As part of providing a well-rounded, 21st Century education, St. Martin's strives to infuse what are called Mission Skills into its program. The skills are six important character strengths — teamwork, creativity, ethics, resilience, curiosity and time management. These skills are crucial for success not only in schools, but in life. In fact, the skills were highlighted in a 2009 study that looked at skills businesses value in their employees.
In 2011, St. Martin’s and 15 other similar K-8 grade schools around the country began the first year of a three-year experiment called the Mission Skills Assessment to gather data related to the six key skills with their Middle School students. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, N.J., the administrators of the SAT, is part of the data evaluation process. The evaluation tests the success of teaching and developing the Mission Skills, detailed below.