April 2004

Look How Much We've Accomplished!

Well, spring has finally arrived! The first snowdrops and crocus may be spotted here and there along the walks and walls, and the breezes have an undeniable balminess about them. Shorts haven’t yet sprouted on the kids, but the jackets are definitely off, and the shirts are getting skimpier! Cheers! It has been a long time coming.

The end of the school year is also approaching, and it is time to reflect on some of our many accomplishments. As you know, the faculty has focused on the issue of assessment this year. We committed to evaluating our program across all divisions and departments. While this is a long-term goal and is never really finished, we have made significant starts.

As a faculty, we have begun to map the concepts, skills, activities, materials and assessment standards required across grades on a discipline-by-discipline basis. The lower school faculty took the lead in this project. Last year they mapped the literacy strand of the curriculum across all grade levels. This year they focused on math. They will continue their work throughout the disciplines. They also developed thematic study cycles for each grade level, identifying the essential questions and core activities for each area of study.

The middle school faculty has concentrated on reviewing—and then more carefully defining—the goals and objectives of each course. Working together, sometimes by disciplines and sometimes by grade levels, teachers have created course descriptions that include clear statements of the essential questions and student expectations both in content and in skills. Like the lower school faculty, middle school teachers have also begun to develop a curriculum map, starting in humanities. From early discussions about what and how much students should read, they have progressed to describing broad and highly individualized programs to considering not only what must be read but why. They are similarly describing the skills in writing, spelling and grammar that must be addressed, and the appropriate ways of varying expectations for students in the two grades included in each grouping as well as for students with different abilities. Other disciplines will follow.

Upper school humanities teachers have developed a system of portfolio assessment to evaluate student writing and oral presentations. In addition to extensive written suggestions for improvement, each student’s progress is measured quantitatively on a series of assessment variables, including purpose, organization, development, sentence structure, dictation and vocabulary and usage and mechanics. They are also rated on effort, evidence of growth and self-reflection. Students choose examples of their best work to include in their portfolios.

These are only a few examples of the work the faculty has done on assessment. Beginning this summer, we will integrate these evaluation activities and many more into a central curriculum mapping project. When we are finished, we will have a clearly articulated map of the curriculum across all grades. We’ll know at what points the various skills are addressed, what we expect students to know as they progress through the school, and what major concepts and essential questions they have pondered along the way. It’s an exciting and challenging step forward.

But I would be remiss if I did not celebrate another kind of assessment that is critical to the heart and soul of Poughkeepsie Day School: performance-based assessment. You’ve probably read about it from time to time and perhaps not understood what it means. To see it in action, however, is another story.

Before we embark on spring break, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the hardworking and generous members of our Poughkeepsie Day School community—parents (current as well as past), students, faculty and friends—who contributed an enormous amount of time, effort and good will to

I hope you and your family enjoy your time together during the upcoming holidays.

Sincerely,

Mary Jane