ASFA:  What Makes Us Tick?

“For Whom the Bell Tolls”—John Donne

Like most schools, we are largely regulated by clocks and ringing bells, but the fact is we are like seven schools in one (six specialty areas and core academics) running a hybrid schedule with fluctuating dismissal times that often vary by department and day.  Bells help our flow, but they are not what ultimately regulate each day at ASFA. 

“Creativity comes from trust.” —Rita Mae Brown

Trust is the organizing factor that makes our center hold.  The adults at ASFA trust the students to be able to handle and cherish a school culture that privileges creativity.  That’s crucial because the boundary between order and randomness is where the elements of creativity come together to find their spark.  We have rules and discipline, but they are recessive, not repressive.  We believe that an emphasis on rules and restrictions can be antithetical to a school culture where creativity is nourished and encouraged.  And, yes, this approach is an important part of our curriculum because of the kind of learning children derive from behaviors and attitudes of teachers and administrators.

Curriculum Vitae, the Course of Life

Although our school culture is vital to our curriculum, it does not change the reality that intensive and demanding specialties are why we exist and that we are proud of the dynamic and challenging academic curricula that support our specialties.   The word curriculum comes from Latin and suggests a “race course.”  There is something enlightening to learn from this word’s origins.  The type of course referred to is a “course of experience,” and it did not carry with it the idea of a competition or a “get ahead” mentality.  The curriculum “race course” was more like an obstacle course of challenges and experiences intended to benefit a child.  The idea had more to do with process than it did product. 

“Where all think alike no-one thinks much.”— Walter Lippman

Since 1971, ASFA curriculum and instruction has prioritized creativity.  During that same span, American schools have increasingly worshipped at the altar of “teaching to the test” because the only public measures of school success have been standardized tests which measures only convergent thinking.  Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to measure divergent thinking, individual creativity.  That’s why it is encouraging to me that in this still-new century, more and more schools are recognizing the greater value of independent curricula, and there is increasing traction for finding ways to not measure standards but to recognize and promote creative environments.  In other words, more schools are beginning to embrace and value more the very things we’ve been doing at ASFA since the last century.

Bradford Hill

Director, Curriculum & Instruction

ASFA’s Grade Excellence Recognition Program honors junior and senior students who earn all As for a semester with attesting letters issued from the corresponding ASFA office or board. Therefore, each ASFA student has the opportunity to earn each of four extraordinary distinctions over the course of their junior and senior years. The distinctions are as follows:

• Director’s List for Grade Excellence for 1 semester
• President’s List for Grade Excellence for 2 semesters
• ASFA Foundation Board Award for Grade Excellence for 3 semesters
• ASFA Board of Trustees Award for Grade Excellence for all 4 semesters

A faculty committee made up of specialty instructors from fine arts and math/science and core academic instructors created the system by which students will be recognized. The Q & A portion of their proposal is included here to help address anticipated questions:

Why just 11th and 12th graders and not lower classmen? Many students do not enter ASFA until their 9th or 10th-grade years. Those years for them are times of transition and adjustment, and the grades they receive may be inconsistent from grading period to grading period or may reflect adjustment issues rather than academic potential. By the 11th grade, students are fairly centered and adjusted, and their grades are more reflective of their academic performance than anything else.

Why not cumulative GPA? What if a student who had inferior grades in 9th and 10th-grade years improved to excellent grades in junior year? Even if he had all As on his 1st-semester average, it will still reflect the bad grades from before and that student may get overlooked. The same goes for upperclassmen. This way, students are still encouraged to succeed and they understand that even if they have a bumpy semester at some point, they have the opportunity for a “clean slate” the next semester and still have the opportunity for academic recognition.

Why not add some component that recognizes Bs, even high Bs, as well? We are looking for something that will make recipients stand out to colleges, something that distinguishes our students from the many national organizations mentioned on applications. We are looking for something that recognizes “excellence” among the students. With another tier of recognition added, it would be possible, for example, for a student who gets a B in all his/her classes, to be recognized for academic “excellence”. At ASFA students have to maintain an 80 in their Specialty classes just to remain in the school. The fact is that we have high standards here, and any grade recognition system used should reflect that. We question the integrity of a system that could possibly recognize a student with an 85 and 86 in every class with an award for grade excellence.

Also, we considered one of the many problems that we experienced with previous attempts to recognize excellence—the number of students who were inducted each year. It no longer held an air of distinction to it, as it became an expectation for most—what students noticed the most was who didn’t get in, not who did. Our estimation, based on numbers from last semester, is that with a B tier included, anywhere from 37% (85 as the grade minimum) to 55% (80 as the grade minimum) of juniors and seniors would achieve recognition. When you have more than a third of the class to over half of the class honored each semester because they can get in with Bs, even all Bs, then the idea of “excellence” again loses its meaning and distinction.

Why no grade bump for AP classes (specialty required)? We discussed the level of difficulty that AP classes require as opposed to other classes. AP classes are recognized as advanced, and the curriculum is perceived as more rigorous than most non-AP classes. That is simply not always true. Some of the most challenging courses are not labeled as AP. Also, in the lengthy discussions and all the “what if” situations we considered, there was no clear explanation for why one class got the bump and another class didn’t. Some specialty department’s required courses are taught at the AP level, but not necessarily labeled as such, so they would not get the bump.

Will these honors be reflected on transcripts, and if not, how will college admissions be informed of them? ASFA transcripts have never reflected anything beyond grades, earned credits and GPAs. That will not change. As with any honors, recognitions, achievements or service, individual student résumés and essays are how colleges are made aware.

We are pleased to be able to offer these recognitions to our students.

D. Bradford Hill, Director of Curriculum & Instruction