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How do we know?

How do you measure success? Is achievement success? Is aptitude an indicator of success? Is success a product of growth? Is success the same for all people? Is it different when considering individuals versus groups?


Many years ago, state accountability systems experienced an overhaul. For decades, success was measured by the sheer number of students performing at a predetermined level on a standardized test. Either they met the level or they didn’t. Measurements were made as to how many were above, how many below, how far above, and how far below. Through the iteration of accountability measures, the idea of growth was introduced. Why? I believe it was because the greater masses were beginning to understand the biases and the fallacy of assessments which favored certain demographics and populations. Additionally, it was proven that test scores could be “taught.”


So, surely, adding in the component of growth—how much a student improved from one year to the next—would level the playing field. And, yet, it didn’t. Why? It did not address the root cause. At the time I was the principal of a Title 1 school serving students from pre-kindergarten through grade six. Our youngest students were entering pre-k and kindergarten already far behind. Did they grow? Yes. But did they perform “at grade level”? Many times, no. Because they entered school behind, they needed to make up more than a year of learning in a year’s time. If they missed that mark even just one year, that meant the gap continued to grow. And while we could celebrate the growth we had still failed to close the gaps for many.


So, now we find ourselves with a ripe opportunity to again revamp how we define success for our schools. Yes, it is important to ensure students have learned foundational knowledge. And, yes, we should strive to ensure students understand it at a proficient level. But, what else? How can we measure education success in a more holistic fashion? How do we measure the capacity of students to thrive after their education? And, let’s be frank—how often do we really have to take those measurements? In the aforementioned Title 1 school, we spent nearly a fourth of our time administering either state or district assessments across all grade levels. Wouldn’t some of that time have been better spent actually teaching and engaging students in learning so as to narrow the gaps which we were measuring?


So, here’s the challenge. How could we better measure the success of our educational system? What would we measure? With the prolific advancements in technology, we should have all of the tools at our fingertips to reimagine how we approach evaluation. We should be able to ascertain mastery with ease. Evaluation should be so integrated and embedded that it becomes a part of the fabric of learning. So, I ask…How do we know success? What do we measure? Tell me your ideas.


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