BIG Questions Institute Update September 25, 2025, No. 191 (Read Online) Worried About the World? Try Urgent Optimism Have you noticed how talking about “hope” or “optimism” these days sort of sounds … dumb, naive, or out of touch? The term “hopium” gets thrown around cynically, as if hope is an opiate for those who are fooling themselves. I get it. When I read the news, each day seems darker and more cruel. But when I am in community with caring people doing good work and service, it doesn’t...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update September 5, 2025, No. 190 (Read Online) Introducing VISTA: A New Approach to Leadership Evaluation and Goal-Setting You know the drill: This is your third new Board Chair and they have decided to launch a new Head of School evaluation. When you were hired you created an evaluation process because there wasn’t one in place. But it is being ignored. They have a corporate framework of KPIs in mind based on their international company that seems completely...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update August 7, 2025, No. 189 (Read Online) What Can Jacinda Ardern’s Legacy Teach Us About Leading Schools During Polarized Times? “I was a very ordinary person who found myself in a set of extraordinary circumstances.” Jacinda Ardern Back in 2022, when in-person meetings had just resumed, we were inspired to feature Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s example of leading through complexity prominently in our work with school teams. After all, she was one of the faces of...
3 months ago • 8 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update July 22, 2025, No. 188 (Read Online) What kind of support actually helps students thrive? Introducing the People-Based Learning Lens (Guest Post - resend with fixed links!) Hello readers - This is a special newsletter featuring the writing and artwork of brilliant friend, thinker, innovator, and educator, Dr. Jane Shore, and was originally published on her outstanding School of Thought Substack. "I’m grateful to the Big Questions Institute for inviting me to...
3 months ago • 5 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update July 19, 2025, No. 187 (Read online) What kind of support actually helps students thrive? Introducing the People-Based Learning Lens (Guest Post!) Hello readers - This is a special newsletter featuring the writing and artwork of brilliant friend, thinker, innovator, and educator, Dr. Jane Shore. "I’m grateful to the Big Questions Institute for inviting me to share this post with you. Like many of you, I’ve been thinking about what it means to support young...
3 months ago • 5 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update June 27, 2025, No. 187 (Read online) Holding Multiple Truths at Once When It Feels Like the Truth is Hard to Come By Plus, Some Summer Reading Recommended by Educators Around the World! Thank you to many friends and colleagues who have reached out to me since the bombing on Iran. Your concern is deeply appreciated. As I have tried to express, it’s difficult to put the complex emotions and their repercussions into words, as almost any statement has a quick...
4 months ago • 4 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update May 20, 2025, No. 186 (Read online) If “Everyone is Cheating,” What Questions Should We Be Asking? At a recent workshop with a few dozen Heads of School at independent schools in the U.S., one of the participants expressed yet one more layer of frustration in the frenzied college application process: “when AI is writing the essays and AI is reading them.” Another described it as a kabuki dance – referring to the elaborate, exaggerated, theatrical performance,...
5 months ago • 5 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update April 27, 2025, No. 185 (Read online) What Happens When We Imagine Together? Last week, as the dogwoods were blooming and the “diamonds on the water” on Lake Michigan sparkled in the spring sunshine, I got to facilitate a Dream Summit near Detroit. Our Big Questions Institute team had already conducted many listening sessions (similar to a focus group) with a wide range of stakeholders at the school, from fourth graders to teachers, parents, Board members, and...
6 months ago • 5 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update April 15, 2025, No. 183 (Read online) Deep Dive Into the Big Questions Question 1: What is Sacred? (Part 1) The ongoing disruptions in the world are forcing us to make important choices. Despite the seemingly never-ending stream of tools, programs, and methods being offered as “solutions” to what’s broken in education, pause to consider: what are the aspects of school that we want to preserve 10 or 20 years or even longer into the future? What is at the core of...
7 months ago • 4 min read
