Crossroads News

Crossroads Hosts 25 Educators for NIPEN 2016

Teachers and administrators from public and private schools across the country pay a visit.
Every year, a group of educators travels to schools around the country to gain a greater understanding of progressive education, as part of the National Institute of the Progressive Education Network (NIPEN). This time around, 25 educators descended upon Crossroad School to observe how we do things.
 
From Jan. 14-16, the teachers and administrators from public and private schools toured Crossroads’ campuses, ate lunch in the Alley, met faculty and sat in on Elementary, Middle and Upper School classes. Participants also learned about strengthening progressive practices in schools and discussed ideas and common challenges on their respective campuses.
 
Nancy Seid, Crossroads’ Core 6-8 coordinator, attended NIPEN 2.0 last year at Baker Demonstration School in Chicago and Mission Hill School in Boston, and supported Jeff Guckert, assistant head of school and dean of faculty, in organizing this year’s conference.
 
Of the 2015 NIPEN, Nancy said she “found it to be a transformative experience. We thought deeply about the reason we teach in progressive schools, and about how we hope to help make our schools even closer in practice to the progressive ideas we care about.”
 
Following the conference, members of the NIPEN Cohort 3.0 will share their observations with Crossroads administrators, which is “a real benefit for the School,” Nancy said.
 
“From the host school’s point of view, we have a great opportunity to have visitors look at our school with fresh, non-judgmental eyes,” Nancy said. “Each host school asks NIPEN visitors to keep an eye out for a particular thing while they’re observing, and we [asked] participants to look at how Crossroads’ commitment to equity and justice plays out in our classrooms, Alley, fields, etc.”
 
From April 28-30, this same group of educators will visit Wickliffe Progressive Public School in Columbus, Ohio, for the second part of the 2016 NIPEN conference.
 
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