June 2015 RecapOur Punahou community submitted descriptions of Punahou in three words. Here is a word cloud representation in the shape of a Hala tree, capturing the contributions from our community: #Punahouin3words
June Question of the Month:
Describe the discussions occurring in the school about the nature of effective assessment. How
have these discussions informed assessment practices across the grades and/or deepened
teachers’ understanding of assessment?
"As a dean, one of the most frequent conversations I participate in regarding assessment is one-to-one conversations with teachers who are struggling to support students who have learning difficulties or diagnosed disabilities. What I have noticed is that as we have increased our awareness of learning disabilities, our empathy for struggling learners guides our sense of fairness and the scope of assessments we offer." "A couple of years ago, Amanda, Jolinda, and I began to put together a continuum for music education assessment for grades K-5. We tried to meet every B day for about an hour to go through examples of music assessment as well as assessment in other subject areas, and hot topics in assessment such as authentic and performance assessment and how to develop growth mind sets. In addition to our group meetings, we also worked independently to assemble an electronic version of our assessment continuum for our own respective grade levels. Needless to say our focus and investigation on assessment allowed us to develop and implement new practices, to reflect on our current practices, and to synthesize a working document that took into account best practices based on research and our own experiences in assessing our students. For me personally, I decided to try out electronic portfolios in lieu of written progress reports and have had two years to fine tune this process. I have also examined different types of performance assessments as well as theoretical assessments, and explored questions such as how does music facilitate academic achievement in other areas through integration, how does learning music affect the brain and enhance fine motor skills, memory skills, and develop social skills in cooperation, attentiveness, perseverance, and self-esteem, and how music builds creative capacities in students. And finally, I have started to be more cognizant of how learning occurs in individual students and to become active in designing instructional strategies that address individual student needs and personalize learning, and that incorporate technology such as interactive smart board activities and creating virtual learning environments." "Recent discussions about assessment in Physics classes have focused on three main themes: 1) Existing tests, re-writing modifying slightly 2) Lab, or data based assessments that encourage students to collaborate and discuss in order to reach a consensus...making this assessment more frequent 3) Projects designed by students that are relevant to their lives or hobbies or sports(e.g. where is the best place to put a Wi-Fi router to maximize internet speed, and minimize pings) The above three are currently being practiced in Physics classes. A fourth theme that is being explored is the possible introduction of "milestone meetings" as a form of assessment in Physics that would take the form of a short five minute discussion with the student(s) and the teacher talking about themes and/or specific skill sets in the course(e.g. speed vs. velocity, distance vs. displacement etc.) The "milestone meeting" is intended to be a dialogue that would lead to improved understanding of core topics in the course. Two final themes that are being explored(lightly) are the idea of multiple chances for demonstrating subject mastery, i.e. test version A, B, C, D etc. being available in an online environment to students. Students would take the test when they feel prepared, and could take version B, C, D etc. to improve their score....or have a second, third, fourth chance to demonstrate mastery. Most of these discussions tie into research that indicates that within a few years after taking any class, the specific content will be forgotten relatively quickly, whereas the "habits" of study, processes involving the ability to form questions, "habits" related to design processes, writing first drafts/revisions etc. will be remembered for a lifetime." Thank you for all of the responses. Please contact your self-study team if you would like to provide additional feedback. http://punahouselfstudy.weebly.com/contact.html |
Parent Faculty Association (PFA) Continues to Support the Self-Study Process
The Parent Faculty Association (PFA) formed an Accreditation Sub-Committee made up of PFA volunteers. The team obtained input on the self-study questions from the parent community at various PFA related events including the Carnival Christmas Fair, grade level transition meetings for parents, PFA monthly membership meetings and new parent gatherings.
With the commitment to gather valid and valuable information, the committee asked questions in the context of what is going well, what are the challenges and what opportunities are there for each question. Quantitative and qualitative feedback was obtained and synthesized to create a preliminary report that will inform the School's self-study document. The self-study process of self-reflection and dialogue has also provided the PFA with valuable information regarding how they can collaborate with the School to create a map for the future for our Punahou community. The following is an example of how the PFA has provided input that informs an Accreditation Self-Study question: How do current parents contribute to a positive school climate and strengthen the sense of community on which institutional health depends?
Strengths:
Opportunities:
Mahalo to all of our PFA volunteers for supporting our School and the Accreditation Self-Study process!
|