I’ve been fortunate to know and work with some extraordinary educators. To use the word of one of my greatest mentors, the late David Mallery, these folks have “furthered” me, my thinking, and my career, and my goal now is to further other educators and their schools as we strive to deliver the best possible educational experience to every student. I love the ideals that drive us, from our personal philosophies to the deep and examined missions of schools.
I was born into a family of educators, grew up on a boarding school campus, and graduated from Nichols School in Buffalo, New York. After undergraduate study at Yale and earning a master’s from Brown, I began my career as a teacher and development officer at The Gow School, which my grandfather founded in 1926 as the world’s first college preparatory school for students with dyslexia.
From there I moved eastward to Providence Country Day School, Fessenden School, and Beaver Country Day School. I’ve served on the staff of the New England New Teacher Seminar and consulted and written for the National Association of Independent Schools, including its Commission on Accreditation. I was a founding board member of the Independent Curriculum Group, of which I was Executive Director for six years. In my work there I recruited, coordinated, and communicated with membership, along with developing and facilitating on-line, on-site, and residential events. More recently I was the Independent Curriculum Resource Director for One Schoolhouse, creating and curating educator resources and facilitating on-line courses.
My experience is “old school.” I’ve been a teacher, a coach, an advisor; I’ve run dormitories, proctored study halls, and chaired committees. I’ve been a
department chair, an athletic director, a college counselor, a dean of faculty, an academic dean, and a trustee of several schools. Along the way I’ve been a faculty brat, a faculty spouse, an independent school parent, and the parent of an independent school teacher.
An exciting but very challenging future lies ahead, and schools and teachers have to keep up. Old-school values have to merge with cutting-edge ideas and practice. Effective educators and great schools need to be paying close attention and eagerly embracing change if they are to fulfill their missions and their destinies.
EXPERTISE
I have spoken and presented on school issues to a variety of audiences, including many National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conferences, the Association of Independent Maryland Schools Tech Directors’ Retreat, the Folio Collaborative Summer Institute; and multiple Independent Curriculum Group workshops and webinars. I’ve shared ideas on “The New Progressivism” at the Progressive Education Network national conference and the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools Annual Conference.
Hiring, onboarding, and supporting new teachers is a passion for me, and I’ve talked about this to the Heads and Board Chairs Conference of the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education Assembly for Jewish Day School Education, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the International Boys’ Schools Coalition.
I’ve spoken on aspects independent curriculum at the annual conferences of NAIS and The Association of Boarding Schools annual conference and on communicating effectively on innovative educational programming at the annual conferences of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the Enrollment Management Association, and the Association of Independent School Admission Professionals.
I’ve also addressed and worked with faculties at many independent schools on topics including curriculum change, change management, teacher evaluation, schedule change, differentiated learning, professional culture, and the cultural impact and promise of technology.
BOOKS
NEW! Leadership through Mentoring: The Key to Improving the Confidence and Skill of Principals with Phyllis A. Gimbel (co-author) and Samson Goldstein (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021)
Leadership Through Mentoring: The Key to Improving the Confidence and Skill of Principals lays out the case for the development of robust mentorship programs to support new school leaders. Focusing primarily on the role of public school principals, the book also presents key elements and success factors of successful leadership mentorship programs that could be adapted across all educational sectors and at all leadership levels. Well implemented, such programs could pave the way to longer and more successful leader tenures, which research shows lead directly to significant improvements in schools’ cultures, educational efficacy, and teacher and student performance. This is a book for leaders and governing bodies in all kinds of schools.
Purchase Leadership Through Mentoring from the publisher in multiple formats HERE
Updated 2020 One Schoolhouse edition! An Admirable Faculty: Recruiting, Hiring, Training, And Retaining Teachers In Independent Schools (originally published by the National Association of Independent Schools, 
2005)
An Admirable Faculty presents best practices in recruiting, hiring, teacher orientation, and creating vibrant professional cultures that offering teachers daily satisfaction and ongoing growth. In a new edition updated and revised by Peter Gow, An Admirable Faculty sets out a process by which schools can set be assured of engaged, top-quality teaching.
E-reader edition available AT NO COST from One Schoolhouse—see information HERE, and print-on-demand paperback available from Amazon HERE.
Public Goods: Expecting the Best in Ethical Rigor, Moral Excellence, and Civic Engagement from America’s Independent Schools (One Schoolhouse, 2020)
Public Goods confronts some of the realities of independent school education in America: a history of elitism and exclusion, a willful self-separation from the necessary national dialogue about education for all students, and unrealized opportunities to stand up and lead—humbly, but responsibly—in key areas. Assembled from blog posts published in multiple locations, Public Goods asks independent schools and their leaders, faculties, and communities to help create a better system of education in all kinds of schools and for all students.
Downloadable .PDF edition for E-reader or print available HERE and print-on-demand paperback available from Amazon HERE.
What Is A School? A Philosophical and Practical Guide For Independent School Leaders, Trustees, and Friends (Publish Green, 
2011).
What Is A School? is a series of meditations on the nature and purpose of independent schools. In it I explore the human aspirations behind the existence of any school to provide new perspectives on governance and strategic thinking.
What Is A School? is available at no cost as a downloadable e-book from One Schoolhouse via the Independent Curriculum Pages and now as a print-on-demand or Kindle book from Amazon.
Messaging and Branding: A How-To Guide (coauthored with Carol Cheney) (National Association of Independent Schools, 2010)
Messaging and Branding is a short, intensive course for leaders and strategic marketers in communicating schools’ identities, values, and messages. Including exercises that can help focus messaging and understanding of opportunities, Messaging and Branding is not just about talking about identities and ideals—it’s about living them.
Purchase and download Messaging and Branding: A How-To Guide
The Intentional Teacher: Forging a Great Career in the Independent School Classroom (Avocus Publishing, 2009 )
Written for aspiring, novice, and veteran teachers alike, The Intentional Teacher takes readers through a career, offering observations, advice, and specific tools to make teaching more effective and more satisfying. Based on 35 years of experience, The Intentional Teacher comes from the heart and soul of a happy teacher.
Purchase The Intentional Teacher
The Watery Realm (WoodenBoat Books, 2006)
The Watery Realm muses on the ways in which being around, in, and on bodies of water can open the minds of children (and adults, too!) to wonder and possibility. From flying over coastline to strolling on a beach to watching boats in a storm, The Watery Realm explores the deepest, most humbling, and most captivating kinds of learning.
Purchase The Watery Realm
The Interested Child (2021)
Written for parents, guardians, educators, and other caregivers who want to help young people connect with and find purpose in the world, THE INTERESTED CHILD presents over 100 ideas designed to inspire and encourage children and adolescents to explore new activities and new realms of experience and ideas. Educators and child development experts cite intellectual curiosity and engagement as key factors in satisfaction and success, and THE INTERESTED CHILD will help young people discover new interests and passions and find endless ways to enrich 
their own lives and the lives of others.
Purchase the The Interested Child as a print-on-demand book from Amazon, or explore the website from which the text is drawn.