Narrative Assessment
As girls seek to define themselves in adolescence, the academic feedback they receive is crucial to encouraging their continued effort and supporting their positive self-image. Rather than traditional letter grades, which may be interpreted as defining what a student is capable of or putting a ceiling on their learning, our teachers provide in-depth, narrative assessment.
GMS’s narrative assessment fosters a love of learning, reduces performance pressure, and promotes greater differentiation in the classroom. This frequent and detailed feedback celebrates victories, highlights opportunities for growth, and encourages goal-setting and self-reflection.
Self-Reflection
We believe that assessments should give students a rich and constructive sense of their current skill levels and provide concrete guidelines to take their learning to the next level. GMS teachers use detailed narratives to identify the skills each student has mastered, offer strategies for growth, and help each student move toward mastery.
Central to assessment at GMS is the opportunity for student self-reflection. Before receiving their final narrative for any class, students are asked to reflect on their growth, mastery of skills and content, and ways they want to improve. Students shift from worrying about what it takes to get good grades to viewing themselves as ready and able to take ownership of their learning in a profound way.
When no one receives a letter grade, students are more likely to raise their hand (and voice) in class, to seek help from a teacher, and stretch themselves academically.
The sky’s the limit at GMS.