Sewickley Academy: Resource Blog for Parents

As we move to adopt a 1-to-1 framework in Grades 6 through 12 at Sewickley Academy, we remain mindful of the importance of the teacher in inspiring students and of the centrality student-teacher relationship in achieving the best outcomes.  Adopting a 1-to-1 program assures that teachers have a consistent and predictable set of tools they can use in their work with students.  Just as the talented carpenter will benefit from having a range of wood-working tools, so too do teachers benefit from having a range of tools that increase the number of ways to engage a range of learners.

What is an independent school, and why don’t you just call yourselves private schools? An independent school is an independently organized non-profit school governed by a board of trustees. Unlike private schools, which might be profit or non-profit and which could be beholden to some over-arching organizational framework that could dictate how it is to operate, Independent Schools are free from external control. They represent the ultimate in school-based management, which has been shown to produce excellent outcomes for students, even in the public sector where experiments in school-based autonomy have been undertaken.  Independent schools are also financed independently, most often through a combination of tuition revenue and philanthropic support.  This means that independent schools are unencumbered by most state mandates, including the burdens of standardized testing, which has not been shown to improve outcomes for students.  

So independent schools can do whatever they want?

The following were the closing remarks at Graduation 2015.

Thank you, Mike, for your thoughtful remarks.  Your personal story is inspirational to all of us, and I know that our graduates appreciate the food for thought you have shared with them this afternoon.

Thank you, too, to our Board of Trustees, the faculty and staff, and the administration of the school for all you have contributed to the growth and education of our students, particularly this afternoon’s graduates.

And congratulations and thank you to the parents of the Class of 2015, who have committed themselves to providing each of their daughters and sons with extraordinary opportunities to learn and grow and become who they are.  Thanks are due to them, as well, for choosing Sewickley Academy and for their extraordinary support of the school over the years.

And now for some final thoughts:

Sewickley Academy’s move to use a “Bring Your Own Device” program to support a Blended Learning environment does not mean that we are becoming a cyber school. Remember, as I indicated in a recent post on this subject, Blended Learning seeks to take the best practices from the online environment and combine them with the best practices from the on-ground classroom.

How wonderful to be starting a new school year with a newly renovated Oliver Building for Senior School science and Middle and Senior School robotics! 

Just before spring break, members of the Sewickley Academy faculty were each issued a brand new iPad Air thanks to an incredibly generous grant from the Home & School Association.  The iPad itself was selected for this program because the machines are light and portable, and most importantly, provide access to the largest array of educational tools of any mobile device currently on the market.  While the iPads, themselves, are cool (there is no denying that), the major thrust of this initiative is to create a “mobile mindset” among our teachers. 

On Friday, April 4, a reporter posted "My Take on the Charter School Debate" on the Observer Reporter's blog covering high school sports, The Varsity Letter. The blog is about high schools, particularly charter schools, recruiting athletes. Sewickley Academy's Head of School Kolia John O'Connor wrote the following response to the blog, setting the record straight for SA.