This may seem like it comes out of nowhere, but it comes from a conversation I had with a friend tonight about what I think SLA can be.

This may sound strange, but I want SLA to be much more than a "good school." Honestly, I want it to be more than a "great school." There are a lot of good schools out there… schools that do a good job of educating their kids and preparing them for the world after high school.

That’s not good enough.

Our school has the chance to be transformative — for all involved. And really, that’s what it has to be about. At the end of the day, beyond the test scores, beyond the grades — schools like SLA (and Beacon before it) have the chance to fundamentally change the way students and teachers (and administrators) see themselves.

I believe that a lot of reason that’s true is because of the pedagogy of these schools have, at their core, a dare to all involve — take ownership of what you do… and know that we will ask that believe that what you do in your time with us will serve as a representation of who you are.

That’s what portfolio education — capstone education — performance-based assessment does. It dares students to look at their work and say, "This represents who I am. I stand by this work as part of me." And it dares teachers to create curriculum that is part of who they are.

And then when you have a group of people — teachers, administrators and students — who dare to ask, "Why will this school be different because I walked its hallways?" then you have a place where all participants are changed by the experience. And with luck, that energy — that spirit — can spread… and we can dare to hope that the transformation can affect those outside our walls as well.

And we should settle for nothing else.

Being a good school isn’t good enough. We have to be willing to change and be changed by the experience.