6th & 7th grade Capstone

Date: May 2016 and 2017
Inciting / Guiding Questions: How might we create an end of year assessment experience that is more meaningful for faculty and students?
Number of Students Involved: All of 6th in 2016; All of 6th and 7th grade 2017
Faculty/Staff Involved: Bobby Thompson; Connie Scully; Sarah Goodman; Andrea Downs; Sarah Paine; Ashley McClelland; Ann Parker; Jill Ingram; Ryan Harper; Christy Olson; Corley May; Brian Li; Josh Springer; Kelly Lawler; Emily Carrara; Doug Burgess; Jim Cerbie; Sarah Chen; Kristen Friedman; Michael Hough; Jamie Hutteman; Carol Lawrence; Sarah Russell; Randy Sienkowski; Brick Smith; Libby Tilson; Alex Warber

Abstract:
Magno’s team started conversations with the Center about questions, challenges, and opportunities surrounding sixth-grade end of year assessment.  These conversations led to official consultations where the Center offered provocation and proposals for how to pursue solutions without providing them.  Consultations evolved into projects in which the Center designed and facilitated experiences for faculty to explore possible assessments as well as get training to administer those possibilities.  These possibilities have coalesced into an endeavor, guided by the Center, that seeks to engage multiple divisions in assessing assessment.  Spring 2017 will see the second iteration of the sixth-grade identifying issues in their world and addressing those issues through a creative, collaborative problem-solving capstone assessment.  Inspired by their students and sixth-grade colleagues, seventh-grade faculty have engaged the Center to explore how they might make seventh-grade assessments more meaningful.

Testimonial:

• During this process, Matt and Ryan were instrumental in allowing me to act as the “client”, they never jumped to solutions, instead they facilitated a process to help our team design an empathy based project. -Team member