Taking Stock in the Upper Grades

By Tom Sellevaag, Upper Grades Head

I’ve written before in this space about spring as an exciting and rewarding time in the life of our School—when we see our efforts come to fruition, celebrate successes of the past year, and get to make plans for next year. And like clockwork, that time has arrived once again. This year, though, it is a particularly satisfying time, perhaps because students’ and teachers’ enthusiasm and engagement in rich projects and deep learning stands in such stark relief against the turmoil in our society. Here are just a few snapshots of what has been happening in recent weeks: 

• 5th Grade — students are beginning the Cold Cup Challenge, which will require them to apply key science practices and their understanding of energy transfer as they work in teams to design, create, and test a cup that will be most effective at keeping liquid cold.
   
• 6th Grade Model UN — students analyzed technical documents and wrote position papers about global education issues, then in a daylong conference, got into the weeds of meeting protocols and came to consensus around a set of policies to address the challenges identified by the various stakeholder countries.
• 7th Grade — students are entering the final stages of their Year-End Project, an intensive, yearlong research project on a topic of their choice, as they interview experts and begin preparing their presentations that will be shared with the community in June.
   
• 8th Grade “Cold War Museum”— students are collaborating to design a series of multi-artifact research-based exhibits highlighting different aspects of the Cold War, anchored by their in-class discussions and a recent field experience with curators and exhibit designers at the National Museum of American History.

In addition to these projects, a trip through Farren’s in recent weeks would have turned up students learning about polynomials, plate tectonics, transcendentalism as a literary movement, structured argument protocols, a deep dive into diseases of the digestive system, rehearsals for the upcoming musical production of Into the Woods, Jr., and so much more.

These examples are what we’re thinking of when we talk about progressive rigor: work that challenges students to think deeply about important ideas and to use subject-specific skills and interdisciplinary learner practices to create meaningful products. If history is any guide, many students will do their best work of the year on these projects, as they apply skills they’ve been practicing and knowledge they’ve gained over the past 8 months. Moments like these, which happen throughout the year but seem to come in bunches in the spring, are the type that remind teachers of why they love teaching.

Of course, for many adolescents, meaningful work is all well and good, but it’s the support and community they feel at school that matter most. Over the past three years, we’ve expanded our Advisory program to foster connectedness and provide space for exploration of topics related to social-emotional learning and wellness. We recently surveyed students about their experience with Advisory; the following responses capture the prevailing sentiment about the culture of Advisory, the connections among students, and the staff-student relationship.

Advisory is my favorite class. We get to do what I like to do most: socialize with other people and strengthen our bonds. There is nothing more important to me than my friends, and having time put aside to learn more about our peers is something that will stick with me forever.

I think that my advisor has offered me support by looking out for me throughout my classes and in tough situations socially. I think that... our advisor looks out for our needs together and then meets with us individually to ensure that everyone is doing well. 

I have gotten to know the people in my advisory very well due to all the shareouts we do about our weekends and our lives outside of school. Communication is important and our advisory does it well. 

In advisory I am comfortable around people that I would not hang out with outside of advisory. At the beginning of the year I was not close with most of the people in my advisory..and now I am completely comfortable. 

These two defining features—progressive rigor and intentional community-building—have helped spur the growth of the Upper Grades program, particularly in what might be called the post-Covid era, the four years since we returned to full-time in-person classes. Since the 2021-2022 school year, enrollment in the Upper Grades has grown by about 20%, and the Upper Grades now account for about 45% of the total student body at the School. Furthermore, 5th and 6th Grades have become important entry years, as prospective families find in our PreK-8 model echoes of the friendly, supportive community vibe that exists in neighborhood elementary schools—a vibe that is also one of the things our longtime families value most.  We pour considerable energy into ensuring that the Upper Grades community is not only a place where people feel welcome, but a place where rigorous learning is the expectation, and where students can be confident that they will be prepared for 9th Grade, which remains the most important year for the formation of high school community and, thus, remains the most logical time for most students to transition into a new school environment.

Our outplacement data suggest that our approach is working. We’re graduating students whose critical thinking and collaboration skills, work ethic, and self-awareness make them attractive candidates in high school. Since the 2021-2022 school year:

• 94 graduates have matriculated to 27 high schools of all types—independent and public; religious and secular; co-ed and single-sex; large and small; urban and suburban; day and boarding; progressive, traditional, and everything in between.
• 70% of graduates have been accepted at multiple schools.
• More than half of those students, or 40% of all graduates, have received 3 or more Accepts.  

While the point of the high school search is to find a “good-fit” school, not to amass multiple Accepts as a status symbol, we’re nevertheless proud of our students’ strong results in the outplacement process. We hope our students take it as an affirmation of their hard work and that their families take it as an affirmation of your years of support, just as we take it as an affirmation of the program we have created.  

Of course, success is not synonymous with perfection. As a parent and an educator, I’m well aware of that truth! But then again, neither are self-reflection and continuous improvement incompatible with a celebration of progress. It seems to me that, in these uncertain and stressful times, it’s worth pausing every so often to remember that all of us—our students, our staff, and you, the most important adults in our students’ lives—have plenty of reasons to be proud of our collective work. I hope that realization gives us all a little boost to finish the year strong and to stay true to the values and habits that have contributed to our success.