Testing Season

I'll just say it...modern American educational accountability through state standardized testing is archaic and irrelevant. I don't know many educators who value the data they receive from state testing and use it as a key metric in decision-making for their campus. Here is the concern, in my state we are required to write school performance plans in February for the following school year. Students complete end of year state testing in April and May the results of which I will not receive until August. I need to make decisions about support classes, staffing needs, intervention programs, etc. by June in order to have materials and resources allocated in time for the school year to begin. Therefore, out of necessity, I MUST use other data sources to drive the educational decisions on my campus. I do value the apples to apples comparison afforded by nationally normed assessments. This data is valuable in determining the effectiveness of instruction and student response to our teaching methods and interventions.

Students are also unique individuals with entire skillsets and strengths all their own. My goal is also to ensure we are fostering creativity, exploration, social and relational development, high emotional quotient (soft interpersonal skills), and recognizing these attributes in our students (and staff). State standardized testing does none of that!

We are innovating with unique methods of individualizing student progress while capturing students unique talents and emotional skills growth and development.