Educational Assessments

Our students take a number of educational assessments during their public school education. There are a variety of purposes for each assessment. Some, like locally developed teacher-made tests, determine if the student has acquired the knowledge and skills being taught in the classroom. These serve to inform the teacher not only if the student has learned the material but also how well the teacher is getting the material across to all students.

Genesee School also utilizes curriculum-based measures in grades 1-6 to provide a quick method of measuring student progress in basic skills. These measures are utilized to make sure students are performing at grade-level or above and, if not, to insure that the student receives additional support as needed.

Idaho has a number of assessments required for students including the Idaho Standards Achievement Test. This assessment, a requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, measures student improvement in reading, language usage, math and science. Idaho also requires the Direct Writing and Math Assessments. These are performance-based assessments designed to track student writing and math problem-solving ability. One other state assessment currently in use in grades k-3 is the Idaho reading Indicator. This short assessment given three times per year is another attempt to measure student reading progress in the early grades and provide additional support for any student not reading at or near grade level.

With all of these assessments is there any time left to learn? The answer, of course, is a resounding yes. The state testing program requires from .12% to 1.46% of total instructional time for the year depending on grade level. The information gleaned from these assessments, when carefully analyzed, can provide useful information on student progress and development and, most importantly, can help the teacher tailor the educational program to student needs.

There is no question that these tests only sample a small proportion of what is learned in school. If we only focused on this thin slice of knowledge and skills, we would be missing other important vital components of every student's education. Some knowledge is easier to assess with pencil and paper tests or online testing. Many other methods of assessing student performance are used every day in every classroom; some formal and some informal.

Most assessment results are reported to parents regularly. If you have a specific question or concern about any test your student has taken or will take, please feel free to contact your child's teacher for additional information.