STREAME in the Virtual Microschool
A five year old and a sixteen year old do the same thing: guess, try it, find out, change something, explain it again. What differs is whether the guess is spoken or written, whether the evidence is a photograph or a data set, and who the explanation has to convince.
Four grade bands
Which bands are open depends on the founding cohort. The school page says which are currently taking applications.
Early literacy, numeracy, communication, curiosity, routines, motor development and confidence.
The cycle at this age
The cycle is spoken and drawn before it is ever written. A child guesses out loud, tries it, says what happened, changes one thing, and tells somebody again. The teacher writes down what the child said.
What a demonstration looks like
Talking through what they made, with the first attempt still on the table beside it.
Reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, independence, digital citizenship, and explaining what they are learning.
The cycle at this age
The prediction gets written down before the test, which is the point at which the cycle starts to bite: a child can no longer quietly decide they knew all along. Measurement enters, and so does comparing two attempts.
What a demonstration looks like
A short written or spoken explanation that refers to what actually happened, not to what was supposed to happen.
Deeper academic skills, high school readiness, stronger study habits, interest exploration and career connections.
The cycle at this age
Evidence has to be good enough to convince somebody who disagrees. Learners start choosing which strands a question needs rather than being told, and defending that choice is part of the work.
What a demonstration looks like
An explanation that names its evidence, acknowledges what did not work, and says what would be tried next.
A planned pathway connected to graduation requirements, postsecondary goals, credentials and adult readiness.
The cycle at this age
The cycle attaches to things with consequences: an application, a credential, a budget, a piece of work somebody outside school will read. Revision stops being an exercise and becomes the difference between a draft and a submission.
What a demonstration looks like
Work presented to somebody who is not their teacher, with the reasoning available to be questioned.
Demonstrations of learning
A demonstration of learning is how a unit ends. It is not a test, and it is not a display. It is the learner accounting for their own thinking in front of somebody, and it has to contain all four of these.
Something the learner made
A model, a piece of writing, a presentation, a recording, a plan, a solution. Not a worksheet.
The evidence it rests on
What was read, measured, tested or observed, named specifically enough that somebody could check it.
What changed, and why
The distance between the first idea and this one. A demonstration with no revision in it is a first draft presented as a conclusion.
An explanation in their own words
Written, spoken, drawn or signed. The form varies by age and by learner. The requirement that they can account for their own thinking does not.
The five steps
Predict
What do I think will happen? What do I already know, and what makes me think my first idea is right?
Test
What happens when I actually try it, under conditions somebody else could watch and repeat?
Learn
What did the evidence show? What worked, what did not, and what surprised me?
Revise
What should I change, and why would that change make the result better?
Explain again
Can I use words, pictures, measurements and evidence to explain what I understand now that I did not understand before?
What a family sees
Not a grade with nothing behind it. The Success Portal carries the unit itself, so a parent can see what their child is being asked and what came back.
The founding cohort has not run yet, so this page describes how the school is designed rather than units it has already taught. When the first cohort is under way, the units themselves will be what this page points at.
Placement starts from what a learner can already do. The enrollment conversation covers grade level, academic history, strengths, support needs, schedule and what your family is trying to change.
About the Virtual MicroschoolHow the framework is held to account