Meridian, however, is most remarkable for what it does not do: grade or test students, calculate grade-point averages, or ring bells to signal the end of classes.
Abrams and other founders of the school, which has 34 students in sixth through 12th grades, believe that students learn best when their academic career is not measured by how well they memorize information and quickly repeat it back on tests.
Abrams, also a teacher, said the idea for Meridian “grew out of a frustration that high schools had structures and methods that get in the way of learning. And certainly testing is one of those.’’
The leaders and staff at Meridian see their school as the antidote to the movement toward more standardized testing.
In this state, public school students are required to take Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams beginning in elementary school, and must pass several in high school before they can graduate.
Teachers at Meridian Academy evaluate students on long-term projects that the students present to parents and faculty at the end of each term. Children in a science class taught by Abrams, for example, will create a robotic miniature golf course for their final projects this spring. In Spanish, which is required, students wrote short stories in that language, and then translated them into English, for their term projects.
The biggest assignment takes place in 11th grade, when students come up with their own projects and work on them throughout the year. Teachers must approve the topics, but the projects can come from any discipline.
“The kids have to work on something much more complex and long term,’’ Abrams said. “Kids typically work much harder if the question is of their own making.’’
Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College, said some of the ideas at the core of Meridian’s philosophy - fewer evaluations, learning by working on projects, allowing students to learn by making mistakes - are not new.
