Snapshot vs Story
This week, Discovery learners participated in something that only happens once each year at Acton: standardized testing. Desks gathered together and learners grouped by age, everyone working on the same thing at the same time. A timer, raised hands, and for a few days the studio looked surprisingly traditional.
What made me laugh most came from a handful of Spark Land learners who are currently visiting Discovery as part of their studio transition. As testing began, they quickly asked if they could take the test too. When I explained that standardized testing was only for Discovery learners and that they would have their turn in the future, they were genuinely disappointed. “I wish I could do testing too!”
Never in my life did I expect to hear a learner disappointed that they weren’t allowed to take a standardized test but perhaps it makes sense. For these learners, Discovery Studio represents the next adventure. They are eager to experience the work, the expectations, the systems, and all the things that come with being part of the older studio, even testing.
To be fair, the Discovery learners enjoy it too. Not necessarily because of the test itself but because for a few days the rhythm of the studio changes. Everyone works on the same challenge at the same time. There is a shared experience in the room, a little novelty, a little tradition. Plus, there is a donut. The test ends and everyone enjoys a sweet reward before returning to the normal flow of studio life. For a few days each year, Acton learners get a small glimpse into a more traditional experience, then they move on.
As testing week wraps up, it always leaves me reflecting on a bigger question: How do we measure a child?
Standardized tests certainly measure something. They provide useful information by helping us understand academic progress and offer a snapshot of where a learner is performing in a narrow set of skill areas at a particular moment in time. Yes, our learners generally do very well on these assessments. But, if you’ve spent any meaningful time with children you know that the most important parts of who they are rarely fit neatly into a multiple-choice question.
A test cannot tell us if a learner has become more courageous. It cannot tell us if they are learning to resolve conflict with kindness. It cannot tell us if they are taking greater ownership of their work, showing leadership among peers, or developing resilience when things become difficult. Yet, these are often the very qualities that matter most. Which is why I find the timing of testing week so fitting.
Just as testing concludes, end of year Journey Meetings begin. If testing provides a snapshot, Journey Meetings provide the story. Over the coming weeks, learners will sit down with their parents, Guides, their “support team” to reflect on their year. They will review goals they set months ago. They will celebrate victories, examine challenges, will discuss habits, friendships, leadership, independence, civility, excellence, and growth. There will be tracked habit data, academic progress, even test scores, but those things are not the center of the meeting. The learner is the center.
What makes Journey Meetings so powerful is that learners are not passive recipients of feedback. They are the boss, they lead these meetings. They share and they listen and together with their team they strategize their journey forward. The result of a Journey Meeting is much richer than a report card.
At Acton we care deeply about academic growth but we also care about what learners can do with that knowledge. Perhaps most importantly, who they are becoming along the way. We talk often about learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be. A standardized test can help us understand a portion of the first. A Journey Meeting helps explore all three.
As you sign up for a meeting with your parent ticket in hand, I invite you to wonder, what growth have you seen in your child this year that could never appear on a test? Where have they shown courage, ownership, leadership, or resilience? What accomplishment would your child choose to celebrate? What challenge are they now ready to tackle next?
The most important things we measure at Acton are not simply what learners know, it is who learners are becoming. A standardized test can tell us how a learner performed on a particular set of questions on a particular day. A Journey Meeting helps us understand who that learner is becoming. One captures a snapshot, the other tells a story.