Measures of Quality

Parents and prospective parents ask me how we measure our success. How do we know our results are good? How do our students measure up? Many schools point to their student scores on standardized tests to illustrate their quality. Standardized assessments, with their multiple choice format, measure some things very well.  They can tell you what percent of students in a grade or class can identify spelling mistakes from a given set of words. They can tell you what percent of students can identify three events from a given period of history. They help us gauge student recall of content and ability calculate an algorithm but they don’t assess student communication, reasoning, or problems solving. They are not designed to measure creativity or expression. Their percentile rankings cannot speak to character or contribution. While standardized tests are a necessary component of the education system in our world of education, they do nothing to assess some of the most important qualities we hold dear here at ASM. Yes, we will continue to test and we will continue to impress upon our students the value of that testing, but we will also stress character development and contribution. We will weave into our learning communication, reasoning and problem solving.

“...I would much rather my kids leave my class with the strength of character and courage to fight racism when they find it, than have memorized some facts about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I’m not saying you can’t have both, I’m just pointing out that only one of those things will be measured on the test — and it isn’t the most important one.” 

 Dave Burgess: Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life As an Educator

We will continue to do what we do well. And we will take pride in our students’ successes, both on standardized tests and in the quality young people they are becoming. I would like to share two recent events that illustrate learning at ASM and show just how high the bar has been set.

Last week, at Graduation, the student speakers talked about the gift they had been given and the opportunities their years at ASM had provided. They spoke of the support they had received from classmates and the sense of unity and common purpose they had experienced. Whether they had spent twelve years at ASM or two years they spoke about how the experience had changed them and how they had grown. All of them spoke of the clear realization that the wealth of opportunity they had received and how they realized so clearly the necessity of giving back to those who were not as fortunate.  The senior class graduated not with a sense of privilege and entitlement but with a sense of duty and purpose. They were eloquent and funny and deeply honest. They exemplified the sense of community and connection we know is so desperately needed in our modern world. Listening to them I felt inspired, proud, and humble. These are young people who are ready to go out there and make a difference. No school can ask for more.

Earlier this week, Grade Nine students showcased the projects from their study of dystopian literature. Dsytopia could be a grim genre but these students brought it to life with a marvelous display of projects that showed their collaboration, creativity, and serious talents. This was a unit of study where students had both a required book they read as a class and a choice of books to read in smaller groups. Many students told me they had read all the books.  They created animations, graphic stories, paintings, short stories, scripts, made movies, wrote poems, and composed original music. The range of creativity and the hours and energy invested in the projects was phenomenal. Except it wasn’t exceptional, every group or individual I spoke to said they had put much more time and energy into the project than they would have put into a regular essay (they wrote the essay as well). They put in the hours because they cared, because it mattered, and because it was a project that showcased their real talents and feelings. I left as the fifth grade students came in to visit and learn. I know, like me, they came away inspired, motivated, and awed. I know they came away feeling like Ninth Grade couldn’t come soon enough. 

Quality schools send graduates out into the world who are ready, willing, and able to make a difference. Quality schools are communities that inspire and motivate one another to go beyond, to excel, to create, invent, and share. None of this will show up on a test but it is the truest measure of quality I can think of.