It All Adds Up - K12.com

country. The information we collectfrom each student goes a long wayin helping us understand whichparts of those environments areclicking and which parts need morework. Everything from teacher conferencesto Elluminate sessions toindividual student and group learningactivities are informed—and,we hope, bettered—by the results.Setting the RecordStraight—and MakingTimeFolks have a tendency to confuseassessment with high-stakes testing.K 12 wants to be clear thatour assessments are nothigh-stakes tests.They are usedsimply tohelpparents and teachers better meet students’ individualneeds and are not a determining factor ina child’s success or grade-level advancement.We understand, of course, that these assessmentstake time. As K 12 families, we know howmuch you value the flexibility that comes withour curriculum. That’s why we’ve made it possiblefor students to take these assessments whenand where it’s most convenient for them. Eachassessment is delivered online, and studentseven are able to take breaks and come back totest items in the event that their schedules don’tallow them to complete an entire assessmentin one sitting. We want these assessments tobecome an integrated part of the total learningexperience, and not something that is viewed asan addition to other requirements.Here at K 12 , it all boils down to one thing:creating a better kind of education,one student at a time.Adaptive Testing?What’s That?The Scantron Performance SeriesAssessment—the pre- and post-test yourstudent is asked to take once in the falland once in the spring—is what’s morecommonly referred to as an adaptivetest. What does that mean exactly? Inshort, adaptive tests are designed tohelp us measure academic growthover time. The word “adaptive”means each question a studentreceives depends upon his or heranswer to the question or questionsdirectly before it. Each test adaptsto the individual student’s level ofunderstanding. This is importantbecause it helps us quickly gaugewhere students are on the learningcurve in both math and languagearts. The results, in turn, helpteachers and learning coachesadjust their approach to theneeds of the student.Some Tips:• Resist the urge to helpyour student. Each test isdependent upon an accurateread of your child’s individualunderstanding.• Remember, these testsadapt to your student’s levelof understanding. The morethey know, the harder thequestions are likely to be.• More advanced studentstypically take longerto complete Scantronadaptive assessments thefirst time. If they knowa lot about a topic, thesystem needs to ask alot more questions tofind their true level ofunderstanding.11