Public Presentations

On two separate occasions during the school year, IACS invites families and the general public to visit the school for Quality Night. Each middle school student displays one piece of work that they have revised and is considered their highest quality.

Students in fifth and seventh grade prepare an additional piece for presentation in the spring. Fifth graders present to families and guests during an evening event, while seventh graders present to high school students during the school time. During this time, the sixth and eighth graders prepare for their Jury presentations. Guests are asked to review short student presentations of their work and are given the opportunity to provide feedback to students.

As the IACS charter reads, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” Using this motto as a guide, Quality Night is an opportunity for students to polish and prepare a presentation of their best work.

We believe that Quality Night is not only an experience for adults to learn about what we do at IACS, but an opportunity for students to learn important public speaking and presentation skills.

In late winter/early spring, students begin participating in the jury process. During this time, sixth and eighth graders present their portfolios to a team of assessors in a formal jury presentation.

The team of assessors is typically made up of two adults including an IACS staff member and outside community member (an IACS parent or otherwise). A younger peer also attends to learn about the process and provide additional support. Students share portfolio pieces of work and provide evidence of why they believe they are ready to be promoted to the next grade. Following the jury presentation, students receive feedback from the assessor, including a final jury grade.

At IACS Exhibition Nights, the hallways and classrooms of IACS are transformed into a museum of student work, with all high school students contributing at least one piece of academic work of their choosing to these events. Students, families, and other community members are then invited in to explore the work of students and enjoy a wide variety of student performances.

Exhibition nights highlight the wide variety of project work on display at IACS, including artwork, sculpture and performances, but also soap operas written and filmed in Spanish class, life-size models of physiological systems created in Science class, and Engineering projects ranging from bicycle-powered lightbulbs to small candle-powered boats to innovative trash-can designs.

Visitors at Exhibition Nights have also been invited to tours of a student-created garden, live musical performances and live improv comedy.

Each spring, all IACS high school students create their own Presentation of Learning. These presentations serve many functions that are integral to the mission of our school: to reflect upon one’s learning, to improve one’s public speaking skills, and to revise one’s work so that it is worthy of public presentation. The presentations consist of students talking about their personal and academic growth over the year, highlighting several pieces of work as evidence of that growth. Students present to an audience of peers, adults and family members.

Students and teachers hold high standards for each other’s presentations, demanding a high level of revision, reflection and poise, with each year’s presentation representing a “step up” from the year before. Though students begin with a variety of gifts and challenges as presenters, thanks to repeated practice and support, our students all graduate as experienced and reflective presenters of their own work.