11 Big Trends for 2016: 2 of 11

Rethinking Measurement

When I graduated from high school, we had 12 valedictorians. Twelve students stood on the stage and got honored for achieving success and, to my knowledge, most are upstanding members of their communities today. I wasn't a valedictorian. I, however, graduated high school with a GPA of a 3.85, was ranked 29th out of 300 students, entered my freshman year of college with 20 college credits, studied abroad my sophomore year of college, and still graduated from college with a degree in elementary education in 3 and a half years. Was I less successful than my peers?  Perhaps, but it could be that we were all successful in different ways.

Continuing with Susan Patrick's predictions about the top trends in 2016, her iNACOL post from 12/31/15, she predicts schools will transform to taking data upon entry and exit about where a student stands and that student mastery will not only take the shape of numbers and letters on a report card, but will also highlight students' evidence of success.  This will take a new shape of what success means for graduation.

For some students this success might mean being able to achieve a 36 on their ACT test or a 2400 SAT test, but for other students it might be that they're able to pull apart a car engine and put it back together again, and for others still, it might be showing how they were able to make a change in their community by designing a new recreation center and seeing a project through to completion. We need the Sheldon Cooper of the world who can breeze through a standardized test and skyrocket into any college or university that they want to, but we need the Dan Conner of the world to fix our vehicles, and the Penny Hofstadter to remind us that rural farm girls can aspire to be actresses. Therefore, success at graduation might be documented differently for each of the three fictional characters listed above.

Measurement of success at graduation could shift from being twelve valedictorians standing on a stage to honoring not only them, but also those who are successful in the technical field, the performance field, and the service field.  How would you rethink measurements of success in your district or for your child(ren)?