How to tell if your child is learning

Growth.

It’s one of the questions I get most often from the parents of prospective students: “If there are no grades, how will I know that my child is learning?”

Underlying this question is the assumption that grades measure learning. They do not. A test score, at best, measures mastery — but in reality, grades most often measure conformity and obedience. Did you turn in this work, on time? Did you study these specific things, as you were instructed to, for the test? If yes, good grades; if not, poor grades, regardless of whether you already knew the material.

To measure learning, you actually need to measure growth. To do this, you would need to compare two work samples which illustrate a student’s ability or knowledge, one from prior to the supposed learning, and one from after.

Consider this series of before-and-after drawings from Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain course. Can we deny that a massive transformation has taken place within a short time? The learning is undeniable. Why shouldn’t traditional school be able to deliver such obvious leaps forward? If a student is learning a skill, their growth should be evident or even obvious.

When it comes to gaining knowledge (as opposed to skill), a student should be able to talk about what she is learning. The other night at a restaurant, I couldn’t help overhearing two new graduate students chatting animatedly with their older companions (the parents of one of the young women) about everything from sustainable agriculture to urban planning to international development. No one could possibly wonder whether they learned anything from their studies — they were broadcasting it.

Now, growth is not always visible to the untrained eye. A golf pro can see and correct nuances in a person’s swing that the they, themselves, did not notice. To someone like me, the initial swing and the corrected swing look exactly the same unless someone explicitly tells me the differences to notice. To that end, it helps if your child’s teacher can tell you what to look for and point out examples of growth in the realms of knowledge and skill in the subject areas under study.

When growth is especially subtle, we can look for its signs in the actual learning process. Did the student get right down to work on a challenging subject instead of suddenly needing a bathroom break? Did he raise his hand to offer an answer in class, even though his answer needed a little coaching? Did she do half of the reading this time instead of none of it? These behaviors are all clues that the students have less resistance and more engagement than they did before, and these are steps along the path to learning.

The question, “How will I know if my child is learning?” is a bit sad. The first five or six years of a chid’s life are full of obvious, joyous learning, from walking to talking to counting to reading to making art. Why should it then become so mysterious and unrecognizable that we need grades to prove it’s happening?

The natural inclination of humans is to learn and grow. The ideal school setting supports and develops your child’s capacity for learning. You will see and experience the results over time, best measured by your child’s enthusiasm and curiosity.

If that’s not happening, something is wrong. Call me.