New assessment tools in place this school year

School is off and running! CCS has a wonderful staff dedicated to providing effective instruction for every child, every day.
I joined the team as the Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator in late July. I am excited to be part of the team as we progress through the year, make some great changes and continue to perfect practices already in place.
As the school year kicked off, we had several discussions about using data to guide our instruction. Discussions were guided by these questions: How does this ensure we meet the area of Content Mastery in our newly developed Portrait of a Graduate? How will this data be used to guide instruction? What do we do if students need additional support to master essential skills? What do we do if they have already mastered the content?
Assessments already in place in previous years are the MAP Growth assessments. These are benchmarking assessments given in the fall, winter and spring to measure what students know and informs educators what students are ready to learn next.
These assessments are used for reading, math and science for grades kindergarten through high school. The data from these assessments will guide instruction and ensure students master the content needed to be successful at their present grade levels, future grade levels and post secondary.
Another assessment we will implementing this school year is the MAP Skills. MAP Skills is used to pinpoint and address specific skills students need. These assessments can be used as often as needed by teachers. These can be used as mastery checks prior to or after a curriculum unit to determine next steps in instruction and to monitor the effectiveness of instruction in mastering skills.
These assessments can also be used if students need additional support by allowing teachers to assign activities to assist students in mastering skills.
MAP Reading Fluency is another assessment we will be using this school year. It is an online benchmarking and progress monitoring assessment that efficiently measures oral reading fluency, literal comprehension and foundational skills for both English and Spanish speakers. It uses advanced technology to enable group testing, allowing teachers to quickly assess students and have timely data to begin adjusting instruction to meet the needs of students.
The leadership team and teachers have begun professional development to effectively use these assessments. On Sept. 16, we will continue professional development for the MAPS assessments and determine how to use the results and data to guide instruction.
Throughout the school year, the leadership team and teachers will revisit the data often to ensure we are meeting the needs of our students in preparing them for their futures. All in all, we have a lot of work to do, but we are up for the challenge and embrace the changes.