In a famous scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ben Stein takes attendance. The boredom and stagnant feel of the classroom are palpable. He calls out each student's name, finally repeating, "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?"

If you're in an even halfway decent traditional classroom, it should not feel like that at all. But the scene is funny for a reason—it hits upon something we've all felt. A lot of young people do feel zoned out, bored, and lost in a traditional classroom. An adult would feel the same in a particularly mind-numbing office job or an incredibly boring professional development seminar. Remember the movie Office Space?

Teachers in a traditional classroom have autonomy, and they work their best to make their classroom environment as engaging as possible. But the learning design, the goals of the learning design (assessment), and the larger goal that has inspired both, are going to have a big effect on the classroom environment.

At Aspire Savannah, our studios are different from a traditional classroom. They are less bureaucratic and more personalized. There are fewer learners, more freedom of choice, and more customization of content. This alone makes our atmosphere an alternative to traditional school.

But the main driver of our alternative atmosphere, as mentioned, is all about larger goals and inspiration. When you are working on and measuring competencies like Build Community, Navigate Conflict, Learn Interdependently, and Sustain Wellness—not just knowledge acquisition—your classroom environment is going to feel very different from a classroom that focuses all of its measurement (assessment) on knowledge acquisition. A lot different.

This is not to say that knowledge acquisition isn't important, but it is bare-minimum, low-hanging fruit. If you ask the parents of a 6-year-old starting school what abilities they hope their child will have at 18, they're going to say things that look like the Future9 competency framework we use.

Maybe they'll say these things because they truly are what is most important. Or maybe they'll say them because deep down they know traditional school isn't measuring these things, making them easy to neglect over those 12 years. 

What you measure tells a lot about what is meaningful to you. What is meaningful to you dictates a lot about your classroom atmosphere.

Every teacher in a traditional classroom brings their own unique style to teaching. From your school days, you likely remember that each teacher had a different approach. While every teacher operates autonomously, the school's overall learning style can create opportunities or present obstacles, depending on the expectations set by that style. More importantly, it's the method of assessment that truly shapes the learning environment.

A traditional classroom follows an industrial model. The teacher is seen as the primary source of knowledge. Students receive information through lectures, demonstrations, and structured lessons, with a strong emphasis on memorization, following a set curriculum, and preparing for standardized tests. The teacher controls the pace of learning, and students are expected to absorb and recall the information presented to them.

In contrast, an inquiry-based classroom promotes a student-centered approach, fostering a teaching style that is more facilitative and exploratory. The teacher, acting as a guide, encourages students to ask questions, explore topics of interest, and engage in hands-on, collaborative activities. Here, the focus shifts to critical thinking, problem-solving, and deep understanding. The curriculum is flexible, enabling learners to follow their curiosity and make connections across different subjects.

The approach to assessment is what fundamentally differentiates these teaching styles. In a traditional classroom, assessment typically involves quizzes, tests, and exams, focusing on recalling facts and performing procedural tasks. (For a deeper look at the difference between simply recalling facts and truly understanding concepts, see our post on math education.)

To succeed in this style of assessment—and we all strive for success—teachers have limited flexibility to deviate from the industrial classroom model.

In an inquiry-based classroom, however, assessment takes on a different form. Teachers assess students through formative assessments, observations, and reflections, allowing for a focus on the learning process rather than just the end result.

While assessment may be seen as the final step in the learning process, it influences everything that comes before it, including teaching style.

Time for an assessment!

Does that idea make you shudder? Does it sound like judgment? Sizing you up? Putting you in a box? Something to signal the end of learning? A chance to prove you're better than your peers? A chance to worry you aren't as good as your peers? Possibly even a way to punish or get even?

Or does it sound like helpful feedback? An opportunity for growth? A way to explore deeper and learn more? An exercise to know yourself better and work toward your dreams? Possibly even a way to help others?

Assessment is not the first thing you think of in a learning design because there is a good chance you've never thought it could be different.

But the importance of assessment in learning design cannot be overstated. Assessment reveals what is actually happening in a classroom and highlights the core values of an organization or group. It is a crucial indicator of what is truly important in any learning environment because everything that happens in that environment is downstream of how assessment is handled.

Let's start with a story. I was at a Montessori training held in a well-established and well-regarded Montessori school in Chicago. The school's program went from Primary to Upper Elementary (preschool to 6th grade). When the Q&A portion started, everyone wanted to know, since the school only went up to 6th grade, how the students did after they left? How did "regular" school work for them after being in a Montessori program their whole lives?

The students performed well and had no trouble adjusting to traditional school. 

However, the Montessori teachers seemed to feel a tinge of sadness for what they perceived as a loss. They shared a story about a bright student who was excelling at her new middle school, earning all A's. When she returned to her Montessori school to participate in a panel discussion and answer parents' questions about transitioning to a traditional school, she explained that the biggest adjustment was stopping work before doing her best. At her new school, she would stop once she achieved an A, whereas at her previous Montessori school, where there were no grades, she would work until she reached her highest potential.

This young woman's new school may have posters up on the walls that exclaim, "Be your best self!" or "Your potential is limitless!" But their assessment system tells otherwise.

Did you ever pick up a book in middle school to study a subject further and move yourself to mastery if you received a B or C on the final summative assessment, aka test? No, you didn't. You were trained to think of yourself as a B or C student in that area, move on, and most likely forget the items you did cram for. Your school may have posters or a school campaign championing a growth mindset, but their assessment system tells otherwise.

We could banter examples of this all day. No matter what forward-thinking goal a school has, a backward-thinking assessment system is going to hobble it. What Is the History of Grading? (turnitin.com)

The assessment system most of us know from school using grades is so ingrained that we are very nervous about letting go of those report cards with letters totaling up to a GPA. However, grade inflation is pushing those GPAs into the realm of meaninglessness. (National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities and When GPA No Longer Matters (forbes.com))

Leaning on formative assessments to move learners toward unlimited growth and their personal best is not possible unless your assessment system supports it from beginning to end. With grade inflation making GPAs a suspicious form of measurement, why cling to an assessment system that forces the idea of limited growth to permeate your classroom?

At Aspire Savannah, we track our study habits and set goals for mastery in content areas where there are clear milestones. Mastering content sets learners up to be confident and ready for more advanced work, avoids holes in learning, and develops a growth mindset. In areas where milestones can be more subjective, we employ rubrics and critiques in order to work toward proof of achieving mastery in various competencies. What is gained through the ethos of this system of assessment is as valuable as the content itself.

Our assessment system, which has been thoughtfully created to encourage growth and learning, is an alternative to an assessment system that was never devised to benefit student learning in the first place. (What Is the History of Grading? (turnitin.com))

If you'd like to learn more about how assessment can look different, here are resources:

Rethinking Grading: Empowering Schools to Redefine Learning Assessment (youtube.com)
The Ocean School - Future of Education - 3rd Cut (youtube.com)
Reinventing the Traditional HS Diploma: Mastery Transcript Consortium ® - Aurora Institute (aurora-institute.org)
Q&A with Mastery Transcript Consortium - Challenge Success

These are tools we use in the area of assessment:

Mastery Portfolio
Mastery Transcript Consortium® (MTC)

In the last post, we looked at inquiry-based education as an alternative to industrial education. Let's briefly look at some of each approach's attributes.

Style and Methods

During the period of industrialization in our country, industrial education was introduced to prepare workers for the emerging factories. As we transitioned from an agricultural society to an industrial one, our education system also had to adapt to meet the needs of this new era. Like the standardized systems in factories, education focused on standardized learning to cater to mass consumption.

The Prussian model had a significant impact on the development of public education in the United States. In 1843, Horace Mann, often referred to as the father of American public education, visited schools in Prussia. The standardized curriculum, hierarchical structure, and emphasis on discipline in the Prussian model were well-suited to the needs of a factory model. In these models, students played a more passive role in their education, receiving information from their teachers with limited input of their own. Personal engagement was also limited as the class needed to be standardized for the model to work.

Inquiry-based education is an alternative to the most common education method in the United States. However, it is not a new form of education and can be traced back to the 5th century BCE and the Socratic Method. In this method, questions are used to foster deeper thinking on a topic. Assumptions are challenged, and critical thinking and questioning are encouraged.

As inquiry-based education moved into the realm of childhood education starting in the late 19th century, an emphasis on autonomy, reflection, personalization, hands-on learning, and projects developed. The concept of active engagement is essential. Learners do not passively receive information. Instead, they question, work with, and participate in the discovery of information. Montessori, Project-Based Learning, Reggio Emilia, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) are all models that utilize inquiry-based learning.

Teaching Style

In industrial education, teachers have direct control over every aspect of the classroom. Managing behavior and enforcing rules is crucial for the system to function. This control allows teachers to guide students through a standardized curriculum with the goal of conforming to set standards. The teacher's responsibility is to deliver content efficiently and effectively so that the group meets standardized benchmarks.

In inquiry-based education, adults are guides, asking questions and encouraging critical thinking and discovery. They facilitate hands-on activities and discussions and must get to know each learner to effectively support them on their individual learning journey. This involves understanding what personalized assistance each learner might need to meet their specific goals.

(Link to post on teaching style.)

Classroom Environment

Industrial education is known for its structured factory-like setting with desks in rows. It is a teacher-centered environment designed for the teacher to deliver information through lectures and direct instruction. The focus is on compliance and uniformity, with students listening to lectures, taking notes and quizzes, working on worksheets, and memorizing facts to prepare for tests. There is little room for creativity or critical thinking.

Inquiry-based education is known for dynamic spaces set up for group work, individual study, and hands-on projects. Collaboration and problem-solving are emphasized, as are open dialogue, debate, and creativity. Exploration and critical thinking, both individually and in groups, are used to deliver information.

(Link to post on Classroom Environment.)

Assessment

Exams and standardized tests are important assessment tools in industrial education. Student performance is evaluated based on scores from these summative assessments. Final grades are determined by these tests as well as other factors such as participation, homework, and classwork, as deemed relevant by the teacher or someone in a higher position. This final grade reflects the student's grasp of the subject.

Inquiry-based education uses regular formative assessments to give feedback and support, to create an environment of ongoing improvement. Feedback encourages reflection, enabling learners to employ metacognition to enhance their understanding of the learning process. Portfolios and projects are showcased to demonstrate growth and the learner's comprehension of a particular subject.

(Link to post on assessment.)

Conclusion

Today's schools are moving away from the traditional factory model of education associated with the Industrial Era. This shift is aimed at better serving the needs of our post-industrial society.

But finding an alternative at the scale of a district or large school is difficult due to inertia and the need for efficiency, especially when educating a large number of people. Factories are efficient. The risk of losing that efficiency makes it challenging to integrate other options. Additionally, behavior can be an issue. Children with behavior issues who require strict discipline to prevent them from disrupting the learning process for the whole class may be unable to thrive in an inquiry-based model, as they may lack the social skills needed for the dynamic environment and group projects.

As a small school, Aspire Savannah is free to operate on an inquiry-based model. What from the above do you think makes us the most foreign and "alternative" to you? I think assessment is the one that throws most people for a loop. The idea of a letter grade being assigned is ingrained in us all. We'll look at that in depth in the next post.