Overview

Ephrata Area Schools is located in southeastern Pennsylvania, 70 miles west of Philadelphia. Ephrata Area School District’s mission is to provide all students a secure learning environment and exemplary academic programs that inspire all students to reach their full potential. The Life Ready Graduate program was created to prepare students to have a positive impact on an ever-changing world.  The program aims to enhance students’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions beyond traditional content mastery and standardized assessments, including civics, financial literacy, technological proficiency, communication, collaboration, integrity, and much more.

Here is a story from an article about Ephrata Area School’s implementation of their Life Ready Graduate Program:

“One of the most innovative and powerful ways Ephrata has supported implementation is by prioritizing student voice and choice. For example, when the district has a space that needs to be refreshed or reimagined, students have a say in how it will look. Teams of students work together to brainstorm ideas, then work with local architectural firms and the school board to see their ideas come to life.”

You can learn more about Ephrata Area Schools and their Life Ready Graduate program here.

Technology Tools Used for Assessment and Reporting

Ephrata Area Schools uses Powerschool to document assessment and create reports.

Outcomes: What is assessed?

Ephrata Area Elementary Schools have three different types of outcomes:

• Discipline specific learning targets

• Interdisciplinary or whole-learner competencies as part of the Life Ready Graduate (a Portrait of a Learner)

• Social Skills and Work Habits

They have discipline-specific learning targets that are explicitly tied to state standards in Math, Reading, Writing, Art, Computer Science, Music, Physical Education/Health, Science and Social Studies.

They also have their Life Ready Graduate framework, a Learner Portrait, that includes knowledge, skills and dispositions.

They have begun to develop  a progression that demonstrates proficiency at different grade bands for the knowledge and disposition competencies. For the skills competencies, they have developed a rubric that defines what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like to apply that skill.

Teaching, learning, feedback, assessment and reporting happens at the competency level but is tailored to the performance descriptor based on the student’s grade band.

Below are examples of 3 competencies further defined.

All of these Life Ready Graduate skills and discipline specific competencies come together to form interdisciplinary learning experiences. For example, during the 4th grade Pennsylvania History Project, students get feedback in multiple areas including:

• Social Studies learning targets

• Speaking and Listening learning targets

• Skills: Communication, Critical Thinking and Creativity

• Dispositions: Responsibility, Continual learning and growth mindset, resilience and grit

Finally, they have a list of social skills and work habits that learners receive feedback on including:

• Completes required work in a timely manner

• Works independently

• Resolves conflicts peacefully

• Uses technology as a learning tool as appropriate

• Follows rules and procedures

• Participates in class

• Listens to and follows directions

• Organizes self and materials

• Works cooperatively with others

• Strives for quality work

• Respects school and classroom rules

Levels of Proficiency: How is Progress Marked?

There are 4 different proficiency scales used by Ephrata Area Elementary schools to report progress on different outcomes.

For Discipline specific learning targets, a 3-level scale is used. The following image is from the Progress Report.

For Life Ready Graduate Competencies, a 4-level scale is used.

On discipline specific learning targets, students are expected to reach a 3 or Applying, by the end of the year. The goal is that students reach a level 3 by the end of elementary school, middle school and high school graduation on the Life Ready Graduate skills.

The Social Skills and Work Habits are assessed using a 3-level scale:

• Outstanding (O)

• Satisfactory (S)

• Needs Improvement (N)

Finally, in addition to reporting on specific discipline learning targets, subject scores for reading, science and social studies are reported. These subjects are reported on a 4-level scale:

• 1-Needs Improvement Towards Expectations

• 2-Making Progress Towards Expectations

• 3-Meets Expectations

• 4-Exceeds Expectations

Reporting: How is Progress Documented?

The Ephrata Area Elementary Schools Progress Report documents student progress towards:

• discipline specific learning targets for math, writing, art, computer science, music, and physical education/health

• Subject area progress in reading, science and social studies

• Specific social skills and work habits

• Life Ready Graduate competencies in knowledge, skills and dispositions

How Outcomes are Assessed and How Final Scores on the Report Are Calculated

Educators assess individual learning targets in Powerschool and the highest score earned from that year on each learning target is averaged to provide a final score on the Progress Report in all areas.

Sharing with Families

Families receive Progress Reports at the end of every marking period which includes a letter like this one explaining how to interpret the report. They also have access to a dashboard of feedback live in Powerschool.

Reporting: How is Progress Documented?

For the elementary schools there is no translation to a traditional grade, GPA or transcript.

Learn more about Learner-Centered Collaborative's approach to partnerships here