Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 1

20 Managing the Business of Charter Schools with the same passion as those who create them. 801-394-4140 CONTINUED FROM PAGE19 Jamie McKay: There are lots of good ways to create a good school, so it really doesn’t matter whether a school’s academic focus is on expeditionary learning (EL) programs; International Baccalaureate (IB) programs; or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. What matters is teaching students in a way that engages their interest. At the same time, it is important for schools to stay true to their academic focus, because otherwise administra- tors and teachers can end up losing their way. Whatever the school model is, administrators and teachers need to run it with fidelity. In classes that might be considered as optional, teachers who understand the worth of a program and how it connects to other programs can then to act as ambassadors on behalf of their program. If that information is not communicated clearly then sometimes programs can be cut. Hanifi Oguz: It is important for each school to support the testing process so that the students will understand the need to do their best on the tests. However, that doesn’t mean schools should teach to the test. Motivated students who are performing well in the classroom and who are studying the academic material that will be covered by the test will do just fine during testing. What advice, counsel, or suggestions would you give to other schools (specifi- cally those with your same focus) to help them raise the level of their academic performance? Hanifi Oguz: Creating the right school culture is the key to doing well on any assessments, including SAGE. The best way to create that school culture starts with creating a supportive environment for everyone. The climate of learning within the school is of the utmost importance. If anyone in the school is privately asking the question, “Why should I try?” then the answer is that they can see everyone around them trying. Jamie McKay: Test scores reflect good teaching practices, but they are only one indicator of performance. It’s important to keep testing in perspective and to remember that testing is not completely accurate. Hanifi Oguz: Especially in the early grades, the tests are only demonstrating whether students know how to use a computer. Once students do master the technology, however, the tests obviously become more effective. Jami McKay: The goal for any school is helping students transition well to the real world after graduation. Students should have the hard and soft skills that are necessary to be able to create high-quality work even when it is outside their comfort zone. Technology is an integral part of school because it is integral part of life after school. Students will need technical skills if they gain an advanced education at a college or university, and they will also need technical skills for their careers. Fortunately, schools don’t have to measure soft skills in order to develop them. Schools also don’t need to give up completely when determining whether a student is developing soft skills. For example, since parents can see the development in their children, schools might consider giving parents surveys about soft-skill development in their children. Do you have any other thoughts, feelings, or opinions on current student assess- ments in the state and where you’d like it to go in the future? Tana Archer: SAGE and common core standards are good and necessary tools for giving students an education. At the same time, any assessment should be adaptive and individual- ized, because people learn in different ways. Jamie McKay: Giving schools a letter grade is too imper- sonal, in part because it doesn’t measure the value added by the school. Context and location both matter when it comes to evaluating schools. It’s unfair and inaccurate to rank schools or to compare completely different student populations. Hanifi Oguz: Since money is always an issue, schools need to think about how to make assessments as meaningful as possible. How schools use data to improve is more important than the data alone. Although data-driven instruction has become a cliché, the reality is that good teachers have to strip away the baggage when they are evaluating the job they do as teachers. Good teachers inevitably get invested in their work, and that means they are emotional about it, too, so it’s important to make evaluations safe for the teachers when they are deciding how to use the data they get from assessments.