We tend to practice formative assessments (those that help inform teaching and shape the learning process) more often than summative assessments (final assessments of learning).  We test our students’ skills and content proficiency all the time, through a range of methods and always in ways to encourage consistent improvement.

Feedback and assessment should form a dialogue between the student and anyone who evaluates their work. Any assessment of student work is given as constructive criticism, with the expectation that the student uses the feedback to inform a better product. The utility of assessment is not in simply informing the student how successful they were, but instead given as advice for improved iterations of the work.

Because we are a problem-based school, our students encounter complex (or "wicked") problems throughout the work they do. We empower our students to grapple with complex problems by supply them with four core problem-solving frameworks:

• Systems Thinking

• Design Thinking

• Entrepreneurial Mindset

• The Aristolean Triangle

• STEM Honors. By invitation/application only. Students in STEM Honors engage in a year-long independent and novel research project that is largely conducted outside of school hours. They are required to produce significant academic artifacts and meet regular deadlines to be allowed to remain in the program and to exhibit on Honors Night. Students who earn STEM Honors will have that achievement designated on their transcripts, as well as be recognized at Commencement.

• Humanities Honors. By invitation/application only. Students in Humanities Honors in a self-directed and research-based project outside of the ordinary course offerings of the department. The program requires students to be inquisitive, exploratory, experimental, and bold and exhibit evidence of the most difficult application of the skills-centered work we practice at Stone. Students who earn Humanities Honors will have that achievement designated on their transcripts, as well as be recognized at Commencement.

• Global/Experiential Education Program. Woven into our 7-12 curriculum. We believe that offering meaningful opportunities for students to dive deeply into academic, social, and cultural learning outside of our our regular coursework cultivates curiosity, empathy, identity, and confidence. We also believe strongly in the power of reflection that experiential learning provides. Several of our students have identified future areas of post-secondary study through our experiential education programs. Recent trips have including spelunking, marine research on a sailboat in the Bahamas, Patagonia rewilding, Icelandic earth science research, and National Parks trekking trips.

• Leadership Education Ecosystem.

• The Big Curiosity Quest (Sophomore Year). The Big Curiosity Quest. Required for 10th grade students. Born in the spring of 2020 when Stone used the necessary pivot to distance learning to temporarily re-write our curriculum into an interdisciplinary inquiry-based experience, the BCQ is now a one-Mod research course where students are asked to respond to a single, interdisciplinary question in the form of public presentation and exhibition of synthesis. This course requires an intentional practice of being curious, an emphasis on process, and the ability to unpack difficult concepts.  

• Junior Workshop. Required for 11th grade students. The Junior Workshop is a two-Mod course for which eleventh-grade students create knowledge, insight, beauty and/or function by executing a project which arises out of their own passions. The project requires significant research, but a student’s product may not be a report on this knowledge: they must bring something new into the world. Students are evaluated on their original research, product design, and project management skills. Students must give a 15-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute Q&A from a Faculty Panel to complete the course.

• Senior Defense. Required for 12th grade students. Senior Defense is a significant research project that serves as a synthesis of learning, and the defense of a student’s academic and intellectual growth during their time at Stone. Senior Defense is different from a capstone project in that a student is given a personalized question to which they respond in depth. Pre-advising for the question takes place from October to December, questions are sent in March, and in June students must deliver their final response during a 30-minute presentation, defending their process and “product”, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with a Faculty Panel.

• Comprehensive, Multi-Year Entrepreneurial Thinking Program. The Stone Independent School is the first school in our region to offer a comprehensive, multi-year, entrepreneurial program. Students are required to take Entrepreneurial Thinking I & II, and they are expected to apply an “entrepreneurial mindset framework” to all challenges they encounter during their time at Stone. We ask them to recognize and act on opportunity, practice making decisions with limited information, and remain adaptable and resilient in conditions that are uncertain and complex.

• Physics-First, Integrated Sciences Program. Our 9-11th science program is a physics-first, integrated sciences program, wherein students take physics, chemistry, and biology lab courses each year. Ninth-grade students also take a required science data and measurement course called Structured Curiosity.

The Portrait of a Graduate provides direction for our course development.  The language of Stone’s Portrait of a Graduate began with faculty describing the hopes and the dreams we had for young people: what would really prepare them for the world into which they’d be released? What would make them independent, well-read, empathetic, creative, and curious? What kind of competencies could ensure effective problem-solving and activate imagination? What would make them strong logical thinkers and confident contributors? How could we decenter the “self” whilst simultaneously cultivating selfhood? 

Our goal for all students is that they demonstrate evidence of proficiency or mastery in the core skills of each course they take; their proficiency is assessed through a culture of feedback as well as grading. All of it should align upward: the work our students do in their classrooms serves to help master the skills; the skills they practice enable them to respond to "Big Questions"; those questions serve as trailheads on their journey through the competencies in our Portrait of a Graduate; the Portrait of a Graduate empowers each of us to serve and execute our Mission.

1. Design Thinking. Interacting, reflection, collaborating, incorporating feedback, viewing failure as an opportunity to learn, and acknowledging that innovation requires small successes and frequent mistakes;

2. Leadership and Teamwork. Initiating new ideas and leading through influence; facilitating group discussions, forging consensus, and negotiating outcomes; collaborating on tasks, managing groups, and delegating responsibility;

3. Rhetoric. Writing, speaking, and reading across disciplines;

4. Risk-taking and Initiative. Bringing a sense of courage to unfamiliar situations; exploring and experimenting; working effectively in a climate of ambiguity; and cultivating an independence of spirit to explore new roles;

5. Civics. Applying personal communication skills, knowledge of political systems, and the ability to think critically about civic and political life to become engaged citizens. 

6. Global Perspectives. Developing open-mindedness, particularly regarding the values and traditions of others; understanding non-western history, politics, culture, and religions; developing facility with one or more foreign languages; developing social and intellectual skills to navigate effectively across cultures; using 21st Century skills to address global issues;

7. Entrepreneurial Mindset. Using creativity and  imagination to solve problems; recognizing and acting on opportunity; being capable of making decisions with limited information; remaining adaptable and resilient in conditions that are uncertain and complex.

8. STEM Literacy. Identifying, applying, and experimenting with integrated concepts from science, technology, engineering and mathematics to describe and solve complex problems.