Smart Assessment Success Stories

Challenge: What do you do when grades conflict with California Standards Tests (CST) results? What would a parent think who sees an “A” or “B” on their child’s report card and then learns that their child is performing at the Below Basic level on the CST.

Solution: Tom Barrett explains that the parent’s dilemma is the reason why he jumped in.

Challenge: When teachers and principals resist change, reluctant to implement the district’s benchmark test, what do you do?

Solution: Ray Wilson, recently retired assessment director of Poway USD, took teachers’ concerns to heart. He listened to their objections and took a fresh look at all the tests in use, from the CST to the benchmarks in order to create a balanced and comprehensive assessment plan. His decision: clear the decks and start over by suspending all district-mandated testing for an entire year and allow teachers and principals at each school site to build their own unique site assessment plan, including an external benchmark test. Read the Poway success story.

Challenge: What do you do when teachers are overwhelmed at the start of the year? Is it efficient to quickly start all students literally on the same page of the textbook?

Solution: Jim Baxter explains the power of pretests to save teachers from wasting precious instructional time.