Over the past five years staff at Voyagers’ Community School have grappled with the approach and methods relied upon when building a report about a students progress and process in our educational environment. This document, often hefty and compelling, stands on its own merit without ranking, grading or marginalizing a child’s work. This is a student’s Process Folio.
Often times a child arrives home with a report card filled with admirable grades; the parent is proud. In earnest a lot rides on this child’s grades but what do these grades mean; is there anyway to know for sure? In truth an “A” or a check on a scale is very subjective. We certainly found this to be true in years past when we hovered around reviews comparing and puzzling over rankings given by each mentor to his or her mentees. Some of these ranks were quite high while others were just average. One mentor argued, “I give average scores to every child unless he or she shows something extra. After all when did average become less than?” Another stated, “I begin with the assumption that every student is excellent and I only give a lesser grade if they appear not to be trying.” When both mentors were asked if they thought their mentee was outstanding compared to the other they quickly said, “No.” In fact they thought they were performing equally and were surprised to learn that each child’s rubric was quite different.
It seems impossible to fairly grade each student in a class, at a grade level, in a school or in a nation. There are too many variables. We feel one of the best representations of a child’s learning lies in an extensive, detailed, narrative generated by a child’s mentor and thoroughly reviewed and discussed by all teacher/researchers. And so… We commit, on average, 10 hours to this process for every child. We recently calculated the time dedicated to producing our last round of reviews. Over the course of about 4 weeks three teachers and our Director collectively invest 280 hours in this project. After a full day of work we each sat at our kitchen tables, in our beds, at the light table, at our desks, in cars, on trains and where every else possible to work another 17 plus hours each week.
The Beginning of the Process
Long before a mentor sits down at his or her computers to type the first draft of a student review the staff has met numerous time. During these meetings they consider each child thoroughly. They also consider class content, ways to improve over previous evaluations and organizational matters.
One of the first things we discuss is prior experience considering what has and has not worked in the past and what we would like to see changed. This year the staff talked over several meetings about the rubrics used for many years. We considered what we liked and disliked about them and came to the conclusion that these served little purpose, as they did not provide a good picture of the child as a whole person. After much discussion we decided that a written, descriptive evaluation alone would best satisfy our desire to provide a comprehensive, heartfelt review and would give parents a better understanding of how their child functioned in our school setting. Having made this decision we moved on, brainstorming a list of everything we should think about and evaluate regarding a child’s social, emotional and academic progress. Once these ideas are gathered we review the list, categorizing each point according to the headings we plan to utilize when organizing our thoughts and writing. Often an item we list fits under more than one category. This triggers lively debate, should we limited this to one category or is it important to be mentioned under several, each time in a different context.
It might seem petty to debate such a thing however this list becomes a reference point for all reviews, a checklist of sorts. As each mentor writes he or she ponders the points and is guided accordingly. Of course this is not the only source we rely upon. It’s important to remember these children have not come to us in a vacuum and the majority of them have been with us for several years. Past experience is important and past evaluations are often relied upon. We spend time rereading what has been sent home over previous years in order to consider goals that were set and progress that has been made since the prior writing.
Before settling in to write staff often brainstorms about individual children, listing the child’s attributes and traits exhibited in school. Since we all have an opportunity to work with each child at some point during the year we all have information and insights to share. Staff members help each other fill in blanks; we provide a system of checks and balances throughout the process.
Of course there is also each child’s body of work to be considered. Academic Journals, Writing Journals, math books, art projects, photographs, anecdotal day-to-day notes and artifacts collected throughout the year are organized, spread out on the table before the teachers and evaluated. We ask ourselves, “Is this his best work?” Does this really show what he is interested in? How is his work organized? What evolution have we seen since school began?” This is all taken into account.
All of this preparation to write fills many staff meetings and in some ways never feels finished. Eventually, however write we must.
The Writing Begins
Each staff member starts the process of writing reviews for their eight to ten mentees. The first items addressed are the six sections of the Social Report. These are the hardest to write and take the longest time for most of us. The teacher assembles all of the information available for a child and attempts to put it into words in a respectful and caring way.
To avoid making blanket impersonal statements about a student the mentor provides as much supporting evidence as possible in the social write-up. These small details give the parents a better understanding of how their child spends his day and what his approach to school looks like and results in. We often ask ourselves if we have painted a clear picture. This portion of the review is intimate, as we talk about the inner child, the outer child, the child interacting with others, with space, with materials, with himself, the child as a whole being. Sometimes there are tough things to say. We labor over these and often revisit them time and again to be certain of our thoughts and our delivery. We strive to be fair, generous, kind and gentle. We are sure to find value and worth in every child and in that sense we love capturing our thoughts on paper.
In addition to the Social Report the staff must summarize each class he or she taught during the period being addressed. A class description covers a teacher/researcher’s initial goals and intentions for the class. It states the direction the class actually took and the topics covered. Each class description also provides the outcome and a list of new and remaining questions if any exist. Once these are composed each teacher/researcher considers the work of each student in the class and composes another portion of his review. Here the teachers must provide specific feedback, which is generated from daily class notes that are maintained over the course of the class.
When considering a child’s gains and contribution in class we think about his level of enthusiasm, his willingness to converse, share, consider, negotiate and debate, his organizational skills, his reliance on prior knowledge, his use of new knowledge, his ability to connect with and use this information from class to class and across curriculum areas. With these considerations in mind we quickly garner a complete story.
While in the process of writing or when a first draft is completed the teacher/researchers will engage in a read aloud. This not only allows the staff to fix grammatical and spelling errors but also provides another opportunity for each person to suggest changes based on his or her experiences with the child. The staff also considers the language and words used in the review and their impact within the context of family culture. The average review takes at least an hour to read through given the constant interruption to discuss the smallest point. We try to reach a meeting of the minds on every review. Finally, each review is edited incorporating all of the feedback given.
These completed reviews are then sent to the Director of the school for her approval. She reads every review and makes comments. These comments are either incorporated into the final version of the document or brought back to the staff for reconsideration.
Compiling the Document
We are constantly documenting our students’ in anecdotal notes and picture; this process goes on day in and day out. Each day we download three cameras and the multitude of pictures are categorized in separate folders by child and again by subject matter. We have thousands of photos from the first half of this school year! These are the files we visit to complete each child’s process folio. Once the text is completed the mentors review all the pictures selecting those that best reflect the story being told. Pictures are examined, cropped, resized and dropped into a new series of pages that are carefully laid out. Each child requires at least 20 minutes; we have this process perfected.
Once everything is completed the printer is called to work overtime. Each review is printed and carefully matched up to the child’s corresponding class descriptions, photos, reviews and physical artifacts such as artwork, which is placed into plastic sleeves. All paper is hole punched and placed into each child’s process folio. Piles upon piles fill every surface of the art room, often including most of the floor. As we go along we check, recheck and cross check the materials and for each student. Before each Process Folio goes out the door we try to be sure we have included everything that will be helpful to the parents and the child.
This document is often the most intriguing and important report we can give a student according to feedback we have received. With the amount of in-depth thought and emotional investment we give when writing we hope that we have conveyed their character clearly and created something that will be useful to them in the future.
In the End
While all of this is going on teacher/researchers are still on the job providing for children’s learning and, in our most recent case, planning, organizing and preparing a Winter Solstice Celebration for 75 guests. This is an amazing feat. The average review includes approximately 9 pages of text and 2-3 pages of pictures. In the end the staff has turned every corner and looked under every stone in a true effort to provide a document that serves parents, children and staff members.
You might think it ends here; no such luck. Soon after we are back at the table considering what went right, what went wrong and what we can do to better. Developing Process Folios is a process that has gone on for five years and will continue to take shape over the years to come.
Copyright 2009
