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Volunteer STRP instructors use the QuickStart Tennis format to instill basic tennis skills and a love for the sport in young participants, while older players have the chance to further hone their skills in competitive play. Between its summer programs in Boston and Worcester, Tenacity serves more than 5,000 youth each year.                            

In her 2014 book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success, Megan McArdle explores how educators and other leaders can transform failure into a positive and constructive experience. In addition to drawing on her own experience, she systematically reviews existing evidence to support her thesis. As Ms. McArdle explains, when people fail early and often, they gain the knowledge they need to succeed, which is not the same as merely not failing. In other words, people learn from what goes wrong and apply that knowledge to build a better future. In terms of applying this philosophy as an educator or other leader, Megan McArdle suggests the study of failures alongside best practices. English teachers can look at the scrapped stories of famous authors, and science teachers can examine the botched experiments of Isaac Newton, for example. This initiative normalizes failure, demonstrating that it can be a launching pad to success. A climate of “safe failure” only arises when leaders actively work to remove the stigma attached to it. In life, failures are a certainty. When we sweep them under the rug, we do ourselves a disservice. When we examine them, we start constructing a path to success.

Elements of Grading Part 4: Standards Based Grading

Elements of Grading Part 3: Classroom Assessment

Elements of Grading Part 2: Homework as Practice

Elements of Grading Part 1: Effective Grading Practices

For two centuries, the Handel and Haydn Society has provided opportunities to explore baroque and classical music. In celebration of its bicentennial, the organization created a free exhibition at the Boston Public Library featuring interesting objects, musical recordings, and vignettes of individuals who have made its work possible. At the exhibition, which opened in March, visitors can learn about the role of the Handel and Haydn Society in the development of Boston’s music scene and how leaders envision the organization adapting to the city’s future. Each Friday at 2 p.m., the Handel and Haydn Society offers tours by docents who discuss the most important parts of the exhibition and remain available to help answer questions. In celebration of its bicentennial, the Handel and Haydn Society created a series of free public concerts that complement the exhibition at the Central Library in Copley Square. Individuals can find the concert schedule at HandelAndHaydn.org.                            

A group of leading researchers, authors, and developers of intellectual property, Creative Leadership Solutions (CLS) has worked closely with schools across the United States and beyond. Through the program Impact Insight, CLS takes a close look at the relationship between students’ results and instructional initiatives. The company also offers a full range of creative leadership coaching solutions designed to improve leadership skills among administrators and teacher leaders. Creative leadership coaching is provided during 30- to 45-minute biweekly sessions wherein teacher leaders engage in one-on-one conversations with CLS representatives who, on the basis of the leaders’ personal and professional goals, help them to realize the best ways to achieve success in their fields. Over the years, CLS has remained committed to keeping participant data private and unreported. For school districts seeking large-scale organizational changes, CLS can offer a Creative Leadership Certification Academy to nurture the growth of future administrators and teacher leaders.

When pianists confront the incredible challenge represented by Beethoven's 29th piano sonata, “Hammerklavier,” they may soldier through the piece before seeing the tempo marking, which reaches an astounding 138 beats per minute in the first movement. Indeed, Beethoven scholars have long been puzzled by the composer's tempi across his repertoire. For the most part, his tempo markings have been ignored, and orchestras of all sizes around the world play Beethoven's works at a far slower pace than indicated. In recent decades, however, scholars have begun to explore how the disconnect between Beethoven and performers came about, even as performers have increasingly been attempting to follow the markings in their concerts. Many myths surround Beethoven's unusually fast tempo markings, but most of them have been discredited. No evidence exists to suggest, for example, that Beethoven's metronome was broken. He was an early and passionate adopter of the metronome and was reportedly on good terms with its inventor, even after a short legal conflict. There is also no reason to believe his infamous deafness had any effect or that he misunderstood the metronome. While performers have been exploring Beethoven's marked tempi since the early 1900s, when musicians like Peter Stadlen and René Leibowitz popularized the notion, most of the identifiable Beethoven music we hear today remains far slower than the markings, and historians are still trying to figure out whether the oral history of orchestras and performers is correct, or if they've been misreading one of the world's most famous composers for hundreds of years.                            

Few things in the world of academia are as imposing and important as the doctoral dissertation. Students who reach this stage of education are met with one of the greatest challenges in scholarship. In the liberal arts, for example, less than 30 percent of students finish their dissertation within seven years. Generally, the difficulties that students encounter are not related to the subject, but arise from the psychological barriers to finishing a massive work of scholarship. Achieving success in the dissertation writing process requires several key elements. Naturally, a good topic is essential, and professors generally recommend a concrete, well-organized subject about which the student feels strongly. However, even choosing an ideal topic can be difficult. Ways to stay on track during the writing process include creating personal deadlines and goals, breaking up the task up into smaller chunks, maintaining an active role in the scholarly community, and working closely with mentors and advisors. Those experiencing difficulty may also want to reach out for help, whether from the university itself or through a third-party service, such as FinishtheDissertation.org, a free, personalized service that provides support for doctoral candidates.

Research conducted by Professor Kyun Hee Kim at the College of William and Mary shows that creativity among American students is in a period of decline. This fact is most strongly underscored by the striking decline in entrepreneurial drive among people under the age of 30. While this trend may partially stem from reduced tolerance for risk and failure in the aftermath of the economic recession, educators can undertake new approaches to education that encourage creativity. By encouraging “learning failures,” teachers and students can work together to undertake experiments that try out new forms of student engagement and grading policies. Some people may ask what happens when an experiment fails, but the answer is simple: unexpected results are not failures per se. Results need to be shared, discussed, and used for continual improvement. It is also necessary to recognize that creativity can be encouraged within traditional academic disciplines such as math, science, and history; art and literature aren't the only fields where students can experiment and express themselves. In addition, educators can adopt a different attitude towards creativity. Rather than thinking of it as something that occurs spontaneously in gifted individuals, teachers and administrators can consider creativity a learned skill that can be nurtured over time with practice.                            

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Douglas Reeves is an entrepreneur involved in the education industry. He founded the Leadership and Learning Center in 1994 to provide consulting services and solutions to improve education around the world and at all levels. In his free time, Douglas Reeves enjoys running and has competed in the Boston Marathon two times. He plans to run a third time to raise money for the nonprofit group Tenacity. Known around the world, the Boston Marathon is one of the most prestigious races and often a goal for serious runners. The race is so exclusive and demanding that participants must qualify in order to apply for registration. To participate in the 2016 marathon, candidates must be at least 18 years of age and must meet certain qualifying standards, which vary depending on age and gender. For example, men between the ages of 18 and 34 must have completed a marathon in 3 hours and 5 minutes and women in the same age group must have completed a marathon in 3 hours and 35 minutes. However, simply meeting the qualifying time does not guarantee entry. Officials will fill the slots beginning with the fastest qualifiers and will stop accepting runners once the race is full.                            

Douglas Reeves founded educational support provider the Leadership and Training Center and currently serves as the copublisher of the SNAFU Review, which gives veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder a platform through which to share their writing and artwork. In his leisure time, Doug Reeves enjoys live performances of music from the classical and baroque periods and frequently attends concerts of the Handel and Haydn Society. In its 2015-2016 season, the Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) will commemorate its bicentennial with a range of musical selections. The period instrument orchestra and chorus will open with Mozart’s Requiem under the direction of Harry Christophers on October 2 and 4 at Symphony Hall; the concert will also include Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 99. In November, H+H will delight audiences with Handel’s Messiah, which the society premiered in the United States in 1818. Concluding in May with Handel’s Saul, the year will additionally feature Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Bach’s St. John Passion.

A prolific author and thought leader in the field of education, Dr. Douglas (Doug) Reeves has authored over 80 articles for publications based in the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, and Asia. As the founder of The Center for Successful Leadership, Dr. Douglas Reeves facilitates on-site presentations and leadership coaching to support philanthropic, business, and education organizations worldwide.  Several of Dr. Reeves’ keynote presentations explore the role of creativity within an organization, encouraging leaders to promote and value the creative process. His presentation entitled “Leading for Creativity” combines his own research with the findings of several education scholars to offer leadership guidance on nurturing creativity. Speaking from a multidisciplinary perspective, he addresses many of the institutional policies and processes that may undermine creativity, offering ideas from education, psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.  In “How Can You Be Creative in a Standards-Based Environment?” Dr. Reeves discusses the idea that, despite assessments and curriculums developed with the intention of promoting creativity, the standardized nature of education often stifles creative thought. He presents a number of potential solutions to this problem, suggesting both immediate pedagogical shifts in the classroom and long-term policy changes in educational leadership. Additionally, Dr. Reeves suggests alternatives to current standardized educational assessments with “Assessing Creativity: A New Approach for Students, Teachers, and Educational Leaders.” In this keynote, he presents a number of well-researched methods for creativity assessment that preserve the trial and error that are often so crucial to the creative process.