Head & Heart Ch. 20: Standardized Test Results

The staff of the original Living Wisdom School near Nevada City, California have traced their students’ scores on standardized tests. The following summary is from the school’s website (www.livingwisdom.org).

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is the principal  tool commonly used to judge high school achievement in the United States. The following table shows the average scores of our graduating students compared to the national averages.

The SAT has withstood the misguided notion, current in many educational circles, that student achievement can be measured by the number of facts and formulas that have been retained. For example, high scores on the current STAR test in California depend on a student’s knowledge of the Schlieffen Plan, the Tennis Court Oath, and other obscure data that require a fixed curriculum and massive amounts of spirit-deadening memorization. Students in an EFL school with an expansive, student-centered curriculum would not do well on these tests.

Other tests, such as the SAT, approach achievement from the more plausible perspective that student progress is better measured in such areas as reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, and writing skills. We have utilized one of these tests, The Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED), with our students. The results are listed below in percentile ranks that show how our students compare with other schools. A ranking in the 90^th  percentile means that they scored in the top 10 percent nationally.

These scores demonstrate the effectiveness of a holistic approach as offered by Education for Life, even in more traditional areas of student achievement.