Defining parents’ role in education for optimal student experience

Defining a parent’s role in education is all about support, involvement, and communication.

Encouraging values through action with community service for high school students

Community service for high school students teaches young people civic responsibility and respect.

Blending sports and education fosters San Diego student athletes

Successful San Diego student athletes learn to balance sports and academics for a well-rounded education.

Independent schools provide unique opportunities for students, teachers and computers in the classroom

Computers in the classroom are an important component of a college preparatory education.

Selecting independent schools in San Diego: information and advice for local families

Learn how to choose between public and independent schools in San Diego to find the best educational environment for your child.

Sustainability in education prepares today’s youth for tomorrow’s challenges

Sustainability is a big buzzword in today’s culture, with everyone from politicians to CEOs striving to develop lasting goods, services, business practices and government initiatives. As an educator, I believe it is necessary to also consider the impact of sustainability in education. This year, we at Francis Parker School mark our centennial anniversary; and as we celebrate this milestone, we also remember that it is our duty to instill in today’s youth the capacity to act as citizens of the world, committed to creating a better future for the sake of our society, our culture, and the planet at large.

Foreign language programs prepare students for roles as global citizens

Several months ago, I wrote a column detailing the role of global education in a comprehensive contemporary curriculum. Youth foreign language programs are central to the development of global citizenship; and no study of international cultures is truly complete without the incorporation of a language component. Experience with foreign languages teaches students a unique appreciation for other cultures – all while supplementing the greater goals of college preparatory coursework.

As far as the mind can see: pioneering the use of digital media in education

In a few short years, digital tablets have transformed the media landscape, moving swiftly from boardrooms to local businesses and today adding to a growing interest in digital media in education. Together with increasingly intuitive and connected social media platforms, tablets appear to represent the media of the future: and in a recent article for The Atlantic, one teacher makes the case for bringing that media into the classroom in order to effectively prepare today’s young people for communication and responsible citizenship in the world of tomorrow.

Innovative college admission counseling champions individuality, student agency

With the dawn of a New Year comes a major milestone for the nation’s high school juniors, many of whom will soon be dealing with the excitement and anticipation of the college admissions process. Over the next few months, these students will prepare and send out carefully assembled applications – and wait with baited breath until discovering the results in the spring. But before all that, they must first figure out how to limit the countless options before them: and while there are plenty of popular resources available to help guide young people through the application process, customized college admission counseling is one of the best ways for students to navigate the vast array of college and university programs and find institutions to match their financial, social and academic needs with the benefit of individualized advice and assistance.

Rethinking the role of arts education for diversified opportunities and well-balanced students

In his best-selling book A Whole New Mind, author Dan Pink argues that, in order to effectively prepare today’s young people for the future – not as we once imagined it, but rather as it inevitably will be – educators must revise the way they teach children and, in the process, rethink their approach to arts in education. As Pink sees it, left-brain skills – those associated with logical, analytical thinking and precise, linear assessment – are undeniably essential to the ultimate pursuit of opportunity and success in the workplace. But at the same time, these capabilities alone are not enough to prepare students for the unpredictability of the future; and in our ever-changing society, the ability to balance sharp analysis with holistic vision, precision with big-picture thinking and factual details with empathy and creativity is increasingly in demand.

Independent schools have taken this balanced approach to heart, and are striving to educate the whole mind – right and left