The walls lack a student-of-the-month plaque, an honor roll list and a trophy display case. Outside the classroom, you won't find any school group competing in sports or academic contests. Yet, students flock here every day, year-round. Dozens more are on a waiting list.

Welcome to Key Learning Community, the first Indianapolis elementary school to rely on the multiple intelligence theory that learning can't always be measured by standardized tests. The Indianapolis Public Schools elementary opened in 1987. A middle school followed in 1993, and a high school opened in 1999.

The controversial multiple intelligence theory, developed by Harvard University professor Howard Gardner in 1983, emphasizes eight basic human intelligences, such as thinking in mental pictures rather than words.

Gardner is one of the best-known educational scholars in the world, having written hundreds of articles and more than 20 books in 23 languages.

The eight pillars of intelligence reflect a shared sense of values and beliefs, explained art teacher Dorothy Young, who has been at IPS since 1970 -- six of them at Key. She said they also are a response to art, music and social interaction. From kindergarten through eighth grade, student learning is centered on a theme that works in all eight intelligence areas and allows students to explore one topic. Then, at high school, each semester is devoted to one of eight areas identified by Ernest L. Boyer, a former U.S. Commissioner of Education, as common themes in all cultures. They include shared senses of time and space, relationship with nature, values and beliefs, and producing and consuming.

Boyer also headed the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching, an independent education policy and research center.

Along with group work, community service and study trips, students at each grade level use their strongest of the eight intelligences to create a piece of original work, such as a painting, story or science experiment, based on the semester's theme.

Grace Bronson, 13, who will begin eighth grade at Key School later this month, is a self-described visual learner. "Last year, our theme was relationships, and I chose to show the relationship between fashion and a woman's self-image," Grace said.

Key School follows a year-round schedule. Its 2006-07 school year begins July 24. Students have three-week breaks each fall, winter, spring and summer. Classes at Key School also don't resemble those of traditional schools, which tend to have seven or eight one-hour periods. Days are labeled either "Blue" or "Silver" and include four 80-minute classes as well as one free period. Students go through high school with the same teachers.

"I have students in English for all four years, ninth grade through senior year," said Gari Williams, who has taught English for 34 years, seven of which have been at Key. "I really get to see them grow, recognizing both their strengths and their weaknesses."

While a traditional English teacher might lecture from a podium, Williams emphasizes different learning styles. "As well as using group work and individual work equally, I teach from videos and DVDs almost as much as I teach from books," she said.

Competition is almost taboo at the school. "We talk about the 'C-word' like it's a bad thing," Young said. "Their outside world is very competitive, but Key's only objective is to pit kids against themselves, not each other."

Grace doesn't miss spelling bees or class rankings.

"As students, we do compare ourselves to each other, but there is less competition because we don't have honor roll or anything like that," she said.

By emphasizing a student's individual importance, Key School leaders hope to reduce student discipline problems and boost student performance.

A 2004 Harvard University study of multiple-intelligence schools showed 81 percent reported fewer problems with student discipline than they had three years earlier.

"We don't have many discipline problems." Young said. "We have a lot of tardiness problems, but we don't have much fighting."

Not everybody agrees.

"(Key) is like any other school," said Kaijah Blackwell, 16. "We have a lot of fights, but they're not a big deal."

Other than small disappointments -- students miss having sports teams, for example -- Key appears to be a learning utopia.

Yet some critics see the philosophy as more fad than fact.

John White, a retired University of London education professor, has criticized the theory in several journal articles. "The further one looks into the multiple intelligence theory, the more unsubstantiated it appears. It is what children learn through experience, from those around them and the writers they read that allows their mind and intelligence to grow," said White. In other words, intelligences are acquired, not inherited.

White also argues that the research behind the multiple intelligence theory is not conclusive enough to support such groundbreaking ideas.

"Gardner has corralled all of the variety of life into eight or nine categories. Why?" White said. "He hasn't done so as a result of empirical investigation."

"Gardner's starting point is his own value judgments about intellectual competence," White added.

Key's success is difficult to measure because standardized tests such as the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus don't address the different ways students learn and succeed, Gardner said.

Only half of Key's students passed the 2005 ISTEP-Plus, well below the 75 percent state average. And most of the test-takers once attended other schools that lack a multiple intelligence emphasis.

Key Learning Community, 777 S. White River Parkway West Drive, is so popular that IPS officials will open a second multiple-intelligence elementary school at School 87 this month. The kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school will follow the same schedule and share Key's principal, Christine Kunkel.

Despite the theory's critics, many Key students are motivated by Key's nontraditional methods.

"At Key, I've had the chance, more than anything, to allow my intelligence to grow," said Kaijah, who started Key as a sixth-grader and will start her junior year this month. "I've found the things I'm good at, and I've discovered that they have a time and a place."

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Becky Buchanan-Schwanke, 14

REPORTERS: Utah Davis-Kinsey, 12; Elaine Lynch, 13.

Copyright 2006 Y-Press

Key School grading system

The traditional 5-by-7-inch grade card popular at many schools looms much larger at Key Learning Community. Progress reports there come on 11-by-17-inch paper.

And no way could parents scan a Key Progress Report and figure out in a moment or two whether their kid's been sloughing off. You won't find A, B, C, D or F grades at Key.

The idea is to use symbols and letters instead of a traditional grading scale so that students are encouraged to improve in the eight multiple intelligence areas. These are broken down into subcategories, such as foreign language and English under "Linguistics." Teachers judge students in two distinct areas: performance and participation.

Regarding performance, students receive what are called "Descriptors," and they are broken down into these categories:

CL, Cultural Level: At the high school level, this means the student works at a basic level of understanding.

DL-N, Disciplined-Based Novice: The student has the basic level of understanding, has fulfilled the teacher's requirements and can discuss and apply what he or she has learned.

DL-A, Disciplined-Based Apprentice: The student has a deep understanding of the subject and has gone beyond the minimum requirements for the class.

DL-J, Disciplined-Based Journeyman: The student has an understanding, affinity or ability to perform at a level that significantly surpasses expectations. (It is rare for students to receive this descriptor.)

Regarding participation, students receive different symbols that show how and if they are motivated to learn.

For example, the sign of a triangle means students are intrinsically motivated -- which means they are involved only because they enjoy and want to do the work.

If students are extrinsically motivated, they receive the sign of a square on the report, which means they only respond to an activity if the teacher initiates it or offers a reward for doing it.

A circle means the student is passive, making little or no effort to participate; and an X means the student is disruptive.

Source: Key Learning Community High School Progress Report

Curriculum at Key Learning Community is based on eight intelligences

Key Learning Community's curriculum is based on the work of Harvard professor and psychologist Howard Gardner, who first outlined his multiple intelligences in his book "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences."

The eight intelligences are:

Visual/spatial: Visual learners think in pictures and use mental images to retain information. They can think in three dimensions and learn through making, building, fixing and assembling things.

Verbal/linguistic: Verbal learners are typically eloquent speakers and think in words rather than pictures. They're skilled in expressing themselves logically, clearly and persuasively, both through speech and writing.

Logical/mathematical: Mathematical learners use patterns and numbers to connect the data around them. They're excellent at performing complex mathematical or logical operations and using creative problem-solving skills.

Bodily/kinesthetic: Bodily learners express themselves through body movement and learn by interacting with the world around them. They're often talented in sports, well-coordinated and can use their hands expressively and in detailed ways.

Musical/rhythmic: Musical learners often are sensitive to pitch, rhythm and sound patterns. They can recognize, create and perform music vocally and/or with an instrument.

Interpersonal: Interpersonal learners tend to have an acute understanding of other peoples' feelings and ideas. They learn by seeing things from others' point of view and often are leaders and able to influence others.

Naturalist: Naturalists understand the plant and animal worlds and are skilled at recognizing and classifying different types. They work well with animals and plants.

Intrapersonal: Intrapersonal learners are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and plan effectively to reach personal goals. They relate well to others and manage relationships well.

Sources: Multiple Intelligences Research and Consulting Inc. (www.miresearch.org); Ldpride, an online community for adults and youth with learning disabilities (www.Ldpride.net); and Howard Gardner's professional Web site: (www.howardgardner.com).

Copyright 2006 Y-Press