CPSC CHARTER: Education Plan

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From our original charter which was applied for as "The Community School for Children." in 2001.

Methods of Documenting Success

The Community School will abide by the law and administer all tests required by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The Community School will also establish curriculum goals which are consistent with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

The Community School views academic skills and knowledge as essential tools for communicating ideas, solving problems and achieving goals, rather than as ends in themselves. Therefore The Community School curriculum will build skills and knowledge but will focus on higher-level thinking skills and the development of individual talent, character, and ambition. To assess the success of these focus goals, The Community School will use authentic assessments. Unfortunately, we know of no standardized tests which adequately measure these accomplishments in young children.

The Community School for Children will use Authentic Assessments, Naturalistic Assessments, and Process Assessments as recommended by the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Authentic Assessment

"Authentic assessment engages children in applying knowledge and skills in the same way they are used in the 'real world' outside school. It is performance-based assessment that requires a student to go beyond basic recall and demonstrate significant, worthwhile knowledge and understanding through a product, performance, or exhibition. The assessment comprises an authentic task and a scoring rubric that are tied to an outcome or 'big idea' and are made clear to the student up front."

Naturalistic Assessment

"Naturalistic Assessment refers to evaluation rooted in the natural setting of the classroom. It involves observation of student performances and behavior in an informal context. Naturalistic observation is done as students go about their daily work and is sometimes called kidwatching."

Process Assessment

"Process Assessment refers to assessing a student's skills in progressing through a series of actions or operations. Process skills that teachers seek to assess related thinking abilities, applications of procedural knowledge, and interactions with others. Some examples of process skills are critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making, goal setting, cooperation, relating to others, leadership, and management." (see note 6)

These assessment methods combine to form an assessment system with great strength. Specifically:

  • Provides interesting, active, lively, and exciting experiences;
  • Examines student in unobtrusive ways within the context of their natural learning environments;
  • Establishes an environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed;
  • Allows teachers to develop meaningful curricula and assess within the context of that program;
  • Assesses on an ongoing basis in a way that provides a more accurate picture of a student's achievement;
  • Puts the emphasis on a student's strengths; tells what students can do and what they're trying to do;
  • Provides multiple sources of evaluation that give a more accurate view of a student's progress;
  • Treats each student as a unique human being;
  • Continuously provides information that is useful to the learning process;
  • Continuously provides information that is useful to the instructional process;
  • Regards assessment and teaching as two sides of the same coin;
  • Engages the student in a continual process of self-reflection and revision;
  • Results in products that have value to the students and others;
  • Deals with processes as much as final products;
  • Includes higher order thinking skills;
  • Fosters learning for its own sake;
  • Provides students with the time they need to work through a problem project, or process;
  • Involves creating, interviewing, demonstrating, solving problems, reflecting, sketching, discussing, and engaging in many other active learning tasks;
  • Compares students to their own past performances;
  • Encourages students to set goals and manage their own learning process;
  • Is an easily understood tool for communicating success to others. (see note 7)

The Community School for Children will also incorporate the assessment guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Student Achievement Goals

At a minimum, students at The Community School for Children will demonstrate a year of academic growth for each year of instruction as assessed by their individual education plan and benchmarks both aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Additionally, students in cooperation with their Family and Teaching Partners will be encouraged to explore, analyze, challenge and develop all their capabilities and gifts "intellectual, artistic, physical, ethical and social" as revealed and evaluated by authentic assessments, naturalistic assessments and process assessments. Another Student Achievement Goal will be for each student and his/her care-giver to believe, and be able to demonstrate, that he or she is developing intellect, character, talent and ambition.