Top Ten Percent!

We just got this year’s scores back. 60% of students who took the yearly IOWA test scored above 90th percentile! Those statistics are crazy amazing! I’m so proud of our teachers; who work hard to give the very best education and to our students who focused on their work.

Of course, countless professionals warn us against using these tests as a complete indicator of student success. Why? As this Harvard article reminds us, the quality of a school’ needs to be measured by engaging classrooms and quality of instruction. Student achievement goes well beyond what is measured by simple multiple choice questions.

Standardized tests hit only the first or second level on Bloom’s Taxonomy - understand, and apply. What about synthesizing, evaluating, creating? Explaining concepts, designing solutions, displaying metacognition through one’s work - these are virtually impossible to do in a multiple choice, computer-scored, one-size-fits-all test.

The priority at our school is not these tests. It is to create a dynamic environment of thinking that compels our students to understand, explain, teach each other and create! Our current teachers are experts at this.

However, whether we like it or not, the world ranks students and schools according to these test scores. Being able to show high test scores increases our students’ chances at grants, scholarships, and transferring into other prestigious schools.

Navigating all these needs with limited funds and resources has been a balancing act for all of us at TKG Academy. Gratefully today I can say with full confidence. Not only do our students have the best whole-child experience with project-oriented work, not only are they learning real life valuable skills like gardening, cooking, and communication, but they’ve also shown that they can master a multiple choice test that the rest of their peers are taking in private schools across the United States.

Excellent work!