Definition of Student Success

Defining student success is something educators, students, parents and even politicians have been trying to do since schools have existed. They have long argued over what success means and how best to measure it. With more and more focus being placed on student success as a measure for school and teacher success, it has become an increasingly important question to address.

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Perhaps the most traditional method of measuring student success is grades. Grades measure how well the student completes work and if they show mastery of the material. If the teacher grades on a curve, then the question is also "how well did they do relative to their peers?" Grades would be a great indicator if every teacher was the same and every assignment was completely objective.

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Another measure of success is the ability of a student to progress towards a goal, whatever that goal may be. Such is the measure of progress in subjects such as math, where a student progresses from simple addition and subtraction to complicated geometry and calculus. Students are successful if they build from the basic to the complex.

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Many argue that another measure of student success is seeing the student do something that they couldn't previously do or perhaps do it faster or more completely than they could previously. This is a particularly popular model for success among special needs students who would not get good grades in regular classes or couldn't keep pace with their peers.

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One of the most popular methods for determining student success is to subject students to a series of standardized tests designed to test benchmark knowledge levels. Students and their schools are then judged based on how they score when compared with state and nationwide averages. Often such importance is placed on these tests, that educators complain about having to teach the test rather than the material.

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Since the educational system is essentially to prepare people for the working world, many make the case for the students' success in the world after school that defines their success in the educational system. Students may not do well within the confines and limitations of the standardized schooling system but excel in the job market largely because they managed to retain many non-quantifiable lessons.

Ex 1. Give your comments on each method of measuring student success mentioned in the text. Do you find them effective enough? Which one do you consider the most (the least) effective? Bear out your statement.

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