Within the Lower School, the faculty and I consider the value of assessment as a tool to monitor student progress and also adjust instruction to support student learning. Ongoing assessments focus on a student’s progress throughout an entire unit of learning. It is an alternative to the teach-teach-teach method, administer a final test to the whole group, and then move on to new material. As young learners, you may have encountered this approach with a number grade as your only form of feedback relating to the mastery of what you were learning.

A comprehensive assessment program includes the following:

 

When thinking about assessment, I encourage parents to think “photo album” instead of “snapshots.” Ongoing assessment is a collection of evidence that represents what a student has learned and is able to apply and understand. As a part of our Lower School assessment program, we subscribe to two formal assessment tools to monitor student progress.

One tool is the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills® (DIBELS) conducted in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. It is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills. It is designed to be short fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills. DIBELS uses state-of-the-art, research-based methods for designing and validating curriculum-based measures of reading. This assessment is conducted three times throughout the year and provides teachers with information to guide their groupings and instruction within the classroom.

Another tool is the MAP Growth assessment conducted in Second through Fifth Grade. Second Graders take the math assessment while Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders take the math and literacy assessments. We know that children learn better—and faster—when teachers have a clear picture of what each student knows and what they are ready to learn next.

The MAP assessment reacts to each student’s answers. In the testing world, this makes the assessment adaptive, or personalized to measure the needs of every student. If your child answers a question correctly, the test follows up with a more challenging question. If your child answers incorrectly, the test follows up with an easier question.

Adaptive tests make it possible for teachers to pinpoint what each child needs in order to learn best. The MAP Growth assessment will take place in the upcoming A – F day cycle beginning on Monday, September 23. You will receive feedback relating to your child’s performance during the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences in October, and I’ll write more to you then with information about how to interpret the data.

We are excited for Elizabeth Landers, Grades 3-5 Spanish teacher, as she is expecting her first child. Elizabeth is expected to begin her maternity leave on Monday, September 30. Lindsey Owens, former CA Third Grade teacher, will assume the role of Spanish teacher until Elizabeth’s return in January. Elizabeth and Lindsey have spent time together planning and organizing the curriculum for the next four months. We will keep you posted on when Baby Landers arrives!

I look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday at the Lower School Bike Parade – it will be a grand time of fun!