An Orchard Education
There are many ways to measure the value of an Orchard education. The warm relationships students form with their teachers leading to responsive teaching and joyful learning is one that immediately comes to mind. The curiosity that is encouraged, the self-confidence that is fostered and the open-mindedness that is nurtured are all very important. But these things can be difficult to quantify. So it might be helpful to see some firmer metrics.
Orchard students in grades 4-7 take the Educational Records Bureau standardized national test. This test is given at many NAIS schools. Our students' collective average over the last four years is in the 70th percentile. It is important to recognize that this is a test which, by design, has a normalized average at the 50th percentile. Therefore, our school is performing at 20 percentile points higher than the average or that our students are scoring higher than 70% of students taking this test nationally.
Orchard students in grades 4-7 take the Educational Records Bureau standardized national test. This test is given at many NAIS schools. Our students' collective average over the last four years is in the 70th percentile. It is important to recognize that this is a test which, by design, has a normalized average at the 50th percentile. Therefore, our school is performing at 20 percentile points higher than the average or that our students are scoring higher than 70% of students taking this test nationally.
