ASKING QUESTIONS, EXPLORING OPTIONS, CHANGING THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt is an educator, Rice University REEP MBA alum (Class of 2011) and he’s currently working for KIPP Houston as a Fisher Fellow. Eric is planning on opening the new KIPP Houston middle school in Spring Branch in 2012.

Student Life

When You Believe.

In December, Spring Branch ISD, KIPP Houston, and YES Prep made the official announcement of the SKY Partnership between our three organizations.

On the same day as the announcement, I was lucky to be joined by Landrum Middle School Principal, Luis Pratts and Northbrook Middle School Principal, Valerie Johnson in New Orleans while on my residency at KIPP Believe.  We spent the day shadowing my friend and School Leader, Adam Meinig; observing teachers in academics and fine arts; and chatting with students.

 

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Alumni News

The Phenomenon of Change.

As I gear up for my last few weeks of travel, I thought I would share some thoughts that I’ve had on the concept of change.  I recently finished reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath.  This book was recommended to me by educators and other MBAs who I really respect, so I was excited to read it.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.  The book hooked me with the subtitle, “How to change things when change is hard.”  Chip and Dan Heath provide examples of change management ranging from a Teach For America teacher first entering the classroom to a school leader in a successful turnaround environment.  But, this isn’t a book just for educators, and I loved how the book not only addressed organizational change but also societal and individual change.

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Alumni News

Creativity vs. Control

Hello Friends!  September has been an exciting month. As a Fisher Fellow with KIPP Houston, I will spend the fall semester traveling across the country in residencies at various schools. Since I wrote my last blog post, I have been mostly here in Houston at some of the nine KIPP Houston middle schools. I have spent longer blocks of time at KIPP Academy Middle School and KIPP 3D Academy with shorter visits to some of the other campuses. It has been an amazing start to my journey, and I’m looking forward to even more learning as I travel from East Coast to West Coast from October through December!

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