Dr. Jan Keating, Teacher Spotlight
Dr. Jan Keating is the founding headmaster and Leadership class instructor at the Stanford Online High School. For the past 22 years, Dr. Keating has followed her passion as a teacher and administrator for secondary schools across the country, inspired to push for education reform.
Born in the bustling city of St. Paul, Minnesota, come of Dr. Keating’s fondest memories include being bundled up by the fire during the chilly winters. She moved to the LA area around the age of five and attended private school until leaving for college. Dr. Keating graduated with a double major in Chemistry and Biology from UC Irvine and began working at the UCLA cancer research center, but was still unsure about what she wanted to do. Upon exposure to the wide achievement gap in our nation she was inspired to pursue education, and “the highest level of education is teaching.” She found her passion teaching chemistry and administering schools for 22 years around California and later, across the country. She acquired a distinct background in education before being asked to found the Online High School alongside Raymond Ravagalia. Dr. Keating notes that she accepted the offer to start the Online High School because of her passion for teaching, the innovative approach to education, and the opportunity to train some of the brightest minds in the world. Interestingly, this follows some of the advice she commonly gives to her students: “pursue something you’re good at, passionate about, and what there’s a market for.”
Her main goals and focuses for the Online High School were to make it an academic powerhouse, foster philosophical care, develop a community, and maintain a noncompetitive, yet motivating environment. Although many have a negative connotation of the word powerhouse, she uses it to emphasize the importance of providing the best instruction and curriculum possible. Dr. Keating made it a priority to hire PhDs primarily because of the precision and humbleness they maintain. Secondly, she aimed to foster philosophical care. Dr. Keating believes philosophy shows you, “the world is not black and white”. It teaches you important cognitive and life skills, such as thinking outside the box, questioning your surroundings, forming strong arguments, but also listening intuitively. Therefore, she created great significance in the philosophical core classes at the OHS. Another factor she prioritized was to develop a community. Students at the OHS, especially full-time students, have difficulty socializing with their OHS peers, considering that often their peers are hundreds of miles away. With both online communities, such as student government and clubs, and in-person interactions, such as meet-ups, Summer @ Stanford, and Graduation Weekend, we can foster a strong community despite the distance. Finally, Dr. Keating aimed to maintain a noncompetitive, but encouraging environment. Rather than comparing students with each other, there was a set standard. It is a high standard, but instead of competing against each other, students are motivated to compete with the standard. This maintains the motivation, without any detrimental or ominous competition.
After serving as head of the OHS for 6 years, Dr. Keating left to pursue her consulting business. However, she maintains her relations to the OHS by teaching the Leadership course. Her decision to teach Leadership is grounded in her passion to train the brightest minds, but more importantly it is specifically aimed at the OHS students to teach teamwork and communication, bring exposure to endless possibilities, and hear from the greatest thinkers of our time. The Leadership course teaches independent minds the important skill of teamwork. The OHS students typically have skill of independence as their courses require self-motivation and independent thinking, however they must also learn that the skills of working together are just as important in day-to-day life situations. Another important skill the leadership course teaches is communication. Dr. Keating emphasizes how “you can have the greatest ideas, but you must be able to communicate them powerfully.” Through the leadership course students gain exposure to all the possibilities and learn that life is not a straight trajectory. The speakers who present and the authors of the assigned books show the students countless lessons revolving around innovation, entrepreneurship, and most importantly, life. Leadership teaches students intellectual agency it proves to them that they are in control of their life, “your success doesn’t depend on the college you go to, it depends on you.” You make all your decisions and all the tools and information you need are within reach.
Dr. Keating has taught and administered some of the leading schools in the country and she has a distinct background and remarkable knowledge in education, however she maintains her humbleness. She advises students to trust themselves, their teachers, and to work hard, but to enjoy it. She sees academics as any athletic sport. It requires extensive training and preparation, but when you’re in the game (or test) it’s about showing off your knowledge and having fun. So, as Dr. Keating puts it, “enjoy the ride.”