As we close out the year 2026, we are asking our industry partners, our staff, our leaders, our alumni, and our students the question: “what makes a good school?”
As the founder of CAST Schools, sometimes I am struck with disbelief as to just how good our schools are, and how impressive our students are. This week, we asked this question of both our students and our alumni.
What stands out is that so many of their responses speak to the importance of human relationships at the school, comments like the one word: “community,” or “a good school is when they take immediate action when students are in need of help.”
We’ve also captured feedback about the importance of mentors, and real-world experiences, and internships.
This human-centric commentary is especially interesting to me as we grapple with a world where learning is increasingly assisted by technology. And yet, in the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to see student presentations that call upon young people to synthesize, analyze, present, and put forward creative ideas.
In every setting I am in, whenever we are stuck, there is a temptation to ask ChatGPT to get us unstuck, and this may not be a bad impulse. But I am increasingly aware that original thinking will be the currency of this new age, and that it is often sparked when we engage in dialogue and deep listening with others. We also do need to have schema, or understanding of the topics we are hoping to grapple with.
It’s an exciting time for those who care about the future of learning, because we have an opportunity to develop ways to leverage new technologies while developing habits of mind that hold us back from dependency on technology as a crutch for deep thinking, and our notes from our students remind us that at the end of the day, we are in a business that is as much about high touch as it is about high tech.
Jeanne Russell
Executive Director, CAST Schools