Journey to Success serves as a roadmap to high-quality student learning at JCPS. As such, we've developed a consistent Districtwide process for measuring K-12 student success that takes place at both transition years and interim years, and focuses on four key components.
Success Skills
The foundation of Journey to Success is the development of our five Success Skills. Guiding documents, standardized rubrics, milestone checkpoints and a system for student reflection has been developed with the goal of keeping learners at the center of their educational experience.
Artifacts & Student Reflections
Students collect artifacts in the JCPS Digital Backpack to demonstrate their learning. Progress is tracked using consistent Districtwide rubrics, a focus on high-quality artifacts, and opportunities for student reflections. Our digital platform enables Districtwide data analysis and tracking of student progress toward academic readiness.
Milestones
To prepare for their final Defenses of Learning, students complete a milestone experience in grades K-4, 6-7 and 9-11. Milestone experiences can be a Mini-Defense, Student-Led Conference, or Exhibition of Learning that demonstrates learning and growth in Success Skill competencies.
Defenses of Learning
Students showcase their learning at key transition points—fifth, eighth, and twelfth grades—using artifacts to demonstrate how they have met five key indicators of success. All Defenses of Learning are completed in front of a trained panel of educators and are evaluated using Districtwide Defense of Learning rubrics.
All students must complete a Milestone experience every year, with the exception of grades five, eight and twelve. There are three options for Milestones: Student-Led Conferences, Exhibitions of Learning, and/or Mini Defenses of Learning. These experiences will act as preparation and scaffolding for the final Defenses of Learning.
Curious about what Journey to Success means for students? Every learner is different, but getting familiar with our Districtwide rubrics and resources will give you a better idea of the framework.
