diploma, with a passing mark in each of their Higher Level courses. The maximum score is 45 (six courses with seven points each, plus three bonus points).

Our Class of 2017 had sixty-four Diploma candidates; on average, they attended WIS for 8.7 years. They received their IB results in July. I can benchmark their results relative to the published worldwide results from 2016, which are quite consistent from year to year.

Ninety-five percent of our candidates received their Diploma, compared to 79.3 percent worldwide in 2016. Sixtyfour percent of our Diploma recipients earned a Bilingual Diploma (with two “A” languages), compared with 22.6 percent worldwide. Our Diploma recipients earned an average 34.6 total points

compared to the world average of 30.0 points. This year, two WIS students earned a maximum 45 points and one earned 44. To put those results into perspective, in July 2016, only 201 Diploma candidates worldwide earned a 45, or less than 0.3%.

Demanding? Yes, but according to our alumni, pursuing and earning the Diploma was a deeply rewarding experience. Not only does the IB Diploma

offer an excellent preparation for college or university, it nurtures a far deeper level of understanding than is found in typical examination systems. Teachers encourage their students to make connections among the disciplines, to question assumptions, and to appreciate different perspectives.

If you haven’t had a chance to hear this from a WIS graduate, let me know. I’d love to help you set up that conversation. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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In Praise of Civility ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, JANUARY 7, 2018

Civility might seem an old-fashioned word. It’s been around a long time. At age 16, George Washington hand-copied 110 “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” that originated with French Jesuits in 1595. Most of these rules sound archaic, though still applicable. Consider this selection: “Cleanse not your teeth with the table cloth napkin, fork, or knife; but if others do it, let it be done without a peep to them.”

One of the 110 rules, however, stands out as particularly relevant: “Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.”

Last year, when we completed a major revision of WIS’s Mission and Core Values, a few words carried over from our 2002 statements. One of those words is civility. It might easily be overlooked unless it has reason to be cited, such as now. Students today are subjected to daily circumstances where civility may appear utterly irrelevant. The programs they watch on television or online, their conversations on social media, even the language of political leaders—all could leave a student wondering if there’s really any standard at all.

Senator Orrin Hatch put it this way: “Although nowhere mandated in our Constitution, civility is no less essential to the proper functioning of our government than any amendment, court ruling or act of Congress. Without it, little separates

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us from the cruelty and chaos of rule by force.” As children study history, they will encounter extreme cases of incivility that undermined society. Fortunately, they will also encounter examples of those who placed exceptional value in civility in the face of brutal, inhumane opposition.

Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malala Yousafzai are just a few examples.

Civility is a cornerstone of social behavior in the workplace, in public and private conversation, and in the living room.

An article earlier this year in Forbes makes a strong case that incivility erodes an organization’s culture. The article cites a study suggesting that uncivil behavior may cause employees to be less committed, to perform poorly, and to avoid time at work. The author notes, “People don’t expect perfection from one another in order to work together effectively. But when rudeness becomes the norm, an accepted part of your workplace daily, you’ve got a problem.”

I suggest a discussion at your dinner table about civility, where you might share your own stories with your children.

Kids already understand civility at a basic level, where it’s about being polite when in the company of adults. That’s not a problem at WIS; I think our students are exceptionally polite to the adults they encounter, undoubtedly an extension of the behavior they’re taught at home.

The deeper conversation is about the virtue (yes, another old-fashioned word) of extending respect and courtesy in all conversations. If kids get the impression that respectful discourse is only

necessary in public, then they really don’t understand civility. Every conversation, whether in person, or on the phone, or in email or social media, is a decision about interpersonal behavior.

As I said to the 5th graders last year at their Moving Up ceremony: “Words matter. Think about what you say and write. If you think something, that doesn’t mean that it needs to be said.” n

The Power of Students ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN @WIS, FEBRUARY 28, 2018

On Sunday, February 25, over 150 heads of school in New York State posted a full-page advertisement in The New York Times, addressing the Parkland shooting and its aftermath. Their “Open Letter to the President and Our Nation’s Legislative Leaders” stated that, “the easy and virtually un-restricted availability of highly lethal, semiautomatic assault weapons and ammunition places our schools, most especially our children, in jeopardy.” The letter went on to say:

Never before have so many independent school leaders in our region spoken with one voice on behalf of a single issue. We are moved to do so out of a duty to our students and all of our nation’s children and we find inspiration in the voices and actions of the students who are refusing to go about business as usual. We stand ready to help in this effort, and encourage our colleagues leading schools across the country to join us. Above all, we demand that reason and compassion prevail.

Many schools and institutions have embraced this challenge to speak up, and I cannot let my pen rest. I’ll state what I hope is obvious. I believe a broad range of legislative measures are needed to address the issue of gun violence in America, beginning with tighter controls on licensing, banning of assault weapons, and an infusion of public funding to support mental health treatment. The idea of arming teachers is anathema to everything I believe about schools. Gun violence in cities, homes, and schools is a curse on this nation.

That said, I want to focus on the letter’s reference to “the voices and actions of the students.” We are witnessing an extraordinary display of student activity in opposition to guns. This will continue to get attention and may ultimately get some results. However, these are kids who have lots of other things on their agendas, and time will eat away at their passion while their opponents hunker down, unless…

Unless students realize that they are truly, profoundly empowered if they accept responsibility for their futures. They do not need to accept the mistakes of their elders, whether those mistakes are in respect to gun legislation, climate change, prejudice, or inequality. There has never been a time in human history when young people have had such power to exert their influence on decisions, using the tools of social media, consumer spending, and ultimately their votes.

Student action on a grand scale is in a nascent stage. Something is out there waiting to happen that will cause a wave of change. I believe it. n Reflections on WIS 2007-2018 |

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HIGHLIGHTS, 2007 – 2017 2007 Clayton W. Lewis Began Tenure as Head of School IB-track Mandarin Chinese Introduced

2008 AAA Building Dedicated Outdoor Basketball Court and Soccer Field Completed WIS Reaccredited

2009 Ulysses G. Auger II Field Dedicated

2010 WIS Joined Hanban Asia Society Confucius Classroom Network 21 Society Inaugurated Goodman Room Dedicated

2011 Primary School Renovation and Expansion Completed

2012 Five-Year Strategic Plan Released

2013 Mansion West Wing Renovated Mansion 100th Anniversary Celebration

2014

About Clayton W. Lewis Clayton administered international schools for nearly four decades.

Prior to his tenure at Washington International School, he was the director of the International School of Luxembourg, and high school principal at the American School in London and the American School of The Hague.

Accomplishments include recognition as the founder of the Global Issues Network, now involving over 200 schools around the world. In 2007 he was honored by the National Association of Independent Schools with the first Leadership Award for Global Initiatives; in 2018 he received a Hall of Fame award from the Association for the Advancement of International Education.

Over the course of his career, Clayton served as a trustee of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, the Association for the Advancement of International Education, the European Council of International Schools and the Tregaron Conservancy.

Clayton holds a B.A. in history from Rhodes College and an M.S. in educational administration from the George Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University. n

Geothermal Wells, Mansion and Historic Buildings Renovated Inaugural WISSIT Session

2015 World Wide WIS Debut

2016 WIS Golden Anniversary Celebration

2017 New Mission and Values Adopted 62

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“I see myself as one who was handed a precious opportunity, who has tried to make the most of it, and who is proud to pass it along to another generation.”

2007â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2018

Reflections on WIS