STUDENT ASSESSMENT

Student progress is monitored regularly with respect to course content standards and school-wide learning results. Our teaching staff evaluates student academic performance using teacher made assessments and curriculum driven evaluations. Teachers are trained and encouraged to use multiple measures of assessments recognizing that all students learn differently. Student feedback is regarded as key in monitoring student progress over time. Mt. Calvary Lutheran School utilizes the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) assessment tool which is a nationally standardized testing product. This assessment is given annually in the fall, giving the teachers a diagnostic tool which allows them to evaluate the students' strengths and weaknesses.

Some parents ask why our school uses this achievement test over the others, such as the California Achievement Tests (CAT) or the Standford Achievement Test (SAT)?

The Iowa Tests advantages lie in the fact that first, the ITBS can be administered across wider groups of children than the SAT; second, there are additional unnecessary restrictions placed on users of the SAT that do not apply to our school; third, the ITBS evaluates higher order thinking skills while the CAT tests rely more heavily on rote memory.

For more information regarding this assessment tool visit:

http://www.education.uiowa.edu/itp/itbs/