Now we know.

Two of the critical questions for any school is whether the school is, in fact, teaching what it says it is teaching and whether the students are, in fact, learning what we say they are. In many private schools, the data on this subject is shrouded in secrecy, based solely upon anecdotal information, or simply doesn't exist. Instead, the school rests solely upon its reputation, which may reflect outdated outcomes or merely a good public relations and advertising campaign.

Parents should not accept this. They should ask every principal of every school their kids attend or are thinking that they attend, "show me evidence that you are successful teaching what you say you teach; and, show me what systems you have in place for assessing the efficacy of your program in meeting your stated educational goals."

This is really important. If a school cannot, with objective evidence, demonstrate that its educational outcomes meet its stated mission, then the school has a serious problem. Not only is the school not doing what it says it is doing, but it probably means that there is something wrong with the educational product. Ultimately, whatever reputational advantage the school has will gradually fade away as outcomes no longer comport with the perceptions of the school's stakeholders.

This is also hard and scary stuff. It is hard because it is difficult to objectify educational outcomes, since standardized tests do not always reflect whether a person is learning to their potential. It is also scary, because standardized tests sometimes squarely contradict previously held perceptions of a good educational system and then force uncomfortable changes, which often require difficult decisions. The Los Angeles Times revealed this in its "value added" study, which, essentially, sought to show how teachers in LAUSD improved the test scores of their students. In some cases, the students of supposedly "excellent" teachers did not show significant improvement on objective testing.

This is also true in the private school world. Having been involved in Kadima for ten years, I know that schools get reputations. In some cases, the reputation is that a school is "really academic." Other schools get a "developmental" reputation. Some schools are known for "producing really sharp graduates." Others for "nice people." What parents really want to know is that their kids are learning what they should be learning--generally defined by California state standards.

Most private schools give their students ERB tests. These are standardized tests that are given to independent schools throughout the nation. They are one form of analysis. Yet most schools won't tell you what their ERB scores. And even if they do, they almost always come with some kind of caveat, such as "small sample" or "the test does not reflect the realities of our curriculum" or "that other school teaches to the test or their kids aren't creative like ours." There are schools, of course, that do tell you their ERB results: they usually have really high scores. But again, ERBs are only one form of analysis.

The old Kadima often fell into this very trap. We've heard through the years that when our kids graduate, they are the best, and we do, in fact, have many examples of our graduates doing great things. But that kind of reasoning requires our parents to take a leap of faith that after ten years their kids will be properly educated.

No more. At the last Board meeting, our General Studies Principal, Kristi Combs, gave a presentation to the Board explaining precisely how Kadima ensures that we are (1) teaching what we say we teach and(2) that our kids are actually learning what we say they are learning. It was a tour de force. We are going to provide parents with the specific information Kristi gave us, but it suffices to say that we now have systems in place that will objectively demonstrate the efficacy and success of Kadima's educational program. I challenge any school to show it has what Kadima has.

There are several aspects to the assessment program.

1. Fluency in basic skills. We test our kids at the beginning of the year to make sure that they have the basic skills to allow them to participate in higher learning. If there is a problem, we address it both with the student and the teacher. If there is a pattern of something being wrong in this area, our staff will not only now know it early, but be able to remedy it and ensure that it does not continue.

2. Three times a year we will have an assessment of curriculum benchmarks. Kristi pointed out that at the beginning of each year, our teachers must devise a map showing what, when and how they are going to meet the school's curriculum goals for the year. We then assess the kids--using a specially and independently designed assessment instrument that is specifically tailored to our curriculum goals (which in turn are generally based upon California standards)--and know, fairly early on in the school year, whether the kids are learning what they are supposed to be learning. Again, this helps the administration know if there is a problem and so they can fix it.

3. And we still do our ERBs. And we will look to make sure that our kids can perform their best on standardized tests, since, whether we like or not, standardized tests are a reality of educational life.

At the end of a full year of this project, we will know what our kids have learned, where we are strong, and where there still remain opportunities to improve the program. Most importantly, because the project is in place now, if there are areas we need to fix now, we can do it now and do not have to wait until next year.

I doubt that any other school has what we have. Not only do we know what we are doing, we are assessing early enough in the school year to make necessary course corrections to respond to any opportunities for improvement.

This is really big stuff. No longer will have to rely upon anecdotal information about the success of our program.

Now we can prove it.