Ep 20: Preparing Our Children for School and Life with Diane Tavenner

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Diane Tavenner. Diane is the co-founder and CEO of Summit Public Schools, a nationally recognized non-profit that operates fifteen middle and high schools located in California and Washington State. Diane is also the author of Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life. During our conversation, we talked about the importance of helping our kids find a good fit both in school and in life, including choosing the RIGHT college rather than focusing on getting into the BEST college. Diane offers lots of great advice and strategies for parents including her I-N-G questions and her three-step process: Expose, Explore and Pursue both of which will help our kids figure out what really makes them happy.

About Diane Tavenner

What Diane writes about is really grounded in who she is and the experiences that she’s had, as a student, as a teacher, as a mom, and as a school leader. Diane thinks it is important to know that she grew up in a home that was pretty unsafe physically and emotionally. So school became the place where she looked for safety and the place to help her get out and create a life that was more consistent with who she wanted to be and how she wanted to live.

Diane is grateful to a lot of people along the way who saw
things in her that she didn’t see in herself at the time. Those experiences and
relationships really helped her to begin to understand from a personal place
the importance of connection and community and relationships in learning. And
it turns out that that is important for everyone regardless of your circumstance.
We learn best in a social setting where we feel safe and supported where we
have connections and relationships.

Diane brought a lot of that to her teaching along with a
really strong belief that she wanted to help kids who were like her. In the
beginning, like many idealistic teachers, it was a little misguided. Diane
thinks she spent more time at the start trying to save kids. And what she
learned later was that not actually what they really want. They want an
opportunity, not saving. Thanks to some amazing people, Diane learned that over
time.

As a classroom teacher, Diane felt a lot of problems and challenges, and she thought that maybe she could help with those as a school leader. She moved into administration and then got what she thought was a once in a lifetime chance to start a school from scratch and design it from a place where it would set up kids and teachers for success. In the early 2000s, Diane took that opportunity, while at the same time pregnant with her son, so she had her two “kids” six weeks apart. She started Summit Prep, her first school and then gave birth to her son. Diane has been working on Summit Schools ever since while raising her son to be the high school senior that he is today.