Key takeaways
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Many school districts in the United States are recentering student achievement in their strategic planning. Academic success is not the only goal for students, but it is crucial for their college and career readiness.
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The most commonly used tools for measuring student achievement are classroom tests, course averages, standardized assessments, and culminating awards such as certifications or diplomas. Quantitative tools keep all stakeholders aware of the end goal and measured against the same standards.
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School leaders and teachers must strike a delicate balance between focusing on student achievement and supporting students to avoid burnout. Recentering student achievement should not mean removing personal skills, such as self-management and interpersonal communication, that students will need in their future endeavors.
What Is Student Achievement?
Student achievement can be defined as an individual’s success in meeting goals in education. These goals are measurable, continuous, and typically based on predetermined standards. In elementary and secondary schools, success will include both knowledge and skills. In order to demonstrate mastery of standards, students will be expected to achieve proficiency and demonstrate their depth of understanding. Student achievement can be measured in many ways, but regardless of the specific assessment, students must retain, apply, respond critically, and communicate their learning.
In a world with access to computers in our hands and ever-developing AI tools, it can be tempting to consider knowledge to be less important. For example, why memorize the periodic table if you can access it immediately? Research shows that true, lasting achievement requires a foundation of knowledge on which to build skills and schemas. The “cognitive offloading” of knowledge leads directly to a less effective way of developing skills and procedural knowledge.
What Are Examples of Student Achievement Indicators?
Typical indicators of student achievement provide numerical evidence of learning. Educators should continue to use other forms of assessment during the teaching and learning process, such as observation and formative assessment.
- Classroom tests – culminating tests that demonstrate student understanding of a singular unit of content. These are often considered summative and count heavily toward course average.
- Course average – semester or yearlong results that illustrate a student’s mastery of an individual level within a content area. Ideally, the depth of knowledge will match the requirements of future testing.
- Standardized testing – assessments that measure a student’s understanding of multiple skills or content areas against a national norm of other students their age. These assessments are normally given once a year.
- Diplomas and certifications – successful completion of a course of study or training program. Receiving a diploma or certificate signifies readiness for college, career, or the military.
Why Is Student Achievement Important?
Student achievement matters because young adults need to enter their next phase of life with the knowledge and skills to succeed in their chosen fields. Schools that set high standards while providing appropriate support send a clear message that students are capable of anything.
When students have clear standards, they can begin to develop lifelong skills, including goal setting, resilience, and personal growth. Beyond benefiting the individual student, achievement also reflects the teachers and local community.
School leaders and educators need to share small and large achievement goals with students. It is also critical that each school has clear practices and procedures for learners at all levels. The push for achievement should exist regardless of a student’s current level of understanding.
How Can the School or Classroom Encourage Student Achievement?
Whether at the schoolwide or individual classroom level, all teachers and students must be clear about the standards they are expected to meet. It can be tempting to stay at a surface-level understanding, but that will lead to differences between classroom performance and standardized test results.
Schools should consider ways to celebrate success. This could take the form of individual student recognition, but it should also include celebrations based on outcomes at the teacher, grade-level, and whole-school levels. Consider the power of helping students believe they are in classes and a school where student achievement is possible every day.
Even with proficient outcomes, achievement levels will vary. Students should be exposed to the knowledge and skills that will support them in college or their career. Many schools have created a career readiness program to foster 21st-century skills on the way to certifications and diplomas.
5 Effective Strategies to Improve Student Achievement
The most important indicator for student achievement is an effective teacher. Along with the skills and practices necessary to teach a particular content, an effective teacher sets an environment where achievement is the norm. Students who feel part of a successful class and school will develop the confidence needed for individual achievement.
- Focus on executive functioning within the classroom. Flexible thinking, self-regulation, time management, and other related skills are necessary for success in school and in life.
- Create lessons with high student engagement and opportunities to respond. Many teachers are subject matter experts, and their direct instruction is crucial to student understanding. However, even in the most difficult classes, it is necessary for students to be participating in the learning and moving concepts from working memory to long-term memory.
- Use of formative assessments before summative or culminating tests. Formative assessments let teachers and students know where they are within the learning process. Modifications can be made by the teacher and student to ensure a score on the final assessment is a true reflection of learning.
- Continuous feedback should be paired with formative assessment. Students with small benchmarks on the way to a final understanding can grow and change during the process.
