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,...
about 1 month ago • 5 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,...
about 1 month 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...
2 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...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Follow-Up Resources to the 10 Principles for School Leaders When DEI + Belonging Are Attacked (An Invitation and An Example of a Response) Last week's Big Questions Institute newsletter, featuring 10 Principles for School Leaders When DEI + Belonging Are Attacked, had a tremendous response from around the world. So, we are following up with an invitation and a resource. An Invitation: Please Join Us for a Sense-making Conversation. At 8 am US Eastern time on April 3 we will hold a free,...
3 months ago • 3 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update March 19, 2025, No. 182 (Read online) It’s Not DEI. It’s Not Belonging. It’s School in the Year 2025. Through mission-focused leadership schools can navigate complexity and uncertainty with clarity for what’s most important for kids and their learning. Last week the Wall Street Journal published an Opinion piece titled DEI and the State Department: Subsidized international schools try to evade the Trump-Rubio ban on racially divisive pedagogy, by a young writer...
3 months ago • 9 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update January 31, 2025, No. 180 (Read online) Vision Work: Look Up. Look Away. Look Closely. At the Big Questions Institute it’s been a busy season supporting schools with their strategic plans, and what’s at the heart of that work - a vision that aligns to the future a community yearns for. Vision, by definition, involves what we see in action, so it’s useful to step back and consider: Where are we looking? At what? What lenses do we sense-make with? To uncover the...
4 months ago • 4 min read
BIG Questions Institute Update January 31, 2025, No. 178 (Read online) New Year, Many Changes: Transitions and Growth at the Big Questions Institute You might have noticed that our newsletter hasn’t been coming in your inbox this academic year (or maybe you didn’t notice!). We’d like to take this opportunity to offer a quick update behind the scenes and share some exciting changes happening with the Big Questions Institute. We are growing! We welcome new strategic planning clients like Grosse...
5 months ago • 7 min read
BIG Questions Institute UPDATE December 4, 02024, No. 177 (Read online) New: A Manifesto for Confronting Education Hey Friends, Yes, it has been a minute. Our intent was to put this newsletter on hiatus for the summer and then restart in the fall. But for various reasons, that plan did not end up happening. Apologies! That said, we are now planning to restart our bi-weekly updates after the first of the year. So stay tuned. An Important Update Briefly, we did want to get in touch right now,...
7 months ago • 1 min read
