When people find out what I do -- parents of my daughter's schoolmates, for example -- the floodgates open for questions and opinions about what makes schools work and how to fix the ones that don't.  It's understandable that this is an area of high interest for parents (we've all got kids) and that opinions are strong (we all went to school).  

When pressed, one thing I share is that the best way to get a sense of a school's effectiveness is to ignore school-wide test results/rankings (API, AYP, GreatSchools, e.g.).  These numbers mostly reflect the demographics of a school.  The more affluent the students and families, the higher the aggregate achievement.  Instead, I encourage my friends to dig deeper and see how students who traditionally underperform (English-learners, socio-economically disadvantaged students, students with special needs, e.g.) do at a school.  

If those students outperform state or national achievement numbers, as well as other measurables such as graduation rates, AP/IB participation rates, or attendance rates, it's a strong indicator that the teachers at that school are exceptional.  Having great teachers benefits all kids.  If you can make above-average gains with students who underperform in most schools, you make above-average gains with all kids.

There is another measure of a school's strength that is harder to quantify: its diversity.  Increasingly, research is demonstrating the diversity of a school is a significant factor in preparing young people for success in the 21st Century.   

Paul Tough's book How Children Succeed identifies curiosity, flexible thinking, empathy, and resilience as key to success for young people to develop.  Diverse classrooms foster the development of these abilities.  Loyola Law Professor Robert Garda groups these skills, along with collaborative problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication, under the umbrella of what he calls "cross-cultural competence," a term he coined through research with Fortune 500 companies.  According to Garda, "Their arguments are essentially, 'We want to hire kids that have been exposed to a wide variety of ideas. We want to hire kids that are comfortable working in a multi-racial workplace, selling products to a multi-racial market and dealing with business partners with a global scale.'"

When, in our mission statement, we state that "Sequoia High School will provide a stimulating and caring community that encourages respect for diversity...", this is what we're aiming at.  We believe the diversity of the Sequoia community is one of our greatest advantages as a school.

While most people acknowledge the value of diversity in the learning environment, there is a misconception which often accompanies these types of discussions.  Implicit and explicit, I've heard many times the concern that kids who traditionally outperform academically (socio-economically advantaged, e.g.) suffer in some way when their school or class is comprised of a broader representation of diverse subgroups.  In other words, I want traditionally underrepresented groups to be successful so long as they don't slow down my child.

There is little evidence this is a real phenomenon.  Remember, great teachers make gains with all kids.  In fact, since 2007 Harvard Professors Susan Eaton and Gina Chirichigno have been compiling research and data demonstrating the academic gains to be made for ALL students in ethnically and socio-economically diverse educational settings.  Their One Nation Indivisible project is quite impressive and worth a look.  

Increasing one's "cross-cultural competence" is challenging work -- for teachers and students.  It requires the grace and finesse in the facilitation of difficult conversations.  It reveals unconscious biases.  It means making content culturally relevant and the means of assessment equitable.  It's also what drives our mission and inspires great teachers to want to work at Sequoia.

I hope you'll want to participate in the development of your child's cross-cultural competence while they are students at Sequoia.  Diversity is one of our greatest advantages as a school and open minds and hearts, empathy, and the recognition of our differences as collaborative assets is as important as anything else they'll learn in adolescence.  

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Back to School night this Thursday. Have a great week!