November 2020 In this Issue: The Priceless Gift of Thinking: Becky Callaway, Lower School Principal Set Up for Success: Jesse Owens, Middle School Principal SAT and ACT and Applying to College: Daniel Head, High School Principal

The Priceless Gift of Thinking Lower School Principal: Becky Callaway

Over my time here at Prince, I have had many a conversation with parents and staff about the topic of thinking. When engaged in a chat on this subject, I inevitably will insert my one-sentence motto on the matter: “If you don’t know how to think, then you can be easily told what to think.” Let me be clear, sometimes, being told what to think is critical to the learning process. As a teenager in my early driving days, I needed my instructor(s) to tell me what to think so that I would have the proper response to the many developing situations I would encounter in any given road trip. When I became certified in the processes of administering CPR and First Aid two summers ago, our instructor taught our class what we should think when we encountered various emergency situations. Having quick, reflexive responses at an accident scene is critical to saving lives.

These types of situations aside, most of life’s encounters present the opportunity and need for one to think—to weigh all sides of a situation, to evaluate the characteristics of all perspectives—and then to determine one’s course or response in that moment. As educators, even at the elementary level, we must do our part to ensure that, as our students grow and become more independent, when faced with real life situations that require them to make an evaluation and then determine the safest, wisest, most productive response, they will be able to do so successfully. What does this type of “life-skills” instruction look like in the elementary grades? It begins, partially through conversations in class, at the lunch table, on the playground, and in transit from place to place. Questions like, “How did that story make you feel?”, “Which surface would be better for roller skating—the wooden floor or the grass?”, “How would you have felt if everyone laughed at you when you tripped while walking up the stairs?”, or “You’re walking to chapel and you see a $20 bill on the ground. What do you do with it?” Questions like this have no one “correct” answer, and the process of responding requires a student to evaluate the factors in the given situation, articulate one’s feelings, place oneself in someone else’s “shoes,” and draw upon one’s values before answering. On paper, this sounds very sophisticated and even complicated, but it’s how the mind is designed to work.

While these types of impromptu teachable moments are rich and something that I see and hear our teachers taking advantage of throughout the day, every day, giving students the opportunity to think and create responses is something that we are working on becoming purposeful about as we create our academic assessments. A tool we educators use to guide our assessments in ensuring that we require our students to actually think on a test is commonly known as “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.“ Using this guide, we are stressing that assessments consist of more than just recalling facts, lists, and rote memorization. Not that there is anything wrong with evaluating learning in this way; “recall” certainly is an appropriate means of assessing some knowledge. (For example: multiplication facts, scripture passages, the definitions of the eight parts of speech.) However, if we want to train students to trust their ability to make judgements in situations they encounter in life, we need to present them with assessment items that require them to explain ideas or concepts, use the information they have learned in class in new situations, and evaluate in their own words various scenarios tapping into prior knowledge and the values that you build your family’s home upon. Allowing students to stretch in this way means that assessments will be much more “open-ended”, with a great deal more subjectivity as to what constitutes a right versus wrong answer. These assessments are more difficult to make, more difficult to take, and more time-consuming to grade. This is all justified because what we gain in the process is priceless. We witness students truly interacting with the concepts we teach them, we give them an arena to be affirmed in drawing from the core values of your home and our school, and we see boys and girls begin to believe that they have something meaningful to contribute to life’s conversations. Recently I witnessed this type of growth among our fifth-grade students. At the request of their teachers, I took the classes through a literature unit using a novel whose theme was becoming purposeful about applying the Matthew 7:12 principle— “The Golden Rule”. The unit was replete with opportunities for students to write about action and scenarios in the story. Over the two-week period that encompassed our study, I was amazed at how they grew to trust their own voice in writing and making evaluative stands related to the story’s plot. Seeing these results affirmed my belief that we must set our bar of expectation high and provide the arena for the minds of our students to grow. Years from now, the individuals who currently sit in our classrooms will be in the places of leading homes, organizations, cities, states, and maybe even our nation. Equipping them in these early years with the ability to think for themselves will make all the difference in their ability to competently realize the destiny to which our Lord will call them.

Set Up for Success Middle School Principal: Jesse Owens

Partnering with families who value a CHRISTIAN education and who are willing to make a financial investment for their children is a wonderful privilege the faculty and staff do not take lightly. Prince parents are invested and want their children to succeed. While we all desire success, we often look in every direction trying to find ways to support our children to reach their goals. While there is no perfect guide or list for parents that ensures a student’s success in middle school, I wanted to share just a few recurring themes in the resources I’ve reviewed and from observations over the years working with students and families:

Be present. Simply minimizing instruction time missed and contact hours with teachers greatly impacts academic success. Communicate your academic expectations for your child clearly and routinely. Every child is different. For some, your expectation may simply be, “do your best.” For other children, expectations of a numeric average may be needed. You know your child best. Provide clear and consistent rewards and consequences for your child. Look beyond the numeric grade. Know why your child’s grade is what it is, not just the grade itself. For example, one quick check of a student’s assignment grades may reveal he or she is simply not turning in homework assignments. He or she may be doing fine on tests and quizzes, but the homework category is pulling the overall grade down. Encourage your child to get involved in a co-curricular activity. Involvement in a group or activity outside of class helps students become more invested in school and can serve as an opportunity to make friends. This can also allow students to get to know teachers and develop leadership and teamwork skills.

Ensure your child has a quiet space to study and complete homework that has the resources he or she will need. Trips around the house looking for a pen, pencil, calculator, or grammar book is a distraction and wastes valuable time. Allow your child the freedom to fail while staying present and involved. This is a delicate balance, but many lessons can only be learned on the other side of failure. Also, success after failure is an extremely rewarding feeling. Help your child learn to break down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable items. We all know the tendency to wait until the last minute to study, review, or complete a project. Some students struggle with this more than others. Similarly, help your child learn to study or review, even when no official assignment is due. Reviewing and becoming familiar with notes or reading from the school day will lessen the needed study time in a last minute “cramming” session. Encourage your child to communicate directly with his or her teachers. Parents can help teenagers develop the communication skills they need to advocate for themselves. This skill takes time to develop, but the middle school teachers at PACS also desire to help students in this area. Whether drafting emails to teachers, scheduling a study time, or requesting a meeting, as students take ownership of their responsibilities and communication, they are cultivating skills that will be an enormous asset in the years to come. Make sure your child is getting enough sleep, keeping good eating habits, and managing their time wisely. A student who stays up all night studying may perform worse on a test due to exhaustion than the student who studied for an hour and had got a good night’s sleep. Make discussion of your child’s college and career goals a routine. As your child thinks about these goals and aspirations, begin discussing the path to reach these.

Each child is uniquely made by God with different abilities and ambitions. Finding the right balance of encouragement and discipline and knowing when parent intervention is needed is a challenging responsibility where Godly wisdom and grace are required daily. Please let me, the teachers, or the counselors know if there is ever anything we can do to be of assistance.

SAT and ACT and Applying to College High School Principal: Daniel Head

I am not sure if anybody else feels the same way, but I am having difficulty staying on top of the continually changing guidelines that come with COVID. It seems like, over the last six months, very few things in our lives have stayed the same, and the changes seem to happen on a weekly, if not daily basis. If you are a high school student or parent of a high school student, one of the constants you have heard about is how important the SAT or ACT is for college admission. Students spend hours and hundreds of dollars preparing to take these tests. Students will take the test repeatedly, hoping to gain just a few points with the expectations it will give them a better chance to get into their university of choice. Well, as you might have read, many colleges, including the University System of Georgia (USG), are suspending the SAT/ACT admission requirement for the coming school year. It is now optional for students to submit an SAT/ACT score with their college application. As of right now, this change impacts students looking to apply for college in the Fall of 2021; however, it could be extended past that time frame as we move forward. With this change comes many questions about what this looks like for your student who might be looking to apply to a member school of the USG. I hope that I will be able to answer a few of the most frequently asked questions.

Q: What criteria will be considered for admission if the student decides not to submit standardized test scores? A: Each university will handle this slightly differently, so it is important to seek out specifics from the university your child is considering applying to. However, there will be a higher emphasis on the applicant's academic and co-curricular record. A student’s grades in the core academic courses (math, English, science, and history) will be strongly considered. The university will look at the number of rigor classes (AP and Dual Enrollment) the student takes compared to the number of rigor classes offered at his or her school. Universities will also be looking at students' intellectual and creative pursuits regarding co-curricular activities. There will also be a higher emphasis put on the short essay sections of the application process. Q: Will I be penalized if I decide not to submit an SAT/ACT score with my application? In other words, will I be at a disadvantage to other students who do submit SAT/ACT scores? A: If your student took the SAT or ACT and is happy with his or her scores, he or she is welcome to submit the scores with his or her application. However, according to the University of Georgia, no one will be penalized for not submitting test scores. Q: How do I indicate if I don't want to submit test scores with my application? A: Most applications for the USG will ask if you wish to be considered for admissions with or without test scores. Suppose you decide to change your decision after submitting your application. In that case, there are ways to go back and change that (additional forms to be filled out), but that could create a scenario where the application process doesn't go entirely smoothly. It is best to know what you want to do before you submit your application. Q: If I apply without test scores, am I still eligible for merit-based scholarships? A: Again, each USG member college might handle this differently, but UGA says all freshman applicants are considered for merit-based scholarships. Whether or not you submit SAT/ACT scores will not impact if you are considered for merit-based scholarships at UGA.

Q: Do I still need to take the SAT/ACT to qualify for Zell Miller Scholarship? A: As I mentioned in my opening, things are changing quickly, but as of the writing of this article, Zell Miller still requires students to take the SAT and ACT to qualify. SAT qualifying score for Zell Miller remains 1200, and for the ACT, it is 26. I hope you have found this information helpful as you navigate the college admission process. I pray that you and your family are healthy as we move into the winter months. It has been a blessing that we have made it to Thanksgiving break in school together.