On Tuesday, February 21 Principal Dan Frank emailed the students and parents of the Upper and Middle Schools regarding the hiring of current Mathematics Department Co-Chair Sven Carlsson as the Middle and Upper School Director of Studies, effective August 1.

For 9 years at Parker, Carlsson has taught a wide variety of math topics in algebra and calculus. Carlsson is also an original Technology, Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship for Society (TIDES) facilitator, serving since the 2014-2015 school year. Currently, Carlsson serves as Math Department Co-Chair with Upper School teacher Wendy Olt who will continue as Co-Chair after his departure. Carlsson’s replacement has not been named yet.

Along with his experiences at Parker, Carlsson serves on the Legacy Charter School’s Board of Directors’ Technology Committee. In addition, he is the Academic Dean at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development Equinox Program. Carlsson also spends time teaching on Saturdays at Northwestern’s Project Excite, which is an enrichment program for elementary school aged students with an affinity for mathematics.  

The school conducted a nationwide job search in December in order to bring the Director of Studies role back into the Middle and Upper Schools. According to Lower School Director of Studies Barbara Hunt, the Middle and Upper School Director of studies role has been dormant for about 18 years.  

In previous years, the Upper and Middle School Director of Studies was a part time role, according to Hunt. Those who in this role would teach their subject while also acting as the Director of Studies. In a sense, the role was part-time and was not the only concern of the individual because of their teaching obligations.

Hunt said, “Past Directors of Studies had a co-teacher so they would spend 60% of their time in the classroom and 40% of their time in the Director’s job or they would teach fewer classes altogether.”   

Even though the position has been on hiatus in recent years, Assistant Principal Ruth Jurgensen identified a need for the role this fall. “It wasn’t until I became the division head in the Upper School did I really see what the need was,” Jurgensen said. “And that need lies in creating more attention on the trajectory of the student and how they’re moving through the school academically.”   

According to Carlsson, the role will, in fact, put the trajectory of the student first. Carlsson said, “I think the role is going to be about collaboration and equipping.”

Upper School Mathematics Teacher and Co-Chair Wendy Olt echoed something similar. “My favorite thing about Sven is that no matter what decision we’re making,” Olt said, “he always makes it about the students, and he always tells us that, at the end of the day, we’re doing this for the students.”

Olt believes that the administrative team picked the right candidate.“I’m sad that we won’t have him in the classroom anymore because I think he’s a truly gifted teacher,” Olt said.  “But the role is extremely well deserved.”

As Carlsson begins to make a plan for the coming years, he stressed the importance of cross-curricular work in his new role. “So if a theme that’s coming up in history is also attended to in dance,” Carlsson said, “I’m hoping to try to help make those connections happen more often.”

While the role was reintroduced to the Middle School and Upper School, it’s alive and well in the Lower and Intermediate Schools with Barbara Hunt serving as the Director of Studies for about 13 years. Hunt oversees the cross-grade curriculum for grades JK-5 while the newly appointed Carlsson will oversee the same for grades 6-12.

Hunt believes that Carlsson is filling a void in the Middle and Upper Schools that has been present for awhile. Hunt said, “I think the idea when the position was discontinued was that the department chairs could do this and communicate with each other but it wasn’t realistic given the teaching load.”  

Carlsson has not yet spent a great deal of time thinking about his specific goals in the new role, but he is certain he wants to elevate two traits in Parker students. “Right now across all of the departments we’re really grappling with the idea of how to promote curiosity and student ownership,” Carlsson said. “So I want to help each department craft those answers to make a great progressive education.”

But, once August comes around, Carlsson will begin with a few preliminary objectives. “I’m going to start with looking at transition points from grade to grade, whether that be from the Middle School to High School or being new to Parker,” Carlsson said. “I really want to smooth those transitions for the students.”

With the challenges that this position brings, Jurgensen believes Carlsson is the right fit. “This position is going to take vision and someone who can articulate what progressive education looks like in a variety of classrooms,” Jurgensen said. “Sven has that, not to mention, he’s one of a handful of people that I know who can quote Colonel Parker. His devotion to progressive education runs deep.”