Effort is Everything

 

IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO ONE RATING

At Trinity-Pawling School (T-P) in Pawling, NY, a boy’s effort is valued as much as his accomplishments. This principle has driven the school since its founding in 1907 by Dr. Frederick Luther Gamage. The school’s History page of their website explains: “…effort across the board is the foundation on which all achievement ultimately rests. ‘Whether a boy succeeds in the first instance at all he attempts is irrelevant,’ Dr. Gamage used to say. ‘Over time, effort inevitably yields achievement. The only time a boy truly fails is when he fails to try.’”

 

Here’s how the system works. Every six weeks, a student receives effort marks ranging from “1” through “5” in seven different areas of campus life: academic achievement, academic participation, attendance and discipline, work program, extracurricular activities, athletics and the dormitory. Each area is weighted differently. Academic participation, for instance, counts for 30% of one's overall effort ranking. Dorm citizenship is 15%. Athletics counts for 10 %. Once all the effort marks have been generated, they are weighted appropriately and averaged together. One number between “1” and “5” is generated.

If a student is on the First Effort Group, he has every privilege the school can offer. And remember, a student's group rating is not just about grades. One can be a straight “C” student and be in the First Effort Group. For this individual, Evening Study Hall is optional. A student can take more weekends off campus than anyone else. He doesn't have to come back from his weekends until 9 PM. He doesn't have to get up for breakfast. When you demonstrate responsibility, you earn respect.

At T-P, each of the 325 students' efforts in every aspect of their school life is tracked using iR's KEYSTONE. A student's privileges are determined by his effort, which is tracked daily, then compiled and reported as a single rating every six weeks. A complex customization of KEYSTONE is the engine that drives the very simple input.

Kim DeFonce, assistant director of admission, has been in T-P’s Admissions Office for 15 years, and she was at the school when inRESONANCE installed and customized the Registrar system. Kim is a veteran user of FileMaker, one of the “go-to” people when the IT staff is occupied.

“I’m a technical person. I’m a FileMaker user and I’ve been to iRU, so I picked it up fairly easily,” Kim remembers. Asked about the importance of The Effort System to Admissions, Kim explained, “We’re not like any other school. We do this every six weeks. Nobody else does this.”

iR’s customization has served the school well for more than 10 years. “We don’t modify this system. It was not easy to do this customization. Students get effort grades for everything they do from academics to whether they get to class on time or show up for sports. Each aspect of their day is worth a different percentage of the rating.

“We received very personalized service. All the work was in the customization,” Kim explains. “Now the Effort System is self-implementing. We just put in the numbers. It’s very simple to use.”

Click here to learn more about Trinity Pawling School.