FROM THE HEADMASTER’S DESK
December 2009
Season’s greetings to all VVS community members. The winter holidays are being enjoyed by our students, faculty and staff, and the quiet winter time again gives me opportunity to ponder some of the issues – big and small – that make headmastership such an intriguing and compelling profession.
Despite the school’s relative quiet, there is quite a bit of activity on the campus as a New Year’s Eve wedding is being staged. Trustee John Peed and Audrey Sarn, the daughter of Leslie Warren Sarn and Jim Sarn, are having their wedding ceremony and reception here and the entire Warren clan is arriving to celebrate this lovely event. My own daughter Elise was married on campus 18 months ago and I can attest to the lovely atmosphere that the chapel provides for a wedding ceremony. We wish the Peed-Sarn-Warren extended family a wonderful event and joyous family reunion.
Recently I was pleased to host Pat Bassett (pictured to Paul Domingue's right) to campus, President of the National Association of Independent Schools. Pat was in our state to present a workshop on good governance for board chairs and headmasters from member schools. VVS Board President Sandy Jones and I attended the day-long workshop and we were most impressed by the wisdom and quality of thought Pat brought to the gathering. The next day Pat visited VVS for the first time, touring the campus, visiting classes and learning of the special niche the school occupies as an independent, international boarding school. He was inspired by the success of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme here and impressed by the high quality of teaching and learning he witnessed. Much of our conversation revolved around VVS’ historic mission to promote intercultural understanding and world citizenship. These concepts are fairly common now in the world of independent schools, but few schools have embraced them as a central organizing principle as has VVS, and fewer still have focused upon them since the post-war years. At Verde Valley School we have renewed our commitment to our historic mission and the school has never been stronger as a result.
At $40,000 per year for tuition and room and board, boarding schools are a true luxury.(1) Fewer than 5% of American families can afford such an education. And many who can afford it choose not to, sending their children to suburban public schools in their affluent communities. Many moved to those communities specifically for the perceived quality of the public schools. It behooves us, therefore, to question the “value-added” that warrants such a substantial investment in private, independent secondary education.
Evaluating the efficacy of independent schools nationwide, please consider the following statistics which Pat Basset cited during his workshop:
- Only 15% to 18% of American high school students graduate from college by the age of 24.
- 50% of students from affluent suburban high schools graduate from college by the age of 24.
- 98% to 100% of independent school students graduate from college by the age of 24.
With a college degree functioning as the de facto entry-level qualification for the majority of professional careers, these statistics speak volumes about the “value-added” by independent schools. Our kids attend and succeed in college in numbers that should make public schools and school reform advocates take notice.
And why is that? Clearly attending an independent school – virtually all of which identify themselves as “college prep” – is a self-selecting statement itself. Independent schools are filled with kids who intend to go to college, whose parents expect that outcome as a sine qua non, and who are willing to pay a premium, work hard and succeed in a demanding environment. They benefit from extensive contact with their independent school teachers who are dedicated to their students’ success, and are willing to trade their own earning potential for the quality of life that derives from working with highly motivated, well-behaved students in a stable, well-equipped environment.(2) They hold high standards for their students and demand each kid’s best effort every day. Kids don’t slip under the radar in our schools; the relatively small classes and modest teaching loads in independent school classrooms will not permit it. And great teachers thrive in schools in which their work is valued. They pride themselves in their knowledge of their subject matter, their ability to motivate their students, and the remarkable amount of autonomy they enjoy in their classrooms. (Early in my own teaching career I worked for a headmaster who told me that his job was to “hire great teachers and get out of the way.”)
The research is very clear. Small classes alone do not correlate with student performance.(3) What does correlate is the presence of great teachers. Independent school students succeed because they are motivated, sure. Because they are expected to succeed, certainly. But the number one reason why independent school students do so much better than their affluent neighbors attending suburban public schools is because independent schools are filled with great teachers. That is the real “value added.”
And so how does this relate to VVS, you may ask? Verde Valley is an independent school, but one with several quirky differences and unique qualities. We certainly have the “great teachers” that our colleague independent schools enjoy. The VVS faculty is among the strongest I have observed anywhere. Not only are they masters of their academic disciplines, but also are completely committed to the school’s mission. They are especially dedicated to promoting the principles of intercultural understanding, international cooperation and world citizenship. And they have found in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme a set of common understandings and principles – touchstones – that place their coursework in league with that of other internationally-minded teachers from around the world. They benefit from an active network of colleagues engaged in an ongoing conversation about best educational practices. They have not compromised their classroom autonomy. Rather, they have aligned their own work with that of the world’s finest secondary educators in a highly successful, holistic approach to college-preparatory education with a global perspective and world-class standards.
Is the IB the “value added” at VVS then? Well, in part, I would have to say yes. VVS was the first boarding school in the US to employ the IB Diploma Programme as its sole curriculum. It was a bold move. While disaffection for the Advanced Placement program (AP) is widespread in independent and boarding schools, few offered the IB at the time we decided to adopt it. I think that the primary reason for that is the IB’s focus on internationalism and teaching “international-mindedness,” a program requirement. Most American schools, public or private, are unabashedly “American” to their core. In the US, international schools (many of which are IB World Schools) have often been cynically viewed as privileged bastions of the diplomatic corps, serving effete, multi-lingual European ex-pats exiled “to the provinces” and anxious not to allow their children to lose their first languages or become tainted by cheap American values. N’est-ce pas? By definition, the IB espouses a curriculum that is internationally-relevant and focused more on cooperation than on competition, a very un-American concept indeed. (Now is that is the kind of curriculum that most 19th century American boarding school founders and patrons had in mind? I think not.)
Ham Warren had a different kind of vision: to “bring together students from around the world” to live, work and learn together, hopefully to learn to contribute positively and cooperatively to making the world a better place. It is that vision that drives my work here at VVS and continues to infuse the school program. Oftentimes I use the analogy of the three-legged stool to describe VVS’ historic commitment to internationalism:
1) formal study of peoples and cultures, languages and anthropology;
2) experiential field trips to culturally diverse and world-view-challenging locations; and
3) the experiment in international living here on campus.
It is my contention that all three program elements are necessary to achieve the lofty ambitions voiced by our school’s founder. And while many schools now provide high quality cultural and language education and life-changing field trip experiences, I think it is the third element, in particular, that is the real “value-added” for VVS. Education is not limited to classrooms and it is not limited to home stays and other field trip experiences. The students tell us that some of their most profound intercultural learning experiences happen every day in dorm rooms, common rooms, playing fields and the dining hall. The students are challenged to share their cultures with their classmates, to teach their friends about themselves, their families, their religions and their cultural backgrounds. By maintaining a diverse international population here at VVS we can ensure that teaching “international-mindedness” is not a vacant promise or an overlooked “add-on” to the IB and to VVS. It is the core of what we do.
In other editions of this occasional newsletter I have expounded upon the pressing need to identify and implement a sustainable economic model that will ensure the continued health of our school. I will write more about this in future editions, as this issue has recently re-emerged with the tragic fundraising failure and subsequent collapse of Camp Soaring Eagle. But school sustainability begins with school program and I’m pleased to report that in that regard VVS has never been healthier. Our school is full; our program is thriving; our students are happy and productive; our graduates are matriculating at excellent colleges; our alumni continue to make a positive difference in the world. By remaining true to Ham Warren’s vision for values-infused international education we have carved out a powerful niche for our school. With the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme fully implemented, our students, faculty and staff have never been better positioned to fulfill Ham’s dream. Verde Valley School truly puts the “international” in IB. That’s the “value added.”
Best wishes to all for a happy and prosperous New Year.
Paul C. Domingue
Headmaster
(1) Verde Valley School ensures socio-economic diversity through its generous scholarship program. Each year approximately half of VVS students receive financial aid commensurate with their families’ need, enabling them to attend the school. Without the revenues derived from investments and auxiliary income, and from contributions to the VVS Scholarship Fund, the school would not be able to maintain its need-blind admission policy. Contributions and investment earnings are the sole source of scholarship aid. Without them, enrollment would be limited to students whose families could afford the $40,000 annual tuition.
(2) Independent school teachers typically earn substantially lower salaries than their public school counterparts. They also take on the additional, uncompensated responsibilities of coaching, advising, supervising and providing academic support, for which most public school teachers are either not responsible or are additionally stipended.
(3) Tiny classes of 4-6 students have been shown to actually hinder student growth due to the lack of diversity of opinion represented – the lack of “critical mass.” Many independent schools are transitioning to class sizes ranging from 12-20, with maximum sizes of 24-26 and average classes numbering 16 students.
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