Chrysalis teachers do not give letter grades. We prefer rich interactive discussion and immediate feedback within the class setting. We do not give report cards, favoring semi-annual conferences and day-to-day conversations with parents. For example, if your child does not come home excited about learning, or she doesn’t want to come to school, or feels like he has no friends, we want to know.

Chrysalis students are given the California STAR tests each spring and our students generally perform well. (Our spring, 2011 API was 867, highest of any of the K-8 charter schools in the county.) However, we believe that while the STAR test may be an accurate measure of a student’s command of a certain body of skills, it is an inherently limited measure of a school's performance. In our opinion, the most appropriate way to use test scores in the evaluation of a school’s program is by tracking students' progress from one year to the next, like a movie, rather than as a snapshot.

(Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov)

We spend much of our time exploring the broader world beyond the content of the STAR tests and textbooks. Science, nature study, self-confidence and true understanding of academic material are crucial to a child’s development. It is this fundamental aspect of education that drives our academic program, not STAR test scores. We believe that the current focus on test scores (in snapshot mode) is warping public education in a way that slowly but relentlessly deadens the spirits of both students and teachers alike. A significant percentage of Chrysalis families came to Chrysalis because they have watched as their former schools’ overwhelming focus on test scores suffocated their children’s love of learning. They voice gratitude for Chrysalis and our focus on “encouraging the light within each student to shine brighter.”