The Definition of Student Success: What Does it Mean to You?

The report “A New Day for Learning,” [1] recently released by the Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, argues that we must redefine the school day if we are to improve student achievement in the United States. The authors of the report, funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation [2], lay out five elements of their proposed new learning system.

The first element states that we must “redefine what student success means beyond the acquisition of basic skills, support the time it takes to experience success, and develop sophisticated ways to measure it.”

This three-pronged statement, centered on student success, begins with a call for a new definition for the phrase “student success.” Philosophers have debated for centuries about what it is to be an educated person. I am not convinced we can agree on what it is to be successfully educated, but we must individually have some vision in mind if we are to be able to determine whether we have hit the mark.

Most Americans, I believe, would define student success as the ability of a student to support himself or herself in this society after completing the educational process. Our value and belief systems are strongly based on economics and accumulation of material wealth. How often do you hear parents say, “I don’t want my children to have to come home to live with me after completing their education”?

It’s difficult to argue with the fact that the ability to support oneself economically is a goal of the educational process, but it is not the only goal. If it were, we would not need schools; we could easily achieve success by matching students with professional mentors and letting them learn on the job.

What additional definitions could we use for student success? I would like to suggest a few, and I am interested in what you would add. Student success, I believe, means the ability to

• understand the rights and responsibilities that allow us to function as contributing members of our democracy.
• cooperate and collaborate with others in work, social, and family settings.
• make independent decisions based on reasoning supported by facts gathered and analyzed by students.
• relate in a positive and constructive manner with family members and other members of the world community.
• take responsibility for one’s own actions and act supportively and compassionately toward others.

Maybe, though, it would be easier to list things that should not be included in our definition of student success. It is not a sign of student success to

• score highly on an arbitrarily chosen standardized test.
• help beat a rival football, basketball, or wrestling team into submission.
• have every student specialize in science, technology, engineering, or math in order to beat the Chinese in the economic realm.
• efficiently perform repetitive tasks in a factory setting.

How do you define student success? The form of our future educational system is dependent on how we answer this question. Please offer your suggestions.