How are Best CBSE Schools Measuring What Matters?

posted on Jun 09, 2021

Although the best CBSE affiliated schools in Greater Noida West follow the central board’s curriculum and depend on standardised tests to evaluate students, they also maintain their own system of measuring what matters.

Although the best CBSE affiliated schools in Greater Noida West follow the central board’s curriculum and depend on standardised tests to evaluate students, they also maintain their own system of measuring what matters. Exam results serve as a good metric to measure knowledge retention, memory, focus and intellect. But when it comes to motivation, creativity, imagination, ethics and teamwork, standardised tests are no longer effective tools of evaluation. Psychologists and academic researchers around the world are agreeing that soft skills are now as important as intellectual skills and every student, irrespective of their intelligence quotient, can be taught the required abilities. Schools need a system to teach and measure soft skills – something that matters in education today.

Giving up bias towards talent

World-renowned researcher Angela Duckworth broke the myth about being talented in her 2016 best-selling book. Through a thoroughly researched text, Angela explains that most of the successful people in the world got there through grit, passion and perseverance but seldom through natural talent. Yet, we have created a society around us that celebrates being a natural. We give higher preference to students whom we consider talented even when another student possesses the same level of skills that he/she acquired through sheer hard work. Angela Duckworth reveals that schools first need to give up this bias towards talent to be able to measure what matters. We need to celebrate grit more and show students that learning any skill is ultimately possible.

Measuring what matters

Cognitive skills like intelligence, memory, critical thinking and problem-solving will matter in the top 5 schools in Greater Noida West. The institutions cannot maintain their minimum education benchmark without these. However, we keep them out of the scope of the current discussion as we already have tools to measure those abilities and currently, the metrics are working. Measuring soft skills like passion, grit, teamwork and ethics is a different story altogether and the best CBSE schools do have answers.

1. Measuring passion

During the middle school phase, students start understanding their interests more. They have a favourite subject. They pick a preferred extra-curricular activity. At this point, every task that they add to their plate is mere interests and to convert one into passion, students need to hang on to it long enough. Schools can measure this by tracking the amount of time students are giving to each activity on their own and offer a nudge to propel students to continue sharpening the skill that has the potential to become a passion. Personalised attention is the key here. It can measure passion.

2. Measuring grit and hard work

The best way to measure grit and hard work is to track a student’s response to mistakes and failures. If the student gives up easily after one mistake, he/she is definitely lacking the skill to work hard behind a subject. The best CBSE schools in Noida Extension maintain a mistake-friendly education ambiance. These institutions invite making mistakes as part of the development journey and show students that failing is simply required for learning. The skill of grit can be built by removing the fear of failure. And it can be measured by evaluating the student’s progression in the weak areas.

3. Measuring creativity and imagination

Creativity and imagination are not restricted to the field of arts. Students today need to use these skills in their cognitive development as well. Schools can measure creativity and imagination easily by asking students to infuse originality into every assignment. The institution can ban plagiarised essays, copying from textbooks or taking direct help from peers. Encouraging students to use their own understanding and imagination to complete assignments can develop these skills and they can become assets for the students in the future.

4. Measuring teamwork

Collaborative learning is the most effective way to both teach and measure teamwork. Group projects and assignments compel students to interact with each other and work together and schools can measure active participation by keeping a close watch on the process. A student’s activity in the group can be measured and teachers can intervene to teach teamwork if the student is becoming disruptive in the group activity. The same can also be taught and measured through sports or theatre. The scope is abundant.

BGS Vijnatham School is one of the few institutions in Greater Noida that measures both cognitive and soft skills. The philosophy that learning is continuous and rigorous is in the school’s academic ethos and it treats all its students equally – capable of learning any skill. Through a personalised curriculum, BGSVS teaches what matters, effectively measures them and with descriptive feedback, looks to develop the important skills in each and every student. BGSVS students are performers, not only because they are talented but are taught well.