Testing Season

Testing season is upon us - As sure as the NBA finals arrive in June, the Superbowl in February and the swallows return to Capistrano in February, the spring testing season in Minnesota schools will arrive. New Century participates in all of the state mandated testing in addition to computerized assessments that allow us to track academic progress. There are two types of state mandates testing: NCLB tests which are used for determining Adequate Yearly Progress, and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments/GRAD assessments which must be passed in order to graduate. We are transitioning into a time when these assessments will become one, but we are not there yet. New this year will be a state mandated assessment in Science, added to the required tests in Math and Reading. All of this means that the month of April will be a busy one for assessments. In spite of the fact that not all of us like all of these assessments, we need to remember that they are 'high stakes', meaning that some significant decisions ride on their outcomes, not the least of which is high school graduation for students and our being able to demonstrate that we are doing what we said we would. We need to encourage students to take these seriously so that the results can be an actual reflection of where we are, which will determine decisions on where we need to go.