New Testing Program

Generally, I am not a big fan of "mandatory" testing. I think teachers are required to do too much of it; kids suffer through hours of it; and it takes away from valuable instruction time. I know that is a controversial topic. I won't spend too much time on it right now.

What I do want to talk about is this: students at our school are taking a new test at the end of this trimester that offers some interesting data about their progress. There are some bugs that we are working out, so the data this time might not be entirely accurate. Also, I was out for a few days, so our testing time was interrupted. But it is compelling information nonetheless. 

With report cards next week, we will include a printout showing how the student did compared to a 6th-grade norm. Below is an example.

There will be a Language section, a Reading section, and a Math section. The blue bar demonstrates the individual student's current progress. The yellow bar shows a 6th grade norm.

The writing below the graph will break the data down even further into subcategories. It will also tell whether the student is Low, Low Average, Average, High Average or High.

There is also a Lexile (Reading) score. This diagram will help you determine the value of the score.

Sometimes the report card grades don't match up precisely with the results of these tests. In class, grades also include collaboration with others, preparation for class discussions, speaking and listening, and submitting finished work. 

I hope all this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have questions about the results.

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GUEST BLOGGERS

Famous Person

My famous person was born on 1996, January 15, in Seattle Washington. At the age of eight she began acting at a community theater at Bainbridge performing arts. When she was fourteen her and her family moved to L.A., California where she sang in Burbank High School National Championship Show Choir. Her middle name is Olivia. She is now twenty years old. She has a boyfriend named Ryan Mccartan which plays in the same show as her called Liv and Maddie. She sang songs in this show. She also played in a few movies called Cloud 9, Descendants, and Monsterville. A few of her songs are What a Girl is, Better in Stereo, Froyo Yolo, True Love, If Only, On Top of the World, The girl and a Dreamcatcher,and her newest song Glowing in the Dark. My famous person is french and can speak fluent french. So, do you know who my famous person is?

-Jasmine

Question of the Week

I asked Natisha how it felt like to be on the girls basketball team and she said “It was fun to be on the basketball team because i got to hang out with my friends more often.” She also said it was very excited to be on the team. When she first started practice she said she was very nervous because she thought she wasn’t good enough. But once she started playing she realized that she was very good at guarding her person. Then they got their jerseys. She chose number 45 because her best friend was number 44 and she wanted to be next to her. She said when she was starting games she didn’t play as much as she would have liked to. Then when she got further in the season she started playing a lot more. Then tournaments came she played very hard and tried her best. She got second place but she said it was the best thing that had happened to her because she made the team and tried her best that’s all you can do is try to win!

-Marcy

Two Truths and a Lie

1. When I went to Six Flags I road Medusa and it was so fun that I thought I was going to die. After that we went to the 40niners game it was awesome. I had lots of fun. The 40niners vs Raiders, my dad is a Raiders fan. That’s my second favorite team.

2. When I went to the San Francisco Giants we were 3 seats away from the dug-out. I got a ball signed by Mucho, Sanchez, and I believe the other guy was called Jeremy Affelt. These 3 ladies or cheerleaders got up on the dug-out and threw shirts and I got one It said ORANGE VS BLACK ATTACK, it was awesome pawsome. The San Francisco Giants and the 40niners are my favorite teams. They are the best teams ever.

3. When I went to Six Flags, the killer whale was still there. Her name was Shupa. I thought the whale had left.

-Silas