QSI THE QUEENS SCHOOL OF INQUIRY
Assessments – How will we know you are learning?
Like other students in New York City and New York State, students at QSI are expected to take and pass at Levels 3 or 4 the yearly Math and ELA tests. At the end of 8th grade, students take additional New York State exams in Social Studies and Science, as well as completing Exit Projects in both Science and Social Studies. Since QSI is a school dedicated to helping you attend college at the same time as high school, it is important that you take some of these tests as soon as your are ready. At the end of 8th grade, you will be taking your first High School Regents exam in Math. Between now and then, we’ll help you work hard and give you extra time for learning so you are well prepared to pass all of these exams..
At QSI, because we know that each of you is an individual, with your own learning style and your own strengths and weaknesses, we have added some others ways of knowing how you are progressing and how we can help you achieve at the very high levels all of us expect from you:
Student Action Plan
You, your parents and your teachers will create a Student Action Plan by looking at your work, your test scores and your records from previous years. Together we will set goals for you and offer ideas on how each of us – including you – can help you meet those goals. We want to include your Interest Inventory, so we can help you make connections between what you learn in school and what you like to do. We’ll review your Action Plan several times a year so we know what next steps to take.
Portfolios
Each student will keep two portfolios of work. One includes your work that is in progress, the other samples of finished products, your best work. Your Finished Portfolio will show us that you have mastered certain skills – for example, writing a memoir, or conducting an experiment testing the soil around the school. We hope to use computers to create a Digital Portfolio.
Inquiry Projects
Because we believe that people learn best by practicing what they have learned, especially in an area that interests them, every day you will have time for working on an Inquiry Project. Teachers will work with you and others with similar interests to identify and solve a real world issue and then do a live presentation to other people. Together we’ll study what makes a great project and presentation; we’ll use online research and real world experts for information; we’ll learn how to critique one another’s presentations so we all improve. Some students have completed Inquiry Projects on topics like “A Neighborhood Store Survey” which they presented to the local Community Board. Others have conducted a real business, selling baskets made of rolled newspaper, with a genuine business plan, a budget and a profit! Still others wrote and videotaped an original musical performance – “Why Aren’t You Hearing Me?”, a story about teenage life in NYC in the 21St Century. You will have a chance to select your own topics to investigate and present.