07
In any given field, there are institutions that have an ongoing and deeply rooted program of continual research, development, and growth for their professional staff in and around best practices in their respective fields. This makes it easier for them to attract and retain the best talent— talent that is open to continued improvement in the art, craft, and science of their chosen profession. But that’ s typically not how it works in schools.
Once out of college and graduate school, teachers rarely engage with research in the field. A teacher’ s days are spent in front of children engaged in the pragmatic, day-to-day demands of the job. Their work affords little time, resources, or energy to devote to reflection, collaboration, or research about what’ s going on in the broader field and how that may be used to inform pedagogy. As a profession, we rely heavily on the art and the craft of teaching but less so on its science. We need to make more room for science to inform our practice and pedagogy.
At Saint David’ s School( NY), a pre-K – 8 school for boys, our mission calls us to“ educate boys to fulfill their potential through rigorous academic pursuit, deliberate moral introspection, and critical analysis of ideas and issues.” The education of boys and our mission’ s ultimate aspiration“ that they be good men” are our principal purpose. In our most recent round of strategic planning, we recognized that to fulfill our mission
Summer 2025 | 81