In an 1818 letter, Thomas Jefferson described the purpose of education. He wrote the goal of the American public school system was:
To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own
business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor, and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed.
Almost two centuries later our goals for education have not varied significantly from Jefferson’s outline. Today much of our conversation in education revolves around preparing students for career and civic engagement. Yet, in a 2008 speech President Obama expanded on that vision of education stating that:
the promise of education in America, is that no matter what we look like or where we come from or who our parents are, each of us should have the opportunity to fulfill our God-given potential. Each of us should have the chance to achieve the American dream (Obama, 2008).
The goal of public education is to provide an even playing field that will reward those who work hard to achieve the American dream. In recent decades that aspiration has led to the idea that secondary education should also prepare students for success in higher education. Though the idea that all students should attend college is a controversial one, many goals of secondary education have been framed in reference to preparing students for college. The triad of college, career, and civic participation, all through the lens of equity, is the dominant theme guiding education in America. These values are reflected in many different initiatives around public education. However, not everyone agrees with these goals. In fact Diane Ravitch was quoted in Time magazine stating that “the single biggest problem in education is that no one agrees why we educate” (Lindgren, 2009 found in Ritchhart, 2012). Yet despite controversy, the goals of college, career, and civic engagement are generally supported by most education leaders.
Given this general consensus, it is critically important that accountability systems and structures reflect those goals. How we measure schools matters. This paper will explore the topic of how we measure schools, but through the lens of uncovering what matters most to students. When policymakers create frameworks that describe whether schools are succeeding or failing, those metrics must align with these purposes. The simplest approach to ensure alignment would be to use metrics most directly related to these goals. For example, we could track students’ success in college and careers using measures such as students’ eventual earnings or college graduation rates to evaluate schools. We could even attempt to quantify civic participation or with more difficulty attempt to measure life fulfillment.
Yet, using these types of numbers as a proxy for school success is problematic in many ways. Most importantly, these outcomes are chronologically too far removed from teachers and students in secondary school - especially middle school - to be able to influence change. We can’t wait to see if a 6th grader will graduate from college before we assess the success of his or her middle school. In addition, the intervening factors between that student’s 6th grade education and his or her eventual achievement in higher education or career makes using eventual outcomes to measure a school problematic. It is imperative therefore that we have ways to measure the success of middle schools that give us as educators timely and useful information to improve students’ education in real time.
This need raises the question of what indicators in secondary school are most connected to the eventual outcomes of college, career, and civic success we aspire to for all students. How do we tell in 6th grade if a student is on track for success? How do we translate that data into a system that gives us useful information about a particular middle school? What should we measure about our middle schools and how to do we measure those things? In addition, given the importance of ensuring our students are ready “to compete in a 21st century knowledge economy” (Obama, 2008), how do we develop metrics that align with redesigning schools to meet the demands of the 21st century? In the scope this paper, that redesign will focus on a project-based learning school. Therefore the question becomes how can we effectively measure project-based middle school? The goal of this research project is to investigate this question from a very important perspective that has not been thoroughly explored: the student perspective. This project will seek to answer the question of what metrics students would include in an accountability framework for a project-based middle school. In addition, this project will attempt to determine how useful these metrics are in providing information that is valuable to school leaders and teachers.
To give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own
business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve, by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor, and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed.
Almost two centuries later our goals for education have not varied significantly from Jefferson’s outline. Today much of our conversation in education revolves around preparing students for career and civic engagement. Yet, in a 2008 speech President Obama expanded on that vision of education stating that:
the promise of education in America, is that no matter what we look like or where we come from or who our parents are, each of us should have the opportunity to fulfill our God-given potential. Each of us should have the chance to achieve the American dream (Obama, 2008).
The goal of public education is to provide an even playing field that will reward those who work hard to achieve the American dream. In recent decades that aspiration has led to the idea that secondary education should also prepare students for success in higher education. Though the idea that all students should attend college is a controversial one, many goals of secondary education have been framed in reference to preparing students for college. The triad of college, career, and civic participation, all through the lens of equity, is the dominant theme guiding education in America. These values are reflected in many different initiatives around public education. However, not everyone agrees with these goals. In fact Diane Ravitch was quoted in Time magazine stating that “the single biggest problem in education is that no one agrees why we educate” (Lindgren, 2009 found in Ritchhart, 2012). Yet despite controversy, the goals of college, career, and civic engagement are generally supported by most education leaders.
Given this general consensus, it is critically important that accountability systems and structures reflect those goals. How we measure schools matters. This paper will explore the topic of how we measure schools, but through the lens of uncovering what matters most to students. When policymakers create frameworks that describe whether schools are succeeding or failing, those metrics must align with these purposes. The simplest approach to ensure alignment would be to use metrics most directly related to these goals. For example, we could track students’ success in college and careers using measures such as students’ eventual earnings or college graduation rates to evaluate schools. We could even attempt to quantify civic participation or with more difficulty attempt to measure life fulfillment.
Yet, using these types of numbers as a proxy for school success is problematic in many ways. Most importantly, these outcomes are chronologically too far removed from teachers and students in secondary school - especially middle school - to be able to influence change. We can’t wait to see if a 6th grader will graduate from college before we assess the success of his or her middle school. In addition, the intervening factors between that student’s 6th grade education and his or her eventual achievement in higher education or career makes using eventual outcomes to measure a school problematic. It is imperative therefore that we have ways to measure the success of middle schools that give us as educators timely and useful information to improve students’ education in real time.
This need raises the question of what indicators in secondary school are most connected to the eventual outcomes of college, career, and civic success we aspire to for all students. How do we tell in 6th grade if a student is on track for success? How do we translate that data into a system that gives us useful information about a particular middle school? What should we measure about our middle schools and how to do we measure those things? In addition, given the importance of ensuring our students are ready “to compete in a 21st century knowledge economy” (Obama, 2008), how do we develop metrics that align with redesigning schools to meet the demands of the 21st century? In the scope this paper, that redesign will focus on a project-based learning school. Therefore the question becomes how can we effectively measure project-based middle school? The goal of this research project is to investigate this question from a very important perspective that has not been thoroughly explored: the student perspective. This project will seek to answer the question of what metrics students would include in an accountability framework for a project-based middle school. In addition, this project will attempt to determine how useful these metrics are in providing information that is valuable to school leaders and teachers.