‘Tis the season for families choosing schools for the upcoming school year.
In a recent meeting with an interested family, one mother asked a common question, “So how can you tell if they’re on grade level?”
This is a multi-faceted answer but if you’ve kept up with our blogs you know some of the answers.
- We begin with gifted standards
- With low teacher to student ratios, we can move at a quicker pace
- Our kids are learning above grade level content
We know it as teachers because we’re planning it. We’ve seen it, we’ve studied it, it’s apparent.
But even our kids know it now. When they hang with older siblings and see that they’re doing the same work. When they shadow at other schools and say, “We did that last year.” When the consistently see the shock and awe on professionals faces when they engage with them.
If you heard the projects they’ve worked on and topics they’ve chosen to study, it’s clear as day too but we’ll save that for a later post.
A recent example that may help parents understand from the standards and grade level perspective though is if you’ve heard about the new FL standards that were just released. There are some additional social studies requirements that they’re looking to make all students have exposure to…in the next few years that seems like a big adjustment. We’re already doing it. Now.
We get it, standards don’t always make sense to parents. So here’s another way to take a look at it and gain some reassurance that kids certainly do learn grade level content, and then some.
In the last MONTH ALONE in our SOCIAL STUDIES content ONLY our kids have…
- studied the roles and responsibilities within the branches of government
- been exposed to the origin and structure of our government
- reviewed the responsibilities of our government
- began a deep text study of the Constitution
- learned about the United States’ first attempt at a government, how it led to the creation of the United States Constitution, and discussed the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
- simulated the Iowa Caucus
- learned about, discussed, and prepared arguments for the Equal Rights Amendment
- learned about various debate formats
- put together arguments supported by evidence, and we practiced identifying fallacies and flaws so that they could avoid the pitfalls of a weak argument
- learned about The Articles of our Constitution
- wrote letters to representatives in an attempt to secure meetings
- met with a Florida Circuit Court Judge who shared about how a courtroom works and the roles of the various branches of government
- they learned about the Amendment process
- studied the American Citizenship process and requirements
- traveled to the state capital, toured the House of Representatives, and met with legal aides
- created their own parliament- structured term limits, their own debate, an election, and voted to elect their own members of their own Indi-ED Parliament
- wrote their own bill
- rewrote US history by writing their own play to demonstrate how things would’ve been different if our founding fathers operated through lens of empathy
In the last MONTH! In 5 weeks! Just for social studies!
We know what you’re thinking and yes, our teachers and super humans. But they’re also professionals who are fired up with the freedom that they have.
We hope that paints a picture of how learning at Indi-ED is beautifully different. Or if you’re someone who wants to see the standards, we can share those too and we can assure you that we’re hitting more than traditional schools are required to.
For now, find a teacher or parent and say, “Thank you.”
