Legacy Elementary School principal Jason Markusen is working to help schools “develop the whole child” through in-development app Quiver.
Markusen will present at 1 Million Cups Fargo on Wednesday, May 15.
Quiver streamlines and deepens the data management of houses, teams, and similar institutional structures within schools.
House systems organize students into groups upon enrollment that they might take classes with and/or compete within. Oftentimes houses are accompanied by systems of points awarded for good behavior or citizenship.
For a lot of people, the most familiar example of a house system will be the one used by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but house systems have been relatively common in English schools for decades, and there’s no magical thinking involved when it comes to the desirable learning outcomes they can help achieve.
“Think of any team you’ve been on—when you’re on a team, you’re instantly accountable to something bigger than yourself,” Markusen said.
Work on Quiver started about a year ago. “At the most basic level we knew we were going to start piloting house,” Markusen said, but he noted much of the assessment of house structures’ impacts still tended to be primitive marbles-in-jars-type systems.
Quiver seeks to document the benefits that are often more challenging to quantify in houses, teams, or other similar systems. The focus is on tracking data related to the goal of developing the whole child. The app is structured around four attributes: culture, mindset, wellness, and leadership.
“Within each of those boxes we’ve broken down specific skills,” Markusen said. “You can actually report on the whole child.”
Quiver can track points related to a house-type system, but it also allows teachers to document positive behaviors by photo or video, creating a portfolio of documentation for each student.
Quiver will have separate and differing dashboard for teachers, administrators and parents—Markusen said one thing they are doing is finding ways for Quiver to include “bridges to home” that help parents see how their children are developing valuable traits and skills for both the workforce and life in general while they’re in school.
Markusen is working on Quiver with one other teacher and two people involved with the technological side. The app is in its alpha stage of testing. “We’re piloting it right now,” Markusen said. “We’re up and running.”
Markusen cited Walt Disney as an inspiration for the way he had the vision to turn a swampy stretch of land in Florida into Disney World.
“You have to have guts to actually step out and try things,” Markusen said.
1 Million Cups Fargo takes place each Wednesday from 9:15- 10:15 a.m. at The Stage at Island Park.
