Ian Slate: Measuring What Matters
Measuring What Matters:
2020-21 Students self assessing their own global competencies quantitatively and qualitatively pre- and post-unit
Our Societies
As a global civilization, what do we place importance on? In order to place importance on something, we must measure it to track its progress. So, what are we measuring in our world? and is what we’re measuring actually important as the world grows?
We’re all familiar with the measuring of nations’ GDPs. It drives most governments’ decision making processes and makes daily news cycles, even though the majority of the population don’t fully understand the intricacies of economics. In her book, Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth argues that GDP alone cannot be used to measure the success of a country. In 2021, we’re becoming more aware of this argument as climate change and coronavirus take center stage. More recently, we’re used to analyzing R-numbers, infections, and deaths that highlights the health of populations as we face a pandemic, and grimacing at the greenhouse gas emission data as we attempt to take more responsibility for the damage we are causing our planet.
Measuring the wealth of our environment and of ourselves must be of equal importance to measuring the richnesses of the economy, too. A great example of coupling economic data with the wellbeing of citizens is the Human Development Index (HDI) which measures Gross National Income, life expectancy, and education standards to form a more well-rounded measurement of a country’s success. A further and more in-depth example is that of the SDG Index, whose dashboard aims to measure the progress of all countries against all of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The more we measure, the more well-rounded a picture we have of what “success” and “growth” look like for a society.
To quote His Majesty The King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan, “To me, Gross National Happiness is simply development with values”. Bhutan values the happiness of its citizens, therefore it measures their happiness and acts on the data that is gathered. This led me to think, what do we value in our societies? How can we measure these values in our schools?
Our Schools
I have taken great inspiration from a number of students and education consultants over the last year as I’ve dived into what schools and students value the most in their education, and how teachers can provide opportunities to measure these new-found values. In his book, Moving Beyond Busy, Greg Curtis identifies strategies to “bridge the gap between your school’s mission and vision and real student-centered teaching and learning”. In simpler terms, Greg highlights the methods necessary for school’s to be what they say they are, which often isn’t the case. Furthermore, Global Citizen Diploma’s tagline of “My Story is More Than Numbers”, speaks volumes about the great work they’re doing at their schools to report to universities the skills and dispositions that respective students possess. However, most importantly are the student voices that Inspire Citizens have helped to amplify. Students such as Faye who creatively captures the emotion attached to the pressures of academic success in her video “100%”, and Carly who devised her own song and dance, “Numbers Never Really Represent”, to encourage others to be themselves and not give in to the pressures of numerical data at school.
It becomes clear to see, that on matters such as wellness and many others, it is the students themselves who provide the information about their “performance” against a variety of indicators. In schools, we are too comfortable with teachers assessing student performances against a set list of content-based standards, instead we should be providing students with opportunities to assess themselves and inform their mentors about their progress through reflections, much like the student examples above. This can be adapted from social-emotional indicators to academic and competency based requirements, too.
GPA doesn’t need to be the main or only measurement of a school or student’s success, much like GDP shouldn’t be the only evaluation of a country’s progress. The need for schools to be accurate representations of their missions, for universities and societies to receive well-rounded young people, and for students to be relieved of the academic pressures of schooling, motivated me through this academic year, and led me to some trials of measuring what matters.
Measuring What Matters: Students were encouraged to self assess their own global competencies quantitatively and qualitatively pre- and post-unit. Examples of competency frameworks and surveys c/o OECD PISA.
As a Grade Level: Student Dashboards
This dashboard of student information was inspired by the need for a more well-rounded picture than what our report card was offering students, parents, and us as teachers. Too much pressure was being placed on our students’ MAP testing data and proficiency-based academic report. Therefore, we attempted to report on the information that the school vision actually stated was important from a student perspective.
Included in the report is a self-introduction, a reflection on our school’s “four bees” moral code, an indication of study skills, a colorful survey based around the Mood Meter which helps students analyze their emotional health, and a futures-thinking exercise. This compact, one page dashboard, was kept in-house during this trial year, and these grade five student profiles will be passed on to their new middle school teachers. We hope this trial is a successful way for students to become more than just numbers as they self-assess some important emotional, dispositional, and core skills needed to be successful in school and life.
Learning from the Dashboards:
• Girl - Intrinsically focused on improving a variety of skills, enjoys space from adults.
• Boy - values respect and trust, struggles with organization of homework, more focused on extrinsic rewards.
• Teachers can engage both students to feel excited about their learning by introducing more activities, games, or centers-based learning opportunities.
Measuring What Matters: The dashboards are for students to reflect upon themselves, and for teachers to get a necessary insight into their students’ emotional awareness, study skills, and moral and interpersonal beliefs and actions.
As a School: The Graduate Profile
Together with Steve Sostak from Inspire Citizens, a handful of motivated educators, and a group of middle school student leaders, we took apart our school’s vision and mission, and organized it into a set of skills and dispositions that we’d like to see actively measured within the learning at our school.
It would be necessary to provide opportunities within curricula and units for students to understand, learn, and apply these skills and dispositions alongside their content knowledge. Furthermore, designing a system to report on these competencies across subject areas, so that when students graduate, they have a profile or portfolio that demonstrates their learning and application throughout their school life would be a practical next step.
Measuring What Matters: The above competencies are specific to what our school says it is. Accountability is necessary, and we must measure the things we value as an organization. This will look different in every school, and it must be authentic to its educational context.
To Conclude
As schools, we must measure what is important for the next generation to flourish in an ever changing society. Therefore, we are obliged to move away from solely teaching content knowledge where the assessing power is always in the teachers’ hands. It is time to provide opportunities for children to learn necessary and adaptable competencies, and to give them the ownership to account for their own development. Competencies such as a moral code, emotional self-awareness, global mindedness, and social skills, or whatever suits your educational context, are essential ingredients in the learning process, and therefore must not only be taught and learned, but also measured and reported on. These capabilities are valued in our society, so it’s time we measure what matters in our schools.
