Whole Child Spotlight / A Whole Child Approach to Grading

Sean Slade

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Social-emotional learning School Culture

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How do you grade in a whole child approach to education? If it is a question of gauging a students' growth and learning, then one key is to use multiple forms of measurement, including rubrics, performance-based assessments, observations, and social-emotional learning and well-being progress-monitoring, as well as academic testing on relevant standards and benchmarks. As outlined in ASCD's public policy recommendation on multimetric accountability (www.ascd.org/public-policy/multimetric-accountability.aspx):

Multimetric accountability systems incorporate a variety of measures that more fully and accurately track student learning, engagement, and well-being. ASCD believes this next-generation approach to school accountability is essential to promoting a whole child approach to education, enhancing understanding of student progress, and ensuring that no single indicator of student achievement defines success.

But there is also the question of monitoring how your school itself is doing as a whole child learning environment. For this purpose, the ASCD School Improvement tool (www.ascd.org/sitool) provides a direct and solution-oriented needs assessment. In addition, the School Improvement Tool can be combined with the Whole Child Network Continuum of Benchmarks (www.ascd.org/wcncontinuum) to create a comprehensive system to gauge a school's progress in supporting whole child development.

The ASCD Whole Child Network now spans 52 countries and every state in the United States, with large numbers of districts and schools focusing on a whole child approach in Michigan, Texas, New York, Ohio, Washington, California, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, and North Carolina. Join the Whole Child Network for free at www.ascd.org/wholechildnetwork.

Visit www.ascd.org/whole-child for more information on ASCD's Whole Child Framework.

Key Whole Child Indicators Related to Grading

Our school collects and uses qualitative and quantitative data to support student academic and personal growth (Challenged, No. 3).
Our curriculum, instruction, and assessment demonstrate high expectations for each student (Challenged, No. 4).
Our school monitors and assesses extracurricular, cocurricular, and community-based experiences to ensure students' academic and personal growth (Challenged, No. 9).
Our staff works closely with students to help them monitor and direct their own progress (Engaged, No. 8).
Our school integrates health and well-being into the school's ongoing activities, professional development, curriculum, and assessment practices (Healthy, No. 7).
Our school sets realistic goals for student and staff health that are built on accurate data and sound science (Healthy, No 8).
Our teachers and staff develop and implement academic and behavioral interventions based on an understanding of child and adolescent development and learning theories (Safe, No. 10).
Our teachers use a range of diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment tasks to monitor student progress, provide timely feedback, and adjust teaching-learning activities to maximize student progress (Supported, No. 2).
Our school staff understands and makes curricular, instructional, and school improvement decision based on child and adolescent development and student performance information (Supported, No. 5).

Sean Slade has more than 25 years of experience in education in a career that has encompassed four continents and five countries. He is currently the director of Whole Child programs at ASCD. He is a regular guest columnist for both the Huffington Post and The Washington Post, commenting on areas of school reform that relate to education, health, well-being, resilience, and school climate.