Measuring Outcomes

We don’t give grades in the junior high.

We believe that grades detract from the joy of learning and distract from the true purpose of learning, which is pretty much never to pass an exam. They create competition where we want to foster camaraderie. They create a situation where teachers are the authorities with all the answers, and it doesn’t matter whether they earn a student’s respect and attention. 

When students are unencumbered by percentages and letter grades, they’re more willing to take risks and try things they’ve never tried before. Learning becomes not a destination but a shared journey that students and instructors take together. Students gain confidence because they’re able to work at their own pace at their own level, moving forward when they are ready and taking more time when they need it.

This doesn’t mean we don’t measure student success. No grades does not mean low expectations — quite the contrary! We strive to draw the very best work from our students, celebrate their successes in and out of the classroom, and guide them toward mastery in every subject we explore together. The goal is to put the emphasis back on learning instead of on testing and to remind students that education is a journey that’s worth taking even without a specific destination in mind.