Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the term we use for assessing students progress three times each year (Fall, Winter, Spring). All students receive the same "benchmarks" or assessments depending on the their grade level across our district and all benchmarks are administered during a specific time period. Students take benchmarks in Math and in Reading. In reading, they are frequently assessed using our Reading Street program. They are also assessed by a team of individuals in the areas below using a program called Fastbridge.
Fall benchmarks occur during of 9/10-9/27.
Winter benchmarks occur during of 1/14-1/31.
You will find a description of the assessments below. One-on-One means that the assessments will be given with just the student and the testing administrator in a private setting. Whole Group administration may be given to the whole class at a time.
If you have any questions about a specific test, a score, or benchmarking in general, please don't hesitate to ask!
Kindergarten
Concepts of Print: Reading readiness and text features: students identify a letter, word, a sentence and the direction in which you would read it. Untimed.
Onset Sounds: Matching beginning letter sounds to pictures (bat, pig, can, and whale, which one starts with /b/?). Untimed
Letter Names: The names of letters A-Z. Timed for 1 Minute
Letter Sounds: The sounds that letters make A-Z. Timed for 1 Minute
Word Segmenting:Breaking words apart into sounds- Tell me the sounds you hear in dot, bat
Nonsense Words: Pretend words such as /kib/, /nom/ Timed for 1 Minute.
Sight Words: Words commonly found in text. Timed for 1 Minute.
First Grade
Word Segmenting:Breaking words apart into sounds- Tell me the sounds you hear in dot, bat. Untimed.
Nonsense Words: Pretend words such as /kib/, /nom/ Timed for 1 Minute
Sight Words: Words commonly found in text. Timed for 1 Minute
Sentence Reading: Reading sentence correctly. These have visual cues to help and minimal text on each page. Timed for 1 Minute
CBM Reading: Oral reading fluency- Reading words accurately as part of a story. Timed for 1 Minute
Second Grade
CBM Reading: Oral reading fluency- Reading words accurately as part of a story. Timed for 1 Minute.
aReading: an online assessment that looks at all of the components of reading. Multiple Choice. Untimed.
Third-Fifth Grade
aReading: an online assessment that looks at all of the components of reading. Multiple Choice. Untimed.
CBM Reading: Oral reading fluency- Reading words accurately as part of a story. Timed for 1 Minute.