National School Reform Faculty

Graduation by Standards
Date: October 4-7, 2002.
Listserv: Coaches

Friday, October 4, 2002 9:43 AM
As much of the country moves towards graduation by meeting standards and away from grades / credit / attendance we are experiencing a challenge at my school. How do we report student certification of having met standards in a way that informs colleges and is acceptable for college admissions? Traditional transcripts can't work because they aren't standards based. Portfolios are very cumbersome though they do indeed document meeting standards (unless they are digital portfolios). Have any of you solved this and have some great non-traditional transcripts that report on standards achieved that colleges actually accept?

My school CFG is looking hard at what it means to meet standards (Learning Results, in Maine) and how to structure curriculum, reporting, student involvement, non-traditional learning opportunities, and how to help students transition from grades earned to standards met. Anyone want to talk about this?
Marilyn, Maine

Friday, October 4, 2002 10:26 AM
Parker folks have grappled with this, too-- tons. The combination of having college representatives in to the school early in the school's life ( I mean year 2, 3, 4-- when we had only 8th, 9th, 10th graders) to build understanding of what the school and its program is about, and the active consultation with them about what a transcript for our school might look like, really helped us to create a document that really reflects our program without compromising our description of it or without needing to send a 50 page document in order for colleges to "get" Parker. Our big worry was/is about not wanting to disadvantage the students in the eyes of admissions officers who will be confronted with a very different looking transcript. And also, about not suddenly describing the program (non-graded, interdisciplinary, non-leveled, performance -based) with words we would never use.

I believe the transcript, which is actually a three page packet consisting of brief overview of our program, a summary of narrative assessments throughout high school, and a school rec.), evolved through a committed, extended conversation among parents, college reps, students, and teachers and that our transcript would not serve any other school well except perhaps as one example of an alternative to a traditional document. It was the quality of the work and process , the commitment over time to getting this to work for the kids. It looks very different and if colleges aren't willing or able to know how to think about our kids in terms of college acceptance, that's a huge problem for us all.

If a sample would be useful I would be happy to get you one, but I really think this could be a great thing for an on-line discussion. It's incumbent upon us all to devise ways to assist, collaborate, and inform the institutions that are accustomed to at a glance translations of rich experiences in these schools of ours that we have different ways of communicating that.
Terri, Massachusetts

Friday, October 4, 2002 11:17 AM
The state of New Hampshire has done a bit of this with its work towards Competency Based Assessment System. The transcript sample they've created is still very A/B/C oriented, but provides space for state competencies along with traditional coursework. It also provides space for independent projects, exhibitions, and portfolios as well as community-service and work-based experiences. Granted, it's philosophically problematic on a number of levels and is very based in the traditional, but it's a starting point.
Laura, New Hampshire

Friday, October 4, 2002 11:47 AM
I would love to see a sample of the transcript that Parker developed. We at Wilmington Friends School have long wanted to find a way to convey what is unique about our program and our students in a manner that colleges will understand and appreciate.
Matt, Pennsylvania

Friday, October 4, 2002 3:31 PM
Marylyn, Terry and all:

I'm a new person at CCE in Boston who just recently signed onto this listserve. But I picked up on this message because it is so highly relevant to our work - IMHO.

Some context: I've been helping to organize a group of parents, who are deeply allied with teachers, students and others in Massachusetts, who have been proposing an alternative assessment system to the state for use to replace the existing MCAS test based assessment system. The one where students are found competent and schools ranked by test scores alone.

Many school committees have recently announced they believe that local officials should be able to determine when students are competent and eligible to graduate regardless of whether they pass the test. They also organized a successful opposition to a recent state proposal to put test scores on student transcripts. It was a move to counter this movement. Even many pro-MCAS spokespeople spoke out against the measure for its potential to mar students for life and to erect barriers to public school students entering college who compete with private, parochial and out of state students for admissions to MA state colleges.

Anyway, the issue of 'seamlessness' with colleges is going to be a huge issue as we determine how to otherwise determine student ability outside of both test scores and traditional transcripts. A huge issue.

All this is to say that we should indeed talk about it. And I find the Parker school approach very interesting.
Karen Hartke, Massachusetts

Saturday, October 5, 2002 7:12 AM
Feinstein High School in Providence, RI struggles deeply with this issue --their website is www.feinsteinhs.com--if you'd like to know more about the school contact their principal Nancy Owen or Mario Dief, CCE Coach--(Feinstein is part of the New England Small Schools Network at The Center for Collaborative Education in Boston) at mdief@ccebos.org -
Steven, Massachusetts

Saturday, October 5, 2002 5:03 PM
I am actually doing a study on standards-based transcripts. The Rhode Island Department of Education has developed guidelines for alternative transcripts. Also contact the Regional Education Laboratory at Brown University, and be sure to visit the website of Mount Abraham High School in Bristol, Vermont. The MET Schools in Providence, RI also have established a terrific standards-based transcript.
Dorinne, Vermont

Monday, October 7, 2002 12:37 PM
We have been piloting a 9-12 standards based transcript linked to an electronic (Or paper) portfolio. Higher ed has expressed a surprising and heartening amount of interest in this - and some of our kids have used it successfully in the admissions process.
Nancy, Vermont