In the Basic School, literacy is the first and most essential goal, and language is defined broadly to include words, numbers, and the arts. Students study the various fields of knowledge, which are organized, thematically, within a framework called the "Core Commonalities." The Basic School is accountable to parents, to students, and to the community at large.
In a recent survey of teachers in the Basic School Network, 98 percent said that developing literacy skills is a key priority in their school. And 96 percent integrate literature across the curriculum. Sugar Grove Elementary School in Tipp City, Ohio, which recently instituted the teaming of grades for the first time, started Reading Buddies -- several times a week older students in the schools team with younger students to read to each other. They also carry on regular pen pal correspondence between students and teachers at Public School 207 in New York City, another Network school. Etna Road established a partnership with Ohio State University and the Early Literacy Initiative to improve reading in the early years. All teachers in kindergarten, first, and second grade have been trained in the Initiative strategies.
The Centrality of Language. But in Basic Schools, mathematics and the arts are essential languages, too. Ninety-six percent of network teachers surveyed stated that literacy in their school includes not just proficiency in words, but in mathematics and the arts as well. Kristin Sonquist's classroom at the Downtown Open School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for example, uses origami to teach both art and geometry. Elsewhere, students attend plays, create their own dramas, and participate in movement exercises. The arts are threaded throughout the curriculum. For students at David Cox Road, this means historical events illustrated the study of the geometric beauty of the city's skyline, clapping to the rhythm of a Piedmont folk song, and enacting Scottish Highland Games.
The Core Commonalities. Many of the Basic Schools have developed new integrated thematic units based on the eight human commonalities described in the Basic School: The Life Cycle, The Use of Symbols, Membership in Groups, A Sense of Time and Space, Response to the Aesthetic, Connections to Nature, Producing and Consuming, and Living with Purpose. Jackson-Keller teachers have been creating curriculum units for the commonalities for the past three years. For Response to the Aesthetic, kindergartners may explore "I Am an Artist." "I Am a Writer" and "I Am a Reader" are tied to The Use of Symbols. Second graders study "Choices, Choices" for Living with Purpose. Third graders study "Stories of the Earth" in the commonality A Sense of Time and Space that weave the traditional academic subjects of history, geography, science, and, of course, math, writing, and the arts.
Etna Road is building integrated thematic units that spiral one grade level to the next. Danebo Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon, incorporated curriculum changes to include all eight commonalities and redesigned its curriculum to integrate academic subjects and develop skills within the framework.
Measuring Results. Efforts at aligning assessment and instruction into a coherent curriculum are central to the Basic School's mission. Basic Schools perform on standardized tests as required, but they also demonstrate achievement through authentic assessment measures-portfolios, including multimedia electronic portfolios, performance tasks, surveys of parents and teachers, and self-assessments. Some schools are using computerized assessments that match specific instructional software. In a recent survey, 81 percent of the Network teachers say they use anecdotal records, 85 percent use checklists of skill attainments, 93 percent utilize performance tasks, 71 percent are now using portfolios, 79 percent employ student-devised performances or products. Eighty-six percent state that the evaluation of student performance is directly linked to classroom lessons and activities.
When Irving B. Weber Elementary School, for example, recently studied the rain forest as part of an integrated unit on "Connections to Nature," students completed essays and multiple-choice questions, and constructed, as a class, a twenty-by-nine-foot rain forest mural in three dimensions. Student guides explained the contents of the rain forest to visitors as part of their assessment.
Regular assessment and reporting to parents is important in Basic Schools, too. At David Cox Road, students now attend parent-teacher conferences, and, together, parents, teachers, and students all examine how well they are meeting the David Cox Covenant, a pledge all partners have taken to promote a child's learning. Academic standards have been established in both language and the Core Commonalities, with benchmarks to monitor student achievement. Personal qualities of student development also are evaluated carefully by teachers. David Cox Road, like other Basic Schools, is accountable to students, to parents, and to the larger community.