Last week I was invited to be a panelist for 8th graders portfolio defense at SEEQS middle school in Hawai’i. These defenses were intended to be in person but because of Covid-19, they were moved online and I was able to participate. The defense is an expected part of the SEEQS experience where they highlight how they have grown and reflect and capture their learning in a portfolio. Based on their learning philosophy, educators work with students to develop and grow the sustainability skills. On their website, they highlight, 

“The system is divided into two main parts: 1) the portfolio and 2) the defense.

The relationship between the portfolio and the defense is similar to the relationship between a resume and a job interview. The resume describes what you can do on paper, and it can be reviewed independently, ahead of time and without you in the room. The job interview, in contrast, is a live event, providing the opportunity for you to expand upon what’s in the resume, and for the interviewer to learn things about you that cannot be communicated on paper.”

I was honored to be part of the process and was amazed at what these students were creating, how they had captured their learning, and how unique each defense was. As I listened to students share their learning with the panelists including their advisor, educators, students, families, and community members, I was struck by the power of these three principles of authentic and meaningful assessment: 1) Competency-based 2) Clear Goals and Personal Application, 3) High Expectations and High Support,

1) Competency-based 

I have participated in many defenses of learning and I believe they are a powerful way for learners to take ownership and share what they know. The power of these defenses, however, were not just the process, it was the clarity of the goals and the skills also known as competencies that learners were focused on developing throughout the process.

SEEQS has identified the skills that they want to develop in young people in order to help create and maintain a sustainable world. The five sustainability skills are:

• Reasoning Analytically
• Thinking Systemically
• Collaborating productively
• Managing Effectively
• Communicating powerfully

A competency-based system allows leaders to identify the expectations and allows for personalized paths to develop and demonstrate mastery of desired skills through authentic and meaningful learning experiences.

2) Clear Goals and Personal Application

One of the students described what it was like to be a student at SEEQS:

I used to have to sit at a desk and listen to a teacher now I get to learn things and explore and sit with my peers and collaborate.

8th grade student

Each of the projects that students shared came from the same classes but each assignment allowed the individual students to leverage their strengths, interest, and talents to learn and grow throughout. One shared a movie he helped edit, another shared a play she took the lead in, while another shared a project she has worked on in the ocean, which she was passionate about. The skills they were developing were explicit but the application and the projects they engaged in reflected their interests and helped students to grow. It reminds me of this quote

The teacher of course is an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make possible for the students to become themselves.

Paulo Freire

These students were learning foundational skills and applying them in ways that were meaningful to them and others and as a result learned to read, write, communicate, compute and engage deeply with content to solve real-world problems.

3) High Expectations and High Support

Overall I was so impressed with these young learners and how they articulated their learning. It was so evident that each of their advisors really knew them, valued them, and were committed to helping them to be successful. High expectations are a part of this culture that I have seen when I have visited and was especially evident in the defense of learning. The goal of this defense is for students to articulate their learning and demonstrate the development of the desired skills and as adults seeing learners in this vulnerable position, it is too common to view the presentation as a formality rather than a true defense of learning, which can weaken the value and effort that learners put into the work 

3 different portfolio defenses provided insight into the culture of high expectations and high support.

The first student shared his love of video games and how he had grown in his ability to communicate- one of his artifacts was a speech he gave at a climate change rally and he was featured on the cover of a magazine. This young person was passionate and skilled but had also clearly put his defense together at the last minute. When asked if this was his best work, he acknowledged it wasn’t and the committee agreed that he did not pass. We gave him, kind, specific, and helpful feedback and he was to work with his advisory to take another shot at his presentation of learning to earn a passing grade. 

The second student was articulate and had clearly excelled academically. She had a wide variety of evidence and a beautiful portfolio. The panel agreed that she had clearly developed the skills but she had failed to use visuals and didn’t stick to the time boundary because the presentation wasn’t as organized as it could have been. The panel worked through the rubric and expectations and ultimately decided that she should do it again. She didn’t pass because it wasn’t good but because it wasn’t as good as it could have been. We all agreed that she failed to present the best version of herself at this point and she would develop more confidence and communication skills if she was required to take the feedback, revise and redo here defense. Here advisor would continue to support her along the way.

The third student shared about how she loved to travel and highlighted her growth in the 2 skills that she wanted to highlight. She shared examples from school and how she applied these skills to her day to day life as well as ambitions for the future. It was articulate, personal, and well organized and she met or exceeded all the expectations and she passed!

It was so fun to be a small part of their journey and to see the administration and educators hold kids to this high standard while providing love, support, and guidance to get them there.

Why teaching, learning, and measuring what matters, matters

This year is ending very differently than we all expected and as we look toward next year we will be required to reconfigure our schedules, structures, and teaching practices and prioritize the most essential skills. My fear is that we will continue to narrow the curriculum to basic skills without allowing for learners to engage in authentic tasks and empower learners to personalize these skills and apply them in ways that matter to them and if we don’t, we will lose so many more students than we already have in our traditional system. I have discussed this in my book, Learner-Centered Innovation and share that “When students are behind or lack skills, what they need is more context. They need to understand the purpose of what they are learning instead we reduce their education to drill and kill and never-ending worksheets, and then we wonder why they hate reading or think math is boring. Foundational skills are absolutely necessary, but they won’t master them without the motivation to practice and guidance to improve. 

I have gained so much as a learner and teacher from competency-based systems and authentic assessment of learning that I saw at SEEQS. My master’s degree culminated in a portfolio of work that I had done aligned to the standards of effective middle-level educators and as a professor in the same program, I worked with teachers for years to teach, guide, and assess these same competencies to develop and accelerate the practices of amazing educators. This practice has continued for me in my own blog as I continue to capture and share my learning and document my growth in my professional portfolio. If you are interested, Geroge Couros has an awesome course on how to design your own digital portfolio- it’s a great practice for both the educators and students!

Changin how we learn in education starts with what and how we assess and how we hold people accountable. Without standardized tests, this year and likely next year, this is the perfect opportunity to create a new and better model of how to teach, learn, and measure what matters. Instead of accountability to finishing a task, let’s focus on the evidence of learning and growth. In the midst of the chaos, we have an opportunity and obligation to rethink our assessment and accountability practices and use models like SEEQS where learners are developing the skills and capturing their learning in a portfolio to show evidence of their skills and growth over time. Instead of focusing on and testing the lowest level of what we want learners to accomplish, let’s prioritize the skills the matter the most (like the essential skills), set high expectations, and allow learners flexibility, choice, and support to achieve them in a way that is personal and meaningful to them.