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Assessments » Assessments

Assessments

  • Teachers need regular information about how students are doing so they can adjust their lessons to meet each student’s needs. Parents also want to know if their child is learning at the right pace and at grade level. Principals and school leaders use this information to track how well the school and district are doing overall.
  • Portage Township Schools uses different kinds of assessments to help gather this important information. These include state tests, district-required tests, and classroom assessments. These tests help identify student needs and decide if any changes to lessons or materials are needed.
  • The most important type of assessment is the daily work and checks for understanding done by teachers. This gives the clearest picture of what students are learning right now. State tests let us compare how our students are doing with students across Indiana and the country. District assessments show how much progress students make each year. All of this helps us understand how well our students and schools are doing.
 
District-Wide Assessments

Kindergarten Readiness Assessments

Before school starts, all incoming Kindergarten students take a Kindergarten readiness assessment. This test is given and scored by the classroom teachers. It checks important early learning skills like speaking and listening, social skills, understanding books and print, recognizing letters and words, number sense, and being able to name letters and their beginning sounds.

 
 
DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
 
  • The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is a short reading test that helps teachers track how well students are learning early reading skills. Each part of the test takes about one minute and checks how quickly and correctly students can do certain reading tasks

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    DIBELS is given to students in Grades K–2 three times a year—at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. The test is given and scored by teachers and school staff.


     
    NWEA MAP TEST

    MAP Testing is given to all students from Kindergarten through 9th grade. MAP, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress, is a computer test that adjusts to each student’s level. It helps teachers, parents, and school leaders understand how students are doing and make smart choices to help each child learn and grow.