How involved do parents need to be?

Grading as practiced in traditional schools is broken. The purpose of assessment should be to track development of essential skills, but in many schools it becomes a) the only way to motivate kids to complete work and b) more about checking boxes than measuring knowledge.

Our assessment looks more like feedback does in the real world, combined with a transcript system using mastery-based grading. Before earning badges or credits, learners get ample feedback and revise their work until it’s truly their best, rather than turning it in once and forgetting about it.

Lower & Middle School learners (in grades 4-8) earn badges for mastering skills. At the beginning of each year, parents are provided with a theme map that outlines the subjects, skills, and topics that will be covered. At the start of each theme, families are invited to a curriculum preview to learn about the upcoming cycle.

Each project is broken into multiple badges based on the academic standards covered (for example, they might earn a Physics: Forces & Motion badge, Design Thinking badge, and Model Engineering badge for a toy design project). Learners can earn all, none, or some of the badges based on the quality of their efforts and the assessment of their coach. They also have the opportunity to earn badges with distinction (meaning they went above and beyond in their mastery).

During each theme, you’ll have full access to your learner’s work, tasks, and feedback. Theme resources are also shared with parents on Mighty Networks. You’ll receive regular updates from their Mentor Coach with their progress toward earning badges in each skill or concept we are focusing on in the theme, including written feedback on what they need to improve to earn any badges they aren’t on track to earn. At the end of the theme, you’ll receive an assessment from your child’s coach that includes which badges they’ve earned and a narrative explaining their strong and weak points during the cycle. This information will go on their transcript.

High School learners (in grades 9-12) receive traditional grades and earn traditional credits because these are more understandable in the college admissions process. (Prisma’s university acceptance rate is currently 100%, with all Prisma seniors being accepted into at least one of their top 3 choices!) However, our process is more akin to a review process in a job than traditional high school grading.

Coaches provide ongoing feedback to support revision and iteration. Learners collect evidence from their explorations and projects proving their work meets the standard required to earn each credit, and at the end of the theme, they submit a competency-aligned grade justification form, suggesting which grade their work deserves, along with supporting evidence from their project and other assignments. Academic coaches review and verify the evidence submitted and give a grade that confirms the learner’s mastery level. Sometimes, they’ll suggest revisions learners can make to earn the grade they proposed.