ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE ...

Hauppauge High School’s Stage the Change players recently performed at the 2015 International Alliance for Invitational Education (IAIE) World Conference titled “Beyond the Test: Inviting School Success.” Held at the Islandia Marriott Hotel, the 33rd Annual IAIE World Conference brought together educators from around the world to learn more about “Invitational Education” and to share their successful strategies for creating positive school climates.

Prior to the conference, IAIE Executive Director Joan R. Fretz had an opportunity to see a presentation by Hauppauge’s Stage the Change players, prompting her to extend an invitation to the students to give a 45-minute performance at the 2015 Annual IAIE Conference. “I was very moved by the students’ creative work, profound messages and most professional performances,” she stated.

Invitational Education is not a program, but a theory of practice in which school adults learn how to message students and colleagues in ways that are intentionally respectful, trustworthy, optimistic and caring, so that everyone has the opportunity to realize their full potential. It is a self-concept approach to school climate. “The idea is that our self-concept develops from all the positive and negative messages we get about ourselves through the people in our lives and in our environment. My self-concept (what I believe to be true about myself) then influences the behaviors that I choose,” described Fretz. “We work with school adults to help them realize how their words and actions are perceived by students and how they influence that student’s self-concept and behaviors. Student voice, choice, leadership and democratic practices are all part of Invitational Education.”

The International Alliance for Invitational Education also recently launched a new Coalition to Promote Positive School Climate, with eight other national school climate organizations. According to Fretz, working together, the Coalition “hopes to restore balance to American schools and to inform policy makers about how the current high-stakes testing and evaluation initiatives are actually lowering student and staff motivation and effort - the unintended consequences of a highly controlled, uninviting climate.”