HOME l
MET INTRO l REFLECTION & ACCOUNTABILITY
|
HOME l
MET INTRO l REFLECTION & ACCOUNTABILITY
|
|
“You can cheat your way through other high schools and you can cheat your way through elementary and middle school, but here you cannot cheat at all. It’s impossible. When you have to stand in front of everyone and do your exhibition, you’ve got to have something.” — Johnny “We refuse to set a specific content standard, because every
student starts at a different place. We do it one student at a time,
based on their learning plans. You need to have different ways of setting
high standards for different students. A test is not a high enough standard.
Using knowledge—grappling with real problems and real people—that’s
the real test. ” — Elliot Washor, Met co-founder
Click here for more student and staff commentary Click here for the Reflection and Accountability section in PDF format
Below, we describe the key structures through which students demonstrate accountability for their learning, with links to student work and other artifacts.
Written once every quarter by student and advisor, narrative assessments at The Met take the place of grades and report cards. These narratives document a student’s academic and personal progress, noting specific areas of growth and areas needing attention, and suggest revisions to the subsequent Learning Plan. At the end of each year, students use their quarterly narratives to prepare, with help from their advisor, a one-page transcript, an official and public document that records the year’s work and learning.
Click here for quarterly narratives by a student and advisor.
At the end of each quarter, students give an exhibition, a roughly
45-minute presentation of work to a panel comprising the advisor,
mentor, parent(s), peers, and other Met staff. Students present evidence
of progress in all aspects of their Learning Plan and respond to questions
and critique from panelists. Students generally prepare thoroughly,
practicing during advisory and securing feedback well in advance of
their exhibition, which frequently is videotaped to help students
improve over time. In addition to reporting on what they have learned,
students must make their exhibitions interactive, involving their
audience in some way. The Met also requires all students to participate
as panel members in exhibitions by their peers.
Click
here for Met student exhibition about
helping children in foster care.
The eleventh and twelfth grade years at The Met are referred to as Senior Institute, to which all tenth graders must apply and win acceptance. That process begins with special third and fourth quarter exhibitions (of 45 to 90 minutes in length) called Senior Institute Gateways, where sophomores make their case for entry. In addition to a portfolio of their best work, they present four required letters of recommendation (from the advisor, mentor, parent, and a peer), plus a written defense that shows they are ready to take increasing responsibility for their own learning and to play an active leadership role in school.
Click here for sample Senior Institute Gateway essays.
Whatever their prior level of success or failure in school, Met students consistently report that they work harder and learn more than they ever have before. They also speak of enjoying the challenge of such rigorous work. The processes of giving and receiving feedback, collecting a portfolio of work, and making regular public presentations contribute greatly to a school culture that embraces high standards. Knowing that others take one’s work seriously leads students to take it seriously themselves, motivating them, for instance, to revise a paper ten times if needed, “to keep improving and taking it to a higher level,” as one student says.
Click
here for panel discussion about one
student’s difficulties and small triumphs.
|
 whatkidscando.org |
Student learning in small schools: an online portfolio
© 2003
Funding for this project generously provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
|
REFLECTION & ACCOUNTABILITY
