The Madison school district kicked off the school year on Aug. 24 with a convocation speaker whose message was different than most: Do not teach to the test.

Dr. Yong Zhao spoke to an auditorium of teachers about the values of personalized education, the failures of standardized testing, and the global need for students who can be innovative and creative with their knowledge.

Madison Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice said his message struck a chord with many of the teachers in the room.

“It affirmed for us, from an expert and scholar in the field, that we are doing the right work,” he said.

That work began nearly three years ago, he said, when the Board of Education and Scarice began developing a new vision for their district and their students.

“We began to write a curriculum to foster deep analytical thinkers and innovative thinkers,” he said. “We want kids that can really collaborate meaningfully knowing that we really just don’t work alone anymore, we work in teams. [We want] kids that really have effective communication skills with a voice to make them stand out in a world that is just saturated by social media.”

Scarice said much of this new vision came from the idea that many models of teaching are becoming too dated.

“Public education for a while now has been educating for a different era, and that era that has passed us by,” he said. “We asked ourselves the question, what is the world going to look like for our high school seniors and what do we have to do to get them ready when they graduate? And we are not just talking about workforce ready, but also ready for citizenship in this world, ready to be a contributing member.”

While this individualized model of teaching and learning has been successful in Madison, Scarice knows it is a big deviation from the national agenda.

“I do think we are swimming upstream compared to what is happening across the field,” he said. “I do not think we are the norm, we are the exception, but we are doing what we call the right work.”

Board of Education member Jean Fitzgerald said the board is committed to protecting the high level of education in the district.

“We have a commitment to uphold the vision, mission, and goals of our incredibly innovative district,” she said. “In that vein, we support and encourage any initiative or curriculum that enables the continuous development and growth of our students.”

Fitzgerald said that Madison is not interested in national test scores.

“Madison prides itself on focusing on the right work,” she said, “work that puts the needs of its students and their future, first. It is not about test scores, rankings, or compliance. It’s about individual student success, meaning that each student has the opportunity to reach their full potential.”

Scarice noted that the national focus on test scores, or the “teaching to the test” mentality is not helpful in the long run.

“The latest test scores recently came out and you know we did well, we always do well,” he said. “But I always have a hard time with the 4th grade or 5th grade test scores. That’s like taking the score after the fifth inning of a baseball game, who cares? The games not over.”

Scarice said the district’s commitment to a more flexible and collaborative teaching method has also been well received by the teachers at all levels.

“I think our teachers our really empowered because they feel like they are doing the work that they wanted to do when they chose the profession,” he said.

“We are not going to have unelected bureaucrats dictate what is best for our kids in our town,” he said. “When it really comes to developing minds for the 21st century, you need to be able to do something with your knowledge, you can’t just simply accumulate information. We are building intelligent kids focused on developing their talents.”