For several years running, usually around the time reenrollment contracts are due, parents have asked me about investing in PS – 8 education. “College is so expensive,” they say, “Shouldn’t we save our resources when our children are younger so that we can afford to send them to the college of their choice?”

My usual answer is that investing in children during their formative, younger years pays dividends down the road. Even still, as the cost of college education continues to rise, I remain firm in my conviction that an investment in the primary years is what best sets students up for success in later life. [Read more…]

Print, online, and social media are awash with stories evaluating the role of SI (social intelligence) and EI (emotional intelligence) in 21st century society.

Frequently, these skills are described as “soft,” juxtaposed to the value of “hard” sciences or measured against the three Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic. To be sure, the skills in question have not been at the center of school curricula. Mindful practice, cooperation, and relationship building have long taken a back seat to English, history, math, science, and language instruction. Not anymore. SI and EI skills are increasingly coming to the fore, and school leaders throughout the K-16 educational spectrum are paying close attention to their benefits. [Read more…]

Annually, at the end of the school year, I visit with each graduating 8th grader to learn about their experiences at Boulder Country Day.

Though I call them “exit interviews,” they really are more like a beginning than an end. I collect the data from my visits and use it to inform the way I understand our school. Mostly, I ask all kinds of questions about their past and present time at BCD, their memorable moments, and their future plans.

One of the most striking consistencies among the students I have visited with so far is their answer to the question, “What did you enjoy most about the BCD experience?” Virtually every student talked about or connected their enjoyable moments to community, and usually they described that connection as familial. That is to say, they enjoyed the family feel of our school, the way we look out for each other, the way teachers and students interact, and the way the students have learned and grown up together.

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Of all the skills we encourage our children to develop, social intelligence may be the most essential for predicting a fulfilling, successful life. Social intelligence is the ability to effectively negotiate interpersonal interactions and complex social environments. It involves effective communication skills, the ability to read non-verbal cues into how other people are feeling and virtues such as empathy and consideration.

Children learn appropriate behaviors by emulating adults. The easiest way to help your child learn qualities such as patience, forgiveness, compassion, generosity, and gentleness is to model these qualities in your day-to-day interactions with other people and with your children. [Read more…]

This week marks the beginning of the second trimester. One-third of our school year is behind us, and our teachers are in the midst of writing reports on the progress of our students.

BCD, too, is in the midst of its own progress report. Last year, as part of the Association of Colorado Independent Schools (ACIS) re-accreditation process, we wrote our self-study. A self-study, akin to a whole-school progress report, is an important and rigorous part of our commitment to school improvement designed to identify our school and community strengths, challenges, and areas to explore.  Sunday afternoon, we welcomed to our campus the eight members of our ACIS visiting team, who will be on campus for a total of three and one-half days checking to be sure we do what we say we do. [Read more…]