Since 2021, we have seen our student achievement in standardised tests grow from significantly below to significantly above the global average. This is how our teachers and our school culture are making the difference.
Dear Community,
The September MAP Growth Results are now published, and we are once again amazed by the transformational growth we have seen in our Grades 1-8 students who take these standardised tests in September and again in May, each academic year.
Since September 2021, we have seen our students grow, on average, 38% points higher than their global peers in Mathematics, 18% more growth than their global peers in Reading, and 17% more growth than their global peers in Language Usage (see chart below). In just three short years, our standardised test scores have gone from significantly below to significantly above the global average. Furthermore, our growth in median achievement scores now significantly outpace private schools in the United States. These slides show how our performance by quintile has shifted over time from 2021 to 2024, for these “3 R’s” of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The NWEA MAP Growth Results are the most widely utilised standardised tests in the USA and are used around the world by millions of students. It is important to note that the results are a snapshot in time - and many different external variables could be at play for any given student on the day the test was taken.
The MAP Growth tests are one of many tools we use at WIS in order to take a student-centred approach to teaching and learning. MAP Growth test scores offer feedback that are used for the following purposes:
As a support for teachers to differentiate student learning in the classroom.
To inform the work of our Learning Enrichment Department and English as an Additional Language Department.
As an instructional readiness tool. The test provides a comprehensive list of skills so that parents, carers, teachers and the learner are able to know what the student is “prepared to learn next”.
As a tool for teachers to see and reflect upon the impact of their own teaching.
As an external indicator on the success of our school wide programme of learning.
As an external indicator of success, our MAP Growth results are among the best in the world.
When Stephen Graham, our educational consultant visiting the school from Australia, saw such results, he noted that the kind of growth seen here at WIS is certainly among the world’s most impressive - and if such an achievement were made in his home country then there would be significant public fanfare with visiting delegations from area schools regularly seeking to understand how such a transformation could take place.
WIS isn’t sitting on our laurels. We know that significant further growth is still attainable. We also know that there is no silver bullet which ensures that all students succeed. Our six WIS Principles of purpose, people, excellence, ownership, creativity, and sustainability help to inform our decision-making here at WIS, and our collaborative approach to teaching prioritising relationships has helped us increase the amount of collaboration and high impact teaching strategies happening on campus:
When we balance explicit teaching with student-led inquiry, when we make time for plenty of feedback, when students have clear goals and high expectations, and when there is a willingness to make mistakes, then we have a school culture where every learner at WIS will grow and flourish. Getting the balance right isn’t easy. This is perhaps why John Hattie’s most recent meta-analysis of educational research, screenshotted in the table below, has identified “teachers working together as evaluators of their impact” as the most important school-level effect size.
To work together as evaluators of our impact, we require time for teacher collaboration. There will be no school on Friday 8th of November. We will be closed for professional development, and we will use that day to launch our re-accreditation process, to begin rolling out our WIS Strategic Plan, and to review our school’s definition of high impact teaching and learning. The WIS Administrative Team will also be undertaking a Turipamwe Design Sprint to review our administration’s processes, so the office will also be closed on that day.
There is powerful learning happening here at WIS. We are seeing outstanding student growth, and there is a feeling that it will only keep getting better.
Sincerely,
Ethan
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