Depth of Study Being Noticed

As many of you know, one of the things that distinguishes Berkeley Hall is our commitment to ongoing teacher professional collaboration through our Depth of Study initiative. Our teachers and administrators have adopted the same growth mindset that we encourage in our students. They meet once (or more!) per week to study samples of our students’ work, plan and revise lessons, create consistent ways to assess student academic growth and address areas of relative strength and weakness within our program. We are on the move and we are constantly improving! While it may be hard to believe, this is not always the case at even the most prestigious schools, since too often the prevalent culture of teaching – “we’ve always done it this way” – can often keep real, data-based change from occurring. Too often, educators and schools are tempted to rest on their laurels or depend on their reputations rather than improving the educational process for all their students.

 

I was reminded of how important our Depth of Study work is when Ms. Colmaire and I visited a wonderful Westside preschool this week. The director of that preschool had come to visit us for an Admission tour this past winter and had spoken with me afterward about how impressed she was by our school’s ongoing process to improve teaching and learning. As a result, she felt as though our elementary school and junior high environment was a good future fit for many of the children at her preschool. It is always heartening to hear that the professional cutting-edge work we do at Berkeley Hall is noticed and appreciated by other educators.