Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, Alverno College is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its groundbreaking abilities-based curriculum.
In the early 1970s, then President Sister Joel Read reached out to local businesses to ask what skills they needed to see in college graduates. From their feedback, Alverno’s 8 Abilities were created, and over the last 50 years they have been refined, redefined, and continue to be relevant.
Woven into every course at Alverno, the 8 Abilities empower our students to become agents of change and principled leaders who meaningfully engage with their communities. They focus specifically on mastering skills in aesthetic engagement, analysis, communication, developing a global perspective, effective citizenship, problem solving, social interaction and valuing in decision making.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2023 job outlook research cited the top eight career-readiness competency needs: communication, critical thinking, teamwork, equity and inclusion, professionalism, technology, career and self-development and leadership proving that after 50 years, Alverno’s Abilities continue to meet, if not exceed, the expectations of employers seeking quality candidates with career-ready skills right out of college.
Alverno hasn’t provided letter grades for 50 years. Rather than use letter grades, Alverno pushes students to reach their highest personal potential. A standard letter grade tells students where they stand today; an Alverno assessment tells you that plus how to take the next step to achieve greater understanding and application of knowledge.
At Alverno, we challenge students to “know it and show it.”
Students receive so much more than a single letter grade. They are given entire paragraphs of feedback, much like the performance reviews they’ll receive in the real world. This assessment lets students know what they’re doing well and where they can grow, fostering a desire for continuous improvement. All of our 8 Abilities are critically analyzed each year to determine their relevance and inspire a fresh perspective.
Benefits of non-traditional grades:
- Students focus on their learning. They see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, rather than as obstacles to their success.
- The impact of systemic drivers of inequality like race, gender, socioeconomic status, and disability is reduced, leveling the playing field for all students. Regardless of what level they start at, students are assessed for their own individual rate of growth.
- Students are encouraged to take more risks. When they’re focused on performance and their strengths rather than grades, students are more willing to experiment with new ideas, leading to deeper learning and more creative thinking.
- Student learning is more accurately represented. A single letter grade reflects a student’s ability to hit a one-size-fits-all benchmark, whereas our assessment-based model measures each student’s mastery of a subject and ability to apply knowledge and skill in real-world settings.
In the decades since Alverno’s 8 Abilities were born, countless educators from across the U.S. and around the world have come to study and adopt this model of teaching and learning.
Why? Because it works. Alverno was one of the first, but we won’t be the last.
Alverno College
3400 S 43rd St
Milwaukee, WI 53234
alverno.edu
414.382.6000
