21k12

Jonathan Martin is the principal of his  new educational consulting practice, JonathanEMartin Ed. Services, with a mission “to support educators, schools, districts, and associations in the work of strengthening 21st century teaching, learning, and assessing and in becoming ‘schools of the future.””

He has 15 years experience as an independent school head (1996-2012), most recently as Head of St. Gregory College Preparatory School in Tucson, Arizona, (2009-12).

Three ongoing projects are at the center of his practice currently.

For SSATB, the Secondary School Admissions Test Board, he is consulting to and writing for its Think Tank on the Future of Admissions Assessment, participating in Think Tank research, writing a monthly blog post and preparing a series of papers.

In Rhode Island, he is Project Manager for the state’s Department of Education (RIDE)- promoted “inclusive device solution” program’s consulting to districts and professional development on laptop implementation and teaching and learning “shifting” best practices.  The Rhode Island project is part of his work as a “senior collaborator” for the national firm Educational Collaborators, which provides educational technology integration and 1:1 laptop program consulting.

He is also working with schools, districts, and organizations on developing and selecting tools for admissions assessment and learning outcomes assessment (LOA), and on using LOA for improving learning for all students.

In addition to these projects, he is regularly presenting at conferences and providing PD workshops to schools, boards, and faculties around the country.   Among the topics he regularly trains educators in are Project-Based Learning (for which he has had five days “train the trainer training” with Buck Institute for Education),  Next Generation Assessment, Digital Citizenship and Connected Learning.

Jonathan holds degrees from Harvard University (BA, Government, cum laude); Starr King School for the Ministry (M.Div., Unitarian ministry preparation); and the University of San Francisco School of Education (MA, Private School Administration).

In 2008, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University where he researched and presented on the topic of how school-leaders can better facilitate curricular innovation by teachers.  Jonathan is a graduate of the Sidwell Friends School (DC), and attended Milton Academy (MA) in middle school.

He previously headed Saklan Valley School  (CA) (1999-2008 ) and Maybeck High School (CA) (1996-1999).  In the first stage of his educational career, he taught History, Social Studies, and English at Maybeck, and served in a role equivalent to Dean of Students there.

From 2010-12 he was a member of the board, and Program & Professional Development Chair,  of the Independent School Association of the Southwest (ISAS).  He was a contributor to the new National Association of Independent Schools publication A Strategic Imperative: A Guide to Becoming a School of the Future, and is cited as an authority on social media use by school-leaders in the recent Solution Tree publication, Essentials for Principals: Connecting and Communicating with Social Media and is recognized as an innovative school-leader in the recent book, Bringing Innovation to School by Suzie Boss.

Jonathan has blogged since 2008, primarily at his blog 21k12, and also for Connected Principals and edSocialMedia, and has been nominated for best educational administrator blogger in the international Edu-blogger awards.  In a recent issue of the national newsletter, the “Trustee Letter,” his blog was named “one of the best” Head of School blogs.   On multiple occasions, he has been an “official blogger” for major conferences, including the NAIS Annual Conference (2009) and the ISAS Biennial Teacher Conference (2010 & 2012).

During 2008-2009, Jonathan conducted what he called the “good high school project,” and visited 21 21st century high schools, shadowing students for a full school day at each and live-blogging throughout each visit.   For the “lessons learned” from that project, click here.

Jonathan speaks often on 21st century learning; he has presented recently, or will be presenting soon at:

• the Annual Conference of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) (four sessions, 2011; two sessions, 2012, two sessions, 2013),
• the US Department of Education’s ONPE Annual Private School Leadership Conference (September 2010),
• the Independent School Association of the Southwest (ISAS) (Head’s Conference, 2009),
• the New York State Association of Independent Schools Education & Information Tech Conference  (keynote) (NEIT 2010),
• the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools Innovate Conference (keynote)  (2011),
• the Virginia Association of Independent Schools Technology Conference (keynote) (2011),
• the Arizona Association of Independent Schools (AAIS) (2010 & 2011)
• the Secondary School Admissions Test Board (SSATB) annual conference (Sept. 2011)
• the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) Annual Head and Board Chairs Conference ( October, 2011)
• the Virginian Association of Independent Schools (VAIS) Winter Heads’ Conference (January, 2012)
• the Independent School Association of the Southwest (ISAS) Technology annual conference (keynote), 2012
• the Annual ISACS Conference, highlighted presenter, (November, 2012)
• the Colorado Association of Independent School Heads Conference (January, 2013)
• the first Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools (OESIS) (January, 2013)
• the Deeper Learning Network first annual conference, High Tech High, (April 2013)
• the Connecticut Private School Summit (keynote), (May 2013)
• the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent School (PNAIS) Head’s Meeting (May, 2013)
• the ISAS Division Head Conference (June 2013)
• OESIS East, October 2013.

About his presentation at NAIS (2012), Peter Gow wrote:

Jonathan gave “one of the most complete and concise arguments for and “how-to” presentations on authentic school change that I’ve ever heard….[Educators] need to hear what people like Jonathan have to say, and their schools and their students need the kind of teaching and learning experiences being promoted by Jonathan and a lot of other educators who have decided to create not-their-father’s schools.”  Peter Gow, Not Your Father’s School

For more about presentations, click here.

For an archive of Jonathan’s graduation addresses over the past decade, click here.

Email Jonathan at jonathanemartin@gmail.com.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @JonathanEMartin.

Jonathan’s C.V. is available here: Jonathan E. Martin CV 2012

A professional portfolio for Jonathan, including about a dozen letters of recommendation, can be found by clicking here.