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Assessment
Assessment — in multiple and diverse forms, formative and summative — is a central tenet of the instructional framework at Crownhill Elementary. Teachers are keenly aware of the data that emerges from ongoing formative assessments and use it as a lever to drive instructional practice every day. The organizing principles for Crownhill’s well-defined and well-designed assessment program derive from their application of the preventative strategies and interventions developed for the RTI model.
Ongoing. Predictive. Agile.
The instructional team gathers formative assessment data formally and informally. Students might write answers on digital slates (small white boards) in response to questions that assess readiness to learn the upcoming lesson. Or, they might complete an exit slip that evaluates the results of a particular learning activity.
Teachers conduct pre-unit tests and use universal screening tools able to assess student progress in a more structured way. (Universal screening is an assessment technique that uses quick, repeatable testing of age-appropriate skills.) At Crownhill Elementary, state-level summative assessments are a rich source of student performance data that informs program decisions for the following year.
Flexible, Responsive Decision Making
Each school year, the Bremerton School District develops a testing matrix that shapes many of the formal assessment activities at Crownhill. And, as a team, teachers create common assessments based on specific learning targets. In this way — on a regular, often daily basis — they can gauge student progress and make quick, effective adjustments to their instructional approach that address the needs of struggling students.
This table outlines the type and cycle of assessments that take place at Crownhill Elementary.
| Type of Assessment
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Grade Lev
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Cycle/Practice
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Easy CBM (Curriculum Based Measurement)
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K-5
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Universal screener shows growth in student learning and can assess gaps in program interventions.
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Question/answer
Students use small digital white boards or slates to respond
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K-5
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Informal question-and-answer tests allow teachers to get a quick, overall feel for where students are relative to a concept they must learn.
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Exit slip
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2-5
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End-of-lesson assessment that targets one or two questions. Teachers use this data for planning additional review and re-teaching, if necessary.
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Unit tests
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K-5
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Applied at the end of a math unit to determine readiness to move on or the need for small-group re-teaching
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Formal, summative assessments that occur at the end of each district reporting period
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K-5
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An effective way to assess student progress toward a standard and to adjust instruction, if necessary.
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Data Director Assessment-Builder (teachers load data into an application that aggregates and disaggregates results)
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3-5
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Data analysis tool that helps teachers evaluate the effectiveness of their instructional programming and monitor student progress toward learning standards
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Fact fluency
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K-5
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Progress monitoring tool that displays student growth relative to fact fluency.
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We Can Make the Connection
The instructional staff at Crownhill rely on multiple assessments and data sources to monitor student learning and refine what they do in the classroom and in small-group settings. This ability to triangulate data, make skilled, actionable observations and integrate peer feedback maintains the dynamics of a fluid, agile instructional framework capable of responding to the diverse needs of the children they teach. The approach parallels a central focus of the Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools.
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