Dear Colleagues,

After 15 years at Evanston Township High School (ETHS), my sadness at leaving is lightened by the knowledge that the school is in the hands of remarkable administrators and teacher leaders. I am writing with the hope that my reflections on the last 25 years of my career as a public school administrator will support your work to transform ETHS. Some of what we do every day—helping a student whose mother died, building a partnership with a parent whose daughter is failing, updating the biology curriculum to reflect new knowledge—is similar to what good teachers and leaders have always done. In other ways our work is and must be fundamentally different.

The work is based on a new definition of the “good” high school. Twenty-five years ago Evanston Township High School exemplified the “good” school. “Goodness,” defined as “excellence,” was measured by the stellar achievements of a school’s most accomplished students. ETHS still meets this traditional standard of excellence: A high percentage of graduates go to prestigious colleges and have earned Intel honors, Scholastic Writing awards, and national rankings for math, debate, and science teams. Teachers have received Fulbrights, Grammy Awards, Golden Apples, and university honors.