Keeping up with Change

Jennifer Topple and I spent last semester taking a course in AI and the associated technologies. The course was designed specifically for independent school leaders. We had homework to do in between classes and were sent lots of readings and updates in between sessions. Our instructors shared with us the tools they used most often and walked us through how to apply those tools to our worklives. Then, one week, the lead instructor admitted that he had flipped from one platform to another because, since our last meeting, this platform had made significant advances in their technology. 

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I was so dismayed. I had worked diligently for a month to be a really good student, to take in what was being presented, and to practice my new learnings.  And, now my teacher had the nerve to tell me he had jumped ship and was swimming in a slightly different direction. I had a moment of spiraling… “this is why it’s not worth it to keep up with technology. Everything changes. Even the “experts” in the field can’t get aligned.  Learning new things just slows me down.”  …. Of course, my immediate and emotional reaction was neither fact based nor the way I allowed myself to continue to think. 

When I was in middle school and high school, we used a “card catalogue” to find books in the library. And, the rate of change/ need to update the research was so slow that it was easy enough for the librarians to type out new cards and slot them into the catalogue if and when new materials were purchased. The rate of change in new information now is so rapid that cities across our country are fighting about building “data centers” to process and store data. When I was in school, my younger siblings used the same textbooks I had used years earlier.  Today, most teachers don’t even use a hardbound text… it’s easier (and more accurate) to update the constantly changing information in an online book! 

My point is: our students are living in a world where, within a single week, the advances and information flow in their world can change radically. It is remarkable. And, here’s one of the many challenges of that truth: the human brain seeks patterns. It seeks stability. It seeks routine.  There are evolutionary advantages to these truths. How do you operate a school in the face of these juxtaposed realities? 

The Howard School has been a “change maker” and force for innovation since the day Marian Howard opened her home to three young students who learned differently. I would argue that, for 75 years, our school has led in terms of academic innovation. 2026 will bring more of the same. We will honor our roots as we continue to lean on our DNA and ensure our students are ready to engage in a world where change is the norm. 2026 is going to be full of continued conversations about our evolution at The Howard School. What will stay the same is our commitment to partnerships across our community, our belief that kindness matters, our grace with one another in moments of misstep and mistake, and our celebration of the ways of differences show up and make us more vibrant, more creative, and more resilient. Our different approach, in fact, makes all the difference!

Dr. Anna B. Moore, Head of School